Silos, divisions, and the problems they cause
When I was in graduate school we talked a lot about silos and divisions. It never really hit home until I started working in academic administration (as opposed to student services and that end). The department in which I'm working used to be two departments, and a few years ago they merged. This has affected my life in a few ways, first (and most definitely foremost) of which is how my office and files are organized. Faculty's folders, which hold information such as evaluations, are not organized alphabetically, they are first sorted by previous program and then alphabetically. Contact lists are also sorted like this, which can make finding someone I haven't met yet extremely difficult. We also have two department leaders, one from each former department, who each had their own assistants. This lead to have three assistants in one office, each doing a specific job and working in a specific silo. Silos have also caused other problems, such as redundancy. Each of the t