Organizational Development
PROJECT 1.
Cross-sector Partnerships
In recent decades, cross-sector partnerships have sprung into existence in the United States as the private (business), public (government), non-profit, faith-based, philanthropy, and community sectors of our society have realized the practical, economic, financial, social, health, and innovative benefits of collaborating across sectors. Cross-sector partnerships expand the existing pool of capabilities and resources available to sectoral members, foster innovation by combining diverse and new perspectives and can result in more transformative and enduring changes. This action-research area focuses on studying how organizations from different sectors can work together to have a greater impact on the individual and community health. Through an effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), we are working with Humana (business organization) and RWJF (philanthropy organization) to learn how to develop an effective philanthropic-private (PhPP) partnership. .
PROJECT 2.
Organizational Readiness
This effort examines variations in organizational readiness within and between for-profit and non-profit organizations. It is guided by a strategic research plan that is comprised of three domains of focus: a) developing a set of tools to measure and evaluate changes in organizational readiness. This includes a comprehensive readiness measure, qualitative interviews, and task-specific readiness assessments that are designed to be customized to the organization’s needs.; b) researching and evaluating how different aspects of readiness are linked to organizational outcomes, and c) developing resources and guidelines to aid practitioners who are interested in using the organizational readiness tools. This work involves a large, multi-site collaboration among researchers and practitioners interested in organizational development, and improvement and implementation science.