Organizational Silos are Deadly

Written by Judy W Bell on July 30, 2010. Posted in Leadership

We all keep hearing about the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and the negative effects on the environment that will be years before they are fully known. Less talked about are the tragic deaths of the workers on the oil rig.

Even less attention has been given to the organizational behavior that is being attributed to at least part of the tragedy. In one sense, workers felt they could raise safety concerns that would be addressed. On the flip side, many workers admitted to feeling limited to bring up safety concerns that could not be addressed easily and within the leadership on the rig itself. Any concern needing to be pushed up the corporate chain or into a divisional silo presented restrictions for workers. The quoted conversations can be found at the link below:

Article from New York Times:

We must remove the barriers to open, honest, and timely communication. Precious lives were lost, multiple environmental concerns have become urgent matters to be studied and solved, and the corporation involved has spent many more dollars than would have been necessary if the concerns had been raised in a healthy, timely, and communicative manner.