Matrix Organization

Assignment 3

Part one: Matrix Organization

Tiffany Coopeland

Professor:

Course:

Date:

Introduction

A matrix organization is a company structure where reporting relationships are set up as a matrix or grid as opposed to the traditional company hierarchy. In this case, the employees are subjected to a dual relationship mainly to both a product and a functional manager. A Matrix organization allows the management to line up staff either along geographical, functional or product lines, whichever fits best. The staff report to functional managers who assists with skills while helping in prioritizing and reviewing their work. The product managers set directions on the company's product offerings (Hill, 2014).

Differences between a strong and a weak matrix organization

Week matrix

The project manager plays a part-time role, reporting to a functional manager who enjoys all the powers. The project manager only acts like a project expeditor or coordinator. Recall that a project expeditor operates as a communication channel between the project team and the customer whereas a project coordinator can take low bit decisions on allocation of resources during project execution (Hill, 2014).

Strong matrix

The project manager enjoys more powers than the functional manager whose role is more of ensuring that organizational and professional development needs of the team members are fully met. The project manager, utilizing their project management skills, makes most of the project-related decisions and in most cases doesn't need the approval of the functional manager, including decisions regarding allocation of project resources (Hill, 2014).

Pros and cons of a matrix organization for project management (Mathu, 2013)

Pros

• Smooth communications across all boundaries
• Provides a right environment for the project manager to better their skills, and the project team to learn more and new skills they need
• Resources can be shared between the functional units and the necessary strategic projects
• Project team is selected based on their project management skills and suitability
• Higher matrix organizational efficiency
• The employees enjoy their job security.

Cons

• The employees may be required to report to different bosses leading to confusion and conflicts are likely to arise especially where the bosses enjoy almost the same powers.
• Conflicts between different bosses regarding power and authority
• Employees are likely to be confused due to unclear priorities and their roles and responsibilities especially when assigned different tasks from what they have been doing.
• High overhead costs resulting from more managers in the matrix organization
• High workload where the employees do their regular work plus additional project related tasks.

Things I would need to do well for my project to work within a matrix organization

• Establish a well-defined and a stable communication channel with the project team.
• Ensuring an active cooperation between the project manager, functional manager and the stakeholders to avoid any confusion or conflicts.
• Define the roles and the responsibilities of the matrix leader and the two bosses up front. Recall that the matrix leader has to report to the two bosses. It's necessary for the two bosses to agree on their roles and responsibilities especially on decision making which can be done through a RACI (who's responsible? Who's accountable? Who's to be consulted? Who will implement?) chart that is useful in clarifying roles and responsibilities. This will reduce confusion and conflicts (HENSON, 2015).
• When the project team is first formed, an agreement on metrics, objectives and performance goals should be made.
• Establishment of ground rules, i.e., operational agreements regarding project communication and resource allocation, including who is responsible for overseeing and approving project budget, the functional bosses together with the matrix leader, etc.
• Determination of how rewards and evaluations will be decided, i.e., who is to evaluate team performance, how will rewards be determined, etc. It's necessary for the two bosses to agree on the process together with creating some simple mechanisms.

References

HENSON, R. (2015). MAKING MATRIX MANAGEMENT WORK. THE CENTER FOR ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN. Retrieved from http://www.centerod.com/2012/02/matrix-management/

Hill, R. (2014). Matrix organization and project management. Ann Arbor, Mich: Graduate School of Business Admin., Univ.

Mathu. (2013). Matrix Organizations (weak, balanced, strong): WHIZLABS BLOG. Retrieved from https://www.whizlabs.com/blog/matrix-organizations-weak-balanced-strong/