Using the stage model of collaboration theory to guide the establishment and operations of community round tables : a case study of the Howe Sound Round Table

• Main Author: Lotz, Sarah Jennifer
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4312

Following the release of Our Common Future (1987), a National Task Force created by the Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers (CCREM), recommended the establishment of National and Provincial Round Tables. Shortly thereafter, local round tables emerged across Canada as an important community response to the promotion of sustainable development. Local round tables are typically multi-stakeholder groups that operate by consensus and work towards a sustainability goal. Many of these local organizations were formed in a rather ad hoc manner with very little attention focussed on relevant organizational theories, and to this date are still struggling to come to grips with their establishment and operations. Thus there is an urgent need to understand how these community processes work and to discover how they can operate most effectively. The goal of this thesis is to test the use of the stage model of collaboration theory in guiding the establishment and operations of local round tables and for assessing their strengths and weaknesses in these phases. The Howe Sound Round Table (HSRT) was chosen as suitable case study. Collaboration theory has been well researched by McCann (1983), Gray (1989), Waddock (1989) and others. It also offers an effective strategy for defining the issues, building partnerships, and solving problems with other groups in a manner that enables them to work constructively towards common goals. Thus, its application to local round table processes is very appropriate. Nevertheless, current collaboration models cannot be applied in their existing form, but must first be adapted to the needs of local round tables. A five stage collaboration framework is proposed. These stages are as follows: environmental context/issue crystallization, problem setting, direction setting, relationship building and monitoring. This proposed framework is then used to guide both the data collection and the analysis. The results include a comprehensive analysis of the establishment and operational phases of the HSRT and a detailed list of recommendations for this group. These recommendations may be grouped into six major categories or objectives that may be beneficial to the HSRT as well as to other community groups. Based on the validity of the results and recommendations, it is concluded that collaboration theory can be used as a suitable guide. Further, since local round tables (such as the HSRT) are just one type of consensus-based, multi-stakeholder process it follows that collaboration theory may also successfully be applied to a wide variety of other such processes. Nevertheless, while collaboration is proven to be an effective tool, it does have some limitations. In addition, it should not be used as a replacement, but rather as a supplement to the more practical round table and community stewardship guides that are currently available. === Applied Science, Faculty of === Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of === Graduate