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multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, 

water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the 

States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National

grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service 

to a growing Nation.

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activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable sex,

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Authors

Roger N. Clark and George H. Stankey are research social scientists (retired),

Pacific Northwest Research Station. Clark was at the Pacific Wildland Fire

Sciences Laboratory, 400 N 34th St., Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103 and Stankey

was at the Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR

97331.
Abstract

Clark, Roger N.; Stankey, George H. 2006. Integrated research in natural 

resources: the key role of problem framing. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-678.

Portland, OR. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 63 p.

Integrated research is about achieving holistic understanding of complex biophysical and social issues and problems. It is driven by the need to improve understanding about such systems and to improve resource management by using the

results of integrated research processes.

Traditional research tends to fragment complex problems, focusing more on 

the pieces of problems rather than the whole that comprises multiple interrelationships and interactions. The outcome is that a lot is known about the parts (e.g.,

recreation, fish, and wildlife) but relatively little about how they are interrelated.

There seems to be general agreement that integrated questions must drive 

the search for integrated understanding, but tradition, inertia, institutional culture,

budgets, training, and lack of effective leadership foster reductionism (at worst) or

minimal degrees of integration (at best) rather than any substantial, sustainable

effort toward integrated research.

In this paper, a phased approach to framing integrated research questions and

addressing the substantial barriers that impede integrated efforts are discussed. A

key conclusion is that to make any significant progress toward comprehensive integrated research will require more than rhetoric. Progress must begin with more

effective leadership throughout various levels of research organizations. 

Keywords: Research, integration, resource management, leadership, problem 

framing.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing
Foreword

February 27, 2006

This paper about integrated research synthesizes our knowledge, experience, and 

perspectives gained over 70 collective years of conducting social science research.

The focus of our studies has been on complex, often contentious natural resource

issues, both in the United States and overseas. The goal of this research was to

improve understanding of the complex problems facing managers of natural resources

and citizens who use the land or care about land management. During much of this

time, we have been part of a research program focused on improving the integration of biophysical considerations with social aspects of natural resource values and

uses. And we have worked in a unit of a research organization that reorganized in

the early 1990s in part to foster improved integration of diverse disciplines and

interests. 

During our careers, we have participated in many studies, some that clearly

were disciplinary in nature and others that were either implicitly or explicitly

focused on integrated questions. We have also been part of several large assessments founded on the principles of ecosystem management where integrated

approaches are a requisite for success. Along the way we have struggled with both

the substantive outcomes as well as the processes underlying integrated research.

Our overall conclusion is that most of the integrated efforts were incomplete at

best and failures at worst. Why is this so? At the simplest level, one answer is that

doing integrated work is hard. More fundamentally, whether in research or resource

management, the challenges and barriers are often systemic in nature, rooted

deeply in organizational, disciplinary, and educational beliefs and norms. All this

reveals the persistence of traditional approaches in spite of the rhetoric. The mismatch between the rhetoric of integration and what really occurs is striking and

gives emphasis to the work contained in this report. 

The approach to integrated research proposed in this paper is grounded in the

literature and numerous interactions with other researchers and research managers.

Over the past 10 years, we convened fieldtrips, workshops, and discussions about

what integration means, what it requires, and what gets in the way. We also were

participants in other workshops and discussions where integrated research was the

focus. In addition, we interviewed scientists engaged in some way with integrated

studies. Many were with the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station, located in

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Oregon, Washington, and Alaska, but scientists from other regions of the country,

different federal and state agencies, universities, and overseas were interviewed

also. 

From these multiple sources, we attempt here to distill better approaches to

integrated research, including more effective problem framing. Addressing solutions to the many barriers to integrated efforts is also emphasized. These barriers

exist at individual, team, and institutional levels. Because many of the barriers are

systemic in nature, they require more than cosmetic or operational adjustments.

Although our experience is focused primarily on the PNW Research Station and its

collaborators, we believe that the findings and conclusions we discuss have broad

application.

We envision that the primary audience for this work is people who want to

organize and conduct integrated studies. The caveat is that for success, there must

be institutional support. We also believe the perspectives offered will be useful to

students in academic institutions and people early in their careers where there are

opportunities to acquire additional training and experience to develop the necessary

skills for success. And we hope that research and resource management organizations facing the need to improve understanding about complex social and biophysical issues surrounding natural resources values, use, and management will find this

report useful. 

In the end, this work was driven by a question: Can integrated research be

managed to achieve true holistic understanding of complex problems? We believe

that the answer is “yes,” but there are significant obstacles in the way. We hope that

readers of this paper will take up several challenges: honestly distinguish between

the rhetoric vs. the reality of integrated research, find creative ways to resolve the

many barriers in the way, hold leaders accountable for creating and maintaining

environments where effective integrated problem solving can occur, and cultivate

opportunities for mutual learning among diverse disciplines and interests. 

Roger N. Clark

George H. Stankey

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing
Contents

1 Introduction

3 Multiple Perspectives About Integrated Research

4 Integrated Research Is...

5 Integrated Research Is Not...

7 Why Are Integrated Research Approaches Needed?

7 Holisms—The Root of Integration

8 The Need for Integrated Approaches in Natural Resources

10 Integration of What, With What, to What Ends?

13 Potential Substantive Areas for Integrated Research

13 Interactions Within and Between Biophysical, Social, and Economic Systems

14 Managing for Multiple Values

14 Models and Tools to Look at Complex Systems

15 Phases for Problem Solving—An Overview

15 Phase 1—Problem Selection

16 Phase 2—Problem Framing

16 Phase 3—Solving the Problem

17 Integrated Problem Framing: From Rhetoric to Reality

18 Basic Principles of Problem Framing

21 Practicing Problem Framing

26 Tools to Aid Problem Framing

29 Proposed Process for Managing an Integrated Research Effort

32 Steps to Consider

40 Barriers to Integrated Research

42 Suggested Solutions for Critical Barriers

43 Clarify Expectations

44 Enhance Leadership Skills

44 Recruit, Train, and Support the Right Mix of People

47 Facilitating Successful Integrated Research Efforts

48 Relationships, Processes, and Outcomes

49 The Best of Intentions

50 Assessing Progress

50 Monitoring Changing Relationships

51 Monitoring the Effectiveness of Integrated Research Processes

52 Evaluating Outcomes

53 Conclusions

56 Some Lessons

58 Acknowledgments

59 Literature Cited

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Introduction

Periodically, particular words and phrases strike a chord with many people and 

take on a special if uncertain significance. In the field of natural resources, there

are many examples–multiple use, sustainability, new forestry, new perspectives in

forestry, collaborative stewardship, ecosystem management, ecological stewardship, forest health, adaptive management, and integrated resource management.

Experience suggests that most, if not all, of these and other such concepts are used

for different purposes and with different meanings (Clark and Stankey 1991). Many

fade away and are replaced with another and better mantra when people recognize

that they are mostly words and not deeds (Clark and Stankey 1991; Stankey et al.,

in press).

Scientists and managers of natural resources are increasingly called on to deal

with complex problems where understanding the interactions between biophysical

and social systems is necessary to balance the complex and diverse needs of society

with increasingly threatened and scarce natural resources (Brunckhorst 2000,

FEMAT 1993, Lang 1990). To understand such multifaceted systems, frameworks,

concepts, models, and approaches are needed that allow us to isolate and explain

the interactions within and among parts of the system (Blockstein 1999). 

Developing an integrated approach to research is the topic of this report. It

implies certain conditions or actions to those who use it. In research, we frequently

cite the need for “better integration,” or the desire for “integrated approaches” or

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

1

Box 1: The lack of clarity and preciseness with which the term “integration”

is used is not unusual. In many ways, integration is a good example of the

notions of “policy myths” or “guiding fictions.” Policy myths include terms

or ideas that “are important to the definition of problems because they link

public issues to widely accepted ways of understanding the world and to

shared...evaluations of...possible solutions to problems” (DeNeufville and

Barton 1987: 181). Similarly, guiding fictions describe ideas that provide a

sense of identity and purpose; they can help rally public support for the ideals

imbedded in a concept such as integration (Shumway 1991). However, both

policy myths and guiding fictions are characterized by a paradoxical tendency

to garner support and enthusiasm at the abstract level, but to lose that support

as efforts to define and specify them take place. This is vividly reflected in

the discussions about integration. (Clark et al. 1999: 298)
“integrated teams.” Nevertheless, exactly what makes something integrated remains

elusive (box 1).

The literature is full of essays on why integrated approaches are important to

resource managers (Clark et al. 1999). There is also a substantial volume of work

on barriers (e.g., rewards for traditional approaches, reductionism) (Lachapelle et

al. 2003, Margerum 2001, Margolis 1993, Socolow 1976). Many reports claim to

be integrative, but few significant examples exist, particularly when the problems

become socially and biophysically complex at multiple temporal and spatial scales.

Some scientists, doing what they think is integrated research, find they are criticized for not doing integrated work. Such situations can become divisive unless a

common understanding and agreement about expectations is reached. Without clarifying expectations for integration, there is a risk of perpetuating another round of

confusing rhetoric and meaningless slogans best suited to bumper stickers. 

Disciplinary, fragmented research (even if the sum includes all the parts) does

not allow us to understand complex problems and systems. Reductionism can help

fill critical knowledge gaps and contribute to holistic learning, but it is only one

approach. Integrated research is not a panacea, but it is another means to help us

understand the complexities of our world. 

As Clark et al. (1999) contended,

The root issue underlying the move toward integrated management (and

research) is the long-term conflict in how society views forests and the 

priority of alternative uses. . . . Improved knowledge, concepts, and 

frameworks for integrated resource management are critically needed to 

deal with increasing conflict over limited resources. Integration must 

cross disciplinary lines—biophysical, ecological, social and economic—

as well as management functions—recreation, timber, fish—and geographic and temporal scales—ranging from short to long term, and site 

specific to global. 

In this paper, we offer a phased and stepwise approach for integrated research. 

By conducting integrated research in a systematic progression of phases and steps,

many of the frequently cited barriers to this type of work can be avoided or overcome. We explore the concept of integrated research in general, and problem framing

in particular, and how it can be used to achieve certain goals in research. We offer a

general approach for defining, organizing, implementing, and evaluating integrated

research efforts. Specifically we emphasize how problem framing (getting the questions right before acting) must be improved and steps for making this happen. 

2

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
The approach described in this paper for integrated research draws on a variety of

sources and research efforts. These include:

• A major synthesis of the literature and experience on integration (Clark et al.

1999).1

• Several data-gathering processes that included participants both internal and

external to the Pacific Northwest Research Station. 

• Workshops with scientists on topics such as integration, landscapes, and 

scale.

• Review of more than a dozen cases where there were attempts to integrate 

science into framing and evaluating forest policy.

• Guidance from other studies including the Adaptive Management Area

Scientist Study (Graham and Kruger 2002) and the Adaptive Management

Evaluation (Stankey et al. 2003, 2005, in press).

A basic conclusion of this report is that integrated research is essentially a 

human endeavor that, to be effective, must consider a complex set of human relationships, processes, and outcomes. Moreover, integration is a means to an end,

requiring agreement about the goal before deciding on how to get there. This is a

tall order but, if successful, can reap significant rewards for both scientists and

those they serve.

Multiple Perspectives About Integrated Research2

What does “integrated research” mean? If reductionism leads to incomplete under

standing of complex biophysical and social systems, what does an integrated

research approach imply? 

There are multiple perspectives when people refer to the need for integration in

research and natural resource management. A common understanding is central to

helping people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse interests effectively

work together to reach a common goal. The following perspectives were identified

in the literature, workshops, and discussions.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

3

1

In this paper, we draw heavily from Senge (1990) and to a lesser extent Bardwell 

(1991) to emphasize key points. Excerpts from their papers are emphasized in boxed

text. These are two important references for people interested in systems thinking, 

problem framing, and learning organizations.

2

This section is adapted from Clark et al. 1999.
Integrated Research Is...

... a complex enterprise—it is easy to talk about but hard to do well; it is 

about how we do our work; it is about what we choose to study; and it is about a

complex set of human relationships, processes, and outcomes. 

... a process rather than a particular outcome, but the process will lead to 

integrated outcomes. As a human process, it helps us engage one another in a way

that the outcome of joint work is greater than the sum of individual efforts. 

... about how we engage one another to do work. It is akin to taking discrete 

lumps of colored clay and “smushing” them together into a new form and color

that cannot be pulled apart into their original colors; they become inseparable, a

new composition.

... a means to an end: it helps us understand complexity; it both facilitates

and requires agreement on problems, issues, questions, and goals; it emphasizes an

equal opportunity to influence the process and outcome(s); it includes consideration

of multiple perspectives and diverse types of inputs and outputs; it is visible, open,

and traceable.

... a way to mesh diverse subjects and disciplines across boundaries, and 

temporal and spatial scales; it focuses on the problem at hand, not on the functional disciplines of the participants.

... iterative and adaptive. It is dependent upon knowledge from a variety of 

sources (research, management experience, citizens) that considers a variety of

resource issues, their consequences to research management decisions, and their

impact on “larger systems.” These things change, requiring adjustments to the

process.

... alien to disciplinary-bounded research, but the latter can be a result of an 

integrated approach. An integrated approach will not necessarily replace “narrow

and deep” research. Reductionism is not bad; the appropriate strategy depends on

the questions needing answers. Both are necessary, but neither is sufficient.

... a fundamentally different way of doing business. A different paradigm 

or reality emerges from discrete entities and leads to synergy. Moreover, integration

is more than just thinking about substantive issues to study and disciplines to include.

It is also about ways of knowing, forms of knowledge, and research approaches,

among other things. Integrated work represents efforts across boundaries of geography, time, functions, and different elements of a problem (Wondolleck and

Yaffee 2000).

4

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Considering what something is not helps reveal what it is or might be. There 

are many different views about what integration is not.

Integrated Research Is Not...

... an easy and well-understood process (particularly the first time around). 

If it were, many groups would be doing it and doing it effectively. 

... necessarily efficient. To be effective (Shouldn’t this be the goal?), integrated 

research might take more time and money, particularly up front. However, the benefits can far exceed the results from traditional, reductionist approaches.

... a final step in a fragmented, functional, or disciplinary process; nor a 

patchwork of independent pieces that are put together after the fact to give the

appearance of a whole. Integrated efforts are not represented by a “state of the art”

book or synthesis of research with chapters based on functional areas or disciplines

(held together by a big staple). 

... two or more separate studies done at the same place and time without 

synergistic planning, involvement of diverse “-ologies,” and analysis. It is not

simply interdisciplinary or cooperative work. (These are necessary but not sufficient for integration to occur.)

... when individual disciplines independently evaluate and recommend 

modifications to the results of another discipline’s findings. Integration does not

have a preconceived conclusion from any discipline or perspective. It draws from

jointly agreed-upon problems followed by jointly conducted scholarly enquiry.

... about short- vs. long-term products and benefits. Integrated efforts will 

result in both short- and long-term outcomes and products. It may take considerable

time to complete work on some complex topics. There must be short-term products

along the way, however, to legitimize long-term efforts.

... the only game in town. Integration is not always necessary or appropriate. 

It depends on needs and objectives to be determined in the priority-setting and

problem-framing processes. Disciplinary research may be appropriate (and critical)

in some cases. Reductionist science, often maligned by those espousing more integrated approaches, may be essential to holistic understanding of parts of complex

systems.

... a panacea for resolving conflicts in research or natural resource values and 

uses; integration may not be in everyone’s best interest; it is not completely accepted

as a common goal. It is not without costs and risks, and it is never complete (nor is

traditional science.)

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

5
In sum, integration is a process; it is a means to an end. It is believed that an 

integrated research process will lead to more complete understanding of complex

interactions within and among biophysical and social systems. Integration is about

creating a more holistic understanding of complex interacting systems. Integration

is not a panacea. As an overall strategy, integration has merit when the problems or

issues are complex and not well suited to a functional or disciplinary solution (box 2).

Integration is easy to say but hard to do well. Not only are the natural resource 

problems to be studied (and managed) complex and often controversial, often the

necessary organizational capacity (or at times the will) does not exist to be successful in conducting integrated research, particularly on such complex problems. 

6

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Box 2: There is a tendency to think of integration as simply fitting different

disciplines and functional issues together, of adding perspectives to one

another. However, integration is far more than this; it involves development

of a comprehensive process for asking and answering integrative questions,

involving multiple values, scales, tenures, uses, etc. It involves more than

assembling massive collections of data. Successful implementation of integrative research and management will challenge our decisionmaking structure

and institutions of resource management and research. (Clark et al. 1999)

Integrated research is a process that helps us understand complex biophysical and

social systems at multiple temporal and spatial scales. 
Why Are Integrated Research Approaches Needed?

“System thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing 

interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static

‘snapshots’” (Senge 1990: 68).

Holisms—The Root of Integration

In a review of the literature and experience, Clark et al. (1999) traced the evolution 

of integration from its roots in holisms (Smuts 1926) and examined parallels in

other fields such as medicine. This review identified several basic tenets about integration that are briefly summarized here.

Smuts (1926) postulated that wholes are basic to the universe and amount to

more than the sum of the parts. Von Bertalanffy (1968) added to Smuts’ perspective

by asserting that parts interact and are interdependent, all living systems are wholes,

and that no part can function without affecting the whole. This means that to really

understand complex natural resource systems, a more holistic approach is needed

(Savory 1988).

There are several common elements of holisms as described by these and other 

authors.

• Analytical approaches are inadequate to understand complex systems. 

• Wholes are more than the sum of their parts.

• Wholes determine the nature of the parts.

• Parts cannot be understood apart from the whole.

• Parts are dynamically related or interdependent.

These conclusions suggest that reductionist science that does not flow from 

integrated questions cannot hope to develop holistic understanding. Reductionism

is not necessarily inappropriate; such research can be critical to understanding

some aspects of complex problems. But it must be done within a framework that is

driven by integrated rather than disciplinary questions if there is any hope to understand complex systems. 

Integration is about bringing different things together:

• Including more than one perspective. 

• Appreciating and respecting differences in how different people view the 

same thing.

• Meshing subjects and disciplines across boundaries, paradigms, and 

temporal and spatial scales.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

7
• Considering a variety of resource issues, their consequences to management decisions, and their impact on “larger systems”; blending of 

components of most systems that compose the whole.

• Combining insights so that the sum exceeds the experience of any of the 

individuals. 

• Results in a more holistic understanding where the whole is indeed more 

than summing up the parts.

Successful integrated research efforts require collective understanding and 

agreement at a fundamental level. To achieve the over-arching goals of integrated

research, those involved need a common vision, an interest in the same outcomes,

and to operate under the same paradigm with mutually agreed upon objectives and

protocols. Further, they must agree on the problem and the need for collaboration

to address it.

Because the problems are inherently complex, it is essential that teams representing diverse disciplines are the instrument of investigation. Integration is about

working together because no single person or discipline is capable of understanding

complex systems. It is not about being “smart” or not. Each of us are limited by

our worldviews, life experiences, and training. 

Mutual learning is a central focus of integrated efforts; it is both a means and

end of successful integrated work where participants become both students and

teachers. “Double-looped” learning (Argyris 1993) with the focus on both the

process and substance of integrated research is essential. Without mutual learning

and understanding of one another’s points of view, it is inevitable that individual

perspectives will limit the potential synergism of the team (Ortenblad 2004). When

participants perform as a team, they come to understand the power of true teams

and what such teams can contribute (i.e., the product of the team becomes greater

than the sum of individual contributions). But effective teams do not just happen,

and not everyone is effective in a team environment. Teams must develop capacity

to interpret, assess, and evaluate the problems as well as the products of individual

and team effort. This is the catalyst for recognizing and understanding emergent

properties characteristic of complex, interacting systems that are not evident when

disciplinary approaches are used.

The Need for Integrated Approaches in Natural Resources

Historically, many complex natural resource management problems that might have

warranted an integrative management approach have been resolved through the

allocation process; by spatially separating different uses and associated values and

8

Mutual learning is 

a central focus of

integrated efforts.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
purposes, it was possible to avoid thinking about how such uses might be managed

in a more integrative manner. Today, however, the capacity to resolve such problems through the allocation process is increasingly limited by the growing scarcity

of the resource base. Rather than working at the extensive margin, we need to give

more attention to the intensive margin, looking for opportunities to manage for the

joint production of two or more uses and values. This has created greater interest in

how integrated approaches might be undertaken. A number of specific reasons

underlie this interest.

The world is complex—

Either-or approaches are no longer tenable and can be unnecessarily divisive (owls

vs. jobs, timber vs. recreation, fish vs. dams, riparian restoration vs. public access

or recreation use). There is a need to embrace a wider range of values and uses to

find ways to reject either-or solutions to complex problems. To understand multifaceted systems, approaches and models are needed that allow improved explanation of the interactions within and among its parts. As we attend to biological and

physical factors, we must also deal with the social, cultural, economic, and institutional aspects of environmental values and uses. However, these aspects cannot

only be considered after the fact as add-ons or things to mitigate for or against.

Substantive areas (basic processes, problems, issues, policies) require it—

Today’s problems are about complex processes, connections, and interrelationships.

Stewardship and sustainability involve relations between people, their environments, and processes that link them. Disciplinary, fragmented research (even if the

sum includes all the parts) does not add up to understanding the complexity of the

whole. The future will be more about understanding difficult problems where interactions between biophysical, social, cultural, institutional, and economic interactions

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

9

Box 3: From a very early age, we are taught to break apart problems, to fragment the world. This apparently makes complex tasks and subjects more

manageable, but we pay a hidden, enormous price. We can no longer see the

consequences of our actions; we lose our intrinsic sense of connection to a

larger whole. When we then try to “see the big picture,” we try to reassemble

the fragments in our minds, to list and organize all the pieces. But, as physicist David Bohm says, the task is futile—similar to trying to reassemble the

fragments of a broken mirror to see a true reflection. Thus, after a while we

give up trying to see the whole altogether. (Senge 1990: 3)
and considerations must be addressed together (integrated) at multiple scales to

find “answers.” This may lead to new practices for research where support for and

collaboration with land managers will be increasingly required (at least in greater

proportion than current practice) (box 3).

Integrated research will lead to improved fundamental understanding of complex, interacting biophysical and social systems. Second, such understanding

should facilitate creation of management strategies and techniques to improve

resource management. 

This will mean that managers, researchers, and citizens will have a better

understanding about the value and use of knowledge held by science, management,

and the public, and how this knowledge can be used in developing, implementing,

and evaluating integrated management and research. This will result in improved

capacity to design, evaluate, and communicate integrated resource management

options and outcomes to people with diverse interests.

Results of integrated research are essential to more complete holistic understanding of choices facing society about natural resources. Such knowledge has the

potential to lead to more integrated management approaches to dealing with complex values and uses. Integrated research provides an opportunity to facilitate truly

integrated, multiple-value management strategies consistent with diverse public

values and concerns (Lang 1990).

Integrated research will enable scientists and land managers to understand the

complexities of interrelationships at different temporal and spatial scales; this will

lead to better indicators and predictors of the consequences of management actions

on the land for those who value and use it. More efficient land management may

result from facilitating joint production of various goods and services. 

On the one hand, one would hope that integrated research would lead to

reduced conflict in resource management, thereby increasing support and trust of

the institutions and practices of resource management. Under this scenario, polarization would decrease as compatibilities as well as conflicts between values and

uses are better understood (a lofty goal indeed). We must acknowledge, however,

that the opposite could occur. That is, integration could foster and aggravate conflict, especially as the complex relations and interactions among various resource

systems become better understood. Competing interests could use such information

to seek support for their particular views and concerns.

Integration of What, With What, to What Ends?

If integrated research is going to be undertaken, what to integrate with what and 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
why needs to be determined. The most holistic and ideal response is “everything

with everything else.” Part of the difficulty discussing integrated research seems

related to lack of clarity about what should be included in integrated approaches.

Table 1 suggests some topics for consideration as decisions about what to include

are made. 

This table is not inclusive, nor does it suggest that all topics must be included

in every integrated research effort. But all should be up for consideration. The

items in this table represent large categories with many subsets that become relevant when specific issues or questions are defined. For example, people responsible

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

11

Table 1—To include or not to include: discussion points for integrated approaches

Integrate With To achieve integrated. . .

Scientific knowledge Management experience

Indigenous experience . . .forms of knowledge

What scientists do What managers do

Science Local knowledge and 

experience . . .ways of knowing

Social sciences Biophysical sciences

Economics Ecological sciences . . .scientific disciplines

Recreation Silviculture

Engineering

Policy . . .resource management functions

Qualitative Quantitative

Holistic and relative Reductionist

Technical

Experimental methods Case studies

Descriptive methods . . .methods and research designs

Small scale Large scale

Riparian Uplands

Today Tomorrow . . .spatial and temporal scales

Human values and Biophysical values. . .

uses. . .

Held by rural people Held by urban people

Public uses Resource protection

Resource utilization Resource preservation

Production of fiber Provision of settings

Short-term needs Long-term needs

Public land Private land . . .outcomes

Human preference Wildlife preference and

and needs needs

Human population Wildlife population 

dynamics dynamics . . .populations and habitats
for guiding integrated research on the interaction between human communities and

nearby watersheds must decide if different forms of knowledge (e.g., management

experience and indigenous knowledge) will be included in addition to science. 

The reason to do integrated research and development is to better understand

the complexity of individual systems and the interactions between systems. So the

choice of what to integrate with what must be driven by the system(s) and issues 

in question. There is no cookie cutter; decisions must be made as part of problem

framing, which we discuss later.

In simple terms, integrated research is about understanding that complex 

systems are greater than the sum of the parts. Failure to achieve this will limit the

effectiveness of resource management policies and practices and lead to limited

and often polarized outcomes (box 4).

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Box 4: For both social and technical reasons, many argue that either-or

approaches are no longer tenable. Pressure for integration is drawn from several sources: increasing competition for multiple values by a pluralistic society;

and increasing recognition of possibilities for joint production (for at least

certain goods, services, and values). Some forest uses are incompatible (e.g.,

wilderness and timbering), but many uses are dependent on or at least compatible with, other uses. Several forms of recreation, for example, depend

upon the roads built for timber harvesting and on the openings which are created by harvesting activities (Clark et al. 1984; Clark 1987). Either-or solutions can limit the opportunity for compatible co-existence in some situations.

Questions of forest stewardship and sustainability inevitably involve the

relationships among people, their environment, and the processes that link

them. Such relationships are complex and dynamic. Although uncertainty

characterizes all decisions, the current situation surrounding forest management is one in which the levels of uncertainty seem inordinately high. We

simply do not understand the nature of many people-environment relationships or the full or long-term consequences of actions taken to affect any

given component of the ecosystem. In part, this is a result of the traditional

orientation of our research and educational institutions (structured along disciplinary lines) and our management institutions (structured along geographic,

political, and functional lines). Improving our capacity to integrate this complex array of uses, values, perspectives, and processes should result in a
Potential Substantive Areas for Integrated Research 

There is no shortage of issues or problems for integrated research. Holistic understanding is absent and essential to fill gaps in knowledge or to resolve many important management problems. Examples are given below; selecting the topics is part

of the priority-setting phase.

Interactions Within and Between Biophysical, Social, 

and Economic Systems

Improved understanding is needed about basic biophysical and social processes

and the effects of one system on another at different scales. Major questions include:

How do we integrate aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to understand how actions

in one system will affect ecological and social conditions in the other system? How

do human values and uses interact with biophysical conditions at multiple scales?

How do management policies and actions affect both? How do external factors

influence these interactions? 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

13

reduction in the number and severity of the “surprises” confronting managers

and policymakers in the future. At the same time, it is important that we

acknowledge that the future remains unpredictable; surprises will remain the

norm, not the exception. This realization underlies the growing interest in

adaptive management (Lee 1993). However, we contend that an improved

ability to apply integrated processes and solutions should make it easier to

contend with the inevitable changes the future holds.

Although there is abundant information regarding specific functional

areas of natural resource management (e.g., wildlife, recreation, timber), our

understanding of the relationships among these functional areas is poor. It 

is even more limited when we examine the linkages between the biological

realm and people. This is especially of concern, given that virtually all management actions lead to reciprocal impacts; changes in the forest lead to

changes in human use and values of these areas and, conversely, changes in

human communities and their values and concerns lead to changes in forests

and the way they are managed. Thus, there is a need to improve our ability to

integrate ecological and social information in decision making. (Clark et al.

1999)
Managing for Multiple Values

Issues in this category beg for integrated work, given the diversity of ecosystems 

and human values, goals, and perspectives that can be found in a multiownership

landscape. Critical questions include the following: How do we manage lands for

many values and uses while protecting species in jeopardy and fragile ecosystems,

rather than just setting it aside or locking it up and locking humans out? What is

the role of active vs. passive management? How can we better demonstrate integrative and adaptive approaches to natural resource management? How can we superimpose an adaptive management approach on conventional policy formulation and

implementation? How might we redefine our thinking about transportation systems

(e.g., roads, trails, and waterways) for multiple values and uses and special forest

products for multiple values and uses to make them more holistic? How do we distribute forest uses across multiple ownerships to achieve different mixes of outputs

and values? 

Models and Tools to Look at Complex Systems

Integrating social, economic, and biophysical information is a challenge to both 

research and resource management. Studies might be done to improve the ability of

research and management to compile, interpret, and communicate knowledge about

a variety of complex issues.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Simulating how areas may look at different points in time helps people understand how problems can be framed to account for temporal as well as spatial interrelationships.

Robert Harrison
Tools are needed for integrated research, resource decisionmaking, communicating complex ideas, mutual learning, increasing complex analyses of biophysical

and social interactions, and adaptive management. Are there different conceptual

models from ecology, economics, and social sciences that relate to use and management of natural resources? 

Future research likely will be driven by the need to understand the interrelations and interactions between biophysical and social and economic systems; the

need to think at multiple spatial and temporal scales; the increasingly ideological

and polarized basis for public debate and resource management decisions; and the

opportunity to address diverse approaches rather than either-or solutions to complex problems. Increasing public interest in issues related to natural resource management and use will put pressure on science and scientists to come up with

“answers” to complex problems associated with competing uses of increasingly

scarce resources. 

Phases for Problem Solving—An Overview

There are three distinct phases in organizing and conducting integrated research:

(1) problem selection, (2) problem framing, and (3) problem solving. Each phase

achieves particular objectives and requires that the “right” people are included. In

this section, we briefly describe the focus of each stage. This is followed by an

expanded discussion of the problem-framing phase.

Phase 1—Problem Selection

This phase involves deciding which problems, issues, or questions warrant an 

integrative approach. As we have said before, integration may not be appropriate

for every issue and question.

In many respects, the simplest step to designing and implementing integrated

research and development is picking a topic, question, or issue on which to focus

research efforts. It makes little difference if it is driven by policy or science concerns. There are many candidates, and priority-setting processes help identify the

most important areas to pursue.

Problem selection is generally the responsibility of decisionmakers (both management and funding organizations) who allocate people, money, and time to get

work done. The assessment and discussion of priorities, however, ought to in some

way involve scientists to ensure that diverse perspectives and expertise are imbedded in decisions. In this sense, priority setting would be done at the top of the hierarchical organization, but would be grounded in bottom-up perspectives and

insights.

The assessment 

and discussion of

priorities ought to 

in some way involve

scientists to ensure

that diverse perspectives and expertise

are imbedded in

decisions.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

15
Problem selection rests on several factors including strategic direction, the

political environment, the budget outlook, and organizational capacity to respond to

new work that might require significant new or redirected resources (people, time,

money). 

We do not elaborate further on this phase in this paper.

Phase 2—Problem Framing

Problem framing is the most important and most difficult phase; it has the most 

profound effect on where one ends up (Bardwell 1991). Moreover, it is not a discrete step but the beginning of a process that must account for (1) building and 

sustaining relations among the players, (2) building and implementing processes

that allow integration to occur, and (3) identifying and creating the outcomes. We

elaborate on this process in the next major section.

Problem framing has multiple goals. Its main purpose is to generate a representation of the problem that truly is an expression of more than the sum of the

individual perspectives. Framing problems helps people understand one another

and results in mutual learning, which is both a product and the foundation for subsequent work of integrated teams. Effective problem framing will also help identify

existing knowledge about the problem and disciplinary and cross-disciplinary gaps. 

As discussed earlier, the perspectives (worldviews, beliefs) one chooses to

adopt influence how one attacks the problem (Bardwell 1991), and worldviews

may be in conflict (box 5). 

16

The way a problem 

is defined affects

the solution.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Box 5: The initial representation of a problem may be the most crucial single

factor governing the likelihood of problem solution. What may appear as a

formidable problem in one representation may be solved immediately in

another format. A mere change of representation may by itself provide a solution. Whether a problem is solved or not, and how long the solution will take

depend a great deal upon the initial representation. (Posner 1973: 149)

Phase 3—Solving the Problem

Phase 3 is about doing the work to solve the problem selected (phase 1) based on 

how it was framed (phase 2). This phase covers the substantive concerns of the

research topic and processes for effectively managing and working on integrated

teams. 
In addition to inadequate problem framing, organizations have problems effectively organizing, leading, and managing resources to do integrated work from

beginning to end. Even if the problem is appropriately selected and framed, there 

is much more to integrative problem solving. Critical barriers must be resolved; in

particular, improvement is needed in managing the inevitable conflicts that occur

among team members and between team members and hierarchical leaders.

All three phases (and steps within them) must be done in a sequential fashion,

but they may be iterative and reflexive as well. For example, problem framing may

clarify the problem selected or it may reveal other critical questions where a priority call may be needed before problem solving commences. Visible and traceable

processes must be in place so that people up, down, and across the hierarchical

organization can understand what is occurring, why, and to what ends.

Outcomes are uncertain and cannot and should not be dictated in advance.

Iterations are necessary both within and between the phases. “Skipping steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces satisfying results” (Kotter 1995:

59). Top-down direction may be appropriate in phase 1, but will be met with resistance and be counter-productive when framing the problem (phase 2) and doing the

research in phase 3. 

Integrated Problem Framing: From Rhetoric to Reality

A review of the literature on integrated resource management strongly confirms 

the importance of appropriate problem definition or framing—getting the context

and questions right before actions are taken (Bardwell 1991, Clark et al. 1999,

Elliot et al. 2003, Kakoyannis 2004, Senge 1990). Failure to ensure that effective

problem framing and subsequent actions occur often leads to: 

• Stating a problem so it cannot be understood by diverse interests. 

• Stating the problem so it cannot be solved.

• Solving the wrong problem.

• Solving a solution (Bardwell 1991). For example, working on a technical 

solution for a problem that, at its core, requires a social or political solution. 

Ready-made solutions for problem framing do not exist. However, there are 

some concepts and principles that may increase the likelihood of success. Questions

to address at the beginning of the problem-framing process include: Who frames

the problem? For whom? To what ends? How does one deal with scale within and

among issues? Are there large-scale issues, or are they the sum of small scales?

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

17
Appropriate scale is defined by many factors including the broad issues and questions (drivers), processes at work (functions within and complex system components), and policy needs (What decisions need to be made? Where? When? Why?).

Effective problem framing for complex issues and questions identifies policy needs

and fundamental knowledge gaps. 

The way a problem is defined affects the solutions (Wondolleck and Yaffee

2000). Much of the literature deals with problem framing as an abstraction or general process. Here, we discuss some ways to implement and sustain effective problem framing without stifling the enthusiasm and creativity of participants.

We believe, as do many people consulted in this effort, that problem framing 

is the most important, yet most poorly done part of integrated research. Doing this

phase well will set the stage for merging diverse perspectives; doing it poorly makes

us victims of ideologies imbedded in scientific disciplines, as well as individual

and organizational power relationships. 

Problem framing is more difficult than it first appears, but is critical to overall

success. These efforts require an emphasis on leadership rather than management

and administration, and commitment and patience from hierarchical leaders rather

than command and control. Unfortunately the latter in both choices is more prevalent today than the former.

Basic Principles of Problem Framing

Some basic principles for problem framing have emerged from the literature and 

our discussions with scientists and science managers.

Problem framing will reveal if an integrated approach is required or if narrowly

defined work is needed to improve understanding of complex issues. Both may be

needed; it is not necessarily an either-or choice. Even when a problem (or part of 

a problem) falls within a particular discipline, integration may be critical at the 

theory or methodological level. How far one needs to “back up” in the process to

improve integration in ongoing efforts must be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Integration is important when relevant knowledge is widely dispersed, multiple

values and perspectives are present, multiple interests are at stake, power differentials exist, and capacity to understand or act is spread across multiple actors (i.e.,

disciplines, functions).

Learning by doing seems to be critical in processes of integration. Social scientists have often pointed to the importance of “self discovery” as an aid to learning.

This all implies the importance of extensive documentation and ongoing feedback

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
and evaluation so we do not forget or repeat ourselves later, and so that lessons can

be shared (box 6).

The process through which problem formulation takes place is critical. A

written document is just the culmination of the exercise. Essential features of the

process are listed below.

• Include the full range of interests, values, and uses. An inclusive process is

necessary to ensure that the questions posed are integrative at the outset, 

rather than assuming that this can be achieved later. The process is also a

means of identifying fundamental conflicts and disagreements at the beginning rather than letting them emerge (as they inevitably will) later.

• Focus attention on complex biophysical and social questions, and allow 

these questions to drive the search for solutions. Only when the process 

has generated agreement on the nature of the problem should the search for

solutions be undertaken. Avoid jumping to a solution before thoroughly 

understanding the problem.

• Define the questions in explicit terms. This should include measures of the

appropriate spatial and temporal scales involved and should also be framed 

in terms that facilitate improvement in conditions. The process should also

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

19

Box 6: Just knowing is not enough. In the face of problems that are urgent,

complicated, and far-reaching, people often fail to respond with the enthusiasm and commitment one might expect.... People are not computers. They

cannot store and access all the information they receive.... They selectively

use information from their environment relying on mental models or “cognitive maps” they have built through life experience.... People also are not passive receptors of this information.... They use these maps rapidly, almost

automatically to access a reservoir of organized information with which to

interpret and respond to their environment.... When it comes to problemsolving, this commitment plays itself out as a bias toward the familiar....

People tend to solve problems in ways that fit into their preexisting maps;

they do what they did before.... Unfortunately, this also means that new problems may be cast as old ones and more effective options overlooked.... There

are times, of course, when the models one has cannot accommodate the new

information.... At other times, however, people jump to conclusions without

adequately examining the problem. (Bardwell 1991: 604-605)
require that the key underlying assumptions are also made explicit and available for

review, critique, and possible revision by all interested parties.

For policy applications, problem framing likely will require collaboration with

managers and stakeholders to determine appropriate questions before initiating

work. New approaches will be needed for defining integrative questions up front to

ensure that the appropriate combination of social, cultural, biophysical, and economic aspects are considered throughout research and development and natural

resource planning and management processes (box 7).

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Integrated problem framing will reveal the appropriate scale(s) (temporal and spatial) on which

integrated research should focus. 

Box 7: ...an adequate problem definition is a critical first step to effectively

solving complex problems. The process of reframing or redefining a problem

enhances one’s understanding of that problem. .... Being able to problemframe, to adopt different perspectives on a problem, makes people better able

and more willing to think about and creatively address it. (Bardwell 1991: 606)

How often we’ve heard over the last several years that “integrated questions

will drive...” Yet, we seem to be woefully inadequate in either getting the questions “right” or in following through once the questions are clear. There is a tendency to devolve into what is comfortable, i.e., what we have always done. 

Roger Clark
The problem-framing process is a prerequisite to successfully doing integrated

research, as well as management. If done well, not only will the questions be properly framed, but the people expected to do the integrated work will have been

transformed from isolated, individual disciplinarians to a team whose members

have learned from and about one another sufficiently to work as a team even when

working independently. 

Practicing Problem Framing

When we tried problem framing at several workshops, we learned some interesting 

things.

Participants all started from different perspectives; they each had a different

sense of the context for the problem selected. Worldviews set the stage for how

they interpreted places, and these need to be revealed. It was possible to look

through one another’s lenses, if enough time was allowed. This became the foundation for mutual learning and understanding.

Discussions about integrated approaches need to be informed by content, but 

it is not clear when or whether it is best to start with the biophysical or social component of the problem. Discussion of integration in the absence of a real place does

not work very well. It is hard to share mental models and interpret what may be

interacting components and elements when we each visualize different things. We

found some improvement when using raised relief models with associated pictures

as compared to verbal abstractions. But working together in the field, focusing on

real places is even better. Personal perspectives affect how we “see” these places.

Scales people focused on ranged from tiny to huge; some included the time dimension, others did not. 

We observed situations where technical, social, and cultural perspectives were

blended into a more complete “story” as the workshops progressed. In a sense, the

frame of reference moved from the isolates to the center of the Venn diagram (fig.

1). How people told their stories about places differed considerably. Some were

very analytical and technical; others were more abstract. But each perspective and

approach added value.

Integrated problem framing is hard work: it involves learning and unlearning to

get past trained incapacities; it can be psychologically uncomfortable; it can create

fear owing to lack of knowledge or to recognition that our understanding and 

competence is less complete than initially imagined. At times it can feel like little

progress is being made. This is further confounded by the lack of appropriate forums

and facilitation processes to foster such “working through” (Yankelovich 1990).

Time to do the job

must be sufficent

and cannot be 

prescribed up front.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

21
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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Developing a common understanding among participants in integrated research requires time.

Without both focused time and face time, mutual learning is difficult to achieve.

Time to do the job must be sufficient and cannot be prescribed up front. A

common complaint was “We didn’t have enough time.” Rigid or unrealistic timeframes can lead to the premature closure to complex problems and ultimately failure to meet anyone’s goals, even though some arbitrary deadline was met. It takes

time to develop mutual understanding and the capacity to collectively move forward. Discomfort with what is often temporary inaction or indecision can lead to

rushing the problem definition to get to the solution (Bardwell 1991). Yet, it often

Figure 1—The Venn diagram is a tool that can

help integrated teams identify and articulate

overlapping questions and issues. 

Roger Clark
is the ambiguity and associated discomfort that eventually leads to creative

approaches as people with diverse perspectives learn to work in common. Time is

at a premium and often is limited by decisions of team members or hierarchical

leaders. This is usually shortsighted and limits the power and potential the team

might otherwise develop. Examples were cited that confirm the old saying that

while there was not enough time to do it right, there was always time to do it over.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

23

Box 8: This inclination toward action and people’s discomfort with indecision

becomes problematic when it means they pass over the problem definition too

quickly in order to get on with the solution. In their haste, people may define

the problem inadequately or inaccurately; they overlook other alternatives or

define the problem in terms of a solution. (Bardwell 1991: 608) 

Problem framing requires mutual learning to get support and involvement

(Wondolleck and Yaffee 2000) (box 8). Problem framing cannot be done for a

group; it must be done by them. 

• One cannot simply hand people a set of instructions about what and how 

to do integrated research and expect success. Yet this seems common in 

today’s research environment. 

• Integrated research requires that people engaged in the process understand 

one another’s perspectives and have a common language; we do not need to

agree, but we do need to understand. The problem-framing process, if well

designed and conducted, usually leads to mutual learning. This means participants must teach as well as learn. Accelerated mutual learning comes 

with experience and practice. 

• Mutual learning and shared language are essential to success. Mutual 

learning requires appreciation for worldviews; individual knowledge, 

beliefs, and attitudes; and the state of science (e.g., biology vs. sociology).

Mutual learning helps us deal with the same place and problem but with 

different realities each of us brings. Holisms require merging these differences in some way. There are multiple ways to effectively communicate and

present information, and using varied approaches will help diverse groups 

learn together. Not all people will be well suited or comfortable with such 

an approach.
Successful problem framing requires facilitation. This involves more than the

rudiments of meeting management (e.g., creating agendas and handouts). Iterative

and adaptive approaches must be in place to deal with inevitable surprises. Participants must understand that the fundamental emergent nature of the integrative

process means that things do not always work out as envisioned. This also heightens the importance of documenting what was tried and why, and what did and did

not work (box 9). 

Creating an environment for joint fact-finding and learning together often leads

to inventing options that none of the members could imagine on their own. Such

options will emerge and new science and management approaches will evolve. Once

a group achieves the ability to function as an integrated team, it cannot easily be

reduced to fragmented disciplinary parts (Gibbons et al. 1994) except where this

enhances an integrated solution.

Participants may be mistaken if they believe that being assigned a question to

work on, or a team to work with, is inherently negative and limits what they might

do as individuals. Ideally the participants help define the problem. The bigger problem, however, leading to conflict and limitations on creativity occurs when someone independently selects and frames the problem and assigns it to a team; this sets

the stage for many failures. Those responsible for doing the work must be actively

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Problem framing to look at human values and uses associated with riparian and related environment

must consider how they interact at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Roger Clark
Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

25

Box 9: Team learning is the process of aligning and developing the capacity

of a team to create the results its members truly desire. It builds on the discipline of developing shared vision. It also builds on personal mastery, for talented teams are made up of talented individuals. But shared vision and talent

are not enough. The world is full of teams of talented individuals who share a

vision for a while, yet fail to learn. The great jazz ensemble has talent and a

shared vision (even if they don’t discuss it), but what really matters is that the

musicians know how to play together. (Senge 1990: 236)

More than other analytic frameworks, systems thinking requires mature 

teams capable of inquiring into complex, conflictual issues

Lastly, the discipline of team learning, like any discipline, requires practice. Yet, this is exactly what teams in modern organizations lack. Imagine

trying to build a great theater ensemble or a great symphony orchestra without rehearsal. Imagine a championship sports team without practice. In fact,

the process whereby such teams learn is through continual movement

between practice and performance, practice, performance, practice again, 

perform again. (Senge 1990: 238)

Joint factfinding and sharing perspectives about how complex biophysical and social systems function

is a requisite to integrated research. 

USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
engaged in both the problem selection at some level, and in actually conducting the

problem framing.

People are at the mercy of how problems are framed if they are not involved in

the process. Their interest in the substance may not matter if they feel someone has

manipulated the problem (Slovic et al. 1984). Integrated efforts will stall if mutual

learning does not occur or if members of the team are not involved in the process

from the beginning or given a chance to catch up if they join later. Being present 

is not enough; people must be committed to the project, and if they are not, they

should be removed. Unfortunately, problems can be framed at the political level in

terms that satisfy particular interests, and the terms then imposed on scientists and

managers. Again, this reinforces the need for an explicit and visible problem-framing process to help reveal not only what the problems are, but also who has articulated them.

Concerns about meddling and micromanagement occur when hierarchical 

decisionmakers delve too deeply, too soon, into the problem-framing process.

Hierarchical leaders often are seen as inappropriately controlling the inputs, the

outputs, and the means to accomplishing the tasks of integrated work. There will

always be a tension; the goal is to prevent this tension from becoming a divisive

conflict that stifles scientists’ commitment, creativity, and productivity.

“What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” Aristotle.

Tools to Aid Problem Framing 

We do not start from a clean slate with respect to ideas, concepts, and tools to aid 

us in framing and solving complex problems. These legacies are revealed in policies,

programs, and beliefs that can sharply distort how problems are framed and what

solutions are sought (Socolow 1976). Some of the concepts that transcend disciplines were discussed earlier. In this section, we mention a few potential tools and

aids that might be considered by people attempting integrated efforts.

The Venn diagram (fig. 1) helps illustrate connections among knowledge sets

by using overlapping circles to show areas where shared knowledge or integrated

research might be beneficial. Exercises to articulate and classify questions and

issues into different parts of the Venn diagram can be challenging and instructive to

integrated teams. For instance, if a team were trying to develop a research plan for

a riparian area, the overlapping areas of the Venn diagram with circles representing

knowledge about fish, people, trees, and wildlife management suggest the sort of

interrelationships the team might consider. Of particular interest, and most difficult

to address, is the dark center where all of the relevant components interact.

26

An explicit problemframing process

helps reveal what the

problems are and

who has articulated

them.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
The inability to describe one’s perception about elements of the problem 

and the relation among elements is a potential barrier to working collaboratively.

Cognitive maps and diagrams are powerful tools for conveying knowledge because

spatial reasoning is highly developed in humans. 

Raised relief models can be useful to facilitate discussion and understanding. 

They offer opportunities for “virtual fieldtrips” where people do not need to leave

the office to see the world. Coupled with maps of various sorts, photos, and visualization tools, these models can be powerful aids to mutual learning and understanding among team members. 

Workshops with intensive problem framing are fundamental to success. Often 

these are best done in the field where people can put real images to the words used

to describe personal and expert perspectives. Usually more than one workshop will

be needed throughout the course of an integrated project. Organizers and participants must recognize that people process information in different ways and in different timeframes. Using diverse approaches to help people process information is

essential.

Stories. This may sound silly at first blush, but we have found that story telling

is almost a lost (or never found) art that helps team members understand the diverse

perspectives that each member brings (Brown et al. 2005). This is more effective

when done with relief models, photos, or other such aids that help people “see” the

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

27

Workshops and discussion are aided with raised relief models. Coupled with

photos and other information, these help participants share information leading

to improved mutual learning.

Kelly Lawrence
places in question, and is even more effective when done in the field. Stories can

also reveal how perspectives are shaped by perceptions of scale. 

Real places are best. Nothing beats going to actual places to make issues real 

to members of diverse teams. Fieldtrips, collaborative fieldwork, etc., might be

done early and throughout the project. If the work is to be useful in general, however, then one must beware of being captured by localized conditions or by local

experts. Real places help us understand the scales involved, and help us focus on

the question without thinking about the disciplines. In addition, there is the notion

of emergent properties that may come about with a discussion around a real place.

It is important to consider alternative conceptions of scales because different properties (biophysical, social, cultural, and institutional) may emerge at each scale.

Appropriate scales may be defined by the processes at work, interactions within and

between components of complex biophysical and social systems, and policy or scientific needs. There is no one right definition for what a landscape is or what it

means to different people or the scales appropriate for understanding relations

between humans and natural resource values and uses (Clark et al. 2004, Stankey

and Clark 1992). Various needs and questions will define the appropriate meanings

and scales of analysis.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Engaging diverse interests and using multiple approaches to share information is

critical to successful integrated research. 

Cara Nelson
Proposed Process for Managing an Integrated 

Research Effort

Can integrated research be managed? Can it be reduced to a series of procedures, 

techniques, or steps? Some people at the workshops and in interviews thought not,

others yes.

We believe that the answer is both yes and no. A cookie-cutter approach is likely to take us down many dead ends; however, the absence of some sort of process

is also fraught with problems. Without a better way to avoid pitfalls, we are likely

to repeat what has not worked before, waste time, and encourage scientists to avoid

future efforts. Effective processes facilitate rather than constrain the work of integrated teams (or even individuals attempting to do integrated work on their own).

Some sort of process is needed (with appropriate steps) to make integrated research

a reality. Processes that are open and fair reveal when inappropriate controlling,

and usually stifling, relationships exist.

When we discussed this topic with people, it became clear that those who generally favor some sort of process often are in positions without power, whereas

those resistant to processes have the power and do not want to give it up. This will

be tough to solve because power and control relationships are difficult to discuss

and harder yet to resolve (Lee 1997). 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

29

Field trips to discuss problems facilitate understanding. Each participant has the

opportunity to learn and teach.

Linda Kruger
It is important to emphasize again that integration is a group process that is

essential to formulation of successful outcomes. It has several steps that generally

must occur sequentially. Simply being present is not sufficient for success. For

integrated teams to function, several things must occur.

• People must join, interact, and engage one another in freewheeling inquiry 

for problem framing and solving. Frequent contact is important, particularly

early on.

• People must decide to commit to the team process and to reject barriers or

find effective ways to deal with them.

• People must constructively and critically challenge each other’s views, 

methods, and approaches as competition for ideas emerges. Holding shared

perceptions of the problem is critical for an integrated team.

• After awhile people will be able to perform to meet individual and group

expectations and goals.

• When goals are achieved, the group may disband or move on to other 

challenges that the team is capable of confronting. 

Collaboration of any type has many difficulties (Gray 1985, Wondolleck and 

Yaffee 2000). Selin and Chavez (1995) summarized conditions that make collaboration difficult. These include situations where conflict is rooted in basic ideological differences, one stakeholder has the power to take unilateral action, constitutional issues are at stake or legal precedents are sought, past interventions have

been unsuccessful, issues are too threatening because of historical antagonism, and

a legitimate convener cannot be found. Selin and Chavez (1995) also cited rivals

and power differences as impediments to collaborative efforts, of which integrated

research and development is an example. In any new arrangements, such as a move

to integrated research, changes lead to revisions in power relationships, a major

barrier in any form of collaboration.

Many of these impediments apply to research organizations. However, such

organizations have the opportunity to make changes. The often-asked question is,

“Do we have the will and capacity to do so?”

To repeat and emphasize what we’ve said earlier, here are some basics to

remember:

• Start at the beginning, stop at the end: a particular integrated research project should not become a never-ending crusade. Do what is needed now not

later; do not do now what can be done later.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
• Teams will need a common vision and explicit goals and clear expectations.

The context must be set clearly. It will likely be a rocky start when teams 

must grapple with divergent worldviews, language, and beliefs. The efforts 

will evolve and cannot be rushed. Everyone must become aware of interdependencies.

• Specify objectives for the work to be done with clearly stated assumptions 

and caveats. Define questions before answers (Severide’s rule). Use the 

Venn diagram (or other tools) to aid determination of variables and interactions to consider.

• Collaboration on desired outcomes is fundamental. This will require that 

groups dispense with functional, disciplinary cheerleading. This is not just 

a gathering of isolated individuals. Find out any hidden motives; personal

agendas, worldviews, and ideologies must be transparent for groups to 

function best. Rather than being seen as impediments, they can be regarded 

as catalysts for new ways of thinking. 

• Tension between worldviews is a good thing, but tension can become the 

basis for conflicts if not dealt with in an appropriate and timely manner. 

Make it clear who does what, when, how, for whom, where, and most 

importantly why. Working with diverse, integrated teams has parallels with

how one best learns new languages: immersion in the project may be 

required for success.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

31

Integrated research requires that participants develop a common language and

understanding. Mutual learning is a cornerstone of effective integrated research. 

USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
• Document what was tried and what was learned so the team can monitor, 

evaluate, learn, and adjust. This requires that assumptions and caveats and 

lessons are documented. Documentation will be critical as adjustments are

needed and for transmitting lessons learned to others. Clear, comprehensive

definitions and frameworks will be necessary for the project. These may 

morph or emerge as the project progresses. 

• Recognize that this is an iterative, nonlinear process; it may be necessary 

to approach problem resolution in sequential fashion, but minor and major

adjustments will be needed along the way. These adjustments may be minor, 

or in some cases it may be necessary to loop back and refocus the entire 

effort. This should not be seen as a failure but a success. Frequent interactions and communication will make all this easier for participants and

observers. 

Steps to Consider

Here we describe the steps that might be considered to conduct an integrated 

research effort. These steps cover all three of the phases discussed earlier (i.e.,

problem selection, problem framing, and problem solving). 

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Landscapes encompass diverse interests, values, and uses. Problem framing is an iterative process

to define the scope of the problem and the integrated propositions, questions, and issues that will

focus integrated research.

Roger Clark
1. Determine the general focus of the effort by using appropriate problemidentification and priority-setting processes. There are many entry points

including places of concern, issues, or questions to explore. At this point, 

the affected parties will also become apparent. 

Initial problem framing commences here (just the broad strokes) to 

enable identification of an appropriate leader and initial team members. 

Take care not to overdefine the problem at this time; that is the job of the 

integrated team. Too much top-down problem framing will be met with 

criticisms about micromanagement and stifling. 

2. Identify the leader. Make sure the person is a leader and a manager and 

has substantive expertise. This must be someone who has the motivation 

and skill to organize and guide a group through “uncharted waters” in a 

way that will inspire enthusiasm, commitment, and creativity. Not everyone

can (or may wish to) do this. This person must know when leadership is 

needed and when management is required to move forward. 

People in this role must not be rigid controllers; their key responsibilities are to create an environment where team members are enabled to 

think and act creatively. People who have demonstrated ability to employ

“power with” rather than “power over” skills are preferable (Lee 1997). 

Facilitation skills are critical. Facilitation includes, among other things, 

skilled listening, asking the right questions of the right people at the right 

time, developing shared vision and expectations, and capacity to resolve 

conflicts. 

Good leaders may not have all the requisite management skills, but they 

will know when they are needed or how to get them. The leader will also 

need to recognize the need for open, visible, traceable processes and logic

trails. Honoring all points of view will help to minimize polarization. The

leader must make sure all interested parties are included from the beginning, 

if possible, and that all perspectives are fairly considered.

3. Decide on the degree of integration. Will it be initiating a new project or 

reframing an existing one? Will all disciplines be included? How many

resources will be needed and made available? Answers to these questions 

may change as a better definition of the problem occurs. 

There are several options, and choices must be made about how far to 

go toward integrated research and how much energy to expend to get there.

Possible pathways (organizational and management changes) include the 

following. 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

33
Decide not to pursue integrated efforts. This might be the best 

choice if there is insufficient energy or commitment. Muddling through 

may be best; this is not a bad outcome if the rationale is clear.

Choose to do partial integration. Choosing this course may include 

making marginal adjustments to ongoing and future work and determining 

where integration will and will not be attempted. Use appropriate language 

about what is being attempted, and clarify expectations about what is planned 

(and not planned) and why. Provide adequate support to people directed to

work on such projects. Outcomes of this approach will be limited but might

include the development of some effective models and protocols. 

Move toward complete integration. This may necessitate a transformation or reinvention at some level in all or parts of the research organization. 

It might entail making structural changes, e.g., create a specific organization 

to serve as a vehicle for integration (Clark et al. 1998). This might lead to 

moving people and funding to new organizational environments where 

integrated research is the primary way of doing business. Put people in 

charge who know how to lead and manage a team. Recognize the seriousness of disincentives to integration; for example, performance evaluations 

for scientists are perceived to reward individual work, whereas integrated

efforts emphasize effective teamwork. (These need not be mutually 

exclusive, but the perceptions are a powerful disincentive to join up for 

some scientists.) 

This step is all about making choices. But choices must be conscious 

and explicit and then followed by the action necessary to build and sustain

appropriate integrated efforts to achieve the desired goals.

4. Identify team members, at least the initial list. Most of these efforts will 

be done within relatively small groups, perhaps reaching out to others for 

specific help on occasion. 

Discuss the nature of the problem and requirements for team members. 

People who can devote substantial time to the work and who will not be 

distracted by conflicting priorities are preferable. This may require that ongoing projects are removed from their to-do lists, a difficult task indeed. 

As noted earlier, some people are more suited to collaborative, teamoriented work than others. Not everyone can successfully work in a team 

environment, but not all the work will be done as a team. Traits or skills 

suggested as important include the following. 

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Personal:

• Self-confidence and expertise in a core disciplinary area as well as knowledge of legacies from past research. Critical thinking, lateral thinking, and 

creativity are valued for both individuals and teams.

• Tolerance for uncertainty and ability to operate in the face of ambiguity. 

• Being adept at defining problems from a holistic or multidimensional 

perspective. This will require the ability to embrace a variety of disciplines,

worldviews, gender differences, cultural backgrounds, and thinking and 

learning styles. 

• Ability to dig more deeply into educational training (we all had some 

humanity courses, some biology, etc.) and become more adept at defining 

problems from a holistic or multidimensional perspective. 

• Humility—there is rarely only one way to do things effectively. All 

participants need to be honest with themselves and others in the group. 

Everyone walks the talk and models integrative behavior. 

Relative to others:

• Individuals must be team-oriented as well as self-oriented. Individuals must 

be able to fill multiple roles and have the ability to both teach and learn. 

• A “power with” vs. “power over” philosophy is essential. This is not about 

who is right or who is more powerful. Rather, integrated work is about 

learning together in ways that cannot be accomplished by individuals no 

matter their position in the organization.

• Individuals must be able to embrace a diversity of disciplines, worldviews,

gender, cultural backgrounds, and thinking and learning styles. 

5. Negotiate expectations and conditions that must be met to be successful. 

These include other commitments (Some must be dropped or people will be

unable to immerse themselves in the project!); incentives and disincentives 

for both individuals and the team; ways to resolve apparent barriers; immersion in the project, particularly early on; support from supervisors; and 

desired outcomes and outputs. (Note: this must be done both internal to the

team and between the team and organizational managers.)

6. Conduct initial problem framing. The goal here is to begin to identify 

components and elements of the system of interest and to gain a sense of 

the scope of the problem and resources (e.g., time, money, expertise, skills,

technology) required for the project. This is an ongoing, iterative process.

Participants must avoid withholding fundamental disagreement about the 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

35
problem and introducing it later in the process. Thorough documentation is

essential and must be formalized.

The mantra in such efforts should be to answer the right questions, 

solve the right problems! This seems simple, but we often tend to confuse

means with ends, solutions with problems, and questions with answers. 

There must be agreement on the problem before agreeing on the solution. 

What are the drivers—science gaps or policy? A formal analysis may be 

needed to help to sort out the relative importance of questions. State the 

problem so it can be solved—in the short and long term. The trick is to not

state a problem too generally while not overdefining it at this point. Avoid

solving a solution (e.g., how to build a complex computer simulation 

model). This may help us gain a more holistic understanding of complex 

interactions, but such models can become the tail wagging the dog. 

7. Identify new team members based on disciplines and skills needed to 

grapple with the problem as defined in step 6. This will likely be repeated 

several times during the project. In fact, this entire enterprise can be 

envisioned as a spiral moving through time. 

The leader and team members share responsibility to ensure that the 

effort is not bogged down as adaptive changes are made either to team 

composition or the focus of the project. A tension exists here that leaders 

must skillfully manage. 

8. Conduct team building. Although this is presented as a separate step, it is 

an ongoing process. This should be focused on the substance of the work 

and not simply interactive games sometimes employed as team-building 

exercises. Mutual learning is the goal; often this can be fostered with selfdiscovery. This is often where a group begins to build an accord about the

problem and people begin to “join up.” Negotiate expectations and conditions that must be met to be successful. 

An important outcome of effective team building is that a shared vision,

language, and expectations emerge. Members begin to understand the 

content of all segments of the Venn diagram. 

9. Begin formal problem framing. The approach taken and results must be 

thoroughly documented here to aid in later steps. In addition to the suggestions described in step 6, there are some additional considerations: 

• Define the scope of the project and what falls outside the scope.

• State specific objectives and questions by using the Venn diagram as an 

aid to ensure that all aspects of systems are considered.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
• Identify basic biophysical and social system components and their 

subordinate elements, and postulate how components and elements may

interact.

• Based on the above, reframe into a “new” set of integrated propositions, 

questions, issues, etc.

• Determine the general approach and roles of the team and team 

members.

• Identify the outcomes and results desired (interim and final).

• Gain further clarity on the skills and resources needed to meet stated 

goals and objectives.

10. Do the “work” per above. One important outcome of the problem framing

is clarity about what is needed to do the work (i.e., the research and development). The first step is to codify the initial plan of attack and roles and

responsibilities of members. Negotiate specific timeframes, operating rules,

roles, and responsibilities. Formal efforts may be needed to clarify and 

document the roles, relationships, and responsibilities of each member. 

Some work may be done by the team or subgroups and some by individuals. Ensure that all team members have enough in common to allow 

them to work as a team or subset of a team focused on integrated questions. 

In any case, the work is driven by the objectives and questions that the team 

has developed as part of problem framing. The work may include major 

and minor syntheses of current knowledge about the problem under study.

11. Reconvene the entire team periodically. This should be driven by needs, 

not a calendar. Maintenance of continuity where people are scattered and 

busy on many other projects is difficult but essential to success. This will 

foster mutual learning and highlight needed changes. Such efforts will be

intense and are aided by field discussions. 

When new team members join, there will be a need to “start over” at 

some level, or they will have difficulty joining up and contributing in any 

integrated way. The full team will need to deal with transition management

issues (Bridges 1980, 2003) for both the existing team and new members. 

One must be careful not to confuse issues of efficiency with effectiveness. 

Make adaptive management (learning) a key component. This will 

require ongoing documentation (Stankey et al. 2005, in press). 

12. Reframe the project (goals, objectives, approach, etc.) as needed. Teams 

must be ready to deal with surprises and be supportive of individual needs 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

37
that may unexpectedly surface—issues about the process as well as the substance of the project. The need to reframe will be a function of the learning

that is going on as the project evolves. 

Adapting expectations and approaches may require that some work be 

redone. Going “backward” may actually move the effort forward. Progress 

can be impeded if reframing is too frequent, but a project that is never

reframed along the way is likely not to meet desired goals. The trick is to 

be sensitive to critical times when a change is required to move forward.

Reframing generally will be ongoing and involve the entire team in some

capacity. This is another one of the areas where one can easily confuse 

concerns about efficiency with effectiveness.

It may be necessary to involve and renegotiate the terms of the project 

with hierarchical leaders if substantial modifications are required.

13. Complete research tasks. Producing interim products is important while on 

a long journey with what may be ambiguous outcomes. Focus on workflows

not just on task assignments.

14. Conduct reviews (internally and externally). Although this occurs here as a 

formal requirement, review is really done throughout and should be focused 

on the process as well as the outcomes. There should be a combination of 

internal review by members of the team, reviews by hierarchical leaders, 

and technical reviews by external experts.

The results of reviews should lead to revision of documentation 

(substance and process) with formal reconciliation. This is a responsibility of 

the entire team although individual members may do most of the work. This

process of review and reconciliation will often reveal where additional linkages and knowledge are needed.

15. Complete the project. It is important that this is done before new assignments take over. Completion may include many things. What this entails

should be negotiated up front. 

16. Celebrate successes. Make sure that there are real endings even if the team 

will begin new projects. Individual, team, and organizational successes need 

to be acknowledged in a significant way.

17. Disband or take on a new topic. Manage the transition from both organizational and personal perspectives (Bridges 1980, 2003).

18. Formally evaluate both the substance and the process when the project is 

completed. This should be a written record that helps others convene and 

conduct future projects.

38

Going “backward”

may actually move

the effort forward.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Manage conflicts throughout the process. As the steps above are implemented, a variety of issues or problems may emerge that will need to be

resolved as projects progress. Some likely questions include the following.

• What if there is not support from hierarchical leaders? How to address 

changing demands and timelines imposed by external and unexpected 

forces?

• When and how to involve external scientists, managers, citizens in 

integrated projects?

• How to best foster mutual learning to create a common understanding 

or language?

• What to do with people who won’t play? How to control the negative 

effects of prima donnas and saboteurs? (Research organizations often 

have an array of eclectic and sometimes eccentric personalities in them.

This is a good thing, a very good thing. Some of the best and most 

creative ideas emerge from such people, but working with them can be

challenging and disruptive in team environments.) 

• How can the effects of systemic incentives and disincentives be better 

understood and managed? This is particularly challenging when these 

are not under the team’s direct control.

We address some of these questions in the next section.

In sum, when putting together and implementing integrated 

research projects:

Do Avoid

Lead Micromanagement

Empower self and others

Manage inevitable tensions Unresolved conflicts 

Be flexible and adaptive Inflexibility

Compartmentalization

Clarify expectations (frequently) Confusing means with ends

Take risks Mixed visions, expectations

Let go of assumptions

Be patient Premature closure

Produce desired outcomes Waiting too long to produce

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

39
Barriers to Integrated Research 

There are numerous systemic barriers that make integrated efforts difficult to 

conduct or the results difficult to use (Clark et al. 1999, Margerum 2001, Margolis

1993, Socolow 1976). Support for integrated research approaches is conditional on

eliminating or mitigating these perceived barriers and threats. We summarize some

barriers compiled from the literature and during workshops, surveys, and interviews in this section. 

Some barriers stem from worldviews. Worldviews color perceptions and 

values. The barriers arise not from individuals holding certain worldviews or ideological beliefs, but from projecting them onto others or using them to constrain 

dialog and action in order to achieve personal agendas. It can be difficult for some

people to accept that they are operating from an ideology or worldview; they

believe that their perspective is “truth” and wonder why others do not see things 

as clearly as they do. 

Other barriers stem from individual personalities. Not everyone has the 

personality, skills, or interest for working on integrated efforts. That is all right

because not all problems require integrated approaches. The problem is a pervasive

reluctance to talk about individual ability, capacity, or interests, thereby setting up

situations where individuals and groups fail. 

And yet other barriers stem from the group or team. For instance, lack of

common vision, poorly defined expectations, and failure to establish agreements

and protocols are common. Defensive efforts by team members to hold on to power

and protect their “turf,” their ideas, or data, are other barriers that create a competitive rather than collaborative environment. The resident “expert” may be the most

dangerous person on an integrated team that is attempting to define a new problem

if he or she asserts (either verbally or through behavior) that his or her knowledge,

experience, and insight is superior. “Experts may see new problems as just like an

old one, thereby overlooking the unique aspects of the new problems” (Kaplan and

Kaplan 1982) (box 10).

Worldviews, individual characteristics, and team dynamics are not inherent barriers; rather, lack of effective leadership and poor communication is

usually the culprit. Different disciplines use different vocabulary and work with

different temporal and spatial scales. A successful integrated team develops a common vocabulary and agrees on the agenda. Effective leadership builds a team from

individuals with the needed skills and propensity for systems thinking and integrated efforts.

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Even when individuals and groups are capable of being effective, organizational barriers can make progress and success problematic. For instance, a 

limited or lack of shared vision within an organization hobbles integrated efforts.

Conflicting missions or goals can make it difficult for some people to participate.

The inability or unwillingness of organizations to meet the time demands of integrative projects can be fatal. Similarly, the inability or unwillingness to commit

financial resources or to permit their expenditure on some endeavor can effectively

constrain the most committed integration team. Rigid boundaries within and

between institutions or between research programs or disciplines can also paralyze

effective integration. Addressing the following questions will help prevent barriers

from becoming permanent blockades. Is anyone in the organization responsible for

ensuring that integrated efforts are successful? Whose knowledge is valued within

the organization? Are integrated efforts valued by the organization and supported

with funding and training? If integrated efforts are attempted, is the process documented so it becomes a learning tool for future efforts? Lack of clarity about what

integrated research really is and what is expected of those who undertake and manage it make it difficult to know exactly what should be done, by whom, how, and

why. 

Organizational structures and management practices can impede development of sustainable integrated research (Clark et al. 1998). For example, many

research programs are funded and managed as separate entities (e.g., disciplines).

Such “stove-piped” organizations result in expectations and accountability tightly

tied to funding. Some argue there is little flexibility in such organizations to address

Rigid boundaries

within and between

institutions or

between research

programs or disciplines can paralyze

effective integration. 

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

41

Box 10: All too often, teams in business tend to spend their time fighting for

turf, avoiding anything that will make them look bad personally, and pretending that everyone is behind the team’s collective strategy—maintaining the

appearance of a cohesive team. To keep up the image, they seek to squelch

disagreement; people with serious reservations avoid stating them publicly,

and joint decisions are watered-down compromises reflecting what everyone

can live with, or else reflecting one person’s view foisted on the group. If

there is disagreement, it’s usually expressed in a manner that lays blame,

polarizes opinion, and fails to reveal the underlying differences in assumptions and experience in a way that the team as a whole could learn. (Senge

1990: 24)
complex problems. Integration projects may require more time, require longer term

budgets or commitments and a different set of expectations about outcomes and

products.

Potential participants (at any organizational level) may not have (or be

willing to take) time required to make integration a reality. As a result, efforts

often lead to stapling bits and pieces together at the end and frustration about how

the work was done and what is missing. There are many disincentives and few

incentives to encourage participation and commitment. Training to develop the

skills for integrated research is seldom offered. Furthermore, impatience from the

top of hierarchical organizations leads to reticence to engage at the bottom. Risk

taking may not be valued, and fear of failure can limit the engagement and productivity of individuals and teams.

Lack of resources (funding, time, skills) make substantial progress unlikely,

at least in the short term unless changes are made. Changing course and building

capacity for sustained integrated research will take time, and organizational leaders

are impatient and often risk averse (Stankey et al., in press).

Finally, we must also acknowledge that not everyone will be interested in

or accepting of the results of integrative work. At times, the results of such efforts

will conflict with the interests and values of different institutions, disciplines, or

policymakers and will be viewed as threats rather than new, useful information.

When this situation prevails, results of integrative projects can face censorship or

simply be ignored.

Many barriers have been identified; they might not pertain to every situation,

but organizational structure and management practices make integrated efforts difficult at best. Systemic constraints thwart the best intentions. With all the barriers

in place, it is no wonder few examples exist of integrated research particularly on

complex ecological and social issues. A question that was often asked while we

wrote this report was, “Given the number of barriers, many of them of a systemic

nature, can we possibly achieve a high degree of integrated research?” 

Does it matter if barriers are real or perceived? In the final analysis it may not

make much difference; perceptions are reality for those who hold them and ultimately affect their actions and performance. 

Suggested Solutions for Critical Barriers 

Our guiding rule for resolving barriers to integrated research is that systemic problems require systemic solutions. 

42

Our guiding rule for

resolving barriers to

integrated research

is that systemic

problems require

systemic solutions. 

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Systemic barriers include constraints that are imbedded in the fundamental 

beliefs and values of an organization. Often, they are difficult to discern or recognize; this makes their effects particularly troubling. They can significantly constrain

the range of choices and methods of inquiry. If groups or organizations attempt to

tinker around the edges when confronted with what are truly systemic issues, at

best, little headway is made, and at worst, problems are confounded. The cumulative effect of ineffective remedies is the belief that there is no hope. Making systemic change is difficult because it confronts the status quo founded on tradition

and power relationships that are hard to change. 

Clarify Expectations

The key for a new, integrated effort is to provide the transition time needed for 

startup and getting the work done. The initial period will be characterized by uncertainty, surprises, and false starts. Avoiding premature closure is critical. Expect

things to go slowly in the preparatory stages and accelerate later. This is particularly true for new groups who are assigned complex problems. Persistence and

patience are needed for an effective integrative process. Work toward overcoming

barriers as they occur. In many ways, the environment for people on such teams 

is akin to living in a foreign culture; they are faced with learning a new language,

acknowledging new beliefs and norms, and recognizing that other people hold 

different values, worldviews, and expectations. They do not have to accept these 

different views, but it is critical they accept their legitimacy and importance in 

integrative deliberations.

Developing a deep understanding of a problem requires focusing on that problem. A meeting or two, a few conference calls, and memos just won’t do. Bringing

people together in the same place at least at the beginning of complex projects and

periodically thereafter is key to success. Without both focused time and face time,

mutual learning is difficult if not impossible to achieve.

Integrate from the beginning; this is a simple and powerful rule, but it is often

violated. There is a need to foster some different thinking in scientists and managers about what integrated efforts entail and require and what they will produce.

Not all problems need to be addressed from an integrated perspective, but understanding the links (the web of interconnectedness) is an important step for developing solutions or taking action. 

Do not underestimate the resources necessary—time and money. It may be

appropriate to tap into ongoing efforts in some cases; in other situations new efforts

may lead to better results.

Our guiding rule is 

to integate from the

beginning.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

43
Recognize that putting diverse disciplines on a team is not the same as integrating them. Integrated team efforts work only with effective processes and relationships. Integration means focusing on the logic and flow of the work to be done,

not just on discrete tasks. It means managing interdependencies between people,

functions, and entities. It is a challenge of the first order.

Enhance Leadership Skills 

Leadership is needed, not only at the organizational level, but perhaps more importantly at the team and scientist level to show that integration has the potential to

achieve better, more holistic understanding of key issues. Leadership must make a

visible commitment (in terms of budget, time, etc.) to integrated research if it has

any hope of succeeding. Integrated efforts may be more time consuming and more

costly, but the payoffs will likely be worth the investment.

Many believe that there is a significant lack of the “right kind” of leadership

associated with integrated research at all organizational levels. For example, at 

several workshops and in interviews with others, participants stressed the need for

clear authority, responsibility, and accountability; diminished fiefdoms; and far less

micromanagement (a frequent complaint about hierarchical leaders). Command and

control approaches often exhibited by organizational leaders tend to inhibit or stifle

creativity and enthusiasm. Suggestions included replacing people, recalibrating

expectations, and training managers and supervisors to be better coaches and 

facilitators.

The roles and responsibilities of leadership may need to be redefined or refocused. For example, redefine research managers’ role to encompass the integration

process, in particular, efforts requiring cross-discipline and cross-program collaboration. This will require that managers create and maintain an environment conducive to science, integrated or not (box 11).

Recruit, Train, and Support the Right Mix of People

Achieving critical mass (expertise, time, and resources) is necessary for complex 

integrated research projects. Recruiting the right people for the right job is critical;

it is equally important to provide training as needed on how to work on teams. This

includes developing forums where it is “safe” for scientists and others to discuss

the status of efforts and what is being learned along the way (Yankelovich 1999).

Knowledge and skills must be appropriate to the problem, and this may change

as the problem framing progresses. If people critically needed for integrated

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General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
research will not join up, find out why. Give teams time to become immersed,

facilitate continuity, clarify expectations, provide incentives, and deal with barriers

of concern to them explicitly.

Provide adequate resources (money, people, and time), continuity of resources,

and organizational commitment to better understand complex resource management

problems. If people are oversubscribed, new integrated efforts may just represent

another discrete task on an already-full plate. All participants must reevaluate existing assignments, revisit priorities, and let some things go.

Provide the time to transition into new efforts. Often the time necessary to prepare for and move to new ventures is underestimated. During this lead-in time, the

groundwork can be laid to start a new effort and organize the support and enthusiasm needed. Guilt and pressure are not sufficient incentives, but opportunities for

growth and cooperation might be. Insist that there be time for incubation, creativity,

and play. Relationships are important. It takes time to build and nurture relationships that enable people to work closely together.

Pay special attention to communication at all organizational levels and with

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

45

Box 11: It is abundantly clear that rigid authoritarian hierarchies thwart learning, failing both to harness the spirit, enthusiasm, and knowledge of people

throughout the organization and to be responsive to shifting business conditions. Yet, the alternatives to authoritarian hierarchies are less than clear...

Others have failed because they did give up the control, and then found

that enthusiastic committed local decision makers did not necessarily make

good decision makers. Still others made attempts at involving people more in

decision making, but failed to go far enough in letting people develop their

own visions, design their own strategies and structures, and assume responsibility for their own learning. 

While traditional organizations require management systems that control

people’s behavior, learning organizations invest in improving the quality of

thinking, the capacity for reflection and team learning, and the ability to

develop shared visions and shared understandings of complex business issues.

It is these capabilities that will allow learning organizations to be both more

locally controlled and more well coordinated than their hierarchical predecessors. (Senge 1990: 289)
other key players and institutions. A common understanding among participants of

the scope of the problem is a fundamental requirement. Even if everyone does not

work on every aspect of a problem, they need to understand their niche. One never

knows when that understanding may lead to new ideas and breakthroughs. Develop

and maintain effective relationships with hierarchical leaders. 

Facilitate processes that enable an environment conducive to shared learning.

Integrating includes dealing with participants’ visions and cultures. Respect and

value the input of others; people must feel open to express their ideas without

ridicule. Build effective working relationships among the participants. Make sure

that everyone’s expectations and worldviews are transparent. Diverse perspectives

are the grist for new ideas. Disciplinary and worldview differences must be honored and embraced; this is where the true creative opportunities lie for integrated

work. 

Collaboration is essential to success; competition is not. There should be a

willingness to work together, to share knowledge and ideas and other resources,

and to share responsibility for processes, relationships, and outcomes.

Avoid burnout. Organizations seem reluctant to acknowledge and confront 

this; often, the answer to any challenge is, “We can do more and more with less

and less.” The logical extension of this is that we can do everything with nothing!

In the face of major challenges, there will often be a need to ease into new ventures,

entice and support people, and be patient. Integrative problems often require time

to think and reflect. The workaholic lifestyles of some leaders and supervisors

should not be seen as meritorious, as these are poor role models.

Finally, with all the apparent difficulties to integrated research, some seriously

question if it is possible to move toward this goal in any significant degree within

current research environments, at least in the short term. Overall, a number of conditions seemed to prevail in those integrated efforts that worked better than others. 

There were good relationships—inclusion of diverse experts up front; time

for groups to form around good problem framing, a clearly understood goal and

expectations for the overall effort and for the individual, and people joined up. 

There were effective processes—formal problem framing, appropriate information to get things started, time taken for necessary mutual learning and understanding, time and support from the top to do the problem framing, and continuity

of effort. There were also reasonable efforts on the part of organizations to provide

the necessary resources—time, money, leadership—to undertake the effort.

46

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Several groups found that integration cannot be accomplished in the

abstract. It requires a specific situation or place to integrate around. Sometimes

this meant taking advantage of ongoing work that may have initially been narrow.

When efforts come from the ground up and are supported from the top,

many people with diverse skills and expertise jump in.

Facilitating Successful Integrated Research Efforts

In this section, we discuss ways to facilitate success in general terms. During our 

research, we observed several barriers that repeatedly seemed to thwart integrated

research. One barrier is ineffective methods for managing conflict and fostering

communication within the team (box 12). 

Part of effective problem resolution is managing inevitable conflicts among

team members. These conflicts result from competing worldviews or from members or the hierarchical leaders trying to control the outcome and solutions as well

as the process. Paying close attention to development and maintenance of effective

relationships and processes is critical for achieving the goals of an integrated effort.

The key idea here is that conflicts are accepted as part of the integrative process;

the focus is not on trying to eliminate them but to manage them as effective components of the overall process.

Dialog among team members, and between team members and hierarchical

leaders, is critical for success (Wondolleck 1998, W

o n d

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

47

Box 12: Team learning also involves learning how to deal creatively with the

powerful forces opposing productive dialogue and discussion in working

teams. Chief among these are what Chris Argyris calls “defensive routines,”

habitual ways of interacting that protect us and others from threat or embarrassment, but which also prevent us from learning. For example, faced with

conflict, team members frequently either “smooth over” differences or “speak

out” in a no-holds-barred, “winner take all” free-for-all of opinion—what my

colleague Bill Isaacs calls “the abstraction wars.” Yet, the very defensive routines that thwart learning also hold great potential for fostering learning, if we

can only learn how to unlock the energy they contain. (Senge 1990: 237)
People engaged in integrated research must be able to suspend their assumptions and treat one another as colleagues. This is often made easier with a facilitator who is responsible for the process and outcomes (Senge 1990).

As suggested above, tension and conflict among team members are not necessarily bad. Tension is helpful when it challenges our worldviews and leads us to

new ways of thinking and acting. But if not carefully managed, tension can become

conflict and result in confusion, distrust, wasted effort, and unmet goals.

Relationships, Processes, and Outcomes 

Successful integration requires attention to the relationship-process-outcome 

(R-P-O) triad. Underlying this simple framework is the premise that for any human

enterprise to be effective, it must foster effective relationships, develop and sustain

fair and effective process, and result in desired outcomes. These components are

not mutually exclusive, nor is proficiency in one sufficient to success. These components cannot be considered sequentially; they must all be attended to in real time

for success. This is the major responsibility of people who organize and lead integrated efforts. Furthermore, attention is needed to ensure that intentions are explicit

and that the effects are clearly understood. One outcome of the R-P-O focus is that

it leads to insights and conclusions not otherwise possible.

Often we tend to focus on outcomes and outputs while relationships or processes are ignored or receive inadequate attention. The folly lies in that the impact

of poor relationships or ineffective processes can negatively affect the desired outcomes. The R-P-O framework is about how people are governed and govern themselves to get desired results. Workshop participants and others with whom we

talked strongly felt that successful integration required more attention to relationships and processes. They also believed that too much emphasis is placed on outputs or products, particularly in the short term. The relation among interests, rights,

and power must also be considered. Effective, integrated efforts focus on the interests of individual team members. Inappropriate or untimely exercise of power can

48

Often we tend to

focus on outcomes

and outputs while

relationships or 

processes are

ignored or receive

inadequate attention.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678

Box 13: Positions are what people have decided on, which means they 

have already defined the problem and established a solution. To counter this,

emphasis is placed on exploring the interests—the needs and concerns—that

lay behind these positions. . . .Thinking about the problem in terms of satisfying those interests changes its definition. . . .and pulls people back from solutions. (Bardwell 1991: 608)
stifle or otherwise inhibit team progress and productivity. In hierarchical organizations, however, inappropriate use of power is often at the heart of many conflicts.

In an enterprise where creativity and new ways of approaching old problems is

valued, power can thwart rather than facilitate. We find that power once had is hard

to give up, even when it jeopardizes individual and collective performance and 

success. The R-P-O framework and the relation between power, rights, and interests are useful tools to prompt questions such as, Where are we now and where

must we be to be effective integrators? And whose responsibility is it to make

needed changes?

The Best of Intentions

Major confusion or conflicts often occur when someone’s actions have unintended 

negative effects. This mismatch between intent of the action and its effect causes

unnecessary conflict (e.g., trust levels may be dramatically attenuated). Figure 2

illustrates the relation between intent and effect. 

To be more effective, the link between intent and effect must be improved. The

conditions of cell 3 (fig. 2) were common in some integrative projects we examined. Here, sincere, well-meaning efforts were made by different scientists to communicate with others, but shortcomings, for many different reasons, only led to

confusion among other team members. The lesson is clear: only you can validate

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

49

Figure 2—Intended actions and their effect on relationships.

Effect of action on me

Negative Positive

Negative 1. Convergence—Agreement 2. Divergence—Disagreement

We are in conflict I am confused

Positive 3. Divergence—Disagreement 4. Convergence—Agreement

You are confused Healthy relationship

1 = We agree but the outcome is negative. You meant to deliver a negative message and 

I received it as negative. We know we are in conflict, and the relationship suffers.

2 = We disagree but I do not know it. I think everything is OK because I misunderstood 

your negative intent. The relationship suffers but I do not know why.

3 = We disagree and I am hurt. Your intent was positive but I misinterpret it, I judge 

you as being negative. The relationship suffers but you do not know why. 

4 = We agree and we are aligned. The relationship is healthy and prospers.

Your intent w

hen acting
the intent of your message or behavior. Only I can tell you the effect of your message or behavior. The problem is that we rarely articulate either perspective. In the

absence of effective communication, we judge one another independently leading

to misunderstanding. To be effective, the integrative process requires that both

intent and effect become an explicit part of the discussion.

For integrated efforts to be more effective, those who lead and those who participate must help maintain effective relationships and processes. By doing this, 

the outcomes that hierarchical leaders and team members desire are more likely to

accrue in both the short and long terms. Trust levels will improve vertically and 

laterally in the organization. And most importantly, such efforts will be sustainable.

Assessing Progress 

How will we know integration is working toward the desired end? We argued 

earlier in this paper that effective integrated research must have an adaptive component. So what signals should we look for that will tell us if we are on course?

What measures of success exist or are needed to determine whether integration has

happened? In this section, we summarize some of the things that have been suggested to look for as evidence of integrated research.

We believe that successful integrated research requires attention to relationships, processes, and outcomes. Stronger relationships among team members and

the organization enable more effective integrative processes, which lead to more

substantive outcomes. Below, we take each of these topics in turn and pose some

questions that could be used to evaluate change and monitor progress in these 

three areas. 

Monitoring Changing Relationships

Questions:

• Are people operating outside their traditional roles in appropriate ways?

• Is discord within the group increasing or decreasing? The amount of discord

within a group could serve as an indirect measure of the lack of integration.

Discord could be measured by the number of participants that leave a group.

• Is more discussion happening among participants about the effects of proposed actions on others? 

• Is there a formally recognized need to use the integrative aspects of a 

pending project?

50

The integrative

process requires 

that both intent and

effect become an

explicit part of the

discussion.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
• Do the people involved feel they are part of the project? Do project reports 

include all contributors and their contributions? Do project reports favor the

results of a particular discipline or scientist without justifying the apparent

bias?

• Is there ownership in the process? Ownership leads to increased acceptance 

of processes and outcomes.

Improved relations among team members and the organization may lead to the 

following: 

• A common understanding of what is meant by integration is developed. 

Steps are identified to further integration. 

• We learn by doing. With practice it will become clearer when integration is

appropriate and what it means to think and act integratively.

• People who would like to be involved in an integrative project are identified.

• Worldviews become transparent and help rather than hinder.

• Power relationships do not intrude and stifle the creativity of participants.

• Trust among participants and hierarchical leaders improves.

Monitoring the Effectiveness of Integrated Research Processes

Questions:

• Is problem framing effective? 

• Does communication facilitate learning within and between teams? 

• Effectiveness of communication could serve as one proxy measure for 

respect.

• Do participants communicate with each other regarding substantial aspects 

of the project throughout its duration? 

• Did experts work outside their areas of expertise? 

• Are methods and results easily understood, and can all participants 

communicate them?

If the integrated process is effective, the following may result: 

• Energy is reallocated from narrow and deep efforts to those of a more 

integrative nature.

• Budgeting is responsive to new questions and emergent opportunities.

• Incremental progress toward removing barriers to integration is noted as 

real issues and problems are solved.

• Synergy is achieved in the group so that the whole is greater than the sum 

of the individual contributions.

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

51
• Communication is improved about the complexity of biophysical and 

social systems.

• A better sense of the benefits of integration and the costs of not doing it is

gained.

• Mutual learning leads to new knowledge and respect among team members,

which will aid later efforts.

Evaluating Outcomes

Questions for monitoring substantive outcomes:

• Are the new questions, processes, and products integrative and holistic? Are

they contextual? Do they involve both sociocultural and biophysical or environmental components? Do they involve multiple perspectives? Are people

from diverse backgrounds collaborating in the process and product development?

• Are needs fulfilled? Does each component rely on or build on the others? 

Can the integration respond to change?

• Can predictions be made? Can new situations or problems be readily 

recognized?

Substantive outcomes might include:

• Concepts and principles that were not evident in individual disciplines.

• New knowledge about complex systems and functions that would not have

been possible by simply adding one discipline to another.

• New methods, concepts, frameworks, and theory drawn from a combination 

of disciplinary perspectives.

• A synthesis of what is known about the topic and a better sense of priorities 

for future work.

• Sustainable answers to complex natural resource issues that satisfy a 

broader range of interests.

Questions for monitoring process outcomes:

• Do the questions cut across boundaries? Questions should be more complex

than any one group might define.

• Can one categorically distinguish or separate one discipline or subject from

another?

• If there is distinct disciplinary work, is it in the context of adequate problem

framing and done in context of integrated questions?

52

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
Process outcomes might include:

• The emergence of previously unasked questions.

• Mutual learning.

• Interactions that can be traced throughout the planning process to see how 

proposed actions and decisions were affected as a result of exchanges with 

others.

• Work that is broad and integrated as well as narrow and deep. 

• Teams that demonstrate the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

• Diverse technology transfer efforts such as symposia, fieldtrips, workshops,

and software to translate and transfer results of integrated research and 

development to diverse managers, the public, and researchers.

• A published conceptual framework to facilitate integration of biological, 

physical, economic, cultural, and social knowledge.

• Conceptual frameworks and technology that consider information about 

diverse needs and the development of multiple resources that enable 

decisionmakers to more effectively plan and implement management 

options.

• Improved knowledge and tools for understanding and managing complex 

relations both within and between forest resources and uses.

• Improved processes for integrating diverse physical, biological, social, 

economic, and cultural components of natural resources with research, 

resource decisionmaking, and management at multiple scales and through 

time.

Conclusions

This paper has been grounded in substantial literature; intensive experience, discussions, and debates among scientists; and efforts to seek input from people both in

agency research organizations and academic institutions. 

This effort was only partially successful. The very same barriers to integration

described in this paper made it difficult to achieve our intent. In particular, competing priorities (both individual and those of people needed to support the work)

made getting it done difficult. In addition, a growing feeling of skepticism about

the outcome among many of the people contacted during the course of this project,

made keeping an enthusiastic frame of reference difficult at times. 

A major conclusion from this effort is that organizations or groups must get

serious (or not) about whether to pursue a course of doing comprehensive integrated research. More purposeful decisions are needed followed by actions that

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

53
match the rhetoric. Clear language and explicit expectations about what integrated

research is and is not are required for success. The assertions that we are, or intend

to be, integrative without a concomitant commitment of organizational will, leadership, and resources will prove ineffective at best and dishonest and self-deluding 

at worst.

Fundamental changes may be needed in some areas to enhance organizational

capacity for integrated research. These include organizational structure, leadership,

and management approaches (Clark et al. 1998). Decisions about structural and

management changes are needed to facilitate such work within and across academic and agency research organizations and programs. 

We have discussed several attributes that are associated with effective integrated efforts. Some of the most important are briefly summarized below.

Introduce integration at the beginning. Integration will not work if it is an

afterthought or seen as occurring after the research is completed. The integrative

process requires a holistic appreciation of the problem from the outset. How we

perceive a problem often portends how well it will be integrated. 

Integrated work must rest on a clear vision, a shared definition of the

problem, and mutually-agreed-upon expectations. Some argue that expectations

should be kept low because institutions are imperfect and evolving. We take a 

contrary view; low expectations are the reason we have so far to go. A decision to

change to integrated efforts is relatively easy. Managing the transition is more difficult and will take time and leadership (Bridges 2003).

Leadership is vital to sustain and focus efforts. Power and control relationships between leaders and team members are often cited as reasons why integrated

efforts go awry; this leads to lack of trust. Success is facilitated by leaders willing

to share power. Integration requires effective leadership and management from the

top, bottom, and middle of the organization. Leaders at all organizational levels

must be careful when “managing” such efforts so as not to stifle them. The following attributes have been identified for effective leaders: nondirective, facilitative,

participative; “power with” vs. “power over” philosophy and approach; and

patience—lots of patience (Bennis 1989, Depree 1989, Goleman 1998, Kim 1995,

Lee 1997). 

Prioritizing work is an essential part of an integrated approach. Limits 

as well as opportunities must be recognized. Organizations with limited resources 

cannot work on everything at once; priority-setting processes are needed as well 

as ways to take things off the already full schedules of scientists. Access to needed

54

Fundamental

changes may be

needed in organizational structure, 

leadership, and 

management

approaches to

enhance organizational capacity for

integrated research.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
skills and expertise is fundamental to success. If they do not exist internally in an

organization, they may be obtained from collaborators. 

Teams must be grounded on mutual learning and understanding as well as

respect. Participants must be both able learners and teachers (Capezio 1996, Kasl

and Elias 2000). All participants must be open to alternative perspectives and

worldviews; they are the grist of new ways of thinking, creating, and acting. All

team members must be able to constructively challenge ideology imbedded in disciplines and thereby in us as individuals. Team members also must recognize that

thinking and acting integratively will prove uncomfortable. That is okay and comfort will increase with experience. The primacy of the group over the individual is

central to effective integrated work; however, individual roles and contributions

must be appreciated and rewarded.

Any process chosen must be adaptive. Integrated approaches represent a

learning process that needs to be flexible enabling change in course as the situation

changes. Learning and adaptation can be facilitated through appropriate documentation (Stankey et al., in press).

Sustained productivity is needed from the beginning to the end of a 

project. Athough work may be conducted over a long period, there must be a flow

of short-term products to gain and sustain support. Work must be completed in a 

reasonable time.

Above all, any organization attempting to do integrated research will need the

will and capacity to create, implement, and sustain integrated work over the long

term (box 14).

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

55

Box 14: Simply put, integration is the process of bringing together the parts

into a whole; it is linking and combining largely independent bodies of

knowledge about complex issues, questions, or problems into a more holistic

framework. Knowledge and processes in individual science disciplines, management functional areas, institutions (research, management, and regulatory),

and research management problems have been typically segregated over time

making it difficult to respond to complex, interrelated problems and issues.

We need new approaches that merge biological, physical, economic, social,

and cultural aspects of natural resource management to address present and

future management and policy issues. An integrated approach is only recently

taking hold in the research community and represents a major challenge to

traditional research theory, methodology, and organizations. (Clark et al. 1999)
Some Lessons 

Based on the literature and our experience, we submit that the single biggest limitation to achieving fundamental integration is inadequate attention of leadership and

commitment of managers from top to bottom of research organizations. There is 

an abundance of direction and management from all quarters, but some integrated

efforts suffer from limited vision and follow-through necessary for a creative environment conducive to integrated research. Furthermore, there is a widely held perception that traditional management smacks of control, aversion to risk, and 

micromanagement.

Language confuses and divides us as we discuss integration. There are too

many divisive false dichotomies: short vs. long term, integration vs. reductionism,

top-down vs. bottom-up, and individual vs. team. All of these (and what is in

between) need to be embraced to gain the diversity needed for integrated efforts to

be creative and successful. Integrated research is a means to an end; the basic goal

of integrated research is a better understanding of complex interactions within and

between biophysical, social, economic, and institutional systems. The hope is that

this holistic understanding will help create more sustainable resource management

processes and outcomes thereby reducing conflicts among competing values and

uses for increasingly scarce natural resources.

Credit has been taken for rudimentary efforts at integrated research. In our

view, most attempts at integration are relatively limited and narrow rather than

comprehensive. If integration is occurring, it tends to be narrowly defined, and critical components are often left out and then appended at the end of what has been

labeled an integrated effort. Initial problem framing to develop integrated questions

and approaches is generally not done or is inadequate. Ongoing work, at best,

appears to be more multidisciplinary rather than transdisciplinary and often lacks

any rigorous attempt to reframe the problem along the way. Tight timeframes and

due dates often appear to impede effective integrated efforts. These observations, if

true, do not mean the work is without merit; it only means that more can be done. 

Systemic problems often snare teams attempting integrated research and those

attempting to use holistic understanding in resource management. These problems

include ineffective organizational structures and management approaches; ineffective problem definition, problem framing, and problem solving; and the lack of 

will or capacity to make changes needed to enhance integrated efforts. In spite of

expressed commitments, organizations and scientists often revert to old and comfortable ways of doing business. The goal often becomes one of just getting it

done.

56

The single biggest

limitation to 

achieving fundamental integration

is inadequate 

attention of leadership and commitment of managers

from top to bottom 

of research 

organizations.

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
People are often reticent to participate because of perceived disincentives.

Many scientists are currently oversubscribed, which impedes the opportunity, let

alone enthusiasm for new projects, however interesting and useful they may be.

Furthermore, in spite of more than 50 years of literature and experience about what

it takes for new ideas to take hold (Rogers 1995), organizations do not seem capable of staying the course long enough for seeds of integration to germinate, take

root, and thrive. The combination of a short-term focus and shifting priorities

makes participation in integrated efforts risky for many scientists.

Constant pressure for short-term products undermines and can stifle enthusiasm

and creativity and impede rather than accelerate production in an integrated environment. This is not to say a continuous flow of products is not needed. They are.

But improvement in achieving short-term objectives is needed while maintaining

a longer term perspective. 

There are liabilities to pursuing integrated research—lots of uncertainty; many

barriers; inadequate or even poor leadership; and lack of people with requisite

skills. But there are also liabilities if attempts are not made to improve integrated

research—limited understanding of complex, multisystem interactions and continued difficulty resolving the big, complex issues. Improved integrated research

would benefit both research and resource management. We must acknowledge the

growing public and political dissatisfaction with science that proves unable to

address the pressing problems confronting society. As we have suggested, many of

these problems are integrative at their core, and science must undertake renewed

and revitalized efforts to organize itself in ways that better address such issues. 

Problem framing is a critical first step in developing and implementing integrated research and management strategies and knowledge (Bardwell 1991,

Wondolleck and Yaffee 2000). If the problem framing is done well, not only will

the questions be properly specified, but the people expected to do the integrated

work will have been transformed from an assortment of isolated, individual disciplinarians to a team whose members have learned from and about one another sufficiently to act as part of an integrated team even when working independently.

Ultimately, integrated research is a process rather than a specific outcome.

Clark et al. (1999) identified some short-term and long-term components of the

process, which we summarize here. In the short term, integrative processes establish the context for the work by defining the vision and goals of future actions. In

that same vein, specific evaluation criteria are developed so improvement can be

measured and adjustments made as needed. The essential elements of adaptive

management—evaluate, learn, and adjust—are practiced. The assumptions, expectations, and logic underlying the process are explicit and available for review. The

Integrated Research in Natural Resources: The Key Role of Problem Framing

57
process solicits and values multiple forms of knowledge and points of view. It

becomes an integral part of the planning process rather than a separate phase. 

The type of involvement essential to integration is not easy and will likely 

be resisted. There is no room for hidden agendas because an integrated approach

requires specificity and exactness. By validating multiple forms of knowledge and

viewpoints, the authority and power normally given to experts will be challenged.

The way problems are framed influences how and which resources (money, time,

expertise) are used. This means problem definition is basically a reformation in

how power is shared and directed (Clark et al. 1999). 

In the longer term, attention is needed to the continuing constraints to integration. Although there is history of interest in the topic, there are not many examples

of success. By addressing three structural problems, some of the barriers may start

to shrink. (1) Education programs for researchers are still mainly organized along

disciplinary lines. (2) The institutions of resource management (laws, policies,

budgeting processes, professional societies) are also organized along disciplinary

lines and bound by administrative, political, or legal limits. (3) A general unwillingness of individuals, groups, and organizations to share power and cooperate

(Clark et al. 1999). 

Recognizing the need for integration is necessary but is not sufficient for 

success. Our more cynical and disheartened colleagues believe breaching the many

barriers that prevent or limit integrated efforts is a hopeless task and not worth 

the time and energy. They submit that without a serious commitment (i.e., time,

resources, and patience) the disincentives seem to far outweigh the benefits for

many scientists.

The desired outcome of integrated research is not in doubt—a more holistic

understanding of complex biophysical and social systems fostering more effective

resource management options. Results of integrated research are essential to a more

complete understanding of choices facing society about natural resource values and

uses. This knowledge should lead to more integrated management approaches to

dealing with this complexity in values and uses. 

Acknowledgments

We thank the many participants in workshops and other events whose experiences 

and ideas laid the groundwork for this paper. We thank Kelly Lawrence for the

cover design and work with the figures. We also thank Rhonda Mazza for her 

editing help.

58

General Technical Report PNW-GTR-678
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The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of 

multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, 

water, forage, wildlife, and recreation. Through forestry research, cooperation with the 

States and private forest owners, and management of the National Forests and National

grasslands, it strives—as directed by Congress—to provide increasingly greater service 

to a growing Nation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and

activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable sex,

marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation genetic information,

political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any

public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with 

disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille,

large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 

(voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400

Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) 

or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Authors

Roger N. Clark and George H. Stankey are research social scientists (retired),

Pacific Northwest Research Station. Clark was at the Pacific Wildland Fire

Sciences Laboratory, 400 N 34th St., Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103 and Stankey

was at the Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR

97331.