Matrix Organization Structure: Advantages and Disadvantages — страница 2

is applicable because it helps to identify a set of guidelines for the people directly involved in completing the organization's work. This type of structure combines the flow of information from the line structure with the staff departments that service, advise, and support them Line departments are involved in making decisions regarding the operation of the organization, while staff areas provide specialized support. The line-and-staff organizational structure "is necessary to provide specialized, functional assistance to all managers, to ensure adequate checks and balances, and to maintain accountability for end results"3 An example of a line department might be the production department because it is directly responsible for producing the product. A staff

department, on the other hand, has employees who advise and assist—making sure the product is advertised or that the customer service representative's computer is working. Committee Organizations In a committee organization, authority and responsibility are in the hands of a group of individuals rather than a single manager. In this type of organization groups of individuals, or committees, make decisions together. This ensures that individuals from diverse departments make more sound decisions. On the other hand, this slows down the decision making process as each member of the committee must agree with the decision. Matrix Organization: An Outline A variation of the line-and-staff organizational structure is the matrix structure (matrix organization structure is sometimes

called project management structure). Matrix structures have come about as a result of coordination problems in highly complex industries such as aircraft manufacture4. The term matrix comes from the intersection of the horizontal authority-responsibility flow with the vertical flows of the traditional line-and-staff organization5. In today's workplace, employees are hired into a functional department (a department that performs a specific type of work, such as marketing, finance, accounting, and human resources) but may find themselves working on projects managed by members of another department. Organizations arranged according to project are referred to as matrix organizations. Matrix organizations combine both vertical authority relationships (where employees report to their

functional manager) and horizontal, or diagonal, work relationships (where employees report to their project supervisor for the length of the project). "Workers are accountable to two supervisors—one functional manger in the department where the employee regularly works and one special project manager who uses the employee's services for a varying period of time" 6 Matrix Organization7 As shown in the figure above, the matrix organization is built to carry out certain projects or to solve specific problems. People with diverse skills come together to implement the projects in hand. A special feature of this type of organization is that employees report to two superiors instead of one. Members of a project receive Dual Authority Structure in a Matrix Organization10

instructions both from the project manager (horizontal authority) and from the permanent functional department heads (vertical authority). The matrix organization type has been used in organizations such as Procter & Gamble8, the Harvard Business9 School and others. People working in a matrix organization are often called two-boss-employees because they report to two supervisors at the same time10 The matrix organization type is also used successfully by global companies. Global companies must achieve simultaneous coordination of various products in each country they operate. These companies use geographic and product lines of authority. For example, a company producing computers globally may effectively adopt the matrix structure. Let us say a company located in Russia has

some affiliates in Central Asian countries. The general manager of a plant in Kyrgyzstan producing computer monitors will report to both the head of the monitor producing division in Russia and the head of Kyrgyz operations. In fact, the matrix organization structure has been used globally by many companies. According to a project manager’s degree of responsibility, matrix organization can be classified as follows 11: Weak/Functional Matrix: A project manager has only limited authority. The functional managers maintain control over their resources and projects. Balanced/Functional Matrix: A project manager is assigned to oversee the project. Power is shared equally between the project manager and the functional mangers. Strong/Project Matrix: A project manager is primarily