Life in a Matrix

An interesting insight came up in discussion with one of our clients recently about the role of central functions and business units in a matrix organisation.
A very experienced manager mentioned that he felt that part of the challenge was that central functions played two roles.  Sometimes they were standard setters and sometimes they were service [...]

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Managing the relationship between HQ and local operations is always an area with the potential for problems. HQ and local people have different roles and sometimes competing priorities and perspectives.
In a tough economy there is a tendency for central control to increase which can place the HQ & local relationship under even more pressure and [...]

 Managing the HQ & Local relationship [13:16m]: Download

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I was working with a client recently where people had real problems with prioritization. It made me think back to the old Time Management and Kepner Tregoe advice on how to prioritzse and to realize how outdated some of these assumption about prioritization had become in the matrix.
The assumption in the past was that if [...]

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Here is an interesting article arguing that Obama’s presidency is operating a matrix way of working to try to integrate policy and thinking across traditional governmental silos.
Some thoughtful comments on classic matrix issues such as the issues of balancing power, creating integrative mechanisms and the importance of managing conflict.

I am expecting a call any day [...]

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In part one of this matrix management interview, Kevan started to define the various levels of matrix structure and some of the different factors we need to take into account in matrix management. In the second part of this interview he discusses some of the specific matrix management challenges he has been working on.
Kevan – what [...]

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Yesterday the Financial Services Authority in the UK cited a major bank’s matrix structure as a contributing factor in a risk management failure - including the phrase “a complex matrix structure for the structured credit group with multiple reporting lines which at times led to uncertainty as to supervisory responsibilities”. Read the full article here
In working with a number [...]

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Is matrix management to blame for problems at UK Customs & Excise?
 
When HMRC, a UK government department lost computer discs carrying the personal data of 25m people last year, the incident was blamed on mistakes by junior officials. But a report just published focuses its criticism not so much on individuals as on the “unsuitable organizational [...]

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I was reminded by the great comment left by my mum on the podcast below about an example that often comes up on our skills for the matrix training about a very common form of matrix management – the matrix of mum and dad.

In a family, if the kids come to Dad and [...]

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I found some well thought through posts on the blog “When IT goes bad” (you will need to scroll down to 17 March, Jan 27 & 19th posts on the page) on project management in a “weak matrix” (where control lies less with a project manager, and more with functional or resource managers)
The posts go into some detail [...]

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In the previous post we looked at how matrix organization structures were introduced to increase flexibility in the way we access resources and get people to work together. 
In order to get increased flexibility we give up some of the clarity and certainty that came from single unified reporting relationships. It is important to realize that this [...]

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