Crossing Boundaries: Collaboration, Coordination, and the Redefinition of Resources Hardback - 1997

Attempts to "reinvent" government bureaucracies and private sector organizations often result in the pooling of resources to compensate for decreased funding. These collaborations appear to be a likely solution to the problem of limited resources, so why do these well-intentioned efforts so often fail?In this timely and provocative book, Seymour Sarason and Elizabeth Lorentz offer a penetrating analysis of the pitfalls and possibilities inherent in collaborations between and within organizations. They present a new paradigm for the management of people and resources and show how organizational collaborations can be successful.Crossing Boundaries is based on decades of experience using a resource sharing model in both the private and public sectors. Illustrated with examples from both arenas, the book explains why effective collaboration hinges on rethinking of organizational roles and structures. Traditionally, people are treated as "organizational chart" resources?workers are pigeonholed, and are not to stray from the confines of their carefully crafted job descriptions. True collaboration and resource exchange between organizations requires the creation of a new role, a network coordinator, who serves as a critical bridge between and across organizations. The authors describe the characteristics of the ideal coordinator and explain how this resource exchange energizes and reinforces collegiality and a sense of community.As organizations continue to reinvent themselves, Crossing Boundaries provides the missing link in the quest for effective change.