Decision Support Tool Overview

The key element of cooperation is the establishment of short term, often informal and largely voluntary relations between people or organisations (Hogue, 1994; Cigler, 2001). In cooperative relations participants may agree to share information, space or referrals, however organisations remain independent and little effort is made to establish common goals (Mulford and Roger, 1987; Melaville and Blank, 1991).  Given that cooperation entails the use or investment of few resources, mainly information sharing, it is also characterised by low levels of relational intensity and risk (Cigler, 2001). In this way, cooperative efforts are centred on establishing relationships with others to achieve individual advancement (Mandell, 1999). As Schermerhorn (in Mulford and Rogers, 1982: 13) notes, cooperation entails the “deliberate relations between otherwise autonomous organisations for the joint accomplishment of individual operating goals”. Thus, it is essentially about taking others into consideration, compromising on some actions without necessarily adjusting individual goals. 

Link to Cooperation Case Study