The Communicative Practices of Inter-organisational Collaboration: An ethnographic study of the organisation of groundwater resources in southern Sweden

This dissertation is interested in how and in what ways a societal problem is constructed and enacted through communication between employees, organisations, as well as in mundane everyday interactions. It delves into how a Swedish municipality collaborates with the agricultural and industrial sector to ensure adequate drinking water for the inhabitants in the municipality. This is achieved by using ethnographic methods, in particular, observations and semi-structured interviews.

Managing essential natural resources, such as groundwater, requires in many cases inter-organisational collaboration, which this dissertation is interested in. In the case of managing groundwater resources there is an intricacy of multiple stakeholders that work across different organisational and sectorial boundaries, which can create tensions and challenges in the collaboration. Such issues are shaped through communication practices, for example through shared agreements, procedures, and boundaries, revealing diverse values and problem-solving approaches. Therefore, applying a strategic communication perspective on inter-organisational collaboration illustrates how organisational practices conceptualise the problem and legitimise certain knowledge.