Life in a Matrix

Designing Matrix Organizations that actually work is a very welcome addition to the rather limited literature available on matrix organizations and how they work.

It contains many examples of how organizations like IBM and P&G choose to structure their matrix organizations. For me it’s most useful contribution is to explain why they chose to vest different levels of power in different “legs” of the matrix. This will be a useful framework for organization development professionals.

Anyone about to implement a matrix organization or needing to refine their existing structure will find this book invaluable. It defines the major “types” of matrix organization structures and the reasons for choosing them (including simple, two-hat, baton pass and three or more dimensional matrix structures).

In Part 3 Galbraith moves beyond structure to look at other aspects of making matrix organization structures work – HR, planning, leadership etc… These sections are not as strong as the structural work but also useful for someone new to matrix organizations.

Designing Matrix Organizations that actually work sits well with our own Speed Lead – faster simpler ways to manage people projects and teams in complex companies, which focuses more on the people management aspects of working in matrix organizations.

Find out more about our matrix management training and matrix organization consulting

One of the key factors in success in matrix and virtual organizations is maintaining a sense of community.

I read an interesting article today that suggests that young people, though technologically savvy, are keen to socialize and build community with their local colleagues.

For workers in their 30s this focus shifts more towards building community outside work.

The article claims this is another “Generation Y” difference. I remain sceptical about all this Generation Y stuff, it sounds like young people are even more similar to how they used to be when I was one. Much of the generation Y stuff is just life stages in my opinion.

Read the full article “Save our offices say younger generation“

As the financial industry braces itself for an inevitable increase in regulation following credit-crunch government bailouts, we should not overlook the serious negative impact of over-regulation and micro-management on business performance and employee productivity.

Read the full article with our ideas on an alternatives to the traditional approach to regulatory and management control at the Management Issues website

Nortel CTO John Roese wrote a blog post about the decision to give the business units more autonomy, focussing on the speed benefits of the new structure and abandonig the previous matrix structure

“By having discrete business units and eliminating a complex matrix organization that we have historically operated within, the individual BU’s can make quicker decisions, optimize their processes and structures, make strategic partnerships, and adjust technology and market strategy far faster than before… As Nortel transforms into this BU formation, we will be a company that has discrete and fully integrated focus on the enterprise evolved market and the next-generation carrier market. Each of those BU’s will be lean, focused and autonomous and with that posture will have an increased capability to make rapid decisions and execute in their markets.”

It will be interesting to see the relative effectiveness of the vertical focus over he matrix structure in the current tough economic conditions.

Is the matrix structure helping or hindering in your organization? Are the benefits of lateral cooperation and sharing of resources across the organization worth the costs? Is the matrix an easy scapegoat for other problems? What do you think?

Many organizations are under pressure to reduce travel. The desire to reduce costs, save time and reduce their carbon footprint give them a strong motivation to cut travel budgets. But on the other hand we still need to get things done, build relationships with colleagues and customers and deliver results.

In this episode Kevan Hall, CEO of Global Integration talks about how we can manage people with lower levels of travel and less face to face contact.

Click on the triangular “play” button below to listen to the podcast.

 

 Managing without travel - Life in a Matrix [8:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We can deliver a managing without travel program for your organization - either as a face to face or remotely delivered package (to reduce travel!). Learn the skills of managing people without the need to travel so often.

This is a real win:win program with significant cost and time savings, an improvement to work life balance and a reduced carbon footprint.

Contact Global Integration to find out more

Regular readers will know that our research shows a drift towards increasing central control in many matrix organizations and also that matrix organizations require decentralized control to function.

Too much management control?

There are many small factors that subtly undermine trust in matrix organizations - distance, cultures, timezones and communicating through technology can all create or magnify misunderstanding and many managers respond by getting more involved and tightening control.

If your organization feels like the one in the cartoon then you need to put in place a systematic process to increase empowerment and enable local decision making. If you don’t then eventually all decisions will be escalated to the centre - causing delay, cost and dissatisfaction.

On the other hand, it is hard to empower people you don’t know can do the job or don’t really trust. Thats’ why it needs to be a systematic, managed process and not just an exhortation to increase empowerment again.

Find out more about how to do this

Clients of our matrix management training and matrix organization consulting services often ask us for case studies and company examples of matrix management or the implementation of matrix organization structures.

Much of our work with clients is confidential and covered by non-disclosure agreements so we can’t offer them as case studies, and I dislike the “case study methodology” as I think it spends to much time analysing what someone else did. Every organization has its own culture, history and special situations that make transferring learning directly from one to another a challenge.

We prefer to create common scenarios and tools that clients can use to find the right solution for their own organization. These tools embed the relevant learning from a wide range of organizations.

Having said this we try to be helpful and it can be interesting to read case studies on what other organizations have learnt. if you are planning a matrix organization implementation or want to improve your matrix management it can’t hurt to read these case studies.

Harvard have summary of matrix organization case studies, which include cases on

• ABB
• Acer America
• Becton Dickinson
• Corning Glass
• Eli Lilly
• General Motors
• Novartis Pharma
• Pinnacle Mutual Life Insurance Co.
• Procter & Gamble
• Philips

As well as a couple of classic articles on matrix management and matrix organizations

• Matrix Management: Not a Structure, a Frame of Mind
• Problems of Matrix Organizations

And, of course don’t forget to check out our articles, podcasts and other resources and services on matrix management. You will find some more links at this previous post on matrix management resources

Hope you find these useful. Let me know if you find any other good matrix management case studies, articles or other matrix organization resources.

A Sunday Times article this weekend caught my attention. According to the authors of a new book iBrain - using the internet  is changing the way the human brain works - people are becoming better at making snap decisions and filtering large amounts of information (which may be valuable in working in a complex, connected matrix organization) but at the cost of some social skills such as picking up facial expressions.

People’s brains (on a relatively small sample) were found to be much more active when searching online rather than when reading a book.

In working with younger participants in our training we have noticed some less positive differences in people used to browsing for information- reduced attention span and focus.

People who have grown up with search seem to bounce from topic to topic following their interest until they find what they want - it an entertaining journey but sometimes an inefficient one. People who grew up looking for things in books and other indexes tend to be more disciplined and focused in searching but may miss out on the breadth and interest of “just browsing”.

I think this will be a big issue for employers, how much are they willing to indulge the “interesting” journeys around the web at work. Will the gains in creativity (perhaps) outweigh the losses on time and expense.

As part of our remote and virtual teams training we run a coaching exercise. Several times recently I have had in-depth coaching sessions with individuals who are new to the world of work and who are finding it challenging to focus and to resist the distractions of the social networking and other activities they used to spend so much (largely unproductive) time on.

What is your experience of this?

In the last 20 years, organizations have become massively more complex. Driven by globalization and enabled by information technology they operate in multiple cultures, locations and across timezones with highly diverse sets of employees.

Organization structures have become more complex too. Matrix organizations are common with multiple reporting lines and competing priorities. Virtual working is common where teams rarely (if ever) meet and work on several teams at once.

Yet our expectations of leadership have barely changed. If I look at a typical leadership training program, I see many of the same approaches I would have seen in the 1980’s …………………..

Read the rest of the article Leadership in Complex companies by Kevan Hall at the Changeboard website