Strategic Challenges Confronting Leaders of a Cross-Sector Collaboration Organization Created to Improve Community Health

Abstract

This article explores the strategic challenges associated with launching and managing a cross-sector collaboration that confronted Aligning Forces for Quality of South Central Pennsylvania (AF4Q-SCPA), which was established to improve health care quality in partnerships with patients, providers, employers, and community organizations. It draws upon the work of scholars from the fields of public administration, public health, organizational theory, and business strategy. It synthesizes previous contributions to create a new model called the Collaboration Cube, which links the likelihood of success of initiatives to intended outcomes and collaborative structures. With respect to methodology, it takes an inductive approach and uses the insights from the case study to offer nine generalizable propositions that readers may find relevant to collaborative organizations operating in any field. Finally, the article offers thoughts about possible lines of future research.