posted on 2017-11-02, 06:17authored bySelsky, John W.
During the 1990s research on collaboration has been driven by several frameworks (Gray 1999), including
institutional theory, resource dependency theory, transaction cost approaches, strategic management
approaches, and political and critical perspectives. A distinct body of interdisciplinary research and literature
has grown up outside these approaches, where a "commons" framework underpins the study of the
sustainable management of resources in communities (see Ostrom, 1990; Bromley, 1992; Memon & Selsky,
1998). The resources are usually natural, and the management occurs usually by the members of a local
(rather than regional or global) community. In a related development, Lohmann (1992) has used commons
principles to articulate a theory about the nature of the nonprofit sector. Nevertheless, the growing body of
interdisciplinary research on the nature and management of the commons has not been absorbed into the
study of collaboration in the organizational sciences.
We need a commons perspective because it is important that holistic rather than segmental perspectives be
used in collaboration research. In a holistic perspective the unit of analysis is the whole social system with
an interest in, or affected by, the issue in which collaboration is being attempted. This is in contrast to
perspectives that focus on a particular element (often a powerful organizational "actor" or a key set of
relations) of a social system. I will show that the inherent holism of the commons perspective provides
advantages for understanding and managing collaborative action. Having trialed a commons framework in
research on urban port domains in New Zealand, in this paper I comment on the broader applicability of this
framework for understanding processes of collaboration in other kinds of domains. I draw together themes
in recent research by others as well as myself.1
Specifically, the purposes of this paper are (1) to describe a
"commons" framework for collaboration research and to situate it in relation to socio-ecological theory and
institutional theory; (2) to highlight the potential uses of such a framework in research and practice; and (3)
to illustrate two diverse applications of this framework.
History
Year of first publication
1999
Series
Working paper series (Monash University. Department of Management).