Margerum Richard D
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management, 1209 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1209, USA.
Environ Manage. 2008 Apr;41(4):487-500. doi: 10.1007/s00267-008-9067-9.
Collaboration involves stakeholders and the public in a process of consensus building to address some of the most difficult environmental management problems facing society today. Collaborative groups vary widely, ranging from small watershed councils to regional ecosystem collaboratives to groups addressing large-scale policy issues. While these collaboratives all match the common principles of collaboration, a closer examination reveals many differences. Using institutional theories about levels of decision making provides a way of classifying collaboratives along a spectrum from action level to organizational level to policy level. This typology is applied to thirty-six collaboration case studies in Australia and the United States that were investigated over a series of years through interviews, observation, document analysis, and surveys. The application reveals different tendencies among the case types in terms of population, size, problem significance, institutional setting, and focus of activities. The typology also reveals functional differences in the types of stakeholders involved, the management arrangements for implementation, and the approaches to implementing change. This typology can help practitioners better understand the challenges and appropriate types of collaborations for different settings. It helps highlight differences in the role of government and decentralization of power. It distinguishes the different theoretical foundations for different types of collaboratives. Finally, it elucidates the different evaluation approaches for different types of collaboratives.
合作让利益相关者和公众参与到一个建立共识的过程中，以解决当今社会面临的一些最棘手的环境管理问题。合作团体千差万别，从小型流域委员会到区域生态系统合作组织，再到处理大规模政策问题的团体。虽然这些合作组织都符合合作的共同原则，但仔细研究就会发现许多差异。运用关于决策层次的制度理论，提供了一种将合作组织从行动层面到组织层面再到政策层面进行分类的方法。这种类型划分应用于澳大利亚和美国的36个合作案例研究，这些研究在多年间通过访谈、观察、文件分析和调查进行。该应用揭示了不同案例类型在人口、规模、问题重要性、制度背景和活动重点方面的不同倾向。这种类型划分还揭示了所涉及的利益相关者类型、实施的管理安排以及实施变革的方法等方面的功能差异。这种类型划分可以帮助从业者更好地理解不同背景下合作面临的挑战以及合适的合作类型。它有助于突出政府角色和权力下放的差异。它区分了不同类型合作组织的不同理论基础。最后，它阐明了不同类型合作组织的不同评估方法。
