variation of the line-and-staff organizational structure is the matrix structure (matrix organization structure is sometimes called project management structure ). p> Matrix structures have come about as a result of coordination problems in highly complex industries such as aircraft manufacture 4 . The term matrix comes from the intersection of the horizontal authority-responsibility flow with the vertical flows of the traditional line-and-staff organization 5 . p> 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 В
Matrix Organization 7
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
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Dual Authority Structure in a Matrix Organization 10
instructions both from the project manager (horizontal authority) and from the permanent functional department heads (vertical authority). p> The matrix organization type has been used in organizations such as Procter & Gamble 8 , the Harvard Business 9 School and others.
People working in a matrix organization are often called two-boss-employees because they report to two supervisors at the same time 10
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...
