Falling Into CrossSector Collaboration Successfully

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Falling Into Cross-Sector Collaboration
Successfully
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• Prof. John M Bryson
• University of Minnesota
• Assoc. Prof. Barbara C. Crosby
• University of Minnesota
• Assoc. Prof. Melissa M. Stone
• University of Minnesota

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Perceived need to collaborate has provoked two
general responses
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Perceived need to collaborate has provoked two
general responses

• Response 1 Organizations have had to fail into
  their role in the collaboration

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Perceived need to collaborate has provoked two
general responses

• Response 1 Organizations have had to fail into
  their role in the collaboration
• Response 2 Organizations assume that
  collaboration is always best

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11 Propositions

• Proposition 1 Sector Failure
• Proposition 2 Environmental Factors
• Proposition 3 Building Leadership
• Proposition 4 Building Legitimacy
• Proposition 5 Building Trust
• Proposition 6 Structure and Design
• Proposition 7 Competing Institutional Logics
• Proposition 8 Planning
• Proposition 9 Power Imbalances
• Proposition 10 Public Value
• Proposition 11 Difficulty of Success

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Proposition 1 Sector Failure

• Public policy makers are most likely to try
  cross-sector collaboration if they believe that
  separate efforts by different sectors to address
  a public problem have failed, or are likely to
  fail, and the actual or potential failures cannot
  be fixed by the sectors acting alone.

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Proposition 2 Environmental Factors

• Similar to all interorganizational relationships,
  cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  form in turbulent environments. In particular,
  the formation and sustainability of cross-sector
  collaborations will be affected by driving and
  constraining forces in their competitive and
  institutional environments.

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Proposition 3 Building Leadership

• Cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  succeed if they have committed sponsors and
  effective champions at many levels and from
  different sectors who provide formal and informal
  leadership.

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Proposition 4 Building Legitimacy

• Cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  succeed if they establish with both internal and
  external stakeholders the legitimacy of
  collaboration as a form of organizing, as a
  separate entity, and as a source of trusted
  interaction among members.

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Proposition 5 Building Trust

• Cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  succeed if trust-building activities (including
  nurturing of cross-sectoral understanding) are
  continuous.

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Proposition 6 Structure and Design

• In general, collaboration across sectors will
  produce particular tensions around formality and
  informality of structure and processual
  arrangements.

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Proposition 7 Competing Institutional Logics

• Competing institutional logics are likely within
  cross-sector collaborations and may significantly
  influence the extent to which collaborations can
  agree on essential elements of process and
  structure as well as outcomes.

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Proposition 8 Planning

• Cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  succeed if their planning makes use of
  stakeholder analyses, emphasizes responsiveness
  to key stakeholders, uses the process to build
  trust and the capacity to manage conflict and
  builds on the competencies and distinctive
  competencies of the collaborators and their
  respective sectors.

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Proposition 9 Power Imbalances

• Cross-sector collaborations are more likely to
  succeed if they build in resources and tactics
  for dealing with power imbalances and shocks.

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Proposition 10 Public Value

• Cross-sector collaborations are most likely to
  create public value if they build on individuals
  and organizations self-interests along with each
  sectors characteristic strengths, while finding
  ways to minimize, overcome, or compensate for
  each sectors characteristic weaknesses.

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Proposition 11 Difficulty of Success

• The normal expectation ought to be that success
  will be very difficult to achieve in cross-sector
  collaborations.

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Implications for Public Policy Education
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Implications for Public Policy Education

• Students and practitioners need a well-developed
  conception of differential strengths and the
  various ways in which they can fail.

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Implications for Public Policy Education

• Students and practitioners need a well-developed
  conception of differential strengths and the
  various ways in which they can fail.
• Students and practitioners need a conception of
  how mutual gain might be constructed by building
  on the strengths of different sectors while
  minimizing or overcoming their weaknesses.