The result of silo thinking means functional stupidity

Gerhard Furtmüller is convinced that companies and employees benefit from holistic access.

It is a paradox that Gerhard Furtmüller addresses: People do a good job, perform their tasks in an excellent way, and yet the result is disadvantageous for the organization. “Because there is no coordination,” says the senior lecturer at the Department of Management at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and a columnist for DiePresse.com. He is also known to the student audience as “Doktor Furti” and Young Science Ambassador.

What he means by that, he describes using two examples: The purchasing department negotiates sensational conditions, but the sales department is desperate because the product is out of date. Or the electrician lifts up walls, but doesn’t think about the fact that other trades also want to lay pipes. “Upstream and downstream positions are often not taken into account,” says Furtmüller.

The training is strongly oriented towards disciplines and subjects and is insufficiently able to network knowledge. This continues in the company. The result is silo thinking and that, in drastic terms, means “functional stupidity”, as he calls it. Furtmüller suggests that there are three things to look at in companies:

► Awareness raising. “We know a lot, but a lot of knowledge is blind,” he says. Many see their own – quite professional – processes, but not their place in the overall organization. (Informal) networking can help here.

► Training. It is good to network young employees early on so that they can experience different areas of the company. Trainee programs also help promote holistic thinking and retain employees

Learning from Roger Federer

As an example of the holistic approach, he cites tennis player Roger Federer: He was so good for years because he also played other sports as a child. “That is the basis of success: cross-border training,” says Furtmüller – put together as diverse and varied as possible.

► Hardcore-BWL. You need basic economic knowledge to understand the overall context. Furtmüller has therefore developed a business simulation (https://drfurti.at/) for students and prospective managers. It is important to recognize: Who am I performing the service for? For customers, but also for many others within the organization. After all, says Furtmüller, “it’s about the effectiveness of the organization”.

[RT5US]

(“Die Presse”, print edition, 25.09.2021)

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