{"id":20595,"date":"2012-01-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/matrix-monday-challenges-and-strategies-of-matrix-organizations-2\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T13:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T13:11:05","slug":"matrix-monday-series-challenges-and-strategies-of-matrix-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/matrix-monday-series-challenges-and-strategies-of-matrix-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Matrix Monday Series: Challenges and Strategies of Matrix Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Matrix Monday series summarises some of the limited literature available on matrix organizations. Today we summarize\u00a0Challenges and Strategies of Matrix organizations<\/a><\/em> [sic]:\u00a0<\/strong>by Dr Thomas Sy and Laura Sue D’Annunzio (Human Resource Planning 28.1, 2005).<\/h3>\n

This paper defines five key challenges of the contemporary matrix organizational form<\/a> and, following discussion of those, makes best practice suggestions for managers to help improve their matrix organizations. After gathering data based on surveys, workshops and interviews with 294 top-level and mid-level managers in multinational corporations in six industries, the authors identified the five challenges most likely to be present in a matrix structure as being:<\/p>\n

1. misaligned goals;<\/p>\n

2. unclear roles and responsibilities;<\/p>\n

3. ambiguous authority;<\/p>\n

4. a lack of a matrix guardian;<\/p>\n

5. silo-focused employees.<\/p>\n

An overview of what comprises the matrix organization is offered at the start, outlining the strengths \u00a0– and weaknesses – of a matrix structure, before going on to look more closely at each of the identified challenges. The authors then confirm that the challenges faced by mid-level and top-level managers differ. As an example, top-level managers more often report a higher frequency of misaligned goals, where mid-level managers tend to report that a challenge they more frequently encounter is\u00a0ambiguous roles and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

To conclude, while the research does admit its own strengths and weaknesses, it notes that organizations often fight ‘complexity with complexity’: in order to win this particular battle, they must overcome the five identified challenges.<\/p>\n

See an interactive graphic of our matrix management learning path<\/a> and module contents.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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