The Silo Effect: Invisible Barriers That Can Destroy Organizational Teams

THE SILO EFFECT was written after years of research and observation about how organizational silos can easily create atmospheres of toxicity and dividedness that stunt an organization’s ability to make any real progress. In the book the author, Dr. Sharon M. Biggs, discusses how organizational silos are invisible barriers that inevitably lead to miscommunication, the absence of collaboration, a failure to calibrate factual data, and a lack of consistent practices among teams. Dr. Biggs describes ways that teams can borrow strategies from Bolman & Deal’s (2008) Organizational Framing Approach to frame issues that, if left unaddressed, ultimately lead to the rapid construction of silos throughout an organization. By framing the issues, silos can be dismantled.