Education, Research, Health, Social Security and other "public goods" are organised by a mix of organisations, partly publicly-funded, partly private enterprises, partly public-private partnerships. The quality of the services relies greatly on the coordination and collaboration of these specialised organisations. How can cooperative relationships be built that guarantee trustful communication, binding decisions, and productive team-work? How can collaboration and competition be balanced? What are the differences between loose-coupled networks and tightly built collaborations and which type is the best solution for which tasks? How can mergers be managed as result of such collaboration? How must organisations prepare themselves and their internal structures to engage in trans-organisational collaboration? This volume investigates the potential and challenges inherent in collaborative ventures. It is based on the authors' rich experiences derived from consulting engagements and research projects in publicly-funded service organisations, non-profit organisations, public-private partnerships, and for-profit enterprises. The focus is on the role that management consultants can play in facilitating such collaborative ventures. Especially within the European context, this particular organisational form is becoming an increasingly common and powerful type of organisational system, and, as such, interventions that can ease and expedite their performance demand our attention and scholarship. As the authors skillfully document and illustrate, cooperative relationships and networks function according to their own underlying logic, which is typically grounded in a spirit of collaboration and negotiation. As they argue, the resulting dynamic reflects a different perspective on building interpersonal, intergroup, and inter-organisational relationships, one that is removed from historic attempts at coordination through tight hierarchical control, which, as they underscore, is often "inflexible, bureaucratic, and incapable" of achieving the level of commitment and dedication necessary for success. Collaborative ventures involve goals that must be jointly pursued, the partnerships must strive for levels commitment, involvement and motivation from their members that go well beyond those that hierarchical top-down structures typically provide. As the authors convincingly demonstrate, such high levels of collaboration do not emerge on their own. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances are often launched with great fanfare, only to fall well short of pre-venture expectations. To truly work in practice, collaborative relationships and networks must be deliberately formed, developed, organised, and guided. Yet, as this volume amply illustrates, the underlying process is infused with a number of tensions - from the challenge of balancing collaboration and competition, to the appropriate mix of loose-tight controls and linkages, to ensuring commitment from members to the partnership while they maintain allegiance to their primary organisation. This volume appeals to an international market. It is part of an effort to continue to learn across cultural perspectives, focusing on current thinking in the European context. The reader will become intrigued by the Austrian approach to organisational intervention, especially in the context of inter-organisational settings.

This book presents - for the first time in the English language - the concept of systemic organization development and its use in management and consultancy. It demonstrates in a succinct and compact way, how the systemic approach, in its up-to-date version, is well suited to describe and handle complex challenges in diverse organizations of all sectors of society. First, the authors sketch out the crucial role organizations play today and the increasing importance of their ability to change. The central theme of the book is thus the design of organizational change processes with the help of different tools. These tools deal cautiously with employees, clients and cooperation partners in order to ensure sustainable success of an organization. In the final chapters the authors delve into specific attitudes during the change process, such as the building of trust and the allowing of emotions. Several cases illustrate how the concept and the tools promote organizational development. The book well provides a practical guideline. Additionally, the book talks about important aspects managers have to pay attention to, such as dealing with concerns and resistance. The values of the systemic concept like sustainability, selective participation and growth from inside are convincingly exemplified. The book is theoretically sound and grounded by the authors' long management and consulting experience and their research activities with the university background. It is addressed mainly at actors in corporations, not-for-profit and public organizations, who's task it is to organize, design and effectuate change while the daily business continues alongside. These actors may be leaders, managers, experts, consultants, project managers or employees.

Die Entwicklung von Krankenhausern ist ein hoechst aktuelles und weitgehend ungeloestes Problem. Erstmals wird anhand internationaler Fallbeispiele Auskunft uber konkrete Reorganisationsprojekte in Krankenhausern und Gesundheitseinrichtungen gegeben. Die Autoren beleuchten klar und verstandlich den Stellenwert von Organisationsentwicklung fur die komplexen Steuerungsanforderungen des Krankenversorgungssystems. Die Praxisbeispiele vermitteln einen guten UEberblick uber unterschiedliche Zugange und Problemstellungen von Veranderung; sie bieten eine praktische und theoretisch fundierte Orientierung aus erster Hand. Daruber hinaus konturiert das Buch exemplarisch das Profil einer "intelligenten Organisation". Ein gesellschaftlich zukunftsweisender Umgang mit oeffentlichen Gutern wie Gesundheit, Bildung, Sicherheit, soziale Integration u.a. stellt hohe Anforderungen an die dafur eingerichteten Organisationen und ihre Steuerung. Diese Beitrage sind beispielhaft fur intelligente Organisationen in anderen Sektoren.

This book presents - for the first time in the English language - the concept of systemic organization development and its use in management and consultancy. It demonstrates in a succinct and compact way, how the systemic approach, in its up-to-date version, is well suited to describe and handle complex challenges in diverse organizations of all sectors of society. First, the authors sketch out the crucial role organizations play today and the increasing importance of their ability to change. The central theme of the book is thus the design of organizational change processes with the help of different tools. These tools deal cautiously with employees, clients and cooperation partners in order to ensure sustainable success of an organization. In the final chapters the authors delve into specific attitudes during the change process, such as the building of trust and the allowing of emotions. Several cases illustrate how the concept and the tools promote organizational development. The book well provides a practical guideline. Additionally, the book talks about important aspects managers have to pay attention to, such as dealing with concerns and resistance. The values of the systemic concept like sustainability, selective participation and growth from inside are convincingly exemplified. The book is theoretically sound and grounded by the authors' long management and consulting experience and their research activities with the university background. It is addressed mainly at actors in corporations, not-for-profit and public organizations, who's task it is to organize, design and effectuate change while the daily business continues alongside. These actors may be leaders, managers, experts, consultants, project managers or employees.

Education, Research, Health, Social Security and other "public goods" are organised by a mix of organisations, partly publicly-funded, partly private enterprises, partly public-private partnerships. The quality of the services relies greatly on the coordination and collaboration of these specialised organisations. How can cooperative relationships be built that guarantee trustful communication, binding decisions, and productive team-work? How can collaboration and competition be balanced? What are the differences between loose-coupled networks and tightly built collaborations and which type is the best solution for which tasks? How can mergers be managed as result of such collaboration? How must organisations prepare themselves and their internal structures to engage in trans-organisational collaboration? This volume investigates the potential and challenges inherent in collaborative ventures. It is based on the authors' rich experiences derived from consulting engagements and research projects in publicly-funded service organisations, non-profit organisations, public-private partnerships, and for-profit enterprises. The focus is on the role that management consultants can play in facilitating such collaborative ventures. Especially within the European context, this particular organisational form is becoming an increasingly common and powerful type of organisational system, and, as such, interventions that can ease and expedite their performance demand our attention and scholarship. As the authors skillfully document and illustrate, cooperative relationships and networks function according to their own underlying logic, which is typically grounded in a spirit of collaboration and negotiation. As they argue, the resulting dynamic reflects a different perspective on building interpersonal, intergroup, and inter-organisational relationships, one that is removed from historic attempts at coordination through tight hierarchical control, which, as they underscore, is often "inflexible, bureaucratic, and incapable" of achieving the level of commitment and dedication necessary for success. Collaborative ventures involve goals that must be jointly pursued, the partnerships must strive for levels commitment, involvement and motivation from their members that go well beyond those that hierarchical top-down structures typically provide. As the authors convincingly demonstrate, such high levels of collaboration do not emerge on their own. Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, and strategic alliances are often launched with great fanfare, only to fall well short of pre-venture expectations. To truly work in practice, collaborative relationships and networks must be deliberately formed, developed, organised, and guided. Yet, as this volume amply illustrates, the underlying process is infused with a number of tensions - from the challenge of balancing collaboration and competition, to the appropriate mix of loose-tight controls and linkages, to ensuring commitment from members to the partnership while they maintain allegiance to their primary organisation. This volume appeals to an international market. It is part of an effort to continue to learn across cultural perspectives, focusing on current thinking in the European context. The reader will become intrigued by the Austrian approach to organisational intervention, especially in the context of inter-organisational settings.