Introduction

A defining characteristic of the literature on collaboration is that it favours an organisational and institutional focus at the expense of micro-level examination. Although some of the models and theories make some reference to individual actors in the process, there is a need to search for a better balance between macro and micro-level explanations and perspectives. This line of argument is endorsed by practitioner perspectives that assert that the role of individual actors is often understated in the course of collaborative working. Poxton (1999, p 3), for instance, commenting on the reorganisation of health services, argues that: ‘a new policy environment and new organizational arrangements should make co-operation and collaboration easier than it has been in the past. But real success will depend as much on the determination and creativity of practitioners and managers as it will on Government edict and structural change’, and a Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR, 2002, p 125) report on area-based activities in local government concludes that: ‘the evidence is that joined up delivery has occurred extensively but in an ad hoc, almost accidental manner dependent on the energy and imagination of individuals’.

In the course of a range of research that the author has been involved with in Wales, particularly in health and social care and community strategies, feedback from diverse individuals engaged in collaborative working consistently championed the pivotal role of key individuals in shaping outcomes. A typical response was: ‘the thing that makes it work in any type of structure is the commitment of the person – structures can be enabling or difficult’ (NLIAH, 2009, p 10). Perversely, when politicians and policy makers perceive failures in the system, they invariably reach for the ‘structural toolkit’ to induce change and modify behaviour, rather than taking steps to influence agency more directly. Frequent reorganisations and ‘initiativitis’ (Fitzpatrick, 1999, p xiii) bear witness to this behaviour. Although it is difficult to find comparable public sector evidence, research from the private sector makes a clear link between effective agency and performance, as illustrated in the following observation by Bamford et al (2003, p 202): ‘alliance managers play key roles in nurturing relationships with partners.