A phenomenological schematic model of multipole giant resonances (GR) is
considered which treats the external interaction via common decay channels on
the same footing as the coherent part of the internal residual interaction. The
damping due to the coupling to the sea of complicated states is neglected. As a
result, the formation of GR is governed by the interplay and competition of two
kinds of collectivity, the internal and the external one. The mixing of the
doorway components of a GR due to the external interaction influences
significantly their multipole strengths, widths and positions in energy. In
particular, a narrow resonance state with an appreciable multipole strength is
formed when the doorway components strongly overlap.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 3 ps-figures, to appear in PRC (July 1997