En berättelse om att (få) vara kvar- En studie i att skapa utrymme för samverkansuppdrag i offentlig sektor

Abstract

This thesis explores the intricacies of novel collaboration among diverse actors working towards the common goal of organizing labor market integration for foreign-born individuals. The research endeavors to understand how novel collaborations emerges and stabilizes within the public sector spotlighting the collaborative practices that develops during this evolution. Taking inspiration from Czarniawska's framework, which accentuates the translation of ideas into practice with the interplay of time and space this study employs this framework to create understanding for the multifaceted dynamics of collaboration, identity construction, and legitimacy within the context of collaboration for labour market integration. It unveils how collaborative endeavors not only address immediate challenges but also form the very essence and character of the undertaken missions. By focusing on actions and patterns of actions, the study unveils how these initiatives emerge and stabilize within the public sector. Expanding upon these insights, it underscores the significance of the practices that emerge and their role in sustaining these missions and ensuring their continued existence. These practices, encompassing mobilization, recruitment, and negotiation, collectively constitute what this study terms "space-creating collaborative practices." The study also probes into why specific missions and collaborative practices endure over time, drawing from the identified “spatial-creating collaborative practices” and the efforts expended to guarantee their persistence—referred to in this study as "Spatiotemporal work." Ultimately, the study concludes that these endeavors attribute identity and sufficient legitimacy upon the initiatives, granting them the resilience to endure. This unveils that persistence to endure does not hinge solely on the formation of a formal organization or a fixed position within a predefined organizational structure. It can also manifest as the perpetuation of practices, conceptual frameworks, or the emergence as a central actor in addressing particular questions. Furthermore, the study underscores how ambiguities in mission formulations stimulate openness to change. Initiatives persist but not always in their original form or with identical objectives due to often broadly outlined missions, affording room for interpretation and adaptation during the process of organizing the tasks at hand. In summary, this study offers valuable insights into the intricate realm of novel collaborative endeavors within the public sector. It underscores the dynamics of relations in the emergence of collaborative practices and how it can lead to enduring collaborative spaces beyond the ideas of organizations and structures, but also how these evolve in tandem with the ambitions and interests of collaborative actors causing changes from the original ideas in the missions.