Recommended Reading
Susskind, L. E., McKearnen, S. & Thomas-Lamar, J.
This handbook on group decision-making for those wanting to operate in a consensus fashion stresses the advantages of informal, common sense approaches to working together. It describes how any group can put these approaches into practice, and relates numerous examples of situations in which such approaches have been applied.
Recommended Reading
Susskind, L. & Cruikshank, J. L.
Drawing on his experience in the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program, a leading mediator and his co-author provide the first jargon-free guide to consensual strategies for resolving public disputes--indispensable to citizen activists and to business and government leaders.
Recommended Reading
O’Leary, R. & Gerard, C.
This report provides valuable insights into how federal senior executives view collaboration. Based on survey responses from over 300 members of the federal Senior Executive Service, O’Leary and Gerard found that nearly all those surveyed report using collaboration as a management strategy. Survey respondents clearly recognize that the job of senior executives today involves collaboration within their agency, their department, and the federal government, as well as with key external partners and stakeholders.
Recommended Reading
O’Leary, R., Choi, Y. & Gerard, C. M.
In this article, the authors focus on members of the U.S. Senior Executive Service who choose collaboration as a management strategy to increase performance and, in particular, their views of the skill set of a successful collaborator. Based on the current literature on collaboration and networks, these executives might be expected to identify strategic thinking and strategic management as the most important skills.
Recommended Reading
O’Leary, R. & Bingham, L. B.
Collaboration continues to grow in importance, and public managers are increasingly using collaborative networks as a tool to accomplish public outcomes. Previous IBM Center reports on collaboration include “Leveraging Networks: A Guide for Public Managers Working Across Organizations” by Robert Agranoff, which describes the critical success factors for using networks to achieve important results. Another report, “A Manager’s Guide to Choosing and Using Collaborative Networks” by H. Brinton Milward and Keith G.
Recommended Reading
Morse, R. S. & Stephens, J. B.
Collaborative governance is becoming a primary motif in public administration research and practice. There is widespread recognition of the need to develop leaders for collaborative governance, yet clear guidelines or standard operating procedures are elusive. However, while the literature is varied, a broad model of collaboration phases is distinguishable and core competencies are emerging. This article outlines a four-phase model of collaborative governance and corresponding competencies to help ground education and training for collaborative governance.
Recommended Reading
Morse, R. S.
Leadership development in the public sector needs more of an emphasis on collaboration. Today's public leaders must be effective boundary-crossers, working in partnership with organizations across jurisdictional and sectoral boundaries. This paper identifies some key competencies of collaborative leadership that go beyond those already identified for organizational leadership. The purpose is to offer a starting point for discussions of how public leadership development efforts should be augmented in order to reflect the reality of collaborative governance.
Recommended Reading
Linden, R. M.
Linden illustrates the importance of collaboration, but drives further into issues of networks to teach us valuable lessons about core interests, trust, leadership, and success. This book is a resource for practitioners who seek to produce more value from effective collaboration.
Recommended Reading
Lewin, R. & Regine, B.
Weaving Complexity and Business brings business people a new way of thinking about and working in the new economy, one that draws on the new science of complexity, which recognizes that business organizations are complex adaptive systems, in which people are crucial but unpredictable factors in their development. It offers managers and companies a deeper understanding of the organizational dynamics of today’s fast-paced/changing business environment both within companies and among them.
Recommended Reading
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S.
Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot is a sociologist and Professor of Education at Harvard University. She is the author of many works on education and related matters and is a recipient of various academic awards, including the prestigious MacArthur Prize. This latest contribution brings together various themes found in her other works. It is written for an educated audience of nonspecialists and would therefore be helpful in undergraduate ethics courses, especially as she always connects abstract principles to concrete people, stories, and actions.
Recommended Reading
Kaner, S.
The third edition of this ground-breaking book continues to advance its mission to support groups to do their best thinking. It demonstrates that meetings can be much more than merely an occasion for solving a problem or creating a plan. Every well-facilitated meeting is also an opportunity to stretch and develop the perspectives of the individual members, thereby building the strength and capacity of the group as a whole.
Recommended Reading
Huxham, C.
This article provides an overview of the theory of collaborative advantage. This is a practice-oriented theory concerned with enhancing practical understanding of the management issues involved in joint working across organizations. Two contrasting concepts are central to it: collaborative advantage which is concerned with the potential for synergy from working collaboratively; and, collaborative inertia which relates to the often disappointing output in reality.
Recommended Reading
Fountain, J.
Federal agencies and academics have long discussed the importance of cross-agency collaboration. But recent changes in law and advances in technology have led to a new environment that makes cross-agency management far more achievable. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 requires the development of government-wide priority goals and greater coordination among agencies. This report provides useful insights into how the government can proceed in creating effective cross-agency collaborations that can improve outcomes significantly.
Recommended Reading
Fisher, R., Ury, W. L & Patton, B.
Everyone who ever has to deal with other people would benefit from reading this. (In other words, everyone.) It explains how to separate people issues from the problem, focus on interests rather than positions, and work together to create options that satisfy all parties. Though my work as a business analyst doesn't typically require this sort of opposed negotiation, I found a lot in here that will be useful in discussions with stakeholders over their needs and priorities. I'll also want to read it again the next time I'm considering the purchase of a home or car.
Recommended Reading
Emerson, K. & Smutko, L.S.
In 2011, the University Network for Collaborative Governance and PCI jointly published this guide to help build collaborative competencies within the private, public and civic sectors. Co-authored by the University of Wyoming's Dr. Steven Smutko and the University of Arizona's Kirk Emerson, the 28 page UNCG Guide to Collaborative Competencies is intended primarily for use by public officials and managers who are seeking to improve their own or their staff's collaborative competence through continuing education and training.
Recommended Reading
Dietz, T. & Stern, P. C.
Federal agencies have taken steps to include the public in a wide range of environmental decisions. Although some form of public participation is often required by law, agencies usually have broad discretion about the extent of that involvement. Approaches vary widely, from holding public information-gathering meetings to forming advisory groups to actively including citizens in making and implementing decisions. Proponents of public participation argue that those who must live with the outcome of an environmental decision should have some influence on it.
Recommended Reading
Carpenter, S. L. & Kennedy, W.J.D.
Disputing parties are often not aware of the predictable patterns of behavior in conflict situations, and they cannot usually identify options available for resolving differences. The resulting conflict often escalates and requires third-party professional mediators. Part One provides an overview of public controversies not limited to labor and management disputes where stakeholders are easily identified. Conflict management strategies are discussed. Part Two presents the steps necessary for managing disputes including the final steps of reaching and carrying out agreements.
Recommended Reading
Bingham, L. B. & O’Leary, R.
The world of public management is changing dramatically, fueled by technological innovations such as the Internet, globalism that permits us to outsource functions anywhere in the world, new ideas from network theory, and more. Public managers no longer are unitary leaders of unitary organizations - instead, they often find themselves convening, negotiating, mediating, and collaborating across borders. "Big Ideas in Collaborative Public Management" brings together a rich variety of big picture perspectives on collaborative public management.