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This chapter discusses two studies on the process of collaboration in the field of criminal investigation in two different police organisations: the first is a Dutch study initiated by the centre of expertise for criminal investigation (ABRIO) about the collaboration of a work community, focusing on learning through an organisational network; and the second is a Finnish study about collaboration between police officers and tax inspectors, focusing on learning to network. The chapter examines the starting process of a work community where members attempt to develop a shared understanding. The process of collaboration at the start is analysed using the 'model of activity system'. In the Dutch study, the start of collaboration refers to the process of negotiating the meaning of the object, i.e. identifying and describing general work-processes in the field, while in the Finnish study, it refers to attempts made to fade boundaries between the activities of the police and the tax authority. Although moving from the traditional, individual based working models towards more intensive, real-time collaboration is challenging, in both the studies, first steps had already been taken. The chapter concludes that it is important to study the construction process at the beginning of collaborative activity and calls for further research into the 'construction process in the broader context of the socio-historical time in which the activity system evolves'.

The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/IRD 88.430; individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 86.413 to TD/TNC 86.427. Show less