Silo-Busting: Overcoming the Greatest Threat to Organizational Performance

Abstract

Most organizations are set up to operate in some form of silos, such as vertical divisions or horizontal functions. At best, silos offer a practical way for organizations to operate efficiently. At worst, they create a silo mentality where departments do not want to exchange knowledge or information, hindering internal collaboration and organizational learning, thus preventing achievement of high performance and organizational sustainability. The silo mentality issue has been recognized for a long time as a real tangible problem that has to be dealt with. On the basis of a questionnaire containing statements on organizational strength, collaboration, and silo-busting techniques applied, which was distributed to a sample of mainly large companies, we found that there are five factors that are important for breaking down silos and increasing the quality of cooperation.

Organizational Silos: A Scoping Review Informed by a Behavioral Perspective on Systems and Networks

“…Whereas five studies stated their primary relevance [60,66,70,109,111], three discussed the role of environmental contingent events as a secondary matter [67,69,110]. Reward [60,70,109,111], evidence of benefit [69,110], and feedback [66,110] were the most prevalent types of consequences cited by these studies. Regarding the findings of mixed positive and negative outcomes from attempts of bridging silos, the role of behavioral consequences were not as strategic mediators to organizational change [65,71,72].…”

“…Some correlations were found between references to consequences, bridging effectivity, and outcomes from cross-silo collaboration. The eight studies that reported bridging silos with positive outcomes [60,66,67,69,70,[109][110][111] made reference to the use of consequences. Whereas five studies stated their primary relevance [60,66,70,109,111], three discussed the role of environmental contingent events as a secondary matter [67,69,110].…”

“…The eight studies that reported bridging silos with positive outcomes [60,66,67,69,70,[109][110][111] made reference to the use of consequences. Whereas five studies stated their primary relevance [60,66,70,109,111], three discussed the role of environmental contingent events as a secondary matter [67,69,110]. Reward [60,70,109,111], evidence of benefit [69,110], and feedback [66,110] were the most prevalent types of consequences cited by these studies.…”

“…Even without a clear framework regarding the role of conditional relations between environmental events and the strength of cultural practices in organizations, the analyzed literature indirectly signals their participation in contributing or inhibiting collaboration and cohesion. With respect to the level of delivery of consequences, only six of the empirical works referred to contingent events to the coordination of efforts towards organizational goals, but most were associated with silos bridging with positive outcomes [61,[68][69][70]110,111]. However small, this correlation might indicate promising complements to the organizational field by harnessing, from a cultural behavior perspective, to favor the selection, strength, and maintenance of effective organizational IBCs over time [16].…”

“…Similar to their function of keeping materials completely separated in agriculture, organizational silos prevent resources and information from being shared across an organization [9]. Such sets of recommendations are permeated by the assumption of the existence of silos mentalities defined as the absence of systems thinking and vision of the overall organization [10]; this type of mentality "will reduce efficiency in the overall operation, reduce morale, and may contribute to the demise of a productive company culture" [11]. It is alleged that the silo mentality results in the reluctance to share information and cooperate across departments.…”