Political Limits to Interorganizational Consensus and Change

When efforts at collaborative problem solving take place in interorganizational settings, political issues arise with respect to the distribution ofpower among various organizations with a stake in the matters being considered. This article discusses the efforts of the National Coal Policy Project (NCPP), a collaborative change effort by representatives of environmental groups andfirms mining and using coal, to achieve a consensus on national coal policy in a nonadversarial, nontraditional setting. The authors 'study of the NCPPexplores three political issues: the role of power in the selection of participants in the NCPP negotiations, the role of power in each stakeholder's decision as to whether or not to participate in the project, and the power of the NCPP participants to have the project recommendations implemented. The authors conclude that successful implementation depends upon the perceived legitimacy of the project and those selecting its participants, and on the ability to include all key stakeholders. This study has implicationsfor planned change in both interorganizational and intraorganizational settings.