Category: Collaboration

This review aims to analyze a research article by Boev and Xia (2015) titled, Nurse-Physician Collaboration and Hospital-acquired Infections in Critical Care as a model to describe the problem of hospital-acquired infection. The study was based on the assumption that collaboration between nurses and physicians could have an impact on hospital-acquired infections. The authors wanted to examine the effect of the relationship between the nurses and physicians and how the relationship impacted the level of hospital-acquired infections, particularly in handling patients that were critically ill. This study targets health care providers as the primary audience. Prior to the analysis, I hypothesized that proper collaboration between the nurses and physicians decreased the rate of hospital-acquired infections.

The authors obtained data by conducting 670 surveys that sought to know the views of ICU nurses regarding nosocomial infections. Two diseases, bloodstream infection associated with the central catheter and pneumonia resulting from ventilators, were used as the indicators of hospital-acquired infections. A multilevel modeling strategy was applied to establish the relationship existing between the two diseases and between the nurse and the physician. The findings showed that the rate of infections is inversely proportional to the level of collaboration. The rate of infection decreased whenever the collaboration was improved. It was also shown that the rate of infection decreased with the improved level of training. The rate of infection also decreased in situations where the nurse had adequate time to attend to one patient before moving to the next one.

The strength of this study is demonstrated in the reliability of the study findings. The study had a strong background sufficient enough to lead the reader to the studys aims and objectives. The sample size was sufficient to represent the entire nursing and physician fraternity. The model of study and the fact, that the data analyzed was obtained from four different intensive care units, make the findings highly applicable to multiple settings. These results can be considered to be true, as they agree with findings from other studies, like Klevens (2007). The major weakness of the study was that there were no checks put in place to eliminate the possible bias that would result from the collected data. Using two major diseases may not provide an accurate picture of the status, because it eliminates other minor infections that may turn out to be fatal if not addressed.

Effective management of hospital-acquired infections is fundamental in combating the spread of diseases in the hospital setup (Messmer, 2008). This study provides vital information that can be used in achieving this cause. Of greater importance is the demonstration that improved collaboration between nurses and physicians reduces the rate of hospital infection significantly. Another significant finding was that the use of highly skilled and specialized nurses reduces the rate of infection and transmission. These findings have several implications. The nurses and physicians should develop a mechanism that will ensure proper collaboration for a better outcome. The management and relevant authorities should also ensure that nurses assigned to specialized wards are also specialized and well informed about the duties they are to perform. Further studies are also supposed to be done to describe the specific factors that can lead to a decrease in hospital-acquired infections. These findings support the hypothesis that better collaboration decreases the degree of hospital infections. Therefore, collaboration in the critical care units should be enhanced.

References

Boev, C., Xia, Y. (2015). Nurse-physician collaboration and hospital-acquired infections in critical care. Critical Care Nurse, 35(2), 66-72.

Klevens, R. M., Edwards, J. R., Richards, C. L. Jr, Horan, T. C& & Gaynes, R. P. et al. (2007). Estimating health care associated infections and deaths in US hospitals, 2002. Public Health Rep., 122(2), 160-166.

Messmer, P. (2008). Enhancing nurse-physician collaboration using pediatric simulation. Journal of Continuous Education in Nursing, 39(7), 319-327.

Interprofessional collaboration implies the engagement of several healthcare experts with different backgrounds and specializations to work with patients and their families to enhance the quality of their treatment. The current video describes my experience of such collaboration. Apart from that, the video presents suggestions on how to improve the quality of joint work that could be found in the Vila Health: Collaboration for Change activity.

The personal experience suggests interprofessional collaboration is an excellent tool for creating an efficient plan of care for each patient in the hospital. More precisely, a diseased person is cured according to a program designed and maintained by the physician, the nurse, and the pharmacist. Besides, the treatment of patients, who, for instance, suffer from diseases that appeared as a result of an eating disorder, involved the engagement of a nutritionist, a psychologist, and a social worker. Such an attitude to patients allows medics to provide him or her with comprehensive care and do not miss any minor details in their treatment.

The strict division of responsibilities and specialists accountability to the chief doctor are those aspects of collaboration that helped to reach an expected outcome. At the same time, it is vital to notice that the team should improve the issue of task prioritizing because nurses cannot escape taking care of patients during meetings of a group. Additionally, it is advised to the team to work on the enhancement of maintaining documentation since rather often the documents and reports replicate one another, and it is difficult to find the necessary information.

Nevertheless, it should be noticed that the application of mixed methods of cure that involve the engagement of various specialists does not mean efficiency by default. OConnor et al. (2016) argue that weak teamwork between nurses and physicians poses a danger to patients safety and the inefficient allocation of resources. According to OConnor et al. (2016), the problems could appear as a result of a lack of trust and communication in a team, the absence of clear segregation of duties, and an evident leader. Furthermore, it could be concluded that the more specialists are involved in the treatment, the more challenging the situation is. This is due to the possibility that some therapists could duplicate the work of others and defend their point of view instead of trying to reach a consensus.

Now, talking about the scenario in the Vila Health activity, it could be easily noticed that IT and the management departments do not communicate efficiently with nurses, who are supposed to use the computer system Healthix. This statement is inferred from nurses complaints of their unawareness of how to use the program and its user-unfriendliness. Thus, the programs installation led to the irrational allocation of human resources since nurses must spend time dealing with the program that they do not like instead of taking care of patients. Besides, even though an implementation coach was hired to teach the nurses to use Healthix, the medical staff still had issues with the program after these courses. This way, the employment of the coach was a waste of money.

Leadership has an essential role in the success of the interprofessional collaboration. It seems to be a good idea for a leader to show high professionalism and moral standards. Regan, Laschinger, and Wong (2016) call such a leader an authentic one. This chief would be able to motivate subordinates to become committed to what they do and build an atmosphere of trust in the team. Among the best interdisciplinary collaboration practices, Liu, Gerdtz, and Manias (2016) identify an extensive use of communication strategies between the clinicians. The authors claim that language discourse allows them to ensure patients safety (Liu et al., 2016). To sum up, from the works cited above, it could be concluded that a genuine leader and the communication between all staff members and patients is key to the successful practice of a team of specialists from distinct fields.

References

Liu, W., Gerdtz, M., & Manias, E. (2016). Creating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-centered care: how nurses, doctors, pharmacists and patients use communication strategies when managing medications in an acute hospital setting. Journal of clinical nursing, 25(19-20), 2943-2957.

OConnor, P., ODea, A., Lydon, S., Offiah, G., Scott, J., Flannery, A., Lang, B., Hoban, A., Armstrong, C., Byrne, D. (2016). A mixed-methods study of the causes and impact of poor teamwork between junior doctors and nurses. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 28(3), 339-345.

Regan, S., Laschinger, H. K., & Wong, C. A. (2016). The influence of empowerment, authentic leadership, and professional practice environments on nurses perceived interprofessional collaboration. Journal of Nursing Management, 24(1), E54-E61.

Successful health outcomes are best attained when there are teamwork and collaboration among the individuals involved. It entails the passage of correct information across health professionals, consultations on best care practices, and sharing responsibilities to ensure quality service and optimal health outcomes. The paper, thereby, seeks to discuss some of the differences and similarities that one would expect to find in different nursing units as clinical practice is inhibited by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the current wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing departments are working in collaboration to ensure there are no hospital-acquired infections, and adequate efforts to control the spread of the pandemic are underway. As a result, information sharing and reinforcing on prevention strategies, as well as providing the needed resources like face masks and sanitizers, are eminent on every floor to control the rate of COVID-19 infection. However, depending on the nature of patients, the intensity varies because collaboration is required more in critical units.

Caring for a patient usually requires teamwork and collaboration due to the various interfaces and handoffs involved during the care process. During these instances, there is a need for relaying effective communication. Even during the current COVID times, the passage of information accurately and in time is paramount, and this becomes plausible through teamwork and collaboration. Nurses will work across the different nursing units in a hospital, and this enables them to understand the care processes of each floor and how the various departments are interrelated (ODaniel & Rosenstein, 2008). Thereby through effective teamwork and collaboration, a nurse from the general medicine or medical-surgical units can make the right referral to a different unit. The action is enabled by the fact that the entire nursing specialty entails engaging with others and gaining as much insight as one can from others.

In a high-energy unit, due to the intensity of care needed, the level of teamwork and collaboration may be different because the patients are not in a position to get involved in the care process. As a result, the nurses are involved in making vital decisions on behalf of the patients. Sequentially, there is a need for intensified teamwork and collaboration, unlike in the other nursing floors. These units are sensitive and require the nurses to be supportive of each other and ready to support one another to ensure the safety and good prognosis of patients (Karam et al., 2018). Teamwork in these units dictates that novice staffs on board should receive the assistance they need, and especially for those transitioning from school to practice. The other nurses should ensure that the new nurse does not feel confused and unsure of what to do, unlike if it happens in the general medicine unit.

In other nursing floors where the patient can communicate and express his or her feelings or thoughts, teamwork and collaboration take a new level as the patients views count as well. Treas (2018) uses an illustration to indicate how a lack of teamwork and collaboration result in negative patient health outcomes using the case of Mrs. Lee. The occupational therapist did not pay attention to Mrs. Lees concerns, resulting in further damage to her health. This case highlights the essence of teamwork in preventing adverse health outcomes and associated healthcare costs.

Every nursing floor has a way of exhibiting teamwork and collaboration depending on the nature of patients because while some patients can interact with health care professionals, others cannot. Teamwork and collaboration are characterized by patient involvement in some nursing floors, unlike in others. Moreover, the intensity of teamwork varies as some units handle critical patients; hence sharing expertise and resources is paramount, especially when novice nurses are present.

References

Karam, M., Brault, I., Van Durme, T., & Macq, J. (2018). Comparing interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in healthcare: A systematic review of qualitative research. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 79, 70-83. Web.

ODaniel, M., & Rosenstein, A. H. (2008). Professional Communication and Team Collaboration. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US).

Treas, L. S., Wilkinson, J. M., Barnett, K. L., & Smith, M. H. (2018). Basic nursing: Thinking, doing, and caring (2^nd ed.). F.A. Davis Company.

At present, a patient-centered approach in medical care has proven its effectiveness. However, it became evident that, for increasing positive patient outcomes, collaboration is required not only between patients and single health care professional but within the health care team that jointly provides the treatment. Medical practice has demonstrated that using the interprofessional collaboration of specialists from different fields, better results can be achieved. In this essay, I will describe how interprofessional collaboration has enhanced patient outcomes in my practice.

The base of person-centered care is a holistic approach that observes the whole patients body system instead of concentrating on separate disorders. It also connects physical health to psychological states, as well as social factors of influence. Therefore, it requires that multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, caregivers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care (van Dongen, et al., 2016, p. 2). It is approved that multifunctional teams can be more efficient, effective, innovative, and better at risk management compared with purely functional teams (Morley & Cashey, 2017, p. 208). In my practice, I collaborate with such diverse specialists as family physicians, nurses, physical

therapists, and social workers, and psychologists. The method of our team is based on separate consultations with the families, and then holding the meetings for the exchange of the information and discussing possible joint action plans of the treatment.

As I have observed, a collaborative approach is especially useful while working with marginalized families, such as grandparent-headed families. As Lee et al. (2017) state, these families have multifaceted needs, including grandchildrens behavioral and academic challenges and grandparents decreased well-being (p. 550). Our team of specialists can provide them with psychological support, education in the field of health and lifestyle, and primary health care simultaneously.

Thus, interprofessional collaboration is an effective method of family care. It enables multidimensional diagnostics of the problems and provides holistic treatment of the patients. Collaborative treatment is an essential aspect of a patient-centered approach; it requires the interconnection between all team members, including the patients. Moreover, in some cases, such as grandparent-headed families, considering the challenges of its treatment, a multidimensional approach may appear the only way to acquire positive results.

References

Lee, Y., Quranta, J., & Anderson, E. (2017). Fostering interprofessional collaboration through a family-centered program for grandparent-headed families. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 31(4), 550552.

Morley, L., & Cashel, A. (2017). Collaboration in Health. Journal of Medical Images and Radiation Sciences 48, 207-216.

van Dongen, J. J. J., Lenzen, S. A., van Bokhoven, M. A., Daniëls, R., van der Weijden, T., and Beurskens, A. (2016). Interprofessional collaboration regarding patients care plans in primary care: A focus group study into influential factors. Family Practice, 17(1), 1-10.

Introduction

Interdisciplinary collaboration is a partnership between the patient and all healthcare workers involved in delivering personalized care. Interprofessional partnerships are instrumental in the implementation of health reforms and the improvement of patient outcomes. It is based on values like partnerships, sharing, and interdependency (Rosen et al., 2018). This paper discusses major transdisciplinary collaboration issues reported by a colleague in a recent interview. It also elucidates collaboration approaches, leadership strategies, and change management theories critical in resolving these problems.

Interview Summary

Letitia, a fellow nursing colleague, describes her organization as an above-standard institution that could do better if specific corrective measures were implemented. She is a nurse leader in the medical-surgical unit, a position she claims has significantly changed her perspective on interdisciplinary partnerships. Some of the significant collaboration issues in her workplace include poor communication, clinical errors, uncoordinated patient care, and frequent colleague conflicts. Letitia reports that the senior management has neither invested in developing an organizational culture of collaboration nor tried to remedy partnership issues. Letitia also shares that she has never worked with an interdisciplinary team; nevertheless, she is optimistic that its implementation would greatly benefit the employees and the organization.

Issue Identification

Letitia asserts that ineffective communication between healthcare workers impedes her ability to complete her duties. She explains that miscommunication misleads her decision-making and ultimately affects the quality of patient care she delivers. According to Rosen et al. (2018), deficiency in communication significantly destabilizes the nursing environment and negatively impacts the patients receiving care. Empirical research also associates poor communication with increased readmission rates, hospital stay, and immortality (Moss et al., 2019). In light of these consequences, Letitia affirms that curative interventions are urgently required.

Another issue is the frequent medical errors while delivering patient care. Letitia expresses her concerns stating that research reports clinical errors are the third leading cause of mortality in the US (Rosen et al., 2018). Errors in the clinical setting are primarily due to poor communication between professionals, leading to mistakes such as repetition of prescriptions, misdiagnosis, and wrong treatments, which compromise patients safety (Steihaug et al., 2018). Clinical miscalculations lead to sentinel events that negatively impact the patient and healthcare worker. Fortunately, research and practice indicate that interdisciplinary collaboration is effective in reducing these medical errors.

Conflicts between colleagues due to differences in opinion are also common. Letitia states that eliminating this issue has been relatively successful, but much more effort is needed. Disagreements among the nursing staff impede patient care, increase inefficiencies and delay treatment and recovery of patients (Rosen et al., 2018). Implementation of teamwork and effective communication would be beneficial in rectifying this problem.

Uncoordinated patient care is one of the significant collaboration problems experienced in nursing. Letitia reports that colleagues in her organization are not cooperative, as evidenced by delays in treatment, redundancies, inappropriate administration of drugs, miscommunication, and a decline in positive health outcomes. She also reports that actions employed to address the issue are somewhat impractical and need to be reviewed. Research indicates that collaboration among health workers decreases inefficiencies, such as delays while improving patient care (Steihaug et al., 2018). For that reason, collaboration approaches are essential in eliminating uncoordinated patient care.

Change Theories That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

To redesign institutional systems, the science of change theories is essential. Change theories like Lewins Force Field Model, Lippitts change theory, and innovation diffusion theory provide a solid framework for implementing interdisciplinary approaches (Bergstedt & Wei, 2020). They are instrumental in resolving issues like incoordination and miscommunication. More importantly, they are vital in identifying potent forces that favor change, acquiring resources, and helping practitioners accept and implement change.

Leadership Strategies That Could Lead to an Interdisciplinary Solution

Leadership strategies significantly inform solutions to collaboration problems in healthcare institutions. They include approaches like establishing shared values, practicing authentic and transformational leadership, increasing access to resources, and pursuing certificate programs in interdisciplinary approaches (Bergstedt & Wei, 2020). Good leadership plays a vital role in uniting employees, thus eradicating problems like uncoordinated patient care. The senior management should evaluate the effectiveness of the current leadership in promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and identify if there is a need for change. Changing leadership would improve aspects like communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution.

Collaboration Approaches for Interdisciplinary Teams

Based on data collected in the interview, evidence-based interdisciplinary approaches would also be an appropriate solution to these issues. For instance, the management can resolve problems like poor communication, sentinel events, and clinical errors by enhancing interprofessional teamwork (Moss et al., 2019). Research findings denote that collaboration between healthcare workers reduces communication failures, which would otherwise directly contribute to patient harm (Rosen et al., 2018). To incorporate evidence-based collaborative practice in nursing, the management must redesign the organizations systems to that which promote the development of partnerships among providers (Moss et al., 2019). This can be achieved through establishing formal training programs to educate employees on interdisciplinary cooperation (Rosen et al., 2018). Training employees and cooperating with professional educational organizations would also increase employees interdisciplinary skills, thus enabling smooth incorporation of evidence-based practice.

Conclusion

Collaborative approaches facilitate the establishment and improvement of an interdisciplinary team. They include: outlining team goals, sharing responsibilities, proactively handling conflict, implementing changes, and establishing effective leadership (Steihaug et al., 2019). Common goals give team members an objective purpose to work towards while sharing tasks maximizes each team members potential. Conclusively, cross-disciplinary collaboration is immensely beneficial to both the patient and practitioner and organizations should strive to include this risk-lessening strategy into their culture.

References

Bergstedt, K., & Wei, H. (2020). Leadership strategies to promote frontline nursing staff engagement. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 51(2), 4853. Web.

Moss, E., Seifert, P. C., & OSullivan, A. (2019). Registered nurses as interprofessional collaborative partners: Creating value-based outcomes. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(3), 4. Web.

Rosen, M. A., DiazGranados, D., Dietz, A. S., Benishek, L. E., Thompson, D., Pronovost, P. J., & Weaver, S. J. (2018). Teamwork in healthcare: Key discoveries enabling safer, high-quality care. American Psychologist, 73(4), 433450. Web.

Steihaug, S., Johannessen, A.-K., Ådnanes, M., Paulsen, B., & Mannion, R. (2019). Challenges in achieving collaboration in clinical practice: The case of Norwegian health care. International Journal of Integrated Care, 16(3). Web.

Describing the Changes of Attitude to Health Professionals

The matter of quality services improvement as well as patient safety enhancement has been the major concern of health care professionals. In this respect, the introduction of interpersonal collaboration as well as nurse reforms can greatly contribute to educating nurse specialists because team work provides more challenges and solutions to existing legal and ethical problems. Within the context of existing reforms, approaches, and policies, the role of a nurse professional is more clearly identified. Hence, each specialist should have certain legal and ethical liabilities and provide high quality services; he/she should be more committed to evidence-based practice and team working.

More importantly, nursing implies great responsibility in front of globalized communities to deliver more viable solutions and recommendations on improving and upgrading the overall level of nursing specialties all over the world.

Besides personal qualities, responsibilities, and ethical codes, health care sphere, each nursing professional should be aware of problems and concerns existing in other health care systems worldwide which will create much more opportunities for personal growth and development as well as for the rise of more effective strategies of treating patients. In whole, while studying the course, I have realized that cooperation, mutual agreement, partnership and social interaction are the key pillars in dealing with patients and enhancing their safety.

Such shifts have led to the idea that the role of background, skills, and experiences provided by a separate nurse should be borrowed by other nurses professionals to enhancing, and implement a more consistent and systematic approach to patient therapy. Presenting these ethical and legal principles provide a positive shift from traditional views in health care system and nursing in particular.

Identifying the Most Effective Knowledge and Insights for Promoting Health Care Reform

With regard the profile of a nurse professional presented above, significant changes should be introduced to the health care delivery in general, including financial sphere, services and resources allocation. Particular emphasis is placed on not only technological innovation but on changes in the conceiving the notion of health care delivery (Kovner., Kickman, and Jonas, 2008, p. 9). The latter is better understood from the angle of information confidentiality and privacy, ethical and legal responsibility, medical errors management, and understanding global health care concepts.

Considering the aspect of information privacy and confidentiality, it should be stressed that nurses should now be more legally liable for the information that is monitored and exchanged. Otherwise, improper usage and or, what is even more problematic, information leakage can negatively influence the quality of patient treatment and healthcare delivery. According to Berwick (2002), to use [information] for any public purpose, even to speak about it, risks crossing a boundary of propriety and confidentiality that ought not to be crossed (p. 21). Health care professionals, therefore, should be more responsible for ethical issues and for managing health care management.

Due to the fact that privacy and confidentiality of information depend largely on technology as well, it is necessary to provide considerable improvement for knowledge and technology management to eliminate electronic medical errors. What is more important, if legislation is passed that requires the permission of each consumer for transmission of medical information, it could severely limit the extent to which information could be stored or transmitted along health care providers (Kovner, Knickman, and Jonas, 2008, p. 378).

Considering ethical and legal responsibilities, each health care professional should strictly adhere to the all codes of conducts as established in the medical sphere. According to Jencks, Gelinas, and Coyle (2009), nurses should be aware of the importance of communication with patients because the quality of services and health care deliver is largely dependent on this factor. In addition, before implementing particular programs, much emphasis should be made on meeting the patients preferences, concerns, and needs. Nurse professionals should make use of their background and experiences to solve problems and provide the best solutions. Finally, each personal working in the medical sphere should conceive the concept of global health care because it outlines the basic requirements and standards to be strictly followed.

Ideas, Principles, and Concepts Contributing to Ethical Responsibilities

Naturally, nurses often face a number of moral and ethical dilemmas in daily clinical practice and it is a great challenge for them to provide the most viable solutions. To avoid problematic and ambivalent situations, there should be code of ethics under which nurses should take their responsibility and carry out their obligations (Mallik, Hall, and Howard, 2009, p. 15). In particular, patients should know the specifics of patients rights, which is the core component of an individual autonomy. Hence nurses as autonomous practitioners are ethical and legally accountable for the delivery of nursing care (Mallik, Hall, and Howard, 2009, p. 15).

Regarding the above, different ethical approaches are practiced in clinical practice and one of them is a virtue ethics approach that consists in pursuing the ideals of social and health care services. It also emphasizes moral qualities of nurses and the health care staff in general. The examples of moral qualities involve: care, professional wisdom, trustworthiness, courage and integrity, and justice.

Presenting New Vision of Relations between Legal and Ethical Guidelines

After thorough analysis of above ethical and legal standards being foundational values of health care professionals, it can be stated that U. S. health care system requires a number of introductions and improvement to make it more flexible in decision-making process. To enlarge on this, the excellence and efficiency of clinical practice should be premised on such issues as truthfulness, autonomy, confidentiality, justice and fairness.

Ethical norms are involved into professional ethical codes which affect the behavioral patterns of practicing nurses. Ethical and moral dilemmas occur in the cases experienced in practice are less frequent than decision reflecting best options to all concerned, including the patient. If a health care professionals neglect ethical and moral dilemmas, it can cause a number of psychological problems and considerably moral distress. However, placing the priority of patient right at the heart of health care delivery provide much more benefits contributing to optimization of the entire system and creating a favorable ground for meeting the patients needs.

Beside adherence to ethical and legal practices, the concept of interprofessional collaboration and leadership issues should also be taken into the deepest consideration that can introduce positive changes to a clinical environment. Here the present shifts should not be considered a threat to stability, but development opportunities. In this respect, nurses should be ready to change and innovation to cope with sufficiently and react to them in a proper way.

References

Berwick, D. (2002). Escape fire: Lessons for the future of health care. New York: The Commonwealth Fund. Web.

Jencks, S., Gelinas, L., and Coyle C. (2009). Quality Improvement and Safety. Web.

Kovner, A. R., Kickman, J., and Jonas, S. (2008). Jonas and Kovners Health Care Delivery in the United States. US: Springer Publishing Company.

Mallik, M., Hall, C., and Howard, D. (2009) Nursing Knowledge and Practice: Foundations for Decision Making. New York, NY: Elsever Health Sciences.

Introduction

The strength of Australias economy and its opportunities for trade with other countries are represented by the countrys unique position. During the past twenty years, the sizes of the economies in the Asia-Pacific region have grown significantly, as illustrated by their rising GDPs. Therefore, Australia gets strong and reliable partners with which it can collaborate to facilitate free trade agreements, with the expanding network providing a more comprehensive range for trade and investment opportunities. With opportunities come threats, and it is essential to identify both areas of influence that can either push the economy toward new accomplishments or prevent it from achieving them.

Trade and Investment Opportunities

Closeness to the Asia-Pacific region is essential for Australia because the countrys natural resources and agricultural products have been attractive to partners, thus helping drive its growth. Moreover, the increased demand of the Asian population for Australias education, tourism, and other professional services can help boost the states economy. Australian businesses, communities, and exporters have been expanding their footprint throughout the Asian region to use the demand for Aussie products and services to their advantage. For instance, between 2017 and 2018, trade with Asia amounted to two-thirds of Australias two-way trade of goods and services (Tang, 2019). Twelve economies out of Australias top fifteen partners in trading are in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the same time, such rich economies as Singapore, Japan, China, and Hong Kong have become substantial foreign direct investment (FDI) sources into Australia. The mentioned economies stock of FDI in Australia has increased by 11% per year from 2011 to 2017, reaching AUD 186 billion (Tang, 2019). This amount is comparable to the FDI stock value of AUD 190 billion being invested into Australia from the US, with the growth being estimated at 8.6% per year for the same period (Tang, 2019). Thus, the consistency of investment into Australia from the Asia-Pacific economies presents significant opportunities for growth because of the mutual benefits that two-way trade can bring.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Opportunities

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a success story that emerged from the cooperation between the economies involved. The partners participating in the forum make up more than 70% of Australias total trade in goods and services, with closer regional economic integration adding to the countrys economic expansion and prosperity (Tang, 2019). The opportunities that the cooperation presents to Australia and its partners include the liberalization and the continuous facilitation of trade, the reduced costs of cross-border trade, both technical and economic cooperation, the sharing of best practices and information on investment and trade, as well as enhanced capacity of financial institutions to take advantage of trade benefits and reforms in the area of investment. Under the APECs (2020) vision for 2040, the economies involved strive to establish an open, dynamic, and sustainable community of partners through pursuing important economic drivers. These include trade and investment, digitalization and innovation, as well as balanced and secure growth.

Because Australia is a founding member of APEC, it is among the key economies behind driving the advancement of regional financial integration and progress in open trade and investment. Australia has been estimated to spend around $4.5 million each year on capacity-building activities that can help the economies involved benefit from several advantages (APEC Australia, 2021). Namely, the capacity-building activities allow for the funding of projects that aim at APEC priorities such as supply chain connectivity and structural reforms, the support of research and analysis of the forum-related economic policies, and the support of reforms in project management to improve the effectiveness of relationships within APEC.

Cooperation Opportunities

For Australia, there are several priorities associated with working within the APEC cooperation. Specifically, the economies involved cooperate to support the recovery of the region from COVID-19, promote the liberalization of trade and investment, and facilitate sustainable and inclusive growth. Moreover, there have been discussions regarding the vast opportunities to develop initiatives supporting Indigenous and female-owned businesses as well as widening the access of minority populations to opportunities for business expansion. All of the abovementioned opportunities are made possible by facilitating work on structural reforms and advancing the digital agenda. With the help of such reforms, the Asia-Pacific alliances with Australia also have the opportunity to build resilient international supply chains. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chains have transformed significantly, with the reliance on Chinese manufacturing capacities disrupting supplies in partner states. This encouraged countries to increase investment in domestic production and the automation of processes within supply chains (Harapko, 2021). Therefore, even though the pandemic had detrimental effects on supply chains in the region, there are opportunities for expansion and redesign.

Specifically, there is an opportunity to facilitate a shift from linear supply chains to integrated networks that connect many parties. As aligned with APECs strategic priorities, the future of supply chains is likely to be autonomous and digitally advanced, with the economies involved working toward establishing frameworks within which automation becomes the center of the critical processes. Regarding the sustainable growth issue, APEC countries constitute around 60% of the global electricity demand; in 2013, the regions share of carbon emissions within the total world carbon emissions was 72% (Zafar et al., 2018). Therefore, it was decided by the officials of APEC countries to double their renewable energy shares by 2030 and develop shared goals and policies within the organization to facilitate the shift towards alternative energy sources. Since then, APEC has served as a platform for countries of the region to coordinate and support their energy policies to decarbonize their economies.

Diplomatic Opportunities

A significant development that concerns Australias opportunities when engaging in trade in the Asia-Pacific region entails the countrys diplomatic contribution to ending the deep freeze with China. China has recently announced that it was implementing active research into joining a region-wide trade involving Australia and other trading nations in the Asia-Pacific (Walker, 2021). This falls in line with Chinas plan to intensify its relationships with closest neighbors within a dual-core geopolitical and economic strategy (Yu, 2016). China has been aiming to create a Community of Common Destiny composed of neighboring countries united by common development goals, economic integration, and mutual trust.

As an essential player in trade relations, Australia has nothing to lose by supporting Chinas desire to explore trade agreement opportunities that seized their existence in 2016 when the economy was excluded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Moreover, Canberra had the option of separating itself from the relationship between Washington and Beijing (Walker, 2021). Therefore, attention should be paid to facilitating the smart trade diplomacy narrative in contrast to the joined-at-the-hip-to-the-US approach (Walker, 2021, para. 26). Chinas honest interest in engaging in broader trade in the region can help Australia seize its opportunities.

Inequality of Benefits Threats

While there are broad opportunities for expansion associated with Australias collaboration with Asia-Pacific economies, there are also threats that limit the effectiveness of the trade between the mentioned economies. Specifically, the involvement in TPP enables high-income workers to reap the most benefits. Free trade agreements result in income inequality in the context of high-wage states as well as the promotion of cheaper products from low-wage countries (Williamson et al., 2016). This is particularly applicable for the TPP because the agreement protected copyright and patents, with higher-paid intellectual property owners receiving more income gains. Importantly, when there are workers in Vietnam who are intended to survive on around $2.50 a day in rural areas, there is almost no opportunity for them to get access to the market benefits that the TPP promised to provide (Amadeo, 2021).

Even though job creation is beneficial for the overall economy, the shift to offshoring and other methods threatens the development of the employment market. Another threat represented by the cooperation entails limitations in incentives targeted at environmental protection and sustainability. Even though some components of the TPP was intended to introduce policies to protect the environment, the pressures from the competitive business work and increased international trade do not allow for the protection of the environment in some countries.

Front End Focus Threats

Another threat is represented by the increased focus on the front end of the supply chain. Specifically, the collaboration between Australia and the countries in the Asia-Pacific region shows that the agreement focuses disproportionately on the supply chains front end. Therefore, most of the opportunities for new jobs will be in member-nations that have the lowest living standards; for example, Vietnam. Moreover, high-paying jobs in developed and wealthier nations are highly likely to fade away, with organizations depending on the matrix of import-export for ensuring high profitability levels.

Conclusion

To conclude, the collaboration between Australia and other economies in the Asia-Pacific region presents numerous opportunities for development, ranging from the increased attention to digital trade and structural reforms to promote sustainable and inclusive growth among the economies involved. The continuous collaboration of economies has the potential to transform supply chains, which have been disrupted by the spread of the pandemic. However, there are threats to economic success within collaborative efforts of nations, such as the concentration of wealth in more advanced and more affluent economies, which inevitably will result in income inequality and the reliance on cheap labor to facilitate sustainable trade relationships.

References

Amadeo, K. (2021). Trans-pacific partnership summary, pros and cons.

APEC. (2020). APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040. 

APEC Australia. (2021).

Harapko, S. (2021). How COVID-19 impacted supply chains and what comes next. 

Tang, E. (2019). Australias trade and investment linked to Asias powerhouse economies. Web.

Walker, T. (2021). Australia has a great chance to engage in trade diplomacy with China, and it must take it. The Conversation.

Williamson, I., Pinkert, D., Johanson, D., Broadbent, M., Kieff, S., & Schmidtlein, R. (2016). Economic impact of trade agreements implemented under trade authorities procedures, 2016 report.

Yu, L. (2016). China  Australia strategic partnership in the context of Chinas grand peripheral diplomacy. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(2), 740-760. DOI: 10.1080/09557571.2015.1119424

Zafar, M.W., Shahbaz, M., Hou, F., & Sinha, A. (2018). From nonrenewable to renewable energy and its impact on economic growth: The role of research and development expenditures in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries. Journal of Cleaner Production, 212, 1166-1178. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.081

Smart Growth refers to the leading systems of urban planning, which employ such critical objectives as transportation facilitation, ecology-friendly land use, and realization of sustainable regional development.

In this work, the overview of the collaborative principle, which encourages common work between the citizens and stakeholders, is provided. The efficiency of the principle is proved by the illustration of two practical examples and the Smart Growth project overview.

The fundamental aim of the collaborative principle encompasses the creation of livable space in low-income, industrial, and detached urban areas. According to the regulation, the strategies of development are defined by the needs of the community, which resides in the district. Specifically, if the major concern that exists in the region refers to the poor quality of air, the citizens would require safe transportation choices; if the region is characterized by economic disinvestment, the residents would need new housing alternatives, etc.

The case of the Barrio Logan district, which is situated in San Diego, California, provides an exemplification of community collaboration in the conditions of industrial development. The district, which has long been hindered in healthy ecological development, gathered the collaborative community so that to reinvent the process of amenities and housing principles.

The renovation embraced a range of Smart Growth principles such as creating housing options (the Metro Area Community launched construction of a new Mercado building); preserving open space environmental areas (the first projection, which was launched by the stakeholders, was a development of Chicano Park). Finally, the community took up extensive mixed land use, which resulted in the creation of multiple public services, community and child care centers, etc.

The encouragement of community collaboration in East Russell Partnership, Kentucky, represents one more example of the Smart Growth goal. The common empowerment started with the renovation of the financial positioning of the district.

Thus, the high rates of unemployment, homelessness, and impoverishments, which are typical for Afro-American districts, hindered a civil development of the area. The residents of the area connected to the improvement of the business sphere. The tendency increased work options for the citizens. Consequently, the community managed to revitalize East Russell Partnership by means of mixed land use, the improvement of apartment infrastructure, and transportation choices.

The principle of collaboration encouragement defines a variety of modern Smart Growth projects. Specifically, the Uptown Normal Roundabout approach, which has recently been developed by the initiative platform, stirred the attention of multiple urban residents. The project revealed that it is possible to redefine space distribution for business facilitation and green areas improvement.

The citizens contributed to the smart establishment of merchant centers, which employed the aim of increasing the rates of financial growth in the region. Secondly, the community transformed the network of transportation facilities by launching roundabout transport designs. The newly established space of transport distribution opened up a new area for community activities.

This tendency contributed to the eventual restoration of social life in the form of open space gatherings. Therefore, the stimulation of technical improvement in urban district provoked the spiritual changes within the community, which encouraged further changes.

Therefore, the practical case studies demonstrate that the Smart Growth program contributes to the intelligent facilitation of living space areas. The geographical distribution improvements, which are supported by community and stakeholders empowerment, disclose innovative housing and transportation alternatives, which enhance the level of social life (Getis and Bjelland Introduction to Geography 12).

Works Cited

Getis, Arthur, and Mark Bjelland. Introduction to Geography. 14th ed. 2013. New York: McGraw-Hill. Print.

Introduction

As a business process, negotiations allow parties to discuss their differences and similarities in an attempt to reach an acceptable solution. This practice defines the inherent ability of sides that negotiate to find mutual benefits instead of completing transactions that do not lead to win-win scenarios. When parties build improved relations, they also start thinking about long-term solutions instead of their short-term alternatives aimed at avoiding certain conflicts or monetary losses (Steele & Beasor, 2017). Therefore, every participant in the negotiation process has to realize that two sides of the argument have to be covered in the case where parties are willing to participate in a constructive dialog. The following case reviews represent the results of simulations where two groups of stakeholders attempted to reach several agreements while fostering goodwill and responsibility. The exercise was exceptionally beneficial because it provided us with insights into how a negotiator could remain confident and aim for the most cost-effective decisions.

Cobalt Systems and SilverLight Electronics

The case of Cobalt Systems and SilverLight Electronics demonstrates the discrepancies in business practices, strategy, and policy between the two countries. Cobalt Systems is a multinational corporation with a highly centralized organization (Tinsley, 2001). The companys culture is people-oriented, and employees are trained to better fit the corporate culture (Tinsley, 2001). Silverlight Electronics is a company based in Korea which sells high-tech products within and outside the national borders (Tinsley, 2001). The company is part of the SilverLight Chaebol  a family of companies that are connected through tight personal bonds and cross-ownership (Tinsley, 2001). The company is seen as national pride and retains strong governmental ties (Tinsley, 2001). The two companies tried to collaborate before the attempt to open a joint venture as Cobalt Systems tried to enhance its position in the Korean market through an alliance with SilverLight (Tinsley, 2001). However, negotiations broke off with the claims about overwhelming cultural differences.

Our role, in this case, is to represent SilverLight Electronics which wants to collaborate with an American company for the development of the R&D department. The company is searching for a joint venture with a U.S. computer company that is likely to have the necessary technology, a flexible structure, and does not have a superior attitude (Tinsley, 2001). However, initial negotiations illustrated several issues with regards to equity ownership, top Management team, financial accounting practices, access to technology, access to U.S. and Korean markets, and joint venture name. Several propositions are given to us to decide the most beneficial approach to conclude the negotiations. This case has shown me that all options in negotiations should be exhausted. Moreover, a complete grasp of the companies situation allows the proposition of better terms which would be essential for my future practices.

Coffee Contract

In this case, we assumed the role of Sandy Grant, Director of Food & Beverage for the Hotel in Ithaca. The case is focused on one-to-one negotiations with Anderson coffee on the supply of coffee. Previous supplier LaRoche is satisfying in terms of product quality and price, but last year the company tried to increase price in response to bad crop in Columbia (Simons & Tripp, n.d.). This attempt led to a certain degree of dissatisfaction with the company (Simons & Tripp, n.d.). At the same time, Anderson coffee delivers a higher quality product (Simons & Tripp, n.d.). During a training session for hotel managers, a blind test to determine product superiority majority of employees preferred Anderson coffee (Simons & Tripp, n.d.). However, negotiations experience an issue of pricing as Andersons bid is excessively high for the company at $7.94/lb for regular coffee.

Nonetheless, due to the personal connections with tourist attractions called Colonial Williamsburg, it is known that the price is open to discussion. Colonial Williamsburg organized the supplies for $5.95/lb, but there is a low chance to achieve a similar result (Simons & Tripp, n.d.). Nevertheless, it does not offer the same level of exposure as current and future hotel managers. Our role, in this case, is to ensure the best possible price for cost-effectiveness. The walkaway point for the deal is $7.4/lb, but our goal is to maximize cost-effectiveness for personal benefit and possible promotion. Therefore, we should aim at a price somewhere between $5.95 and $7.4/lb.

Energetics Meets Generex

This case simulates a single transaction between individual representatives of two distinguished energy-producing companies. The negotiations involve the potential sale of Wind, a sector of Energetics company focused on renewable energy (Proffitt & Paulson, 2020). There is a large positive bargaining zone, which increases the likelihood of a positive settlement. Energetics Corp is a large, diversified energy company with $100 billion in annual sales and 20,000 employees (Proffitt & Paulson, 2020). However, because of a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events, the company was forced to declare bankruptcy but continues to function (Proffitt & Paulson, 2020). The firm is trying to restructure its organization and focus on core businesses. Therefore, thoroughly researching the best approach to tackle the cash flow demands of bankruptcy, Energetics Wind Corporation was chosen for sale (Proffitt & Paulson, 2020). The prospective buyer for the company is Generex Corporation, a large, diversified business with $126 billion in annual sales and 310,000 employees.

Our role is to complete the deal with the best possible price, in cash transfer, within three months. These three aspects are the most important issues for the company. Our sources of power that could help to establish favorable terms are positive return on investment from wind power, cutting-edge manufacturing, turbines improved with the latest technology, and upgraded transmission equipment. The company has a portfolio of wind farms in ideal geographic locations with sustained wind velocities to power the most advanced turbines (Proffitt & Paulson, 2020). This case could be approached by delivering a strategy with a high benchmark for selling price to create a threshold for negotiation with subsequent utilization of power sources to reach a desirable conclusion. The information which is likely to be disclosed is the Winds positive return on investment. This will demonstrate confidence in the product and reassure the buyer of the deals attractiveness.

The BioPharm-Seltek Negotiation

The case of BioPharm-Seltek involves the selling of plants belonging to the Seltek company. Seltek is a pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $150 million (Greenhalgh, 1993). The company was able to produce a single successful compound  Petrocheck, which is sold to oil companies to aid with the cleaning of oil spills (Greenhalgh, 1993). Petrocheck has the potential to be used in sewage treatment plants to biodegrade petroleum-based products within the sewers (Greenhalgh, 1993). The current business potential of the product in the oil industry is valued at $5-7 million, while the potential for sewage treatment is difficult to appraise but expected to be lucrative (Greenhalgh, 1993). The potential buyer for the plant and patent for Petrocheck is BioPharma $700 million American pharmaceutical company (Greenhalgh, 1993). It is unknown for what purposes the company plans to utilize the plant. Seltek predicts two possible needs of BioPharm transformation of the plant for general manufacturing or production of biotech.

The role given to us is CFO of Seltek company, and the primary goal is the earliest possible selling of the plant and patent for Petrocheck. The company requires money for investments in new projects. The expectant price for the plant is 7 million dollars, and the company wishes to avoid severance liability of 1 million dollars (Greenhalgh, 1993). Therefore, the company would like to sell the plant to BioPharm as a turnkey operation. This negotiation could be considered transactional negotiation because Seltek is planning to sell its plant and associated patent without any prolonged relationship and formation of bonds. However, the issue lies in the unknown intentions of the BioPharm company and the risks associated with it because the success of negotiation for Seltek would be reached if BioPharm aims to launch a biotech product line.

Zephyr

Zephyr Inc. is a company established in Chicago that specializes in leasing services (Unzueta et al., 2020). Zephyrs customers are corporate executives, athletes, celebrities, and other elite clients who look for leasing of housing and vehicles (Unzueta et al., 2020). The company was expanding throughout the cities in the Midwest region but planned to intrude the market on the East and West coasts (Unzueta et al., 2020). Currently, the company is interested in the allocation of resources to the luxury car leasing sector due to its high profitability. As a result, Zephyr plans to sell several company-owned houses to generate the money necessary for the project  the purchase of a car service company for luxury leasing. The potential car service company which meets the criteria of Zephyr was found in Palo Alto, called Federicos Car Service. Federico owns 15 luxury cars which include 2 Bentleys and Rolls Royce.

The role given to us as Zephyrs Vice President of Business Development is to purchase the company at a lucrative price. Federicos Car Service has a small batch of luxury cars, but the client list offered by the company owner is an attractive point for the deal (Unzueta et al., 2020). The current situation of the market demonstrates intense competition. Hence the client list with distinguished high-profile CEOs and athletes would be a great contribution to the establishment of a new leasing branch. The research conducted by Zephyr revealed that $1.5 million are necessary for expansion, and the company could negotiate the price up to $1.15 million as they plan to use the remaining $350 000 to enlarge the car fleet (Unzueta et al., 2020). The company would need to anticipate high price demands from Federicos company for their building, fleet, and client list. Moreover, the later item might be subjected to different price negotiations. However, Zephyr might exploit the small fleet size as a pushing point during the negotiations.

New Recruit

In this case, we were given the role of recruiter, and the best alternative to a negotiated agreement could be considered acceptance of the alternative recruit. It would be necessary if the hiring of the recruit at a beneficial payoff schedule will not be feasible. The companys preferred target is to reach a total of 13 200 points in the payoff schedule (Neale, 1997). The company interest would revolve around such terms as to salary, job assignment, insurance coverage, starting date, and location. Salary and job assignment are essential points as the inability to achieve desired results will lead to negative points. Other terms are not as important but still significant as they contribute a considerable number of points.

For salary, any increase above $100 000 will result in negative points along with any job assignment other than Division A (Neale, 1997). Insurance coverage in Plan E would provide the most points, while Plan A is set at a neutral point of 0 (Neale, 1997). The most beneficial starting date is August 1, as any earlier date will decrease the number of points applied to the payoff schedule (Neale, 1997). The least significant term is the location. The allocation of the recruit to San Francisco is preferred, but others are acceptable as well, even though New York would result in zero points.

The crucial complication which might emerge during the negotiations will surround salary. The range available is $100 000 to $120 000, the key point would be to agree on a salary that would not hinder the negotiation of other areas. Job assignment and bonus should be discussed together with the salary because the first would have a large impact on the payoff schedule points. Simultaneously, the second term would act as leverage to reach a desirable outcome in terms of salary.

Conclusion

Each of the cases presented above represents a short lesson for future negotiators that have to look at this information as the fundamental knowledge that affects business relationships. Irrespective of what kind of objectives the team tried to achieve, we had to remain collected and focused on win-win scenarios to get what we wanted. The idea that negotiation skills are essential is reinforced throughout the six cases, as we tried to make decisions based on the other partys interests while also pursuing our objectives. Even though the simulations did not go perfectly, the experience that we gained could be perceived as the most important outcome. The team felt the confidence growing with every other negotiation, allowing us to allocate roles and share knowledge to succeed.

References

Greenhalgh, L. (1993). Biopharm-Seltek. Northwestern University.

Neale, M. A. (1997). New recruit. Northwestern University.

Proffitt, T. W., & Paulson, G. D. (2020). SimCase simulation: Energetix meets Generex. hbsp.harvard.edu.

Simons, T., & Tripp, T. Coffee contract. iDecisionGames.com.

Steele, P. T., & Beasor, T. (2017). Business negotiation: A practical workbook. Routledge.

Tinsley, C. (2001). Cobalt Systems and SilverLight Electronics [PDF] (pp. 1-8). Dispute Resolution Research Center.

Unzueta, M., Wang, C., & Weiss, N. (2020). SimCase simulation: Zephyr. hbsp.harvard.edu.

Collaborative practice has increasingly become vital to how we do everything in the twenty-first century. According to Laal, Kermanshahi, and Laal (2012), in the current century, there is an increased necessity, in society, to reason and join forces on issues of serious concern, shifting the emphasis to group work from individual efforts. Specifically, collaboration is the working together of organizations or persons to deal with problems and deliver results, which are not effectively or easily attained by working single-handedly. As highlighted by Camarihna-Matos and Afsarmanesh (2008), collaboration entails the mutual engagement of partakers to solve a problem jointly, which implies mutual trust, and, as a consequence, takes dedication, time, and effort. Thus, collaboration means more than just working together.

As a representative of research institutes including Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Algalita Maritime Research Foundation, and Ocean Voyage Institute, we come together with five other representatives from five organizations that are interested in environmental protection (which includes international waters). As researchers on this project, we must cooperate with several other organizations to learn more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and determine the feasibility and reliability of the solution through data and research reports.

How to collaboration?

Successful collaboration calls for an extensive exchange of ideas among participants and a high level of trust. As Camarihna-Matos and Afsarmanesh (2008) stress, collaboration is a hard process and, as a consequence, the odds for its success hinge on some requirements, including having a common purpose that is usually translated to a problem to be solved or a common goal, sharing a goal, maintaining a common comprehension of the problem at hand, and a mutual agreement among the parties to work together. The term collaboration is often confused with cooperation. In collaboration, people or organizations work together around a common vision, leading to the formation of something new.

Relate with role play

JME

The Japan Ministry of Environment plays a role in managing the Pacific garbage patch, providing a suitable environment for citizens. The Pacific pollution crisis has led them to consider prevention as the best technique for dealing with the Pacific garbage patch. While the Japanese focus on prevention than governance and take an uncooperative approach to joint governance, they need to work more with other key stakeholders, which is vital to mitigate the issue. The Japan Ministry of Environment could also collaborate with the NOAA to conduct scientific research on marine debris as both take this action with the common goal of tackling plastic waste pollution in the Pacific. They are currently working with the National Institute of Environmental Studies on the research, aiming to develop marine biotechnology.

NOAA

NOAA seeks to solve the Pacific garbage patch issue by evaluating and handle the waste deposited into the ocean by recycling, educating the public on the impacts of debris and also working with other organizations to manage the waste that affects the Pacific garbage patch. Therefore, NOAA has been commissioned to conduct scientific research to clean up the Pacific, under the provisions of NOAA (2015). NOAA studied marine debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan and found 5 million tonnes of waste, covering 217 miles off the coast of Japan. NOAA collaborates with non-governmental organizations on scientific research aimed at managing waste in the Pacific ocean, and works with the government to develop laws and policies related to marine pollution. NOAA ensures that illegal dumping of waste into the ocean is avoided by monitoring waste management systems. Hence, this is a significant contribution to the Pacific garbage patch solution and NOAA has the authority to enforce laws to protect the marine environment, possibly in coordination with the government.

The Pacific garbage patch is an environmental threat that should be addressed based on collaborative efforts to prevent and control waste deposited into the Pacific. According to (US Department of Commerce & National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2014), the Laysan Albatross fish species found in the North-Western Hawaiian region consume plastics since each dead fish has a piece of plastic in its stomach and chemicals from the plastics, get into the ecosystem, where they are extremely harmful to humans in the long run. The UNEP is the center for cooperation among the coalitions in their efforts to handle the Pacific garbage patch; others prevent waste deposits that could end up in the ocean by preventing the production of waste materials like plastics and nurdles that contaminate the Pacific. The Japan Ministry of Environment works with the NOAA to study marine life and the research results should be analyzed from a global perspective in order to formulate and implement the best technique to solve the issue. Laws enacted and implemented by the Japanese Ministry of Environment should also get reviewed; if effective, countries affected by the issue should also enact such laws to ensure the protection of the Pacific. NOAA is also working with the Japanese government to study marine debris. Hence, partnerships with UNEP and other agencies like Greenpeace have also improved waste management related to the Pacific garbage patch. UNEP could advocate for the formation of treaties such as the Deyaa treaty, which allows for the signatories to empower the role of UN-appointed experts to enforce treaty provisions, thus coming up with an appropriate mix of the Pacific clean-up and prevention approaches. The treaty guarantees the spread of stakeholder’s awareness and obliges stakeholders to participate in the management of the Pacific garbage patch.

Conclusion

The significance of collaboration, especially in the current 21st century, cannot be underestimated. In particular, we need collaboration to generate innovative ideas. Collaboration is a type of joint action, which supports innovation (Quandt & Castilho, 2017). Resolving serious environmental problems such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch problem calls for out-of-the-box thinking and enhanced creativity. Bringing together individuals with conflicting and complementary skills through collaboration and engaging them in brainstorming solutions to this and other problems that demand teamwork go a long way towards promoting out-of-box thinking and enhanced creativity. As a result, this contributes to the generation of innovative ideas that lead to the resolution of problems.

We also need collaboration to extend our possibilities. By working together in collaboration, we share experience, which helps in extending our possibilities. Additionally, we need collaboration to improve our relationships with stakeholders. Collaboration entails engagement with different stakeholders. As a result, this contributes to improved stakeholder relationships, which is crucial as far as resolving serious problems such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch problem is concerned. Notably, the solutions to this and other environmental problems demand the involvement of various stakeholders. Collaboration helps in improving the relationships among different stakeholders and, as a consequence, increases the likelihood of finding permanent solutions to the problems.

Based on the essay, which shows collaboration between organizations, I have learned that collaboration allows participants (including individuals and organizations) to work towards the attainment of a shared goal by thinking out-of-box, brainstorming, and providing different points of view to offer solutions. The collaboration between various organizations is critical to finding a permanent solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch menace. I have also learned that working together of organizations facilitated by collaboration provides their representatives with equal opportunities to take part and share their ideas, which is crucial as far as resolving any problem is concerned. Furthermore, I have learned that collaboration involves proactively engaging instead of waiting and seeing, becoming a part of a group with a common purpose (for example, resolving the Great Pacific Garbage Patch problem), thinking and deliberating over alternatives, and trying to gain consensus in problem-solving.

References

1. Camarihna-Matos, L. M., & Afsarmanesh, H. (2008). Concept of Collaboration. Encyclopedia of Networked and Virtual Organizations (pp. 311-315). IGI Global.
2. Coulter, J. R. (n.d.). A Sea of Change to Change the Sea: Stopping the Spread of the Pacific Garbage Patch with Small-Scale Environmental Legislation. Retrieved from https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol51/iss5/6.
3. Global Ocean Commission (2014). From decline to recovery: A rescue package for
4. the global ocean. Global Ocean Commission.
5. Quandt, C. O., & Castilho, M. F. (2017). Relationship Between Collaboration and Innovativeness: A Case Study In an Innovative Organization. International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 21(3), 257-273.
6. Laal, M., Kermanshahi, Z. K., & Laal, M. (2012). 21st Century Learning; Learning in C Collaboration. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 47, 1696-1701.
7. UCLA. (2013). Federal Actions to Address Plastic Marine Pollution- Preventing Marine Plastic Pollution through Upstream Controls and Life Cycle Management. Surfrider Foundation & UCLA Student research consortium. Retrieved from http://web.unep.org/sites/default/files/Regional%20Priorities/Marine%20Debris/Handouts%20for%20Panel%201%20-%20Surfrider.pdf
8. Xing, X. (2009). Study on the ban on free plastic bags in China. Journal of Sustainable Development, 2(1), 156-158