Collaborative Tensions: Practitioners' Experiences of Interorganizational Relationships

Abstract

Organizations and the relationships they create are rife with tensions that pull individual participants and whole organizations in opposing directions. When multiple organizations form relationships with one another these tensions may take on new forms and create new challenges for individual and organizational participants. This study utilized a focus-group methodology to explore how participants in collaborative interorganizational relationships (IORs) experience and cope communicatively with tensions. The data suggest that tensions exist across two areas: relationships and structures. We found that tensions in collaboration are common, acknowledged, and that the tensions manifest and are addressed through communication.

Keywords:

• Dialectical Theory
• Collaboration
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Interorganizational Relationships

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurie Lewis

Laurie Lewis (Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Rutgers University, 4 Huntington St., New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901-1071

Matthew G. Isbell

Matthew G. Isbell (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at Merrimack College

Matt Koschmann

Matt Koschmann (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder