The silo effect - Gillian Tett

Ever
since civilised society began, we have felt the need to classify,
categorise and specialise. It can make things more efficient, and help
give the leaders of any organisation a sense of confidence that they
have the right people focusing on the right tasks. But it can also be
catastrophic, leading to tunnel vision and tribalism. Most importantly
it can create a structural fog, with the full picture of where an
organisation is heading hidden from view. It is incredibly widespread:
the chances are these 'silos' are rife in any organisation or
profession, whether your business, or your local school or hospital.

Across
industries and cultures, as this brilliant and penetrating book shows,
silos have the power to collapse companies and destabilise financial
markets, yet they still dominate the workplace. They blind and confuse
us, often making modern institutions act in risky, silly and damaging
ways.

Gillian Tett has spent years covering financial markets and
business, but she's also a trained anthropologist, having completed a
doctorate at Cambridge University and conducted field work in Tibet and
Tajikistan. She's no stranger to questioning the assumptions and
practices of a culture. Those in question - financial trading desks,
urban police forces, surgical teams within medical clinics, software
debuggers and consumer product engineers - have practices and rituals as
ordered and intricate as those of any far-flung tribe.

In The Silo Effect,
she uses an anthropological lens to explore how individuals, teams and
whole organisations often work in silos of thought, process and product.
With examples drawn from a range of fascinating areas - the New York
Fire Department and Facebook to the Bank of England and Sony - these
narratives illustrate not just how foolishly people can behave when they
are mastered by silos but also how the brightest institutions and
individuals can master them. The Silo Effect is a sharp,
visionary and inspiring work with the insight, prescriptions and power
to remove our organisational blinders and transform the way we think for
the better.