Marina H. • This question made me think .... I am still thinking .. will get back to you :)

Gerald D. • @Marina, that's great, I don't trust answers that come too fast, either the question was not really new or the answer is usually wrong - but perfectly okay to share your thoughts, assoziations or confusion along the process.

Kerri S. • I certainly don't advocate working in silos.....but those that I have come across who work in organisations like that tend to point towards autonomy as being the big plus. i.e. they determine how their information, records, knowledge processes and tools are set up and used rather than being "forced" into larger organisation-wide approaches. I'm not really convinced though....

Gerald D. • @Kerri
Agree, the question was put in a provocative way, summarizing an interesting observation: Everywhere you here about "breaking down the silo", but if they are so widespread, if they are so common, can a "silo" (I on purpose did not define in more detail, what is meant - and I am aware of the negative connotation) only be an evil concept? Or are there reasons?
So, Kerri, thank you for pointing out the autonomy as well as an efficiency of decision aspect.
regards
gerald

Avinish M. • Sorry Gerald, I don't think of any advantage of working in silos. Some people argue on knowledge sharing. If I share, I will loose my competetive edge, but you cannot know everything and any point of time you will need other's knowledge to perform your work.
All I can say,"I collaborate, therefore I know".

Gerald D. • @Avinish:
I see your point, but I would like to challenge you: How did we come to a situation of so many existing silos. Why then is it so hard to overcome - I don't know whether you have made the same observation, but to facilitate collaboration can be working uphill quite often.
Between the lines I read the argument (that is pseudo to you): silos are build for competitive edge to capitalize on knowledge?
regards
gerald

Avinish M. • Gerald- It's about change in the corporate culture. It's about how you work. I am not saying that there are advantages of working in Silos but people like to work in Silos because they don't understand the imporatnce of collaboration.
Take your example, if you would have not collaborated with people on Linkedin, you would have made the thinking that there are definite advantages of working in silos. And success behind the social media is not because of silos but because of collaboration.
Hope I fared your challenge!

Himanshu D. • To me it seem, you should have asked it otherwise: what is the disadvantage of not working in silos... and the answer is FOCUS. First point: Learning in closed loop takes place better than in an open structure. Second point: It gives better control to managers to look after a certain group size afterwhich if group/team increases the operational efficiency decreases (law of diminishing marginal utility).

Albert S. • I can think of a few:
* Control

* Security

* Authority

* Responsibility

* Accountability

* Budgets

Now, none of these facilitate creativity, collaboration, or synergy (the essence of KM), but they are so firmly rooted in bureaucratic organizations that they continue to trump all the advantages of working horizontally. And bureaucray has been around for 3,000 years or so, so it won't be going away soon.

Our challenge is to find ways of working horizontally within vertical infrastructures.

Gerald D. • @Avinish
You are bringing the argument of Social Media and I fully support you on the importance of collaboration. Still in my opinion there are to many silos in order to neglect any benefits, see also contributions by Himanshu and Albert.
One could name also this group as a silo, my thesis is that also the Social are only in a very short time after creation flat, then self-organization leads to structures, "Knowarchies", new silos appear.
For me the question is how do we use the fact that "silos" are in the world and combine it with most effective collaboration.
regards
gerald

Gerald D. • @Himanshu
A fresh way to look at it, or better not to look at it ;-) Indeed it becomes obvious that Focus - alignment is a strong "silo" asset.
Silos as the result of a mathematical extremal exercise, that would explain their stability and why they appear so often. They form an attractor. Cool thought.

I am not sure, if I agree with your statement on Learning, if I decide to follow connectivism, knowledge is your connectivity, your network - which is rather the opposite of your statement. Creative Learning - new insights seem to me the effect of openess.

regards
gerald

Gerald D. • @Albert
Spot on, our challenge is to find ways of working horizontalliy within vertical structures.

As you mention KM, I would add efficiency:
With the simple equation: knowledge = information + context; in a silos there exists a common context, so it is enough to share information, while in order to work horizontally it is very important to create / share contexts to facilitate Knowledge Flows.

regards
gerald

Albert S. • Gerald -

I disagree that knowledge = information + context. What works for data and information does not work for information and knowledge. Knowledge is a fundamentally different entity: understanding that enables prediction (S&T), or something that is accepted as true and storred for future use (psychology).

And if you find a way to work horizontally within a vertical structure, please share it with me so that we can both become rich! :-)

Dana W. • I think it is useful - perhaps even inspiring - to remember the original meaning of the word silo. It is intended to store silage (food, fodder) for future use. It should keep the "food' from spoiling and protect it from pest and pillage. It was never intended to store the "food" forever, and therefore is designed for dispensing the "food'. So I would suggest that silos are very important but must be designed for the whole process, including distribution, rather than just the storing.

Avinish M. • Gerald- I have used social media as a example. Do you think if you create your profile and don't add people to your network, you will not be able to know what's happening in your freinds life. In social life most of us don't want to live in silos coz we know the effects. In the same sense, in professional life, people who work in collaboration grows more than the people who works in silos.
I am not saying people don't work in silos, they do, but it's our job as a knowledge manager to tell them the disadvantages of working in silos.

Brett W. • It's easy to put a 'siloed' organization in a building.

Perhaps that should be reversed: The current practice of housing departments in the same physical space encourages 'siloed' thinking and practice.

People make friends with those close to them physically. If all of the people physically near you are doing the same thing, you develop ways of thinking, stories, and a corporate culture. All of these have value, but it may not be the kind of value the institution wants.

There's an other value of silos, they preserve stories, ways of thought, and corporate cultures when those are not incubated or intentionally created. Silos are essentially 'KM on Autopilot'.

I think we all want to work in tribes. We like silos, that's why we form them so aggressively. Since we do form silos, perhaps the physical arrangements of work (where your desk is placed) should not mirror the logistical portions of the organization (Near to others like me) but the procedural portions of the organization (Near to the work I'm supporting/completing).

Now... how you convince a board of directors to let you move everyone's desk and have mixed teams who report to different managers? That's a whole 'nother management problem.

Bruce D. W. • many of the the replies to the original question are meandering....Why is the question being asked? Are we contributing to research, an article, blog, etc. Or is this just a question thrown in to see what happens?

Alice M. • Two of the situations I encounter where silos are of value are:
* where work is straightforward and efficiencies are beneficial, and
* where temporary isolation is important for incubation and development.

Gerald D. • @Albert
"knowledge = information + context" does not mean knowledge is either information or context; I agree with you that knowledge is fundamentally different from information, and in my opinion knowledge is created, when one is able to put information into context, this contextual understanding then will enable to make predictions, to see as true; often the life time of knowledge depends on how long the context is applicable.
As with any simplified model, the equation cannot reflect all details, but is very strong in explaining things.

Concerning the work horizontally in vertical structures, I know it sounds esoteric, but over time horizontal ways of working seem to again form vertical structures.

regards
gerald