The Pros And Cons Of Collaboration

Wood and Gray (1991) define collaboration as “a process in which a group of autonomous stakeholders of an issue domain engage in an interactive process, using shared rules, norms, and structures to act or decide on issues related to that domain” (p. 437). Gray (1989) calls collaboration “a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible” (p. 5). According to Eddy, a “key tenet of partnering is that benefits accrue from creating a collaboration: individual partners cannot accomplish their overarching goals on their own, but a partnership creates the ultimate win-win situation” (2010, viii).

Gray (1991) divides the opportunities for collaboration into two domains:

a. resolving conflicts—where collaboration is used as a “last ditch effort [only] when other approaches have reached an impasse or have produced less than acceptable outcomes” (p. 7) and

b. advancing shared visions— which are “intended to advance the collective good of the s...