Beyond the Interpersonal: Structural-Organizational Influences on Collaboration

Background:  Social work literature calls for increased collaboration – both within and outside of the discipline – as social work endeavors to create lasting social change, especially in light of the Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative. The call for increased collaboration is, by and large, born out of theoretical discussions or the anecdotal experiences of researchers or practitioners.  To this date, no known studies have examined social work collaboration across social work domains (practice, policy, education, and research). If collaboration is key, as the literature suggests, the question remains: does the social work discipline have what it takes to accomplish its grand challenges? To begin answering that question, this qualitative study explored intra-discipline perspectives of social workers on collaboration as they work toward achieving equal opportunity, equity, and justice for the individuals and communities they serve. 

Methods:  Purposive sampling was used to recruit a cross-section of participants currently working across four primary social work domains: research, education, practice, and policy (n=16).  Recruitment was conducted via email using the investigator’s personal and professional networks.  All but one participant completed a Master’s in Social Work (MSW) and/or PhD in Social Work. Participants were queried about their work role, vision for the future of social work, and questions related to the barriers to, facilitators of, and recommendations for inter- and intra-disciplinary collaboration.

A grounded theory approach was used for both data collection and analysis.  All interviews were conducted via phone or in-person and audio-recorded, ranging from 35 minutes to 60 minutes. Each interview was immediately transcribed and emerging themes were identified through an analytic memo process. Additional interviews and coding were completed applying an iterative process until saturation.  Each transcription was analyzed in Atlas.ti, using open and holistic coding during the initial analysis.  Axial and theoretical coding were used as second-cycle coding strategies. 

Results: The results from this study revealed overwhelming consensus regarding barriers, facilitators, and recommendations for improving collaboration, especially related to structural and organizational factors.  Participants implicated professional silos, limited resources, and a divide between reality and the ideal as the structural barriers to collaboration.  Organizational investment was identified as the most salient facilitator of collaboration at the structural-organizational level.  Participants offered three key recommendations for improving collaboration: 1) create the space for collaboration; 2) provide structural support for collaboration; and 3) allocate funding dedicated to collaboration efforts. 

The findings from this study demonstrate that social workers across domains of social work value the challenge for greater collaboration.  However, social workers in the fields and academies of the discipline are calling for changes to organizational policies and practices to improve their ability to collaborate, as well as improve the broader landscape of inter- and intra-collaboration. This study not only highlights numerous structural and organizational barriers the discipline faces in collaborative practice but it also offers concrete recommendations for how to overcome those barriers to achieve more effective collaboration.