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Silo-Busting: Overcoming the Greatest Threat to Organizational Performance

Author

Listed:
  • André de Waal

    (HPO Center, 1217JC Hilversum, The Netherlands)

  • Michael Weaver

    (DPA Consulting, Guildford GU4 8EP, UK)

  • Tammy Day

    (DPA Consulting, Guildford GU4 8EP, UK)

  • Beatrice van der Heijden

    (Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, 6500HK Nijmegen, The Netherlands
    School of Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
    Department of Marketing, Innovation and Organisation, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
    Business School, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • André de Waal & Michael Weaver & Tammy Day & Beatrice van der Heijden, 2019. "Silo-Busting: Overcoming the Greatest Threat to Organizational Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6860-:d:293345
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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