A Case Study of Organizational Collaboration in an Institution of Higher Education

The study, A Case Study of Organizational Collaboration in an Institution of Higher Education, is a look into what is working and what is not working inside a collaborative initiative at the University of Virginia called the Partners for Leadership in Education. The Partners for Leadership in Education is one of the longest lasting collaborations in higher education with a very high success rate. This study was accomplished by using the Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory Score Sheet to create a set of interview questions. After the interview questions were created, representatives of all three major parties involved with the Partners for Leadership in Education were interviewed. Those three parties were the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and the Partners for Leadership in Education staff. Once the interviews were completed, transcribed, and fact-checked, they were then analyzed using methods suggested by the creator of the Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory. The interviews also included asking other questions specifically tailed to the Partnership. Results were promising, as most areas of concern were also areas where the subjects were most positive. The results overall suggested a successful working collaboration in most areas; however, issues of high turnover in the leadership roles coupled with working in a hostile environment generate some areas of concern.