HOW DO RELATIONAL DYNAMICS INFLUENCE PUBLIC SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS? A STUDY OF THE OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY ASSOCIATED COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP
The last 20 years have seen a growth in partnership working in both the public and private sectors as organisations seek to improve efficiency and gain access to new resources to reduce costs and gain competitive advantage. Driven by government policy to widen participation in Higher Education, (HE), one area which has seen major growth is the partnership between universities and Colleges of Further Education (FE) to deliver Foundation, Bachelor and Masters degrees and increasingly degree apprenticeships. Due to the timescales involved in delivering degree programmes it is essential that these partnerships are viable in the longer term, but up to 50% of all partnerships fail. How to ensure the long term viability of education partnerships is an under researched area. While researchers have looked at both the role of Intellectual and Social Capital in facilitating educational partnerships, few have looked at the role of Relational Capital (RC) which is seen as the trust, respect and friendship that develops at individual level between partners. Studies of private sector partnerships see this as key to maintaining partnerships. Based on my own experience this study is concerned with partnership working in the delivery of educational programmes and, in particular, the delivery of degrees by colleges of FE, in partnership with universities. Using Relational Capital as a theoretical lens through which to view partnership this qualitative research seeks to contribute to the understanding of the long term viability of partnerships. It uses an embedded case style design to explore the relationship between Oxford Brookes University and a partner college of FE. 16 key informants from OBU and the partner college involved in either managing the partnership at senior level or the day to day operations were asked to give their views of partnership success. The focus was not on what makes a successful partnership in terms of outcomes but in developing a successful working relationship. The research seeks to answer the question; “what makes a good working relationship?” It takes a qualitative approach to research a concept which, though value laden, is often explored using quantitative techniques. While much case research is focused on theory building using grounded theory techniques this research takes a critical realist stance to elaborate on existing theory and in particular focuses on the relevance of Relational Capital and Boundary Spanning to education partnerships. The findings of each embedded case are set out in 5 distinct chapters which provide an opportunity to examine the nuances which arose as a result of subject specific pedagogy or role before a sixth chapter compares and contrasts the findings, In general, the findings show that the role of senior management, especially in the allocation of resources and development of the quality framework, the distribution of power, development of culture, trust, commitment and personal relationships, supported and developed by boundary spanners are key to successful partnership working. This thesis seeks to contribute to theory in 3 areas. The first is clarifying what is meant by building a HE culture. This research identified that what is required is to create a culture which provides a safe learning environment where knowledge is contested and applied. The second contribution examines the role of friendship in developing Relational Capital. While the research found that RC is built in education partnerships this thesis challenges the view that RC is based on personal friendship and sees friendliness based on mutual respect being more important. This reinforces the importance of building identification based trust. The third contribution builds on the boundary spanning literature by looking at the importance of boundary spanners in bridging and overcoming organisational differences and the need to integrate partnership learning back into the separate organisations. The thesis then make a practitioner contribution by providing guidance on good practice in managing partnerships. The thesis ends by making recommendations on areas for future research which would give greater insight into the role of RC and boundary spanning to ensure the success of educational partnerships.
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