Description
Book SynopsisIn yet another page-turner, New York Times best-selling author and acclaimed management expert Patrick Lencioni addresses the costly and maddening issue of silos, the barriers that create organizational politics. Silos devastate organizations, kill productivity, push good people out the door, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals.
Trade ReviewMarketing won't speak to engineering. Sales thinks production hogs the budget. Front desk believes back room's lazy. These sorts of turf wars, which turn outwardly unified companies into groupings of uncommunicative "silos," are the stuff of management lore. According to bestselling author Lencioni (
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), "they waste resources, kill productivity and jeopardize the achievement of goals"—they also drive workers into tizzies of frustration. Like his previous books, Lencioni's latest addresses the management problem through a fictional story; this one revolves around a self-employed consultant named Jude, who has to dismantle silos at an upscale hotel, a technology company and a hospital. Split into two sections, Lencioni's book first shows Jude discovering a solution to silos, then summarizes Jude's lessons into a strategy that readers can apply to any business. Lencioni's proposal is so full of common sense—namely, end turf wars by getting departments to rally around a common goal—that managers will be eager to apply it themselves. Just as refreshing is Lencioni's use of character and plot, which is far above average for the business genre. As sympathetic as Jude is, he makes Lencioni's management lessons memorable.
(Mar.) (
Publishers Weekly, January 30, 2006)
"...an excellent book that nearly everyone will identify with and benefit from..." (Personnel Today, May 2006)
"... an engaging, simplistic read, and one that reinforced many impressions about the ‘problems within’ and strategies to solve them.” (The British Journal Of Administrative Management, February/March 07)
"...if your business experiences politics... this book may be for you." (EN, the magazine for entrepreneurs, January 2008)
Table of ContentsIntroduction vii
The Fable
Part One: Entrepreneurial Ambition 3
Part Two: Roller Coaster 19
Part Three: Rally 77
Part Four: Moments of Truth 139
The Theory
Introduction to Silos 175
Components of the Model 178
Identifying a Thematic Goal 187
Case Studies 189
Managing and Organizing Around the Thematic Goal 197
Thematic Goals and Long-Term Context 202
Making Matrix Organizations Work 205
Getting Started 207
Acknowledgments 209
About the Author 211
