Preparing MPA Students to Succeed in Government-Nonprofit Collaboration: Lessons from the Field

Abstract

Most graduates of MPA programs will lead cross-sector collaborative efforts during their careers, and they will find that this task requires a skill set distinctive from that required by management within a single organization or within a single sector. Based on a grounded analysis of in-depth interviews with 30 experienced public and nonprofit managers, this paper distills their lessons learned into a collaboration model and a set of learning objectives and activities to help prepare students to lead successful cross-sector collaboration. These practitioners’ experiences teach that students must understand the interplay between formal and informal aspects of collaborative relationships and how these affect collaboration outcomes, organizational learning, and learning throughout the collaborative system.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher S. Horne

Christopher Horne is an assistant professor of public administration at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where his research focuses on government-nonprofit relations, cross-sector comparisons of organizational performance, and information use in nonprofit organizations. His work has been published in Administration and Society, the International Journal of Public Administration, and in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. He may be reached at [email protected].

Tommi V. Paris

Tommi Paris is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga MPA program and works as an internal communications specialist for a multinational company. She may be reached at [email protected].