Collaboration management : a developing domain?

In this paper we consider the various ways in which researchers have framed insights about the management of interorganizational collaboration. We seek to examine whether, collectively, these make a useful contribution to the practice of collaboration, or how they might do so. We identify, and describe research in, six categories of insight. The first three of these are framed as alternative conceptualizations of the nature of collaboration and the second three are framed as responses to the challenges of collaborative situations. We argue that while collectively they have the potential to form the basis of an impressive tool kit for informing practice, many would have weaknesses if applied prescriptively. We suggest that research in this area needs to pay attention to building more robust conceptualizations and, in parallel, to developing their use in a reflective practice mode.