Every partnership may or may not experience emergence of barriers that prevent organizations from collaborating with partners or receiving important grants. The barriers are a serious problem for business relationships as well as for the organizations’ clients. In this paper, the obstacles that may negatively influence Indian Creek Foundation will be in focus. After the establishment of possible barriers is concluded, they will be analyzed. The analysis will result in the prediction of resolutions that will help to address the barriers that may occur.
Possible Barriers
An article by Crawford and Cunningham provides – amongst other topics – an insight on what mechanisms provide better partnership functioning in collaboration (78). The mechanisms include leadership, data sharing and problem focus, communication and co-location, structures, and experience. Each component is then divided into more precise clauses. To address all of these elements would mean to establish a more stable and productive relationship between partnerships.
In the case of Indian Creek Foundation, a significant barrier may occur when considering the organization’s ability to develop, change, and adapt. This organization is non-profit, hence the high probability of its being more conservative and relying on stability rather than innovation. As stated by Butler and Wilson, voluntary agencies are “often conservative institutions with a heavy overlay of history and sometimes religious belief which together form a potent barrier to organizational change” (169). Another research – performed by Torfing and Triantafillou – states that the rejection to accept innovation is also caused by the lack of incentives (238). Thus, the influence that the insufficient motivation has is an apparent problem that may lead to problems inside the organization, as well as to issues connected with collaboration.
Ways to Overcome Barriers
As stated by Hartley et al., there is also a “proactive reason for boosting innovation: increasing the capacity of organizations and groups to address the growing number of wicked problems and realizing political goals for the future development of society” (824). Therefore, necessity to address the implementation of innovations becomes even more evident. However, since Indian Creek Foundation is an organization that is yet to receive grants to support its cause, there is no need to implement solutions to this problem right away. Nevertheless, the organization’s leadership must seek to apply means of preventing this problem from occurring.
Thus, the need for innovation would result in shifting priorities. If the company’s directory is somewhat conservative or does not accept changes, it must undergo a thorough overhaul to eliminate any possible stagnation in views. This way, the organization will welcome any possible improvements including collaborations that may result in beneficial grants given to support the organization’s goals. Of course, changing organization’s policy is not the only means of eliminating the problem. The leadership must implement other ways of promoting the innovation acceptance in the firm as well. This will also help organization’s members to maintain motivation.
Conclusion
As a voluntary organization, Indian Creek Foundation will probably face a barrier of innovation rejection. This will result in various obstacles on the way to receiving grants from collaborations that would help to pursue the organization’s goals. To successfully overcome this barrier, organization’s leadership would have to either implement a complete overhaul of its policy or promote innovation acceptance amongst its members. Whichever means the group will resort to, the beneficial nature of changes is evident; the motivation to welcome possible improvements is an important quality in itself. While allowing continuous developing of any organization, the changes also stimulate the company’s ability to adapt and, therefore, overcome any further barriers that may occur.
Works Cited
Butler, Richard, and David C. Wilson. Managing Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations: Strategy and Structure, Routledge, 2015.
Crawford, Adam, and Mike Cunningham. “Working in Partnership: The challenges of working across organisational boundaries, cultures and practices.” Police Leadership – Rising to the Top, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 71-94.
Hartley, Jean, et al. “Collaborative Innovation: A Viable Alternative to Market Competition and Organizational Entrepreneurship.” Public Administration Review, vol. 73, no. 6, 2013, pp. 821–830.
Jacob Torfing, and Peter Triantafillo. Enhancing Public Innovation by Transforming Public Governance, Cambridge University Press, 2016.