The Unsung Heroes of Welfare Collaboration: Complexities around individuals’ contribution to effective inter-agency working in LSCBs

Abstract

The article addresses an under-explored aspect of public partnerships: individuals’ role in the effectiveness of collaborations such as the Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs) in England and Wales. Building upon theoretical concepts around complex emergence, we conceptualize individuals as conveyors of complex negotiated individual, professional and organizational frames. Shifting focus away from inter-organizational and towards inter-personal communication in partnerships is consistent with miscommunication being the widest recognized problem in collaborations. Qualitative data from policy documents, interviews, and participant and non-participant observation are used to show individuals in the LSCB case study advancing or hindering collaborative work as ‘boundary spanners’ or ‘reluctant’ partners.

Key words:

• Partnerships
• welfare
• individuals
• emergence
• LSCB

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editor and the four anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments on earlier versions of the paper. We also gratefully acknowledge the help of our respondents, those true ‘unsung heroes’ of collaborations without whom this paper would have been far less interesting.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.