Collaboration Between Businesses and Social Service Nonprofits as Organized Anarchy: The Insider Perspective

ABSTRACT The literature on the collaboration between businesses and Social Service Nonprofits (SSNs) emphasizes the importance of strategic management, based on joint governance and rational decision-making. This article presents a multiple case study analysis of four cross-sector collaborations, between for-profit business organizations and SSNs. The study examined the dynamics of interorganizational collaborations and their management in different stages of the collaboration. Data were collected from 36 in-depth interviews with key players from both organization types. The findings revealed that collaborations were based mainly on non-systematic decision-making and sporadic oral communication, with high participant turnover. Strategic planning was mostly absent, as were attempts to institutionalize administrative processes and procedures, form a new type of governance, and conclude formal agreements. An “organized anarchy” model is proposed to analyze the relations between the organizations and their operations during the collaboration period. Implications for future business-SSN collaborations and for collaboration management are presented and discussed. PRACTICE POINTS The study focuses on the inter-organizational dynamics of business-SSN collaboration, and sheds light on the patterns of inconsistency, ephemerality, and randomness that characterize them, using the “organized anarchy” theoretical model. The findings highlight the potential costs of these detected patterns, which might pose a threat to collaboration sustainability and hence to its outcomes, due to instability, participant turn over and lack of appropriate knowledge and training. Next to the potential costs, the findings also highlight the potential benefits of these patterns as they allow for agility, for making quick changes in response to challenges posed by changes in the environment, and for greater creativity and faster reaction to changing needs of the partner organizations, their service-users and staff. The study provides practical suggestions to enhance sustainability of business-SSN collaboration: Appropriate preparation, socialization, orientation and training of the parties to the collaboration, and strategic management of collaboration which includes joint governance mechanisms and frequent communication.