Stakeholder Collaboration and Organizational Innovation in the Planning of the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study

Coastal managers have sought to enhance the collaborative inputs of stakeholder groups into management activities. Nonetheless, established organizational approaches have led to primarily consultative forms of engagement and constrained citizen involvement in formative activities. In Olympia, Washin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCoastal management Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 514 - 528
Main Authors Safford, Thomas G., Carlson, Margen L., Hart, Zachary H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2009
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Coastal environments
Coastal management
Coastal zone management
Collaboration
Cooperation
cooperative research
Estuaries
Estuarine dynamics
estuary restoration
Feasibility studies
Innovation
Innovations
Interest groups
Management
organizational behavior
Organizations
Planning
Political participation
Public officials
Restoration
Socioeconomic factors
Sociology
stakeholder involvement
Stakeholders
Traditional roles
Washington State
United States > US
Olympia Washington
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Summary:Coastal managers have sought to enhance the collaborative inputs of stakeholder groups into management activities. Nonetheless, established organizational approaches have led to primarily consultative forms of engagement and constrained citizen involvement in formative activities. In Olympia, Washington, managers overseeing the Deschutes Estuary Feasibility Study (DEFS) implemented an innovative cooperative research planning initiative that diverged from conventional consultative processes. Stakeholders, rather than government officials, identified the research priorities for the socioeconomic component of this restoration feasibility study. This design method altered the traditional roles and responsibilities of different organizational actors, and the involvement of citizen groups in these formative activities changed the relationship between governmental and nongovernmental actors. Using conceptual frameworks from organizational sociology, this study develops insights into the behavior of the organizations involved with the DEFS cooperative planning effort, demonstrating how engaging stakeholders in formative research planning activities may foster new types of collaboration among coastal management organizations.
ISSN:0892-0753
1521-0421
DOI:10.1080/08920750903044774