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Cooperation/Coordination

Cooperation and coordination (C&C) are essential management activities employed within and across organizations and as part of interdepartmental and interorganizational relationships, such as: supply chains, strategic alliances, research and development collaborations, international development programs, investment and construction projects, government support activities, multilateral agreements, or multinational operations. Although there are specificities in the type of C&C in each of these activities, there is a significant overlap at the micro and macro levels. The issues related to C&C at the micro level are how to manage the logistics in tasks, operations, and resource flows; what are the barriers to knowledge transfer and the boundaries of knowledge fields; how agents (individuals, firms) acquire and codevelop capabilities; how organizations and individuals learn to share tasks and resources to transfer knowledge and practices; and how to increase their absorptive capacity.

The issues related to C&C at the macro level are governance and management of multiagent systems by shareholders and stakeholders; execution of complex tasks; international development programs and multiagent project management; negotiations and execution of strategic cooperation agreements; foreign trade and multilateral economic cooperation; security cooperation and dispute resolution; partner cities and regions, mobility, and demographics; environmental programs; and policies for sustainable development. C&C is explored at the system level with reference to large multinational firms, multilateral coalitions, globalization and transformation of identities on a global scale, government business support and inward investment promotion, and managing public services and public-private-partnerships (PPP). Ultimately, research on C&C explores interorganizational relations, the role and responsibilities of headquarters and government agencies for resources mobilization, and monitoring and control of complex sets of activities.

Defining Cooperation and Coordination

Such a broad use of these concepts does not allow the development of narrow definitions. Research on C&C engages multitheoretical and multidisciplinary platforms for addressing complex problems at the system level. While the conceptual treatment of C&C problems employs a multitude of scientific disciplines, on a practical side, the solutions require the design of broad, heterogeneous networks of partnering agents that participate in complex interactions, negotiations, resource exchanges, production activities, and large-scale events. To grasp the complexity of issues related to C&C, scientists and practitioners use metamodels and metatools that aim to increase the conceptual integration and coherence in activities, decisions, and representation.

Definitions of cooperation refer to a joint operation or an action, which could be intended (as in human action) or unintended (as in the biological world, in cases of symbiosis between species). Cooperation involves sharing space or resources, and hence an active help and/or a concerted effort in association with other agents. Cooperation also entitles all involved agents to some sort of shared benefits and is based on optimization orientation, rather than maximization and individual efficiency.

Definitions of coordination refer to skillful and effective interaction of movements and actions, or regulation of diverse elements into an integrated and harmonious operation. The act of coordinating is intentional and involves making different people or things work together for a goal or specific outcome. The ability to coordinate resides within human actors or technologies designed by human actors that have an imprinted decision-making capacity. The resulting state of coordinated action, or working together, is cooperation and synchronization of efforts and purposeful actions of agents.

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