Performance management and common purpose: Rethinking solutions to inter-organizational working

During the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries there was a push towards greater inter-organizational working in many countries as a way of addressing complex public policy challenges. Practitioners often pursue structural or cultural solutions, with a collaborative culture seen as a prerequisite for successful inter-organizational working. However, the disruptive challenges with structural change are well-known, and cultural change can be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. In this chapter the role of common purpose is advocated as a more effective solution, with performance management then suggested as a way to support its development. Using a comparative qualitative case study design a typology is developed which depicts the interplay between structure, culture and common purpose, offering a nuanced analysis of how to support different types of inter-organizational working. Performance management is then reconceptualized as a mechanism to align individuals with the common purpose of an inter-organizational arrangement, thereby enhancing its chances of success.