CASE 7.1 Breaking Down Silos to Build Collaborative Systems

Lauren Hajjar is assistant professor of public management at the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University. Her research is focused on organizational change and human resource practices that support high performing teams, organizations and communities. She spent over a decade in the nonprofit sector providing behavioral health services to clients and now works directly with leaders, managers, and frontline staff in the implementation of various policies, practices and initiatives—facilitating both inter- and intra-organizational change and development efforts. Her publications are geared toward an international audience of scholars and practitioners. She holds degrees in psychology, public administration, and social policy and completed her doctoral work at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

William (Bill) B. Gunn Jr. is a health and organizational psychologist in private practice in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He worked as a behavioral health specialist in family medicine education for 30 years and has expertise integrating public health and behavioral health into the primary care setting. Bill is co-author of Models of Collaboration and The Collaborative Psychotherapist, books designed for mental health professionals working in medical settings. He has also published articles about the integration of behavioral health into primary care. Bill leads organizational change projects that are uniquely designed to collaborate with the individual, team, or department in setting a vision and following through with strategic plans. He was the clinical director of Region 6 in New Hampshire for 5 years, and this work led to the development of the case in this collection.

Ninna Meier is associate professor in organizational sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Alborg University. She uses case-based and problem-based teaching methods and currently teaches courses in organizational sociology, advanced qualitative methods, and academic writing. She holds a degree in philosophy and business administration (cand.merc.phil) and received her PhD from Aarhus University. She has studied the collaboration, leadership, and management of inter-organizational co- ordination in and across public sector organizations since 2009 and publishes for practitioners as well as scholars.

Jody Hoffer Gittell is professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School; faculty director of the Relational Coordination Collaborative, a global community of researchers and change leaders; and cofounder of Relational Coordination Analytics. Gittell developed Relational Coordination Theory, proposing that highly interdependent work can be effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect and supported by frequent, timely, accurate, problem-solving communication. The relational model of organizational change shows how stakeholders can design structural, relational, and work process interventions to support more effective coordination of their work. She received her PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management.