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Contact Information
Email: tim.huerta@ttu.edu
Phone: (806) 742-3188
Fax:
Mailstop:
Website: http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/thuerta
Habla Español: no
Spanish Interview: no
Expertise
Topics
Management : Health Care Management
Management : Health Organization Management
Management : Organizational Behavior
Health Care : Organizational Management
Management : Organizational Studies
Management : Organizational Change
Areas of Expertise
Social Network Analysis, Inter-organizational Networks, Health Management, Organizational Theory, Organizational Behavior, Computer Simulation, Health Care Strategy
Biography
Concepts such as collaboration, networks and cross-disciplinary research are changing the way scientists and funding agencies think about the health research enterprise. The presupposed value of “team science†approaches are found in the shifts in funding and practice and emerges from a perspective that some problems are simply too big for any one researcher or disciplinary lens to resolve on their own. We are seeing changes across many areas of health research through the inclusion of a greater diversity of disciplines and research traditions (including sociology, communications, marketing, organizational behavior, and education) that provide valuable insights for health research. The corollary in health service delivery is the investment in resources to support the creation of networks. For example, child and youth-focused health services delivery networks (CYNs) are a key mechanism through which health and social services are delivered. These networks enable the enhancement of member organizations in diverse service delivery contexts, including health promotion, illness prevention, and early intervention. The creation of CYNs is actively encouraged by government and foundation benefactors, which seek to coax synergy through the establishment of formal collaborative structures. CYNs are seen as a mechanism for collective, coordinated action to address complex and difficult problems. Networks and networking activities are supported because they hold the promise of leveraging collaborative capacity to be responsive to existing and forecasted trends within the service population. As more resources are invested into networks, there is parallel demand to establish an evidentiary base for the investment of these resources. While scholarship exists on interorganizational networks, missing from this process is the guidance of comparative research studies on the collaborative phenomenon. Dr. Huerta’s has chosen to focus his research to address this critical knowledge gap. By attempting to address the real challenge of developing synergy in research and practice, he is also attempting to fill the knowledge translation problem from a value-added perspective. By understanding the structural factors that inhibit or energize collective endeavor, his research will provide policy makers a greater understanding of the linkages between structure, collaborative capacity and the ability of collaborations to develop something that could not have been created working individually.