Stovepipes, or also called silos, appear in many different organizations and sectors and contribute to problems when employees or managers tend to look more to their own, or the individual departments, objectives rather than to the organizations. The purpose of this study was to identify different communicative factors that promote stovepipes in order to further identify the most critical factor to disarm. A case study has been done at a selected company, with a stovepipe structure, in order to achieve the purpose of the study. The case study has included interviews and observations to identify different problem areas which then have been compared with three communicative factors identified in previous studies. The factor that had the most connections to the problem areas have been considered the most critical factor. The result of the study indicates that “A lack of understanding each other's work” is the most critical factor in stovepipe structures and that it can be prevented by following five recommendations: bring up positive collaboration continually, raise problems with each other instead of with others, identify different communication paths in and between the departments, implement a long-term model for preventing stovepipes and set up workshops between the involved departments. The conclusion of the study is that stovepipes create several undesirable effects in the organization but that the efforts to counter these problems do not have to be complicated. Following five small steps into a better collaboration and communication can be enough to be on your way to a better organizational structure. / Stuprörsstrukturen visar sig i många olika organisationer och branscher, där den orsakar problem då medarbetare och chefer tenderar att se mer till sina egna, eller den enskilda avdelningens, målsättningar än organisationens övergripande. Studien syftar till att identifiera vilka kommunikativa faktorer som bidrar till stuprörsstrukturen, för att vidare urskilja den mest kritiska faktorn. För att uppnå studiens syfte har en fallstudie genomförts på ett utvalt företag med stuprörsstruktur. Vidare har intervjuer och observationer skett för att kunna urskilja olika problemområden, där de problemområden som identifierats sedan har ställts mot tre kommunikativa faktorer som framkommit som bidragande till stuprörsstrukturer i flertalet tidigare studier. Den faktor som har flest samband med de olika problemområdena har ansetts som den mest kritiska faktorn i studien. Resultatet av studien anger ”Bristande förståelse för varandras arbete” som den mest kritiska faktorn i en stuprörsstruktur och att denna kan motverkas genom att följa fem rekommendationer: lyft positiva samarbeten kontinuerligt, ta upp problematik med varandra direkt när den uppstår, kartlägg hur kommunikationen går i verksamheten, implementera en långsiktig modell samt ha löpande workshops med inblandade avdelningar. Slutsatsen är att stuprörsstrukturen kan skapa flera oönskade effekter i en verksamhet men att insatserna för att motverka dessa inte måste vara invecklade eller vidare resurskrävande. Att följa fem enkla steg mot bättre samverkan och kommunikation kan vara en bra bit påväg mot en bättre struktur.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka HR-anställdas upplevelse av samverkan med kommunikations-/marknadsavdelningen. Studien syftar till att undersöka dels hur utbredd sådan samverkan är, dels hur den upplevs av de HR-anställda. För att undersöka detta har en enkätundersökning genomförts bland ett urval av HR-personer i Sverige. Enkätsvaren har sedan analyserats med en explorativ ansats i syfte att finna potentiella samband och intressanta faktorer. Resultatet visar att det finns en relativt utbredd samverkan med kommunikationsavdelningen, men att majoriteten anser att den borde öka ytterligare. Vidare upplever HR-anställda samverkan som något i grunden positivt, även om vissa svårigheter uttrycks gällande exempelvis tydlighet kring vem som gör vad. Resultatet visar även att samverkan skulle kunna öka genom skapandet av forum som möjliggör för relationer mellan avdelningar att växa fram. Utifrån resultatet dras slutsatsen att samverkan är något eftersträvansvärt som HR- och kommunikationsavdelningar bör arbeta för att utveckla genom skapandet av forum och rutiner som främjar tvärfunktionellt samarbete.

Siemens Energy is a global company which is active in energy technology and offers different types of gas turbines and steam turbines among other types of services. This study was conducted at Siemens Energy in Finspång. The importance of the purchasing function within a company and its profitability has increased and it is thereby important for a company to take advantage of it. Siemens Energy strives to have a transparent supply chain that forms a competitive advantage and provides value along every step in order to create value for the company and its customers. To be able to provide a product to the customer, a project group is assigned at Siemens Energy consisting of different types of roles and areas of responsibility. Multiple functions are involved to manage a project from beginning to end. Budget, lead time and different types of specifications are determined at the beginning of a project and follow through the rest of the project. For big and complex flows, good communication between different functions is essential for information regarding, for example, deviations to reach out to the concerned parties. Siemens Energy describes that an overview of how different functions work with the information flow in the purchasing process from construction to goods receiving is missing and requests a flowchart and suggestions for improvements. Therefore, the aim of this study is to create a flowchart over the information flow and to identify and present suggestions for improvements. A theoretical model, Business Process Management, was used to structure the work in this study. The first step in the model is to create a flowchart of the current state regarding the information flow in the different functions. Interviews with 18 people in different roles were conducted to understand the current state. The second step in the model is to identify areas of improvement so that measures can be performed. Activities in the flowchart were divided into value added activities, non-value added activities and non-value added but necessary activities according to the Lean philosophy. Activities which were considered non-value added activities could be categorized into different types of wastes according to the Lean philosophy in order to be addressed using time reduction theory. The third step in the model is to present a new map of the measured activities. Finally, the activities were analysed qualitatively to gain insight into whether the impact on time, cost and quality would be positive, negative, or unchanged. The results from the flowchart and the actions of the measured activities resulted in suggestions for improvements. Further, it was described which of the activities Siemens Energy should focus on improving to increase the quality of the information flow in the purchasing process and decrease cost and time spent. How the implementation should be conducted was not a part of this study which leaves room for further studies in the future that can be carried out at Siemens Energy.