The Other Face of Janus: Evaluation, Third Sector and Potential Causes of Failure in Partnerships and Networks

Abstract

    In recent years there has been a profound change in the organizational landscape of contemporary societies. Partnerships, alliances and networks between public, private and non-profit private sector organizations have sprung up everywhere. In keeping with this transformation of the contemporary organizational landscape, there has been considerable academic interest around these experiences of inter-organizational collaboration. Indeed, it is now possible to find a difficult number of publications on this subject. In the framework of the published multidisciplinary literature, the advantages and potentialities of inter-organizational collaboration relationships have been widely discussed. However, it is interesting to note that there is a relatively small number of publications for reflection or analysis on the problems, risks and challenges associated with inter-organizational training. The present text seeks to contribute, precisely, to the elimination of this gap, through an assessment of the failure of multi-organizational structures and the challenges associated with inter-organizational collaboration. This is done through, first of all, a critical analysis of the literature on the subject; and then the identification of a set of potential causes of failure in forms of network organization or similar collaborative inter-organizational structures.