Collaboration: what does it really mean?

The risks and opportunities of social procurement in construction projects: a cross-sector collaboration perspective

“…The recurring theme across all stakeholder groups was the need for more education to build awareness of social procurement and the opportunities it creates. Taken together, the responses point to an understanding that social procurement and the collaborative effort behind it, is not business as usual and demands an appreciation of the relational knowledge needed to enable it, including how to identify, nurture and leverage all connections to bring all the relevant actors together (Thompson and Perry, 2006; Keast, 2015; Stout and Keast, 2021). Our findings highlight the need to include social procurement and the relational knowledge and competencies needed to foster cross-sector collaboration in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (2021).…”

“…Furthermore, cross-sector collaboration research in other sectors shows that cross-sector working is inherently risky and requires new relational competencies, governance structures, systems, leadership and collaborative norms (Thompson and Perry, 2006;Mandell et al, 2017;Flynn, 2019;Stout and Keast, 2021). These new cross-sector relational competencies are not IJMPB 15,5 currently recognised in the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) despite including stakeholders as one of the eight domains (Project Management Institute, 2021).…”

“…It also requires a different way of thinking and behaving which involves stakeholders from different sectors sharing resources and information and knowledge to search for collective solutions that go beyond their limited vision of what is possible to change systems. According to Thompson and Perry (2006), Keast (2015) and Stout and Keast (2021) genuine cross-sector collaboration is more demanding than other less-demanding inter-organizational forms of working such as cooperation and coordination. Their research shows that effective collaboration requires: effective project governance to facilitate joint decision-making on a project's direction and rules for working together; systems and processes that support collaborative efforts; project managers acknowledging and dealing with tensions between organizational self-interests and collective interests; and skills to work through differences to arrive at mutually beneficial outcomes.…”

“…Their research shows that effective collaboration requires: effective project governance to facilitate joint decision-making on a project's direction and rules for working together; systems and processes that support collaborative efforts; project managers acknowledging and dealing with tensions between organizational self-interests and collective interests; and skills to work through differences to arrive at mutually beneficial outcomes. To achieve this collaborative arrangements depend on so-called "soft skills" such as communication, negotiation and facilitation and micro processes such as language, emotions, professional embeddedness and emotional awareness (Stout and Keast, 2021).…”

How does a Network Platform Work for Participating Actors Towards Integrated Care Governance? A Case Study of a Dutch Hospital Region

“…In doing so, our paper further builds on literature that critically analyses collaborative forms of governance (in healthcare) by zooming in on emerging actor-level tensions, and how these inform our understanding of how a network platform 'works' [17,23,25]. With network-building we refer to the intentional and ongoing efforts of participating actors to create, nurture and sustain networks [26,27]. These include the development of relationships beyond organizational boundaries or efforts to integrate care delivery processes to shape a networked model of care.…”