The dynamics of learning partnerships : case studies from Queensland

This study examines the emerging notion of partnerships. As the study of such partnerships is a nascent research field, no single definition has yet emerged the literature. However, within an uncertain and rapidly changing global context, two strategic initiatives have been identified which will support individuals, communities and organisations their transition to a knowledge-based economy whilst building capacity for change and renewal. These two strategies are fostering communities/regions/towns and developing partnerships between multiple stakeholders. The term learning has appeared a wide variety of literatures including those of adult learning, management, social science and education. Working papers and emerging case reports identify a diversity of applications and a range of operational models or configurations that link multiple stakeholders. Learning partnerships have been associated with vocational education and training, innovation and research, lifelong learning, organisational and knowledge cultivation. These literatures reveal a paucity of Australian research to explain how multiple stakeholders form and develop these configurations, particularly the Queensland context. The purpose of this study is to build deeper understanding of the meaning of a partnership the Australian and (more precisely) the Queensland context. A working definition of a partnership, adopted as the basis for the research, indicates a strategy designed to foster continuous learning, collaboration, innovation and renewal response to the demands of the knowledge-based economy and knowledge and societies. The research focuses on organisational arrangements order for the researcher to gain deeper understanding from the key stakeholders their work environments. Three diverse situations were selected for detailed exploration of their issues, relationships, activities, processes and working knowledge. With a view to contributing to emerging theory, an organisational case study methodology was adopted to identify and explore the nature of the relationships and issues confronting the key stakeholders three Queensland-based partnerships. An interpretive theoretical framework draws on the social theory of symbolic interactionism and the thinking of General Systems Theory. An interpretivist perspective influenced the case study research strategy and guided data collection, analysis and reporting. Within the case studies, data collection methods included observations, informal meetings, synergetic focus groups, semi-structured interviews, diary notes, researcher memos and documents. From these multiple data sources, the researcher was able to assemble three case files. The inductive process for within-case analysis for the case reports, and later, cross-case analysis, integrated as a form of constant comparison technique, was used as a basis for presenting findings. These findings are reported as three separate in progress models to address three interrelated research questions. The case reports explain complex and interconnected organisational arrangements - evolving, adapting and responding to internal and external tensions. While there is considerable activity which could be regarded as representing partnerships, there is no cohesive policy framework to support such partnerships, and much ambiguity, muddy definitions and unclear terminology. It appears that a new breed of knowledge-worker is emerging - linking, networking, interacting, exchanging - to work across organisational intersections. The study shows that like herding cats, co-ordinating and managing the inter relationships at the organisational intersection take time, resources, vision, processes for interaction, individual willingness and in-kind support. Whilst there is opportunity for linking disparate groups to cross-fertilise ideas, working knowledge, and information, and there is the potential to cultivate a knowledge and ecosystem (a fertile compost heap for knowledge generation and an innovative system) - intellectual horsepower - such configurations may also derail, realign or stagnate. It is individual stakeholders who form the relationships, interact, share ideas, and build networks, and it is the individual who maintains the relationships, engages the process and learns from the experience. Therein lies a paradox between the strength of diversity of the collective (synergies) and their weakness as the relationships may be compromised by a single individual who withdraws or transfers. Drawing on a computing analogy, this could be akin to corruption a system which may not be sufficiently robust to tolerate ambiguity, or a system that is too inflexible to survive threats while maintaining the momentum to adapt and renew. On the basis of this research it would appear that a more robust or resilient paradigm is emerging with interconnected, blurred boundaries and much talking and thinking about more sustainable futures. The study identifies these as indicative of wider social and economic changes. The thesis proposes three conceptual models as particularly useful interpreting these systems and shifting paradigms: the concentric, the centripetal, and the plutonic.