HR Silos

The term silo has a well-known negative connotation suggesting uncordinated activity to the detriment of the organization. HR people are particularly keen on silo-busting because it inhibits implementation of best HR practices.

But HR functions can also fall pray to silo-creation if the various specialists functions do not work closely together and lead to unintended consequences. For example in many organizations, employees are rewarded for their individual effort and receive some kind of bonus if the organization as a whole performs well.

However, an employees' locus of control usually extends to their own work and to that of their team. Unless they are a board-member or the CEO, they can seldom influence the organization as a whole and therefore company-wide bonuses (like share-schemes) are flawed from the start.

A more pragmatic approach is therefore for reward and performance-appraisal specialists to de-silo and work together to create rewards that are a function of individual and immediate team performance.

Such systemic effects can occur between all HR functions (employee development, relations, succession planning, and so on) and will be addressed in future posts.