Challenges in Cross-Sectoral Partnerships: An Organizational Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to identify challenges to cross-sectoral collaboration based on principals in current organization theory regarding organizational boundaries. The boundarymaintenance function enables organizations to maintain sufficient stability and focus for goal attainment. Organizations periodically adjust their boundaries for tactical and strategic purposes, making participation in cross-sectoral partnerships possible and influencing the manner in which participation will take place. Because collaboration places boundary maintenance at risk, organizations generally appear unlikely to participate except when collaboration is based on loose and terminable linkages and cooperation of a temporary nature. These principles suggest that advocates of cross-sectoral collaboration today risk setting unrealistic goals for such arrangements. Examination of several foundation-funded initiatives illustrates limitations in the ability of organizations to compromise boundary maintenance in the interests of cross-sectoral collaboration. More optimistically, this paper aims at combining organization theory, evaluation, and action research to produce practical suggestions for promotion of successful cross-sectoral partnerships. Suggestions derived from theory and case studies conducted throughout the United States include: recruiting and empowering leadership committed to cross-sectoral collaboration; ensuring the presence of appropriately mandated, supervised, and paid staff; providing limited access by outsiders to privileged data and decision-making processes, and respecting the integrity of participant organizations’ core commitments and resources. As in the case of foundation-funded initiatives, external forces may prove essential to the initiation and sustainability of cross-sectoral collaboration.