text:
The impact of silo mentality on team identity: An organisational case study
Frans Cilliers1 Henk Greyvenstein1
department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa, South Africa
Correspondence to:
Frans Cilliers
Postal address:
PO Box 392, UNISA 0003, South Africa
Received: 31 May 2011 Accepted: 23 Nov. 2011 Published: 22 Mar. 2012
How to cite this article:
Cilliers, F., & Greyvenstein, H. (2012). The impact of silo mentality on team identity: An organisational case study. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 38(2), Art. #993, 9 pages. http://dx.doi. org/10.4102/sajip.v38i2.993
© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
Orientation: Organisational silos do not only refer to conscious structures, but also to an unconscious state of mind and mentality that takes on a life of its own. Silos result in the splitting of organisational artefacts and relationships, and impact negatively on relationship forming between individuals and within teams. Research purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe how the silo mentality impacts on team identity. Motivation for the study: During a recent organisational consultation the researchers realised that a so-called silo phenomenon had much more unexplained unconscious behaviour than was traditionally realised in terms of organisational development. It is hoped that findings from this qualitative study could give consultants entry into what happens below the surface in the silos' unconscious. Research design, approach and method: A qualitative and descriptive research design using a case study strategy was used. Data gathering consisted of 25 narrative interviews. Using discourse analysis four themes manifested, integrated into four working hypotheses and a research hypothesis. Trustworthiness and ethical standards were ensured. Main findings: Themes that emerged were the physical environment and structure, intra-group relations, experiences of management, and intergroup relations. Practical/managerial implications: Consulting on silo behaviour as physical structures only may not be successful in changing organisational behaviour. The silo resembles an iceberg -the largest part is below the surface. Contribution/value-add: The findings evidenced silo behaviour to be an unconscious phenomenon influencing team identity negatively. Consultants are urged to study these manifestations towards understanding silos and their effect on team identity better.
We have all heard jibes such as 'Oh don't bother trying to find HR after four o'clock ...' or 'Senior management still has no clue what's really happening on the plant!'. Inherent to any hierarchical organisation is a vertical and horisontal specialisation which is often looked upon with disdain, and which contains to-and-fro projections across boundaries (Vansina & Vansina-Cobbaert, 2008). The vertical specialisation exists between the various functional areas, such as production and marketing, whilst the horisontal segmentation exists between the positional power levels of leadership, management and employees. To understand the depth psychology of organisational silos necessitates an appreciation of the unconscious dynamics and symbolism inherent in silos (whether vertical or horisontal), and how this influences the formation of team identity.
Group and organisational identity are well researched in different fields of specialisation, including marketing (Amy, 2002; Gupta & Ogden, 2009; Grier & Rohit, 2001), education (Hartnett, 2007; Gurim & Nagda, 2006; Stark-Rose, Lokken & Zarghami, 2009), anthropology (Torres-Rouff, 2008), sociology (Wade & Brittan-Powell, 2000; Yount, 2004; Heaven, 1999a; Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008; Swann, Kwan, Polzer & Milton, 2003) and psychology (Anthony, 2005; Lipponen & Leskinen, 2006; Mali, 2006; Noels & Clement, 1996; Heaven, 1999b; Volkan, 2009). Organisational psychology yields a substantial amount of research in this field (Randel, 2002; Hatch & Schultz, 2002; Meyer, Bartunek & Lacey, 2002), mostly conceptualised from the humanistic view.
Research on group and organisational identity often regard the two constructs as being similar. This is evident in the work of Blomback and Brunninge (2009), He and Baruch (2009), Kovoor-Misra (2009), Reza (2009) and Sato (2010), where the literature on group identity implies organisational behaviour. This is seldom the case the other way around. Both group and organisational identity
are well differentiated from individual behaviour (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009). This research approached the impact of silo behaviour on team identity from a meso (group) perspective, as distinct from an individual (micro) or organisational (macro) perspective.
Volkan defines group identity as 'the subjective experience of ... people linked by a persistent sense of sameness' (2009, p. 6). This view resonates with Whetten's seminal work on organisational identity, where the latter is defined as 'the central and enduring attributes of an organisation ...'; '. that distinguishes it from other organisations' (2006, p. 220). This definition incorporates a phenomenological component where any identity-related inquiry 'was most likely to be observed in conjunction with profound organisational experiences' (Whetten, 2006, p. 220). This implies that the construct of team identity refers to rational and conscious organisational behaviour.
The concept of organisational silos is often used in practice but has not been thoroughly researched. It is thought that Neebe (1987) made the first reference to silos as a metaphor in organisational behaviour, with reference to grain silos as an example of how parts of organisations function in a manner disconnected from the others. The general organisational psychology literature refers to the concept based on the traditional view and mechanistic manner in which organisations are structured (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009; Head, Yaeger & Sorensen, 2010; Stone, 2004; Sy & Cote, 2004; Weisbord & Janoff, 2005). This implies a hierarchical organisation structure whereby positions flow downward - vertically, from those with the most organisational power and authority, to those with the least. These are typically depicted on an organisational chart or organogram.
The top most position carries definitive responsibility for the organisation's performance along with ultimate decision-making power and final authority (Greenberg & Baron, 2003). As one descends the hierarchy, decision-making power and authority diminish to the point where employees have little if any authority (Hirschhorn, 1997). The above literature also distinguishes vertical areas of functional specialisation, where organisations' horisontal axes are divided into specialised divisions and manageable work groups (e.g. marketing, human resources, legal, operations, production, research and development).
Traditionally the organisational psychology literature views silos as conscious, rational and objective entities. Yet the effect of silo behaviour seems to relate also to behaviour happening below the surface (see Huffington, Armstrong, Halton, Hoyle & Pooley, 2004) in terms of its unconscious, irrational, symbolic and representative meaning, implications and impact.
This led researchers to systems psychodynamics as a paradigm to investigate such unconscious dynamics. This theory is based on classic psychoanalysis (Freud, 1921), object relations
(Klein, 1948, 1997), open systems theory (Von Bertalanffy, 1968), social systems as defences against anxiety (Jaques, 1970; Menzies, 1993), group relations theory (Bion, 1961) and various relevant dynamic constructs (Cilliers, 2005; Cilliers & Koortzen, 2005). Generally, organisational psychodynamics can be defined as the study of unconscious patterns of work relations (Adams & Diamond, 1999) and their influence on leadership, role formation, conflict, identity, boundaries and authority. Such unconscious patterns include ego defence mechanisms like splitting, where the subject gains relief from internal conflicts by peeling off (usually negative, unwanted) parts of the self as if they were not of the self, and projection, whereby these split-off parts are attributed to another to carry on behalf of the subject, thereby providing containment for its own anxiety (Czander, 1993; Hinshelwood, Robinson & Zarate, 1997; Klein, 1997). Such behaviour can also be understood against Bion's framework for analysing the irrational features of unconscious group life, consisting of dependency, fight and/or flight, pairing (Bion, 1961) and, more recently, also 'one-ness' (Turquet, 1974) and 'we-ness' (Gabelnick & Carr, 1989; Hirschhorn, 1988).
The purpose of this research was to describe how silo mentality impacts team identity. Whereas group and/or team identity as well as silo behaviour have been studied in organisational psychology from different paradigms, the effect of what is referred to as silo mentality in systems psychodynamic thinking has never been linked to team behaviour or identity forming. The research objectives were to explore the meaning of silo mentality from a systems psychodynamic stance, to describe a case study in terms of its silo behaviour and to present a hypothesis of how silo mentality influenced the team identity in this organisational system as a guideline for consultants working in the area.
The psychodynamic view of organisations holds that, apart from their conscious and physical aspects, organisations also exist in the unconscious minds of people. This construct is referred to as the 'organisation-in-the-mind' (Armstrong, 2005; Turquet, 1974) and contains the individual and collective fantasies and projections in and about the workplace (Czander, 1993; Gabriel, 1999; Gould, Stapley' & Stein, 2001).
Collective meaning and identity are given to these unconscious fantasies and emotions through exploring and studying intrapersonal and intra-subject object relational patterns. By doing so meaning is derived about organisations. Therefore, to know, understand and appreciate an organisation, more than traditional behavioural, empirical and positivistic analysis methods are required (Gould, Stapley & Stein, 2004; Hirschhorn, 1988; Huffington et al., 2004). Unconscious patterns of relations between individuals and their image of the organisation-in-the-mind need to be elicited.
Since the 1950s most organisations have been structured hierarchically (Greenberg & Baron, 2003). Typically an organisation would have layers of positions flowing
downward from the top position with the most power and influence to those at the bottom with less. Another characteristic is the vertical areas of specialisation - human resources (HR), marketing and operations. Hence horisontal and vertical silos are created. As parts of the organisation, silos too are in-the-mind and have their own unconscious patterns of relations between individuals. As an image of the organisation-in-the-mind, silos influence work behaviour (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009).
Mainstream literature on organisational behaviour (Greenberg & Baron, 2003) uses the silo metaphor to denote organisation dysfunction and fragmentation. It refers to feelings of disconnection - the left hand not knowing what the other is doing, stuckness, isolation and powerlessness, lack of trust, respect, collaboration and collegiality. The image is one of silos in opposition internally or with other silos. Allcorn, Diamond and Stein introduced silos as an organisational metaphor in the systems psychodynamic literature (Diamond & Allcorn, 2004, 2009; Diamond, Stein & Allcorn, 2002; Diamond, Allcorn & Stein, 2004). They defined organisational silos as vast psychological spaces of compartmentalisation, segregation and differentiation.
Psychodynamically, silos represent the phallic characteristics of male dominance, submission and persecution. They are characterised by intra- and intergroup anxiety followed by the infantile and regressive defensive structures of splitting (dividing the external world into good and bad objects), introjection (taking the good into one's inner reality), projection (putting the bad onto the other), and projective identification (putting the bad onto the other with the unconscious intent of using, coercing or manipulating the object). This has consequences for work performance on the personal, group and/or team and organisational levels - the micro, meso and macro levels. Thus, silos become a split-in-the-mind, serving as an invisible barrier to contain the collective unconscious team and organisational fantasies and emotions.
It can be hypothesised that through studying the unconscious silo behaviour in organisations, important information can be gained about what the silo represents for the team (what keeps the silo intact), how teams struggle to find their identity, and to differentiate between the within silo and outside of the silo aspects of identity.
Silo as invisible barrier
Silos are not really physically present in organisations -they exist in the mind of employees who have a shared impression of its reality (Diamond & Allcorn, 2004, 2009). In the mind, they provide safety and comfort by keeping the others out, those who are 'not like us'. In doing so, silos as barriers fragment organisations. These barriers create an 'us and them' mentality which makes boundary crossing difficult, and often causes major anxiety in employees having to attend meetings with or visiting other departments, sites or teams.
These various parts of the organisation become delineated to the extent that those inside feel threatened by those outside the invisible barrier and view them with suspicion, fear and disdain (Diamond et al., 2004). When teams or groups exhibit silo mentality it refers to a position where systemic thinking and the vision of the larger organisation are absent (Burge, 1993). In the unconscious such denial of a part of the whole brings about splitting, usually followed by projection and high levels of free-floating, survival and persecutory anxiety (see Blackman, 2004).
Silo as container
As container, silos serve to facilitate primitive reaction forms of fight and flight - fight whatever is outside and flee to the inside of the container with its presumed safety (Czander, 1993). This represents the paranoid-schizoid position (Klein, 1948) and object-to-object communication in that the container as an invisible barrier furthers 'us and them' fragmenting. As a container, the silo enables group-think, which indicates the presence of basic assumption we-ness. We-ness leads to self-aggrandisement as a defence, which further supports the notion that 'everything out there is bad and everything in here is good'. To be the container and the contained at the same time leads to silo inhabitants becoming all-knowing and manic (see Huffington et al., 2004).
In sum, silos represent a near-absence of depressive whole-object connections and are dominated by paranoid-schizoid part-object experiences (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009). Through reification, the silo itself is seen as the source of the experiences rather than its projective surface (Blackman, 2004), often followed by introjection and projective identification where employees in the silo take that silo inside of themselves and think of themselves as teams, departments or sections, unaware of a whole - as if it does not exist. The purpose of the reification is to assure silo members that the problem is outside rather than inside and related to themselves (Diamond & Allcorn, 2009). In the mind, the team in a silo then becomes the whole. Important to note is that whether for the silo or for a part of the silo, the same dynamic manifests, such as for an organisational development (OD) team within an HR silo.
A single team or group will also feel safe within the team and view the other silos and teams in the organisation not just as the other, but as the enemy other - to be distrusted, feared and fought. The bad in the mind (such as the incompetent, not understanding, infighting, slow to react) is then split off and projected onto those silos or teams, for them to carry. The team then becomes the whole seeing itself as only good, and the centre and reason for existence of the entire organisation. In terms of its own identity (its central and enduring attributes that distinguish it from other teams), the team will then assume attributes of omnipotence, camaraderie and knowledge. Silo mentality can therefore be described as a phenomenon where employees unconsciously treat (perceive and act) the organisation, and those in other departments and divisions, as part-objects (see Diamond & Allcorn, 2009).
The research problem was formulated as follows: How does the presence of the silo mentality impact on a team's sense of identity? The research objectives were to describe and understand silo mentality and to hypothesise how this impacted on a specific team's identity.
No evidence of previous research findings studying the effect or impact of silo behaviour on team functioning or identity could be traced. This research could therefore be seen as a contribution towards extending the knowledge around this impact, and specifically within the South African context. As such it could assist organisational psychologists and consultants to understand the underlying dynamics manifesting in their client systems whenever there is a tendency to silo-ing.
The research design is presented next, with reference to the research approach and strategy. This is followed by a description of the research method, consisting of the setting, roles of the researchers, sampling method, data collection, recording and analysis. Lastly, strategies employed to ensure quality data are outlined. Thereafter the findings are presented in four themes. In the discussion the findings are integrated in the research hypothesis, which is followed by the conclusion, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for further research.
Research design
Research approach
Qualitative research was used (Camic, Rhodes & Yardley, 2003), set within psychosocial organisational studies (Clarke, 2006) and organisational anthropology (Levinson, 2002). The research position allowed for application of a cluster of methodologies, working beyond the purely discursive and beneath the surface (Clarke & Hoggett, 2009). As epistemology, the hermeneutic interpretive stance was used (Geertz, 2000), which allowed for rich and meaningful interpretations of the observed occurrences (Alexandrov,
Research strategy
A departmental case study (Chamberlayne, Bornat & Apitzsch, 2004) with three sub-cases was used to investigate the phenomenon of silo behaviour empirically in a reallife context (Creswell, 2003). Sub-case analysis was used to facilitate individual understanding, followed by cross-case analysis and the emergence of themes (Hollway & Jefferson,
2010) for the department as a whole (Wells, 1980). This allowed for an in-depth examination of the manifesting behaviours from multiple sources of information (Creswell, 2003). This strategy was seen as intrinsic to gain an understanding of the organisation's dynamics and instrumental to building the knowledge base on silo behaviour (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005; Stake, 1995).
Research method Research setting
The research was set in a large corporate head office in Gauteng, specifically one department rendering a technical service to internal clients. A project team, which consisted of the head of the OD division, the departmental manager and the first researcher, was tasked to investigate the department's declining performance rating.
Entrée and establishing researcher roles
The first researcher was authorised by the organisation to take up the role of consultant (Lowman, 2002) and researcher (Alexandrov, 2009). During data collection he took the role of interviewer (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2010), and during the analysis the role of systems psychodynamic consultant (Neumann, Kellner & Dawson-Shepherd, 1997). The first and second researchers were involved in the data analysis, interpretation and integration.
Opportunistic sampling was used (Terre Blanche, Durrheim & Painter, 2006). The department as an organisational case study consisted of three cases, namely the manager (N = 1), his staff (N = 14) and two representatives each from five internal client departments (N = 10). The manager was a 55-year-old White male with 30 years' experience in this organisation. The 24 staff members were all technically qualified and almost equally distributed in gender and race, with a mean age of 38 years.
Data collection method
A one-hour, unstructured, individual narrative interview was used (Clarke & Hoggett, 2009). This took place in a boardroom in close proximity to the department's location. The interview started with the question: 'What is it like to be a member of this department?' (see Diamond & Allcorn, 2009). Hereafter the interviewer responded to the respondents' ordering and phrasing - carefully listening in order to make follow-up comments using the respondents' own words and phrases without offering interpretations, becoming an almost invisible facilitating catalyst to the respondents' stories (Hollway & Jefferson, 2010).
Recording of data
The interviews were tape-recorded. Afterwards the first researcher used 10 minutes to add data around the participant's body language, ambiance in the room, and his own subjective experience during the interview (see Van Manen, 1990). The data were transcribed and stored safely.
Data analyses
Discourse analysis was used (Breverton & Millward, 2004; Cilliers & Smit, 2006). Simple hermeneutics allowed for the understanding of individuals' subjective and inter-subjective reality and meaning, and double hermeneutics facilitated critical interpretation of unconscious processes from the
systems psychodynamic stance (Clarke & Hoggett, 2009). The assumption was that unconscious communication dynamics and defences influence subjects' construction of their reality (Alvesson & Skoldberg, 2005; Hunt, 1989).
Strategies employed to ensure quality data
Ethicality (Terre Blanche et al., 2006) was assured by formally contracting the consulting and research activities with the head of the OD division, the departmental head, and individual participants. This included voluntary participation, informed consent and confidentiality of shared data. In terms of the research project, ethicality was ensured through thorough design, planning, conducting and analysis of the interviews, presentation of the data in this document and feedback to the head of the OD division.
Trustworthiness is based on validity and credibility (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). The study evidenced strong and believable validity in its depth psychological description, which revealed the complexities of the systems' defensive behaviours. The interpretations were peer-reviewed (Brewerton & Millward, 2004) by an independent systems psycho-dynamically informed psychologist, who evaluated the dependability and saturation of the findings favourably. Credibility was assured in the competence of the researchers - both are trained in systems psychodynamic consulting and research (according to the requirements stated by Brunner, Nutkevitch & Sher, 2006).
The findings are reported according to discourse theme. In the discussion working hypotheses (Terre Blanche et al., 2006) are formulated for each theme, integrated into the research hypothesis (Schafer, 2003). Finally, the conclusion, recommendations, limitations and suggestions for future research are presented.
Four themes manifested namely, (1) physical environment and departmental structure, (2) intra-group relations, experiences of management and (4) intergroup relations.
Physical environment and departmental structure
The department was situated in the basement of a large midtown building, filling a large open-plan space, with boxes of green plants between workstations. Participants described their work environment as 'our space', 'where we can be different/like fish in water', 'we need to be separate' and 'out of the way', 'even though we feel forgotten sometimes'. Participants voiced their resistance to a rumour that the department would move to another part of the building by saying 'that would frustrate us', 'will expose us to the noise in the business', 'we will get sucked into the politics there', 'it will lead to chatting' and 'time wasted'. Some of the younger participants called the basement 'the dungeon', 'where we hide' and 'pretend that we are the world'. Participants were
clear about the departmental strategy, structure, primary task and job content. One participant remarked that the departmental structure 'keeps people hostage', whilst another made a (Freudian) slip, referring to 'my colleague's parole', whilst referring to his promotion.
Intra-group relations
Participants described their work performance as follows: 'we are specialists', 'proud of our work' and delivering a 'remarkably efficient' and 'surprisingly effective service'. They mentioned that 'we are well trained', have 'state of the art' technical equipment and electronic hard- and software. Participants described their work relationships amongst the team members, excluding the manager, as 'positive/calm/ serene/friendly/helpful/creative' and the nature of the internal relationships as 'united/secure/together/cohesive', 'almost spiritual', and 'like a family'.
Experiences of management
The departmental manager was described positively by some participants in terms of his 'intelligence', 'good corporate insight' and 'extroversion'. Thereafter, all participants described him in an extremely negative way as emotionally immature, inflexible, rigid, not trustworthy, defensive, moody and with little insight into his own behaviour. His management style was described as centralised, making all the decisions, controlling, enforcing his view, pretending to care and listen but not doing so, making people dependent, disempowering and confusing them, managing by fear, causing stress, derailing our work and creating animosity amongst us with his double messages and 'contradictions'. One participant said 'he is dangerous because he is unaware of his impact on people'. His department experienced stress; people said they were 'living in fear', anxious 'to not make mistakes', feel 'like being on a rollercoaster', 'not getting recognition', 'don't have work-life balance', and the department 'is in serious need of team building' and integration. One participant said that 'we have learned to work around him'.
During his own interview the manager was apprehensive about the interviews and the involvement of the head of OD in the project. He defensively justified his behaviour, often using numbers and figures to strengthen his arguments. He was nervous and tried to sell himself as a good and caring manager, whilst at the same time not listening to the interviewer's inputs. He created an image of independence, aloofness and detachment as if he feared being out of control. He voiced his inputs in a grandiose manner by referring to 'my department that I have built up over 12 years', 'my very sophisticated equipment' and to the staff as 'my family that I have picked by hand'.
Intergroup relations
The department's experience of their internal client is negative. In terms of work performance, participants referred to the client managers as 'not being skilled' and the
staff as 'they don't know what they do', 'don't take pride in their work', 'they have no realisation of time', 'always do last minute changes', 'supply incorrect information', and 'deliver poor and incomplete demands'. In terms of behaviour on the boundary with the client, participants said 'they don't understand our work/what we do/how we think', 'they don't know what to do with us/how to handle us', 'we only see them when they demand something', 'they put pressure on us', 'they always demand', 'they compete with us/don't respect us/treat us with hostility/appreciation', 'treat us like idiots', and 'they anger and frustrate us'.
The client's experience of the department always started with a positive remark - and was immediately followed by an outpouring of negative aspects. Positively, the department is giving 'excellent service', produces 'effective work/has good delivery', has 'their procedures in place', 'maintains deadlines', 'gives quality', 'renders good client service', and 'the work gets done'. They described the departmental staff as 'well qualified', 'skilled', and 'working hard'. These positive remarks were followed by negative comments about the department's management, work performance and behaviour. The department's management was experienced as 'poor', ineffective and 'not providing a clear strategy/direction', and 'we are not sure of what we are working towards'. Management is 'not available', 'don't provide resources' and can't ensure that their staff have the 'relevant skills to service us'. Projects are 'mismanaged' in terms of planning, control, tracking and feedback. 'Their work processes are ambiguous', 'they demand impossible deadlines' and 'the matrix lines' through which the department and the business related 'are filled with difficulties' resulting in 'a disconnection'.
Their work performance 'has been going down over time', 'they don't know what they do', 'they are incompetent', 'they are getting used to the same old thing', 'their work has become rigid over time', 'they misinterpret instructions', 'the pace has become slower due to volume', 'there are delays/slackness/ bottlenecks', 'there are limited updates about progress or changes'. Their work 'has become inconsistent', for example, when 'they prefer to service the more corporate glamorous/ affluent parts of the business' when 'our requests were first and more urgent', 'they have become risk/change averse', 'they have tunnel vision' and 'there is a lack of transparency' in how they operate. Some people 'do not make sure they get the correct information', sometimes they 'report our mistakes to management', 'they gossip about us', 'get us into trouble with our bosses', 'act behind our backs' in 'collusion with my line manager', to the extent that 'the information will then unexpectedly pop up in my performance discussion'.
The department's behaviour is 'negative', 'not good at all', 'they think they are in charge of us', 'some people highjack information and power', 'they act defensive', 'they use power to control us', 'they use emotional power over us', 'we handle them with gloves' because 'we are afraid that we may sound confrontational'. The relationship is 'unfriendly', 'it feels like
a madam and servant talking', 'it is as if they only think of themselves', 'we often have to stand on our knees, begging', 'you need to be very careful in how you communicate', 'we often are fearful when we enter the basement', 'you feel as if you hit an iron wall'. It was also stated that 'all kinds of negative feelings are between us' such as 'irritation/anger/ frustration/jealousy'.
An additional dynamic manifested amongst seven young Black women amongst the client participants. During the interviews they appeared hurried, rushed and uninterested, saying 'I am only here to work', 'if they can just leave me alone', 'I am doing my best', 'I need to get along with everyone', and 'I don't want to get involved in the politics'. Halfway through their interviews, three of these participants asked the researcher 'can I go now - I need to get back to my desk'. Four participants volunteered information about being the first in their families to have tertiary education and to work in a corporate environment. They spoke about their exhaustion, a sense of 'losing myself', 'not knowing why I am here' and of thinking of resigning. Their stories revealed that they have approached their corporate careers with excitement, curiosity and hope - idealising the corporate world and its promises of endless opportunities. Their previous positive experiences have disappeared, their energy was depleted and they appeared disillusioned and even burnt-out.
The purpose of this research was to describe how silo mentality impacts on team identity. The research is important in that it reveals that manifestations of unconscious defensive structures in the organisation act as symptoms of silo mentality. The findings also illustrate how the silo mentality plays such a significant part in identity forming. Themes that emerged from the findings were the physical environment and departmental structure, intra-group relations, experiences of management, and intergroup relations.
Theme 1: Physical environment and departmental structure
The first theme evidenced the department's basic assumption functioning (Bion, 1961). It split the clear techno (structure) from the troubled socio (relationship) aspects (Miller, 1993). The system was obsessively dependant on its boundaries of separateness. In their flight into one-ness, the basement became their boundary in the mind (Lawrence, 1999) - their fantasised, safe, detached and untouchable silo-bunker (as a psycho-geographical silo - see Stein, 1987). Here they experienced inner support, protection and preservation, but also imprisonment; and outer incompetence characterised by noise, politics and time wastage. The department used the primitive defences (Blackman, 2004) of splitting off the bad and owning the good, regression (into the basement), resistance (staying in the basement), introjection (of the good and their preservation), projection (of the incompetence) and flight (away from the other) (Vansina & Vansina-Cobbaert, 2008).
Working hypothesis 1
The system functioned in a split between light, represented by the technical and/or structure, and darkness, represented by the poor human relations in the basement. It has introjected a prison-like smugness, authorised (Hirschhorn, 1997) by self-righteousness, and projected its incompetent shadow onto the other, who identified with the projection. The use of primitive defences indicated the system's experience of being under attack (probably by the manager), which explains the need to hide in the basement with limited social connections. These unconscious dynamics lead to the department's primary role as service rendering being denied and de-authorised, which manifested as off-task survival, to the point of self-imprisonment.
Theme 2: Intra-group relations
This theme evidenced the department's extreme introjected goodness in terms of tasks and relationships. Their relationships were characterised by a flight into one-ness almost to the point of incestuous cohesion (Gutmann,
2003). The boundary around the department (excluding the manager) was tightly contained, almost impenetrable, and their relatedness inside was idealised to the point of becoming a spiritual sanctuary (see Lawrence, 1999).
Working hypothesis 2
The system functioned in extreme one-ness characterised by the preservation of goodness elevated into a fantasy of holiness.
Theme 3: Experiences of management
The theme was evidenced by the departmental staff's strong negative experiences of the manager, and their attack on his management and personal style (with a few less personal cognitive aspects framed as positive). It was as if the staff put a clear boundary between themselves and the manager. On the inside (according to theme 2) they associated themselves with and have introjected love (Eros), whilst they have excluded and dissociated themselves from the manager and projected their aggression (Thanatos) onto him (Cytrynbaum & Noumair, 2004). Consciously the manager presented himself as a clever, strong and well-managing hero. Unconsciously he defended against his anxiety (Blackman,
2004) through denial (of staff's hate), detachment (being out of touch), projection (making the head of OD the enemy), suspicion (making the interviews the enemy), compensation (presenting himself as hero), rationalisation (explaining) and narcissism (referring to his possessions and people) (Obholzer & Roberts, 1994).
Working hypothesis 3
In the split between staff and manager, the staff attached to the good and denied and detached from the bad, living safely in a utopian fantasy. As staff could not identify with the manager's style, he became the target of their projection of all bad. It was as if the manager was emotionally taken hostage
and given an impossible (double) task of containing the bad as well as denying it in trying to keep up appearances.
Theme 4: Intergroup relations
This theme was evidenced by intergroup conflict between the department and its clients, with to-and-fro projections of incompetence (Campbell, 2007). The client system's limited positivity illustrated their dependence (as client). The discourse of the seven Black females indicated how they as a subsystem identified with the projections of attack and became the container of detachment. It was as if they became the representation of the obliterated, burnt-out ashes of the system.
Working hypothesis 4
The intergroup dynamic in the system is fraught with splits and projections as if the war was in a deadlock, causing extreme emotional confusion and exhaustion. The Black women represent the hopelessness in the fight.
Silo mentality
The findings strongly suggested the manifestation of silo mentality in this organisational case study (see Diamond & Allcorn, 2009; Stein, 1987). The employees treated one another as part-objects as if they were the whole, as a defence against not coping with the integrated organisation-as-whole and its systemic complexity and hostility (see Wells, 1980). High levels of anxiety created defences which formed invisible barriers in and between subsystems and in the mind. The silos manifested horisontally in the aggressive split between staff and manager and vertically between the department and the internal client.
The discourse was filled with metaphors of danger, hostage-taking, dominance and control, opposition, isolation, stuckness, imprisonment, inclusion-exclusion, separation, segregation, compartmentalisation, differentiation, fragmentation, lack of collaboration, denigration and the balkanisation of parts. The manifesting primitive defensive behaviours were split (between owning and not-owning), projection, projective identification, detachment, regression and resistance (Campbell & Huffington, 2008). As a 'silo within a silo' the White male manager and the Black females mirrored one-another's behaviour as evidence of how the system brought diverse opposites together through aggression. It was hypothesised that the silo mentality acted as: (1) an invisible boundary between the self and the other; as well as (2) a container of safety for the self and protection against the hostile other (Klein, 2005).
Team identity
The findings strongly suggested a team identity characterised by high levels of anxiety and basic assumption functioning (Bion, 1961; 2003). As a whole, the system was caught up in its dependence on territory and toxicity (Fox & Spector, 2005) followed by counter-dependence manifesting as projections
of aggression. The department was fighting the enemies-in-the-mind as well as their own projected identification around incompetence. They used flight into fantasies of security and competence as a defence against their experienced threat and chaos (Campbell & Gronbaek, 2006). The team's we-ness was manifesting in an extreme spiritual and familial togetherness, as an indication of how strong the sense of threat was. It was hypothesised that their behaviour of we-ness was based on guilt (Speziale-Bagliacca, 2004) and/or a sense of delusional grandiosity (Schwartz, 1990). In his isolated superiority, the manager played out the systemic me-ness.
The above basic assumption functioning was supported by defence mechanisms (Blackman, 2004; Klein 2005), namely, resistance (to relinquish the image of superiority, creativity), splitting (of task and relationships), introjection (of own beliefs about the self), introjective identification (which hindered their objectivity about reality), splitting off and projection (of incompetence), and regression (into family dynamics of rebellious children).
From a systems psychodynamic role-analysis perspective (Newton, Long & Sievers, 2006), the team's identity was interpreted as follows (Obholzer & Roberts, 1994). The normative role was relatively clear, although negatively influenced by the projections from the client. The experiential role contained the team's introjected poor-child ego state of not being cared for and having to grow up alone (James, 1977) and the manager's all-knowing and competent parental ego state. These two states functioned as the base of the split in the relationship. The phenomenal role of the staff contained strong projections of incompetence from the client, the manager from the staff and the young Black women from the whole system.
The team's identity can be summarised as a detached, acting-in and autistic differentiation (Czander, 1993; Gould et al., 2001; Stapley, 2006) stuck in its own confined, demarcated and schizoid mindspace. Silo mentality is described in the same manner.
The research hypothesis was formulated as follows: the silo mentality with its destructive splitting into the compartmentalisation of part objects, impacted negatively on team identity and manifested in similar symptoms of destructive, autistic and schizoid functioning. The silo mentality acted as a defence against mature connection between people.
It was concluded that silo mentality and a disengaged team identity are similar in their destructive differentiation and breaking down of connection. Both showed the characteristics of the paranoid-schizoid position with its object-object relations, thus keeping the system in basic assumption functioning.
It is recommended that organisational psychologists and consultants take note of the destructive impact of
silo mentality on team identity, the breaking down of connections, relationships and relatedness for not only the part object, but presumably for the whole organisation. It is recommended that role analysis be used in a formal consulting project for teams such as these. This may replace the narrowly specialised single mindset (Kaeter, 1993) towards an integrated and well-connected system.
Limitations of this research relate to the use of one collective case study. If more cases in the same organisation were used, a clear idea of the organisational climate and culture could have been integrated into the findings.
It is suggested that future research focuses on replicating this study in other organisations and settings for comparison and towards the building of knowledge across organisational types.
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Greenberg, J., & Baron, R.A. (2003). Behavior in organizations. (8th edn.). Thousand Oaks: Upper Saddle River.
Grier, S., & Rohit, D. (2001). Social dimensions of consumer distinctiveness: The influence of social status on group identity and advertising persuasion. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 216.
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Gupta, S., & Ogden, D.T. (2009). To buy or not to buy? A social dilemma perspective on green buying. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 26(6), 376.
Hartnett, S.P.D. (2007). Does Peer Group Identity Influence Absenteeism in High School Students? High School Journal, 91(2), 35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ hsj.2008.0000
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System Requirement
Localhost (PC)
If you're working on localhost (your PC), I recommend you use XAMPP as best Apache for Joomla! CMS.
Hosting / Server
Joomla! 3 requires PHP version from 5.6.x or higher, this is a highlight for hosting compatible, for more details please read it here.
Template Installation
Install Quickstart Package (full website like demo)
A quick-launch Joomla! Installation package that contains all the data and extensions to replicate the live demo. You just login to Customer Area and download Template Quickstart package, then see this blog instruction for more details how to install Quickstart package with Akeeba Kickstart file
Install Template package
Template package use for new website that you want to build content from zero without sample data, or using for your website with existing data. For install it, just download Template Install Package file and install it via Extension Manager (Admin > Extensions > Extension Manager, browser file and click to upload). After finish, you can go to Template Manager, switch default Joomla! template to new template.
For start to build your website, you can use standard Joomla! elements such as Articles, Module, etc. Other extensions such as Page Builder, Slider, Portfolios, etc. you can see download links and documents via part Third-party Build-in Document.
Template Contents & Styles
Display Main Menu Style
Open a new browser window and type in the URL, which will be similar to http://www.your-site-name-here.com/administrator or, if you have Joomla! installed on your local computer, http://localhost/your-folder-name-here/administrator. Here you will have to log in as an Administrator or Super Administrator.
Go to "Extensions" / "Templates" / "Styles" / "[template_name]-default". This is where you edit template styles.
Please click tab "Menu" and choose "Main Menu".
Click the Save or the Save & Close toolbar button to save the Main Menu. To leave without saving click the Cancel toolbar button.
Display the off canvas (Mobile Menu)
Publish a module on the "offcanvas" module position. It is a built-in Joomla module position in the off-canvas sidebar.
Go to "Extensions" / "Modules" / "New" and choose the module type you want to display in the off-canvas sidebar.
Type "offcanvas" as the module position name:
Click the Save or the Save & Close toolbar button to save the Module Off Canvas Menu. To leave without saving click the Cancel toolbar button.
Add Menu Items to Your Menu
To Create a New Menu Item:
- Select Menus → [name of the menu] → Add New Menu Item from the drop-down menu on the back-end of your Joomla! installation. For example, if a Menu is called "About Joomla", select Menus → About Joomla → Add New Menu Item.
To Edit a Menu Item:
- Select Menus → [name of the menu] from the drop-down menu on the back-end of your Joomla! installation. For example, if a Menu is called "Main Menu", select Menus → Main Menu. Then either click the title of the menu item in the table list or select the menu item checkbox and click the "Edit" icon in the toolbar.
Add a New Menus
There are 2 ways to add a Menu: Within the site administration panel, select Menus from the menu bar in the upper left corner. From the drop-down list, choose the "Manage" then choose "Add New Menu". You can also select Menu Manager from the left column and then select "New" from the top left corner icons.
Fill in the "Title", "Menu Type" and a "Description":
- Title *: A proper title for the menu. This is used to identify the menu in the Menu Manager in the backend.
- Menu type *: This should be a unique identification name used by Joomla! to identify this menu. Spaces are not allowed but you may use the '-' character such as news-menu.
- Description: A description of the menu, useful for your own reference.
Click the Save or the Save & Close toolbar button to create the new menu. The Save & Close button will return you to the Menu Manager. To leave without saving click the Cancel toolbar button.
If you saved and closed, you will see your new menu in the list of Menus.
Bottom and Footer navigation modules
– How to Access?
From the main menu select "Extensions" / "Module"
– After that, click on the 'New' button in the toolbar to create a new Module Item, or select a Module by double clicking the Module's Title or check the 'check box' and click on the 'Edit' button.
– You will now see a screen with a list of all of module on your website.
– How to edit existing modules?
Bottom modules place at position 'bottom 1', 'bottom 2', 'bottom 3' and 'bottom 4', you can find it via Module Manager with 'Select Position'.
Footer modules based on position 'footer 1' and 'footer 2' as well.
– How to Create New?
When creating a new Module, you will be presented with a modal pop up window. Choose the module type by clicking on the module name to be taken to the 'edit' details screen.
– How to Edit Modules?
From this screen you can search module by Filter: Site or Administrator; Select Status, Select Position, Select Type, Select Access and Select Language. And you can edit an existing modules, publish/ unpublish modules, and even delete modules should you need to.
1. Title: The Title for this item. This may or may not display on the page, depending on the parameter values you choose.
2. Custom HTML: This module allows you to create your own HTML Module using a WYSIWYG editor.
3. Position: Click button for drop down window to select Module position by available positions in a Template(s) installed.
4. Status: The published status of this item.
- Published: Item is visible in the front end of the site.
- Unpublished: Item is will not be visible to guests in the front end of the site. It may be visible to logged in users who have edit state permission for the item.
- Archived: Item will no longer show on blog or list menu items.
- Trashed: Item is deleted from the site but still in the database. It can be permanently deleted from the database with the Empty Trash function in Article Manager.
5. Start Publishing: Date and time to start publishing. Use this field if you want to enter content ahead of time and then have it published automatically at a future time.
6. Finish Publishing: Date and time to finish publishing. Use this field if you want to have content automatically changed to Unpublished state at a future time (for example, when it is no longer applicable).
7. Access: Select the viewing access level for this item from the list box. The access levels that display will depend on the what has been set up for this site.
8. Language: Select the language for this item. If you are not using the multi-language feature of Joomla, keep the default of 'All'.
9. Note: Item note. This is normally for the site administrator's use (for example, to document information about this item) and does not show in the front end of the site.
– Module Assignment: Click for drop down choice of module assignment.
– All pages: Module will show on all pages in the selected module position.
– No pages: Module will not show on any pages in the selected module position.
– Only on pages selected. Module will show only on pages in the selected module position as selected by menu item type(title).
– On all pages except those selected: Module will show on all pages in the selected module position, except those selected by menu item type(title).
Additional Options, such as Basic and Advanced can be found on the specific Module Type Help screen. Please note, installed Extensions may contain more parameters in Additional Options. Please refer to the specific Extension Module's information provided by the Extension developer.
Third-party extension to build template content
Building content with SP Page Builder
For Free version, you must to build content by yourself from ZERO, you can use Joomla! single article and modules in template to present for your content.
For Pro version, you can install Quickstart package, and this is a way you can edit demo content.
* We're using SP Page Builder (Free) extension for all Joomla! templates, you can consider going with SP Page Builder (Pro) to get extra add-ons and unlimited features for page builder.
a) Edit content in Homepage: all content in 'Home' page based on SP Page Builder Free (see part "3-Party Build-in Document" to know more about this extension), so you can edit it via Admin > SP Page Builder, edit 'Home' page. This is very easy to edit based on drap-drop content with this extension.
b) Edit content in menu item "Pages": all sub pages in this menu items also based on SP Page Builder content, so you can edit it via SP Page Builder like "Home" page, go to Admin > SP Page Builder, select page that you want to edit and click to edit.
+ First step, is always this same, use ADD NEW ROW to create a new row.
+ Second step, use allows you to divide current row into columns.
+ Third step, you to insert one addon inside block from long list of available (their number depends on the version of SP Page Builder)
+ Finally Step, each column have its own options which allows you to set few typical appearance settings:
– Row Options
A few typical appearance settings:
(1) Section Title: Insert a title which will display as a section title. Leave blank if section does not require any title.
(2) Heading: Select Title Heading from the list.
(3 and 4)Title Font Size & Title Font Weight: Set font size & weight for this selector( e.g. 25px & bold).
(5) Title Color: Title Text Color.
(6) Title Margin Top: Set a optimum distance from the Top element.
(7) Title Margin Bottom: Set a optimum distance from the Bottom element.
(8) Section subtitle: Insert a section subtitle which will display as a section subtitle (description). Leave blank if section does not require any subtitle.
(9) Title & Subtitle Position: Set position for both Title & Subtitle element.
(10) Background Color: Set the background color of an element. Use a background color and a text color that makes the text easy to read (contrast).
(11) Background Image: Set background images for an element. Always set a background-color to be used if the image is unavailable.
(12) Section ID: Set the ID attribute for the specific element. An ID should be unique within a page, each element can have only one ID.
(13) CSS Class: If you wish to style particular content element differently, then use this field to add a class name and then refer to it in your css file.
– Column Options
A few typical appearance settings:
(1) Background Color: Choose background color, by default it's transparent. Use a background color and a text/font color that makes the text easy to read (contrast).
(2) Column Padding: allows you to change paddings for chosen column, default values are equal: 10px 10px 10px 10px (Top Right Bottom Left).
(3) Column Animation: this option provides several effect of animation for a column. These include simple, standard animations that are frequently used.
(4) Animation Duration: set how many millisecond an animation takes to complete one cycle, it means how long the animation will run. Durations are given in milliseconds; higher values indicate slower animations, not faster ones.
(5) CSS Class: if you wish to add custom style for particular content element, then use this field to add a class name and then refer to it in your css file.
Edit K2 Blog with K2 Extension
Once you are up and running with your own Joomla website, and feel ready to start blogging (or creating content as it is now fashionably called), follow these rules to get the most out of your website, boost your website visits from search engines, and avoid making the common K2 mistakes.
Step 1 – Log on to your Joomla Admin Panel. You can usually access this by inserting the url www.mysite.com/administrator/ into your web browser (make sure you substitute your actual domain in for mysite.com)
Step 2 – From the main menu select "components" / "K2" / "items" ("items" is just the confusing K2 term for what is otherwise known as a blog, article or webpage). Note – please leave all other options in the K2 menu untouched unless you have web development knowledge or have been told otherwise by your web agency.
– You will now see a screen with a list of all of blog items on your website. From this screen you can add new items; edit any existing items, publish/ un-publish items, and even delete items should you need to.
Step 3 – For the purpose of this tutorial, we will create a new item (blog) – so click on the "New" button.
– Now you can write your K2 item and make any edits using the detailed instructions below.
* The compulsory fields in a K2 blog
1. Title: Add a Title that clearly describes what your blog item is about. If you want to optimize your new blog for search, then your chosen keyword/ key phrase should be included in the Title.
2. Title Alias (URL): When you first save your item, the Title alias (URL) will auto-complete based on the Title you created, so you don't actually need to touch this field. Here are a few simple and very important rules to follow when creating a Title alias (URL):
- The Title alias (URL) will be the link to your new blog page. Once your blog goes live, the Title alias (URL) should NEVER be changed, otherwise you will lose your social shares, backlinks from other websites to your article plus any potency that the page has achieved in search engines rankings such as Google.
- The page URL (or link) should be descriptive, pertinent to the k2 article and human readable (ie. without funny characters and symbols). If you have any doubts at all, just make sure that the URL is identical to your item Title.
3. Category: When creating your website, your webmaster will have set up a selection of K2 Categories. The Category is an extremely powerful field that dictates in which section of your website the blog item will show up. Changing the Category field will move the item to a different section of the website.
In general once a blog is live you will never want to change the Category as it could upset your page links. If your item has been published for more than a few days, always check with your web agency before changing the Category field.
4. Published: Publish is a straight-forward yes/no field that will publish or un-publish your K2 blog item. If you want to remove an item from your website simply set this field to No. You can revert back to "published" whenever you want.
5. Content: The content tab is where you write the text for your new page.
We are now in the world of Web 3.0 and the Semantic web. Realistically if you want your K2 blog item to rank well on Google, then we advise a minimum of 1000 words, and ideally around 2000 word of high quality, informative copy. Simply put, if there are better pages out there on the web covering the same subject, then you will struggle rank well and get new visitors from Google (which is usually the main writing a blog).
– A word of warning about using the Text Editor:
- Keep use of the Text Editor buttons to an absolute minimum.
- Applying bold, underline, italics and headers to the article is time consuming and your site will not be uniform.
- Any good web designer will have built your website using a central graphic override file called a .css or .less file. From here they will be able to control the look of your entire website in a few seconds – rather than you going through every single page to make a graphic change.
- Controlling the graphics from the central graphic override file will ensure that your website has a consistent professional look throughout.
- Although you cannot see it, text editors often adding lots of unnecessary code to your page, making your website slower to load, and harder for Google to rank.
- Use the image button (found directly below the Text Editor) to add images into your K2 blog item. First of all, click within the item text exactly where you want the image to appear, hit the "Image button", and a pop-up window will appear.
6. The Image tab: Although technically not compulsory, adding an image to each blog item is a wise idea. The truth is that although we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, we all do! Choosing a striking image that reflects your blog will work wonders for your article especially on social networks. Looking for free images? Try these free stock image websites. You have the option to either select the image directly from your server or upload from your computer.
7. Meta Description: Open the Meta information tab and click on the Description field. The Description is what will show up in Google search listings.
Use your Description to elaborate on your page title and give your potential audience a better idea of what will be on the page when they click. A typical search results page has 10 website listings, so a well written Description will ensure your website stands out and will improve your click-through-rate. Try and describe exactly what your page is about using superlative terms and even the odd UPPERCASE word to give your page a competitive advantage.
Google shows 150 – 160 characters (including spaces) of a page's description (aka meta description tag). If your Description exceeds 160 characters it will be truncated.
Once finished make sure you click "Save and close". Otherwise the item will remain locked and other website administrators will be unable to access it.
Manage portfolio feature with Advanced Portfolio Pro
Advanced Portfolio Pro is the professional version of Advanced Portfolio. It is a Joomla! 3 extension developed by ExtStore Team, supporting users to create a neat, flexible and effective portfolio-based site. The component manages projects by tags or categories. Each project contains short and full description, easy image management, video and metadata options optimized for SEO.
– How to add new items?
From the main menu select "Components" / "Adv Portfolio Pro"
– You will now see a screen with a list of all of portfolio items on your website. From this screen you can add new items; edit any existing items, publish/ un-publish items, and even delete items should you need to.
– You have to start from adding a new tags in component, without them you won't be able to add new items. Add at least one new Tag. The same tag can be applied to many different items across portfolio.
Each new tag have its own name and alias. If you add one or more tags you can start to add new items.
You have to fill all fields marked with * : title, image, description and tags.
(1) Alias – the Alias is used in creating the URL (website address) for the detail page. By default component will use the Title for creating the alias (with modifications) unless you type an Alias in yourself. Joomla will make the alias all lower case, replace spaces with dashes and take out any characters that can not be accepted.
(2) Image – About choosing a image for item, you can use those which you have or upload a new one. We recommended image size : 1170px X 800px, but of course if you have only smaller you can also use them.
(3) Video URL – Portfolio items can contain not only images but also Youtube or Vimeo video clip. Just insert your video URL. Leave this filed blank if video is not required.
(4) Description – in this field you can add description or even additional images which will be displayed on the item detail page under main image.
(5) Tags – All items are based on Tags system, which are similar to categories. Once you get to three letters you will start to see suggested tags that already exist. The advantage of this solution is that each item can be assigned to multiple tags. Also the same tag can be applied to many different content items across portfolio. Tags will be used to filter portfolio items.
(6) URL – Each item can include its own link. Leave this blank if you do not want to show project URL.
(7) Status – Whether this item is published or not.
(8) Language – Items include a basic way to implement a multi-language site. All items may be associated in different languages.
Manage Slider function with Unite Revolution Slider 2
The Unite Revolution Responsive slider is an amazing layered slider for joomla. You can design your slider with no css or jquery needed an come out with amazing effect.
– From the main menu select "Components" / "Unite Revolution Slider".
– You will now see a screen with a list of all of Sliders on your website. From this screen you can add new sliders; edit any existing slider and even delete sliders should you need to.
Slider Settings
Once you Created a Slider, you can open the Slider Settings (Settings) any time to manage any general settings per Slider.
(1) Slider Title: A Internal used Name for the Slider. Only for Backend Usage.
(2) Slider Alias: An individual name of the slider. Don't use Special chars and spaces here. This will be used for ShortCode embedding and for any other art for embedding and corresponding / link internal to the slider.
(3) Slider Layouts
- Fixed: A None Responsive Version of the Slider. Will have a prepared Width and height. Used for Older Themes
- Custom (it has been called "Responsive" in Earlier version): A Custom Grid system to set size of Slider per Browser Size. You can define different Levels for sizes. Only used for Frameworks where no Fluid Widths has been used. (i.e. Skeleton)
- AutoResponsive (it has been called "Fullwidth" in earlier versions): Used for Fluid Responsive themes, where the Slider calculates its own size for every Browser size. Only max width hand height of Grid should be defined. In case the Container Width is not Boxed, it will go Fullwidth Automatically
- FullScreen: Slider will take the height of Window and center the preseted Grid within. It will always try to go FullHeight and Fullwidth if the wrapping container allows.
(4) Layers Grid Size:
– Depending on the Layout you can set the Width and Height of the Captions. The Slider will go Fullwidth or Fullwidth and Fullheight in case you set AutoResponsive or FullScreen. Caption Grid will be centered always within the slider container.
– In some cases (Custom) you can set multiple Levels depending on Screen Size. This is not needed in AutoResponsive and FullScreen mode.
– Fullscreen mode allows you to set a Container (per class or ID) which heights decrease the height of the FullScreen Slider Container automatically in every responsive level.
Edit Sliders
Navigate between the Slides simple selecting The Tabs on the top. Don't forget to Update the Slide before you Leave one tab !
Each Slide has its own General Setting. You can set transitions, Local delays, thumbnails etc.
(1) Slide Title: Used only Internal Naming of the slides
(2) State: Published / Unpublished – used for Editing, modificating the slide. If it is Unpublished, front-end wont show this slide at all.
(3) Visible From/Until: If set, the Slide will only be visible between the set times. If Visible Until is not set, the Slide will be visible as soon as the Visible From date is reached. If Visible From is not set, the Slide will be visible until the Visible Until date is reached.
(4) Transitions: The Animation Style how the Slide appearance. You can select more than one from a multiplie choice drop down list. Every new loop will use an other Transition if you selected more then one.
(5) The Image Source for the Main Image: A Slide can have an Image, Transparent Image, Solid Color or External Image as Main Image. This Image is the "Main Layer" in the background which has been animated via the General Settings predefined Transitions parameter.
(6) Background Fit/Repeat/Position: With these options, the chosen background image can be adjusted.
You can choose from following layers / captions: HTML Markups, Image, Video.
(7) Text Layer, Image Layer and Video Layer: For individual TEXT / HTML Markup Layer, Image Layer and Video Layer click on Add Layer and follow the following settings
– Style / Edit CSS
– To define a predefined Style or add your own Style use the Style Drop Down list. You can change the Styling of the captions / Layers via the Embedded CSS Editor (Edit Style).
– Use HTML5 Standard markups in case you wish to embed paragraphs, headings, buttons etc.
– The Captions have the white-space: nowrap setting default. It is important because of the transitions. Please use <br> for line breaking, or add different layers for multiple lines.
– For further styling that is not possible through Edit Style, use the Edit Global Styles and put your Styles there.
– Align & Positions
– Set the Align of the Layers / Captions. Left Top is default. Drag and Drop move of the Layer will based on the Align. If you set the Align to Center Center, the Drag And drop will be based on this aligned position and use an Offset.
– i.e. Center Center Offset X -21px Offset Y -46px will be used in every responsive size linear calculated. If the Screen size is scaled to 50% than the Item is still in the middle of the grid and offset is -50px -50px (linear calculated).
– Center Center snaps the Center Center of the Layer to the Center Center position of the Gird. Right Bottom snaps the Right bottom corner of the Layer to the Right Bottom corner of the Grid etc…
Template Settings
From the main menu select "Extensions" / "Templates" / "atexample-Default". This is where you edit template styles. When a template is first installed, a default style is created for it. The default style for the template will have the same name as the template with a – Default suffix.
There are 9 options for Style: Basic,Presets, Layout, Menu, Typography, Custom Code, Advanced, Blog, Assignment.
Basic Options
There are 8 options for Basic: HEADER, BOXED LAYOUT, LOGO, BODY BACKGROUND IMAGE, FOOTER, SOCIAL ICONS, CONTACT INFORMATION, COMING SOON.
– Header: The Header setting provides the ability to easily change the Sticky Header and Favicon of the header area.
– Boxed Layout: This feature provides the ability to easily enable boxed layout.
– Logo: The Logo setting provides the ability to easily change the Logo Type, Module Position, Image, Retina Logo and Mobile Logo.
– Body Background Image: The Body Background Image setting provides the ability to easily change Image, Repeat, Size, Attachment, and Position.
– Footer: The Footer setting provides the ability to easily change Copyright.
– Social Icons: The Social Icons setting provides the ability to easily change Icons and Module Position.
– Contact Information: The Contact Information setting provides the ability to easily change the Information and Module Position.
– Coming Soon: The Coming Soon setting provides the ability to easily change Coming Soon Title and Content.
Presets (Template Color Styles)
The Presets setting provides the ability to easily change Styles and Options.
We defined 4 color presets for template, you can select existing color you want. In case you want to make new color for your own, just open file "preset[x].css" with "x" is color preset number that you're using, search for main color code and replace all to new color code.
Layout (Positions & Layout)
The Layout setting provides the ability to easily change layout template by using: Add Columns, Add Row and Settings.
Menu (Selection & Styles)
The Menu setting provides the ability to easily change Menu, Menu Type, Dropdown Width and Dropdown Animation.
Typography (Font Style And Size)
The Typography setting provides the ability to easily change Font Family, Font Weight & Style, Font Subset, Font Size and update Google Fonts List.
Custom Code (CSS/HTML/Javascript, Google Analytics)
You can put Custom Code (include HTML code, CSS & Javascript Code) before or after header, you also can put Google Analytic code via this tab.
Blog (Joomla! Articles)
The Blog setting provides the ability to easily change Icon Post Format, Comment Setting and Social Share.
Assignment (Page Display)
Joomla! gives you the option of switching between two or more styles on the Front-end. This is done with "Menu Assignment", so you can set different styles for each menu or only a menu item. This allows specific "pages" that are defined by menu links to set for a "specific" style. Styles can be of different templates.
Third-Party Build-in Document
Template Framework
Helix3 http://www.joomshaper.com/documentation/helix3/docs
Extensions Build-in
SP Page Builder http://www.joomshaper.com/documentation/joomla-extensions/sp-page-builder
Advanced Portfolio Pro https://extstore.com/support/documentation/components/advanced-portfolio-pro
K2 Extension http://getk2.org/documentation
HikaShop https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/hikashop/
United Revolustion Slider http://www.unitecms.net/joomla-extensions/unite-revolution-slider-responsive/documentation (paid extension and it won't includes in download package, just in Quickstart package of PRO version).
CSS Libraries
Font Awesome http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/
Bootstrap CSS http://getbootstrap.com/
CMS Using
Joomla! CMS http://www.joomla.org/
Support system
Presale Contact Support
If you have any pre-questions before go to PRO version, please feel free to chat via Live Chat or direct Contact Us!
Remove Copyright
With PRO version, you can remove the template copyright by:
– Navigating to Template Settings > Basic > Copyright (old method)
– Going to Admin > Extensions > Modules, then find the Footer 1 module (new Helix Ultimate)
After purchase PRO version, please backup your Template Settings by use export function (see screenshot below) via "Template Settings" / "Advanced", then uninstall your current Free template.
Next, please go to Customer Area, download PRO package and unzip it, find Template Install package, reinstall it via Extension > Manage > Install, then active your new PRO theme and import Template Settings to remove copyright on footer and access all pro features.
Dedicated Support system
We have Dedicated Support system. If you're using Free version, it's limited for 3 tickets support.
Visit Ticket Support System and open ticket if you have problem.
* Get PRO version of template and you will have 1 year for support service with unlimited ticket requests.
Extra Services
Install Service on your hosting
If you're using PRO version, and want to get theme style, all features and sample data like demo, we provide Install Service that you can order it! BTW, PRO UNLIMTED version come with Free Install Service, so you should buy this package version to get Install Service for FREE and save money!
Template Custom Development
For any custom development service, you can request via Contact Form, then our developer estimate time and cost for your project.
Update Joomla! version (1.5, 2.5 and 3.x)
You also can request here, cost for this task depend on your website, start from $100. You can Contact Us and send your website URL, admin login, so we can review it before send details cost and time.
Fresh new template development
You can request full new template for your website. Cost for private template and use for website start from $1000, and you can use template only for your website, we do not sell it on our website or any marketplaces.


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DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) was developed by GE Harris to create a protocol specification for vendors of power grid SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) components to standardize on. Since 1993, this open and public protocol has been managed by the DNP3 Users Group. DNP3 is commonly used in North American electric and water utilities for communication between SCADA masters and outstations like Remote Terminal Units (RTUs). A typical set-up involves master station computers that monitor all the system equipment and control their behavior based on the collected data. Outstations are remote computers in the field that collect the sensor data and perhaps run local analysis to pass onto the master.
DNP3 has the flexibility to connect a single master with one or more outstations over serial and Ethernet physical media. Other possible architectures include multiple master connections to a single outstation and peer-to-peer operations. Typically, the master initiates control commands for requesting data from or actuating devices managed by the outstation. The outstation responds to the master by sending the appropriate information or confirmation.
Using an enhanced OSI 3-layer model, the protocol consists of a Data Link Layer, Transport Function, Application Layer, and User Layer. The Data Link Layer makes the physical link more reliable with addressing and error detection. The Transport Function assembles Link Layer frames into larger Application Layer fragments. The Application Layer interprets the complete message and indicates what data is desired to the User Layer. Each message can contain multiple data types, such as binary, analog, and counter inputs and outputs.
Figure 1. Enhanced 3-layer OSI model for DNP3.
The master stations use polling to keep their databases updated with the latest system states, closed-loop control, alarm notification, and more. DNP3 allows you to specify what kinds of data the master wants to receive. Static data refers to the most recently measured or calculated data points, whereas event data refers to any significant activity, such as state changes, new information, and data that has past certain thresholds. To get static data, a master requests class 0 data from an outstation to receive present values. When requesting event data, DNP3 allows you organize or prioritize them into classes 1, 2, or 3 for greater granularity. Outstations can also be allowed to send unsolicited responses for automatically updating the master with any crucial data changes.
DNP3 also has basic time synchronization functions, such as setting an outstation's clock, time-stamping data points, and "freezing" certain input values so that the master can view data existing in multiple outstations at the same instant in time.
National Instruments provides a user level software called NI-Industrial Communications for DNP3 for programming LabVIEW targets as DNP3 outstation devices with advanced functionality, such as power quality monitoring, phasor measurements, and other smart grid-related analysis. These targets include (as of NI-Industrial Communications for DNP3 14.0) NI PXIe Windows controllers and NI real-time CompactRIO, Single-board RIO, PXI, and PXIe controllers. NI-IndCom for DNP3 is installed on these targets and then utilizes the native Ethernet port to communicate with DNP3 masters. NI-IndCom for DNP3 cannot be used on a non NI PXIe Windows Target, such as a Windows PC.
In general, the programming API uses LabVIEW VI functions for performing an action, such as reading and writing from data points. The API uses LabVIEW property nodes for setting and getting DNP3 properties. For example, outstation session property nodes are used to set scan periods, unsolicited responses, and event configuration.
Figure 2. LabVIEW VI function palette for NI-IndCom for DNP3.
Figure 3. LabVIEW property nodes for NI-IndCom for DNP3.
DNP3 has defined four levels of implementation, such that each level determines which data types, function codes, and qualifier codes can be used. For example, a Level 1 master only supports the most basic types and functions – such as binary, analog, and counter inputs and events – which comprise of about one-third of the total DNP3 definitions. NI-IndCom for DNP3 1.1 has Level 3 outstation support.
Below is the analog input example program that is included in the driver software. The section steps through the basic functions and properties used for programming a DNP3 outstation in LabVIEW.
Figure 4. DNP3 analog input example program.
For file transfer functions, NI-IndCom for DNP3 allows the master station to upload and download files from the LabVIEW-programmed outstation. For outstation time synchronization, use the Clock Time properties to set the frequency of clock synchronization or to manually request a re-synchronization.
Related Links:
NI-Industrial Communications for DNP3


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Right click and choose SAVE or SAVE AS and then pick where it goes. I always choose my desktop and then delete it afterwards.
and if you print out two, be sure to get me a new punch! I'm looking for a new border punch, LOL :)
Happy shopping!
|Train Paper Piecing Pattern


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Binary Distributions
Apache Ant™
Apache Ant is a Java library and command-line tool that help building software.
Downloading Apache Ant
Use the links below to download a binary distribution of Ant from one of our mirrors. It is good practice to verify the integrity of the distribution files, especially if you are using one of our mirror sites. In order to do this you must use the signatures from our main distribution directory.
Ant is distributed as
tar.gz and
tar.bz2 archives - the contents are the same. Please
note that the
tar.* archives contain file names longer
than 100 characters and have been created using GNU tar extensions.
Thus they must be untarred with a GNU compatible version of
In addition the JPackage project provides RPMs at their own distribution site.
If you do not see the file you need in the links below, please see the master distribution directory or, preferably, its mirror.
You are currently using [preferred]. If you encounter a problem with this mirror, please select another mirror. If all mirrors are failing, there are backup mirrors (at the end of the mirrors list) that should be available.
Current Release of Ant
The Apache Ant team currently maintains two lines of development. The 1.9.x releases require Java5 at runtime and 1.10.x requires Java8 at runtime. Both lines are based off of Ant 1.9.7 and the 1.9.x releases are mostly bug fix releases while additional new features are developed for 1.10.x. We recommend using 1.10.x unless you are required to use versions of Java prior to Java8 during the build process.
Currently, Apache Ant 1.9.16 and 1.10.14 are the best available versions, see the release notes.
1.9.16 release - requires minimum of Java 5 at runtime
- 1.9.16
.ziparchive: apache-ant-1.9.16-bin.zip [PGP] [SHA512]
- 1.9.16
.tar.gzarchive: apache-ant-1.9.16-bin.tar.gz [PGP] [SHA512]
- 1.9.16
.tar.bz2archive: apache-ant-1.9.16-bin.tar.bz2 [PGP] [SHA512]
1.10.14 release - requires minimum of Java 8 at runtime
- 1.10.14
.ziparchive: apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.zip [PGP] [SHA512]
- 1.10.14
.tar.gzarchive: apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.gz [PGP] [SHA512]
- 1.10.14
.tar.bz2archive: apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.bz2 [PGP] [SHA512]
- 1.10.14
.tar.xzarchive: apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.xz [PGP] [SHA512]
Old Ant Releases
Older releases of Ant can be found here. We highly recommend to not use those releases but upgrade to Ant's latest release.
Verify Releases
It is essential that you verify the integrity of the downloaded files using the PGP signature or the SHA1 or SHA512 checksums. The checksums are not as strong indicators as the PGP signature.
The PGP signatures can be verified using PGP or GPG. First
download the KEYS
as well as the
asc signature file for the particular
distribution. Make sure you get these files from the main distribution
directory, rather than from a mirror. Then verify the signatures
% pgpk -a KEYS
% pgpv apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.gz.asc
% pgp -ka KEYS
% pgp apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.gz.asc
% gpg --import KEYS
% gpg --verify apache-ant-1.10.14-bin.tar.gz.asc
A command line version of GnuPG is also available for Windows users. Follow the instructions to verify the package.
Alternatively, you can verify the checksums on the files. Unix
programs called
sha512 or
sha512sum are included in many unix
*sum is also available as part of GNU
Textutils.fsum supports
We highly recommend to verify the PGP signature, though.