Janet Diamond

Research student

You can email Janet Diamond directly; but for media enquiries please contact a member of The Open University's Media Relations team.

Current research

Does collaboration enable innovation?

This qualitative study will look at how collaboration in the public sector impacts on the children's services policy agenda and whether it can be seen to contribute to change in practice and organisational culture. The government's focus on collaborative working in public sector children’s services requires a co-ordinated approach to outcomes for children and their families. In summary, this means: a need to reform the organisational approach to services a clear way of measuring performance a cultural change towards joined up early intervention and prevention within a universal context. It is less clear, however; how the collaborative approach is meant to work to provide outcomes how we know what works in service impact terms how partners can learn to work together to achieve change. Early areas for investigation include how change can be defined in this context, what is successful practice in collaborative working and how it can be measured. I am undertaking the research from within my work context using reflective practice and action learning / research principles. I am currently focusing on two areas. These are: Collaborative advantage - if, why and how collaboration is useful in children’s services. This includes an investigation of the government’s agenda on partnership working and governance issues. Change - how it is achieved in a collaborative context. This includes an evaluation of collaborative operational and strategic work, looking at innovation and change strategies linked to collaboration and an examination of change theories, including whole systems change.

Supervisors

• Dr Siv Vangen