Dynamic Silos: Increased Modularity and Decreased Stability in Intraorganizational Communication Networks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tiona Zuzul (), Emily Cox Pahnke (), Jonathan Larson (), Patrick Bourke (), Nicholas Caurvina (), Neha Parikh Shah (), Fereshteh Amini (), Jeffrey Weston (), Youngser Park (), Joshua Vogelstein (), Christopher White () and Carey E. Priebe ()
Additional contact information
Tiona Zuzul: Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163
Emily Cox Pahnke: Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Jonathan Larson: Microsoft Research, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Patrick Bourke: Microsoft Research, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Nicholas Caurvina: Microsoft Research, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Neha Parikh Shah: Microsoft Experiences, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Fereshteh Amini: Microsoft Experiences, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Jeffrey Weston: Microsoft Experiences, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Youngser Park: Center for Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Joshua Vogelstein: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Christopher White: Microsoft Research, Microsoft, Redmond, Washington 98052
Carey E. Priebe: Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218

Management Science, 2025, vol. 71, issue 4, 3428-3448

Abstract: Workplace communications around the world were drastically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, related work-from-home orders, and the rise of remote work. To understand these shifts, we analyzed aggregated, anonymized metadata from over 360 billion emails within 4,361 organizations worldwide. By comparing month-to-month and year-over-year metrics, we examined changes in network community structures over the 24 months before and after COVID-19. We also examined shifts across multiple communication media (email, instant message, video call, and calendaring software) within a single global organization and compared them with communications shifts that were driven by changes in formal organizational structure. We found that in 2020, organizations around the world became more siloed than in 2019, evidenced by increased modularity. This shift was concurrent with decreased stability within silos. Collectively, our analyses indicate that following the onset of COVID-19, employees’ communications began to shift more dynamically between subcommunities (teams, workgroups, or functional areas). At the same time, once in a subcommunity, they limited their communication to other members of that community. We term these network changes dynamic silos . We provide initial insights into the meaning and implications of dynamic silos for the future of work.

Keywords: organizational studies; strategy; network time series; email networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.02797 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:71:y:2025:i:4:p:3428-3448

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().