Summary.
The incitement to “bust” or “break down” organizational silos appears frequently in practitioner and scholar journals. While they can inhibit collaboration — or even lead to turf wars — verticals exist for good reasons: to aggregate expertise, assign accountability and provide a sense of identity. To preserve their strengths while minimizing the side effects, the authors argue that companies should 1) build bridges and 2) institute checks and balances. They offer a number or practical ways to do this.
Silos are a defining characteristic of organizations of all sizes, even in businesses that naturally operate as fluid networks. For example, management consulting firms are known for organizing around temporary project teams, but they also have formal expertise silos (often called practices) and fixed regional structures.