Innovation Landscape within Family Services Integration: Evidence from Australia

Abstract

The aim of this research is to explore the utility of collaborative innovation landscape within the government Family and Community Services (FACS) organisation in Australia. Exploring the presence or absence of the collaborative innovation landscape within public sector organisations is important, as the organisation's objectives combined with the effective management of people working within the organisation define the productivity and efficiency measures of an organisation. The collaborative innovation landscape in FACS is investigated in line with the identified gaps in the existing literature by exploring the structure and function of the organisation, working relationships, team-based interactions and respondents' perceptions of the prevailing working environment. Qualitative in-depth interviews and Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques were used in the present study to analyse the data obtained from the respondents. Respondents were employed within the divisions of FACS government organisation operating in Tamworth in regional Australia. The results obtained indicated that the respondents' lack of interdivision familiarity poses additional challenges in terms of understanding the nature of work, clarity of role and subsequent engagement with clients and personnel across divisions identified within FACS government organisation. The results obtained from the SNA indicated the presence of reciprocal relationships of the respondents with the other respondents working within their divisions. The findings suggest that collaborative type of innovation landscape is at a nascent stage within the FACS government organisation, and efforts need to be directed to strengthen the public sector innovations in Australia.