‘A marriage of convenience’: inter-organizational learning through strategic collaboration

Collaboration is often used to combine capabilities and share resources to deliver strategic goals. The process has potential to support organizational learning and intertwining of knowledge between participating organizations. However, this often overlooks the complexities and contexts that make collaborations prone to failure. This paper explores inter-organizational learning between two police forces in the United Kingdom as they embark on a strategic partnership through collaboration. We investigate how learning emerges through the collaboration, what tensions surface as the partnership develops and how these tensions are resolved. Our research contributes to inter-organizational learning theory in three ways. Firstly, we show that inter-organizational learning is a multi-level process through practices that occur at inter-personal, inter-group and inter-organizational levels. Secondly, we highlight that key tensions attenuate the effectiveness of learning processes. Finally, we note that the outcomes of institutionalized learning — that is, merging infrastructure, standardizing processes and creating a shared identity — are interconnected, and that inter-organizational learning cannot be achieved without all three being embedded successfully. We offer new and important insights into the collaborative learning efforts that promote strategic partnership and integration.