Interdisciplinary Strategy and Collaboration: A Case Study of American Research Universities‪.‬

Introduction A combination of external pressures and the increasingly established benefits of collaboration provide the impetus for institutions to make efforts to support intra-organizational collaborative activity. Particularly pronounced in recent years, outside stakeholders, from grant agencies to accreditation bodies, call for higher education to place greater emphasis on collaboration among various departments and units on campus (Ramaley, 2001). Kanter (1994) cites increased efficiency and effectiveness throughout the institution as a hallmark of a collaborative systemic approach. Higher education traditionally resists such endeavors, which can largely be attributed to the role of departments, disciplinary silos, and bureaucratic administrative structures. Although new organizational structures such as organized research units (ORU) attempt to overcome these historical limitations (Geiger, 2004), barriers continue to exist, discouraging individuals from engaging in cross-unit collaboration.