Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Must reading for anyone involved in improving schools or communities. Sarason and Lorentz identify a vital catalyst for orchestrating change effectively--one that is a promising as it is overlooked." --Eric Schaps, president, Developmental Studies Center, Oakland, California
"Sarason and Lorentz have extAnded their earlier work on resource networks to create what may well become the classic work on coordination and collaboration in organizations in general and schools in particular." --Dale L. Brubaker, professor, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
"For anyone who is struggling with the real world implications of collaboration and coordination in the human services, Crossing Boundaries is an invaluable practical guide by authors who have blazed these trails and know the territory." --Jacquelyn McCroskey, associate professor, University of Southern California School of Social Work
Synopsis
Once again, Sarason leads the way, with a unique and provocative perspective on organizational collaboration.
In this penetrating work, Sarason and Lorenz tackle the problem of decreased in schools and health and social service agencies. They show how collaboration between organizations can work, and how this pooling of resources can add up to more than the sum of parts. The authors the role of networks for maximizing the use of resources, the special role and characteristics of a network coordinator, and the energy and sense of community that will result.
About the Author
SEYMOUR B. SARASON is professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books including The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform and the Case for Change, both from Jossey-Bass Publishers. ELIZABETH M. LORENTZ supervises new coordinators of resource exchange networks in the New York metropolitan area. She also brings network concepts to bear on organizations on whose advisory board she serves, including the Institute for Responsive Education, the Bank Street College of Education, the College for Human Services, the Rene Dubos Forum, and the Public Education Association.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Charters, Curricula, and a History of Failure
1. An Emerging Paradigm Shift
2. Redefining Resources
3. Breaking the Organizational Chart Mentality
4. Coordination: The Origins of a Point of View
5. The Coordinator's Rationale: Cognitive and Stylistic Characteristics
6. Collegiality and Community: The New Paradigm in Action
Epilogue: The Public Schools and the Private Sector