Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Therefore, government and public interest groups tend to use their influence to encourage
greater industry co-ordination on planning issues by creating structures and processes
which enable stakeholders to talk to each other and create effective relationships and
partnerships. In many ways such measures are easier to achieve at a local level because
the range of stakeholders which need to be incorporated into co-ordinating bodies will be
narrower. In addition, contact at the local level provides a greater capacity for face-to-
face contact to occur and therefore trustbuilding to develop (Hall 2000a; Bramwell 2004).
Co-ordination refers to formal institutionalised relationships among existing networks
of organisations, interests and/or individuals, while co-operation is 'characterized by
informal trade-offs and by attempts to establish reciprocity in the absence of rules'
(Mulford and Rogers 1982:13). Often, the problem of developing co-ordinated
approaches towards tourism planning and policy problems, such as the meta-problem of
sustainability, is identified in organisational terms (e.g. the creation of new organisations
or the allocation of new responsibilities to existing ones). However, such a response does
not by itself solve the problem of bringing various stakeholders and interests together
which is an issue of establishing collaborative processes. Instead, by recognising the level
of interdependence that exists within the tourism system (Hall 2000a), it may be possible
for 'separate, partisan interests to discover a common or public interest' (Friedmann
1973:350). For example, moves towards the implementation of an 'ecosystem
management' approach among United States government natural resource management
agencies has opened up new ways of thinking about heritage and natural area
management (Hall and McArthur 1998). Notions of collaboration, co-ordination and
partnership are separate, though closely related, ideas within the emerging network
paradigm. Networks refer to the development of linkages between actors (organisations
and individuals) where linkages become more formalised towards maintaining mutual
interests. The nature of such linkages exists on a continuum ranging from 'loose' linkages
to coalitions and more lasting structural arrangements and relationships. Mandell (1999)
identifies a continuum of such collaborative efforts as follows:
• linkages or interactive contacts between two or more actors
• intermittent co-ordination or mutual adjustment of the policies and procedures of two or
more actors to accomplish some objective
• ad hoc or temporary task force activity among actors to accomplish a purpose or
purposes
• permanent and/or regular co-ordination between two or more actors through a formal
arrangement (e.g. a council or partnership) to engage in limited activity to achieve a
purpose or purposes
• a coalition where interdependent and strategic actions are taken, but where purposes are
narrow in scope and all actions occur within the participant actors themselves or
involve the mutually sequential or simultaneous activity of the participant actors
• a collective or network structure where there is a broad mission and joint and
strategically interdependent action; such structural arrangements take on broad tasks
that reach beyond the simultaneous actions of independently operating actors.
However, as Mandell (1999) cautions:
