The Silo Effect by
Gillian Tett is a smart, all-encompassing look at the corporate and government
world's constant battles with itself around corporate culture. Silos in the business world often refer to
the attitude that is found in some organizations when departments or teams do
not share information or knowledge with other parts of the same organization,
which reduces efficiency and sometimes leads to the different teams competing
with each other internally. The Silo Effect has two key objectives
in attempting to answer the questions of why silos arise and what can be done
by us to master silos in our world before they master us.
Tett covers several examples of corporations and
government organizations that either overcame or fell victim to the silo effect. From the example of one large corporation
that lost its way due to layers of bureaucracy to how one city changed the way
different departments communicated with each other, the author weaves a
narrative to show the importance of how corporate culture and human interaction
both play a role in helping silos grow to unmanageable heights, hindering
corporate performance as a result. But
that can be overcome through effective communication, corporate culture, and
smart management.
The author argues that our modern world has made silos a
major part of our life, going so far as to say that "we cannot live
without silos in the modern world" and citing psychological and
anthropological examples to back that point up.
She then goes on to say that while it is easier and even convenient for
businesses to organize themselves into highly structured silos, there are
missed opportunities for growth, missed risks as collaboration and
communication suffer, and internal departments are loathe to share information
and resources with each other, which leads to lower productivity and efficiency
in the long run. Without giving people
some rope to be creative, to collaborate, to work outside of their norms, Tett
argues that short-term gain does not yield long-term breakthrough impact. Through her eight case studies that range
from major cities to major corporations, she is able to make an effective case
to prove her point.
MY RATING - 4
