Question

Knowing that Mercedes-Benz suffers from Information Silos’ problems, how would you solve those problems?

Answer 1

Information silos are generally created in organization due to some factors:

· Large number of groups present in the organization

· Several groups not ready to share information due to lack of trust factor

· Different sets of groups work on different projects, hence do not feel the importance to share the data or information

· Vision of the organization not communicated properly

· Team goals are focused more than organization’s vision

Ways to solve the information silos problem in Mercedes-Benz are:

· Use a technology (integration software) which syncs the necessary data of all the groups in order to avoid information gap

· Transition away from multiple internal systems, and move towards a single, unified system that can be used across all departments within an organization.

· Communicate the unified vision appropriately throughout the organization. A unified vision will help the employees to understand that team goals are secondary to organizational goals. And hence a feeling of trust will develop throughout the organization.

· Bring teams together and increase cross-team collaboration by making the individuals of different teams to interact with each other’s. Meetings, focus groups, chat sessions, corporate events etc. must be held to increase such collaborations to increase the interactions between different team members and increase the trust factor.

· With the help of accountability, communication, and leadership training to name a few, employees can learn more about the dangers of silos, see the benefits of collaboration, and practice useful techniques for breaking down silos back on the job.