Going separate ways: Ex-post interdependence and the dissolution of collaborative relations

Abstract

Organizations collaborate in order to address interdependencies that are deemed consequential for performance. However, the act of collaborating itself creates new interdependence, as partners become more entwined in each other’s operations, and experience the vetoes, compromises, delays and risks inherent in joint working. This paradox – mitigating one set of interdependencies by creating another – renders collaborative relations inherently unstable. Dissolution may occur if “ex-post” interdependence becomes more troublesome than the original “ex-ante” trigger for partnering. We test this proposition through comparative case analysis of 13 sustained, aborted and dissolved inter-municipal cooperations (or “shared services”) in English local government. Ex-post interdependence was most pronounced in those partnerships ending in dissolution, and informed the design of replacement arrangements. It was also a contributory factor in abortive cases. Conversely, ex-post interdependence was minimized in the sustained collaborations by management actions that streamlined the coordination burden imposed by highly interdependent operations. These findings have wider implications for partnership design, the collaborator’s skillset, and theories of collaborative public management