How Do They Work? Putting Silos to the Test. the Case of the EU Civil Service

Although bureaucracies, especially public bureaucracies, are often described as ‘silos’, including by those who work within them, such perceptions have rarely been tested empirically. The frequency of employees’ interactions both within and outside their teams and departments, as well as with external stakeholders, have seldom been the object of systematic investigation. The extent to which such interactions reflect expected employees’ roles, position or values is also an under-researched topic. This paper draws on new empirical data from pathbreaking research on the European Commission (survey achieved sample n=5545, interviews n=200, focus groups n=5) and on the General Secretariat of the Council (survey achieved sample n=1356, interviews =111, focus groups=5) to examine the ways in which EU civil servants interact among themselves and with stakeholders. Using Correspondence Analysis and Blockmodeling, the paper maps out the EU civil service in positional and relational terms – identifying for whom, with whom and where contacts are more extensive or frequent and where working patterns are most insular.