{"id":20725,"date":"2012-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/is-the-matrix-organization-here-to-stay\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:12:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:12:00","slug":"is-the-matrix-organization-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/is-the-matrix-organization-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the matrix organization here to stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MatrixIn today’s Matrix Monday post (#MatrixMonday on Twitter) Global Integration director, John Bland<\/a>, takes a look at an article from Administrative Science Quarterly.<\/em><\/p>\n

When running training programmes on either ‘Leading \u00a0in a Matrix’\u00a0or ‘Managing in a Matrix’, one of the most frequent questions I get asked is \u201cIs it here to stay?\u201d<\/em>. \u00a0This might also be expressed as \u201cHow do we know this isn\u2019t the latest fad\u201d<\/em> or \u201cIsn\u2019t this just a transition and we\u2019ll be doing something else in a few more years?\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many people in business have seen almost countless reorganizations and deeply sceptical of the consultants who come in to their organization to make changes.\u00a0 So there is often a sort of resignation, and people feel that the best strategy is to keep your head down because this will be gone again after the next reorganization.<\/p>\n

So is this true?\u00a0 Will the matrix disappear only to be replaced by the next new improved management idea?<\/p>\n

In my last Matrix Monday blog – The Move to Matrix Management<\/a> – we partially answered this question.\u00a0 There we saw that the matrix dates from at least the 1970’s – and possibly from before that.\u00a0 So it has certainly been around a long time.<\/p>\n

But do organizations abandon it?\u00a0 Is it just a stream of new organizations trying it out before finding out it doesn\u2019t work (which is another commonly held point of view)?<\/p>\n

I found further evidence that the matrix organization\u00a0is<\/em> here to stay in another rather unusual place this week \u2013 from a study done on The Matrix in Hospitals<\/em>.\u00a0 It was published in Administrative Science Quarterly back in 1989, and the article summarizes an academic study of the matrix conducted by Lawton R Burns, then at the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n

He studied matrix management in hospitals and his article covers many different aspects of matrix management. It is both interesting and informative in equal measure.<\/p>\n

Interestingly he was able to study the matrix over a period of time, and he concludes (my bold):<\/p>\n

Contrary to Kolodny\u2019s (1979) assertion, there is no evidence that matrix organization is a transitional form<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Hospital Matrix programs are quite stable during the period of observation here.\u00a0 Eighty percent of the programs operating in 1972 continued to operate in 1978.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So there you have it \u2013 proof that the matrix is here to stay within an organization, unless of course this article has been superseded by one I am not aware of – or you know differently?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why not…..?<\/h3>\n