{"id":20676,"date":"2012-08-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\/"},"modified":"2020-03-21T08:24:45","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T08:24:45","slug":"global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Matrix Working: Fad or Fact of Life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>During a surface interval between two dives along the shores of a remote eastern Indonesian island is the last spot on earth I expected to be confronted with the question of whether global matrix virtual teams are here to stay.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, it happened.\u00a0 As we were both letting our nitrogen champagne quietly bubble in our bloodstreams, the senior sales director of a western European multinational popped a question that immediately brought my head back to semi-work mode.<\/p>\n

After a momentary regret for earlier letting out my carefully guarded little secret on what I do for a living, I was intrigued by our impromptu debate on one of the hottest corporate workplace topics today – matrix management.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure numerous theses and studies have been conjured up by more prominent scholars on the subject, but I can guarantee not many have been professed under more ‘real-world’ circumstances.<\/p>\n

Chris fired his first salvo at the faulty cost analysis when multinationals move their operations from developed-country home-bases to emerging markets:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built manufacturing plants in countries like China and India because it\u2019s cheaper to operate.\u00a0 However, the challenges we had to manage to get these operations up to speed took inordinate amounts of time and effort.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His second salvo landed on the vast underestimation of transaction costs in the global matrix virtual teams he had to lead as a project manager prior to his current role:<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish someone would do a full-cost analysis of all these global matrix virtual teams!\u00a0 So much time was wasted on travel, emails, meetings and conference calls.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if these structures are really the best.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Chris\u2019s last comment was a committed proclamation:\u00a0 \u201cI think soon everyone will realize this global matrix virtual working structure is not efficient and we\u2019ll all go back to the good old days!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The button was pushed.\u00a0 By this point, I couldn\u2019t help but get fully seduced into this conversation.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, Chris is not the first person whom I\u2019ve come across lately who\u2019s challenged the sanity of a complex global matrix structure in their organizations. \u00a0This highly polarizing topic is one of the hottest conversation pieces in contemporary corporate lunch rooms.<\/p>\n

In each of these conversations, I think the facts are clear but the conclusions are suspect.\u00a0 Yes, the gap of cost benefits between developed and developing markets is closing more and more.\u00a0 Yes, it is indeed difficult and frustrating to work in a global matrix virtual structure.\u00a0 But no, I don\u2019t think the past is the way for the future.<\/p>\n

Leaders in companies do not make decisions to build their organization capabilities in other markets beyond their home-base purely because of financials.\u00a0 The money factor might be the short-term impetus.\u00a0 Other criteria often carry this consideration into a feasible commitment.\u00a0 Innovation has to come from full-fledge involvement in a product\u2019s life-cycle; customers demanding speedy resolutions require immediate attention; regulatory variations increase the need for tailoring and customization; market access politics mandates local content.\u00a0 These are but a few of the reasons why companies establish local operations beyond just cheap operating cost.<\/p>\n

The choice to be an integrated global entity is no more a choice.\u00a0 It is an imperative.\u00a0 Therefore, we will continue to see global companies put operational capabilities into more and more markets.\u00a0 The type of capabilities might shift over time with social economics, but the trend of a more integrated global business however will not reverse.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, ignoring or low-balling the transaction costs is indeed a common pitfall when organizations transition from a traditional silo structure into a global matrix virtual organization.\u00a0 Companies are pushed by market dynamics to pursue a strategy – and consequently set up a structure – as a complex matrix.\u00a0 They often neglect the tremendous alignment that is needed on their systems and skill-sets in order for them to deliver the promise of their strategy and structure.<\/p>\n

This is the frustrating gap that\u2019s commonly the complaint of individuals.\u00a0 Leaders or team members alike are left to navigate the global matrix virtual team structures at their own peril. \u00a0Even well-tested leadership and management instincts often spawn inefficient practices in the new world, resulting in unintended inefficiencies in communication and cooperation.\u00a0 It increases the transaction costs working in this new environment.<\/p>\n

As our conversation waned, Chris and I began to converge on two ideas:\u00a0 One, the global matrix virtual way of working is here to stay.\u00a0 It is a fact of life for the world we live in, and will be living in the foreseeable future.\u00a0 There\u2019s little chance of going back.\u00a0 Two, the transaction costs of operating in this new world are not acceptable if left unmanaged.\u00a0 Leaders need to be fully aware of the total cost of this new way of working, and provide adequate attention and resources to the development of systems and skills-sets so individuals can achieve a level of productivity in their work place that is sustainable in the long run.<\/p>\n

A sense of closure arrived just in time as one of our dive computers beeped to let us know it was safe to commence our second dive.\u00a0\u00a0 In diving, as in most things in life, safety is not always going back to what you used to do.\u00a0 We can\u2019t go back when we can\u2019t control the environment.\u00a0 No one can re-live exactly the same dives they\u2019ve done before.\u00a0 However, to plunge into new depths without equipping yourself with the right skill-set to handle a new set of reality is just asking for trouble.<\/p>\n

(You can read a related article \u201cIn Pursuit of Nissan, A Jobs Lesson for the Tech Industry?<\/a>\u201d published under The iEconomy in the Business Day section of the New York Times on Aug 4, 2012)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During a surface interval between two dives along the shores of a remote eastern Indonesian island is the last spot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","type-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGlobal Matrix Working: Fad or Fact of Life? - Global Integration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During a surface interval between two dives along the shores of a remote eastern Indonesian island is the last spot on earth I expected to be confronted\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Global Matrix Working: Fad or Fact of Life?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During a surface interval between two dives along the shores of a remote eastern Indonesian island is the last spot on earth I expected to be confronted\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Integration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-06T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-21T08:24:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/diving-tank-small.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"THOng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"THOng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"THOng\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9b0969696937f58e24295db5ecf56099\"},\"headline\":\"Global Matrix Working: Fad or Fact of Life?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-06T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-21T08:24:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":973,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/diving-tank-small.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/global-matrix-working-fad-or-fact-of-life\\\/\",\"name\":\"Global Matrix Working: Fad or Fact of Life? 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