Collaboration and the Criteria for Success: A Case Study and a Proposed Framework for Analysis

Abstract

There is a voluminous literature devoted to identifying factors that affect the success of collaborative processes. Our first research goal was to develop a list of 13 elements of effective collaborative procedural design, which could then be applied to a case study of an innovative water policy collaboration. The case study indicated that the design of that collaborative process embodied significant limitations, and those imperfections provided valuable insights into how to design a successful collaboration. Our second research goal was to utilize what we learned from the case study to propose a typology for designing a successful collaborative process.