Compartmentalization

Compartmentalization is a method to divide into sections or categories. While it is beneficial and healthy to internally compartmentalize, it is unhealthy to use this method within organizations. Normally this is done by managers or supervisors for one reason or another.

Internal Compartmentalization:

Internally, individuals need to compartmentalize their emotions during stress and the job at hand. Additionally, the ability to internally compartmentalize will provide the individual to see what may be stressing them. The method is done by removing emotional factors providing a clear view of the situation.

Personally, I view this as seeing the forest from the trees. Another way to look at it is removing emotion out of the decision.
“By … discovering that these emotions are in fact unrelated to the decisions we are making, we may de-bias our decisions.” – Stephane Cote

A good article by Ryan Blair sums up 5 steps to compartmentalize in order to get the task at hand done. [Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanblair/2012/06/26/5-steps-of-compartmentalization/#5f5c0b721a62 ]

1. Compartmentalize it. Isolate the issue from all the other challenges you are dealing with.
2. Apply extreme focus on each compartment, but only for a short period of time.
3. Move forward in incremental steps. And once you see progress…
4. Close the compartment and open the next one.
5. Say “no” to things that don’t deserve a compartment.

Which brings us to the manager or supervisor compartmentalizing knowledge (information from data) to their employees.

Organizational Compartmentalization:

I always attempt to view both sides of things. It helps in rationalizing the action and understand the individual’s intent. Having said that, some individuals are simply broken and their actions make​ no logical sense to me at all.

Case in point.

A new policy has come into effect within the work place. The manager or supervisor is responsible to convey this new policy while having the employees sign a form, indicating the policy is understood and has been conveyed.

Action: The manager decides to break the team up and has separate meetings to convey the policy.

Rationalizing: When inquiring why 3-4 meetings, rather than 1 meeting for all, the answer is due to each part of the team will be affected​ differently.

Outcome: The reality is the policy is the same. True, some employees may be affected​ differently due to their tasks and responsibilities, but in my opinion, the way it is managed harms the perception. This compartmentalizing​ the employees within the same team divides them, creating un-necessary bubbles within. In essence creating silos within the organization.

This action is called silo-mentality. Silo mentality is an attitude that is found in some organizations; it occurs when several departments or groups within an organization do not want to share information or knowledge with other individuals in the same organization. [Source: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/silo-mentality.asp ] There is a lot of information on silos within the organization and how it harms the whole.

Perception Dynamics website has an interesting article identifying some consequences of Silo Mentality. Some of those are: [ Source: http://www.perceptiondynamics.info/silo-mentality/how-to-remove-silo-mentality/ ]

• Localised, disconnected decision-making
• The apparent culture of lack of owners
• The unsatisfactory nature of work and the Blame Culture
• An abundance of brilliance leading to Collective Stupidity

In Summary:

Compartmentalization has its use when applying to the correct event and location. However, when misapplied, it can create damaging effects.

#AuthorMattCole

Matt Cole is a husband, father, son, brother and avid researcher. When not working, he attempts to share knowledge/content through stories and articles.

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