{"id":21104,"date":"2015-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\/"},"modified":"2020-05-11T16:03:42","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T16:03:42","slug":"too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"Too few middle managers in a matrix organization?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-16543\" src=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Puzzle-Piece-330x226.jpg\" alt=\"Puzzle Piece\" width=\"330\" height=\"226\" \/>A number of organizations move to a matrix organization structure in order to reduce costs by sharing resources and getting better utilization of people across the traditional silos of function and geography. This is often accompanied by a focus on cost-cutting through de-layering or reducing the number of middle managers. In some cases, organizations take the opportunity to eliminate a regional or intermediate layer of managers so the head office becomes more engaged with the business units without an intermediary layer. It is rare for head office to be given significant extra resources for taking on this expanded role.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that this \u201cmatrix middle\u201d group is absolutely critical to the success of matrix. It was always the job of middle management to take the strategy devised by senior leaders and turn it into something executable for the rest of the business. In a matrix, this is compounded by the fact that these are the people who have multiple reporting lines. They are the ones who have to balance the needs of the business unit and the function or geography. They can\u2019t choose, once and for all, to prefer the global or local (for example), they have to manage this dilemma dynamically over time. They can\u2019t just write a policy and then take a separation package because the answer tomorrow may be different from the answer today.<\/p>\n<p>As this group gets squeezed, their ability to think and act becomes constrained. They become the bottleneck in the execution of the matrix and they cause frustration both in their senior leaders and in their local operations. The matrix extends the need for middle management thinking and involvement. The organization becomes more connected and more complex, senior leaders are focusing on strategy and direction, and it\u2019s the middle managers who work out how this direction will be put into practice. With fewer of them we should expect that fewer things get executed less well.<\/p>\n<p>I often say that \u201ca matrix is lead from the middle\u201d; with fewer middle managers, don\u2019t be surprised if you get less real leadership.<\/p>\n<p>[banner heading=&#8221;Contact Us&#8221; link=&#8221;https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/contact-us\/&#8221; icon=&#8221;man_with_laptop&#8221; anchor=&#8221;Find Out More&#8221; align=&#8221;left&#8221;]We help organizations cut through today&#8217;s complexities of virtual, matrix and global working.[\/banner][banner heading=&#8221;Making the Matrix Work&#8221; link=&#8221;https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/matrix-management\/making-matrix-work-book\/&#8221; icon=&#8221;book_making_matrix_work&#8221; anchor=&#8221;Find Out More&#8221; align=&#8221;right&#8221;]To learn more about how to create greater effectiveness with your matrix middle, check out our book.[\/banner]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A number of organizations move to a matrix organization structure in order to reduce costs by sharing resources and getting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","type-blog","training-matrix-management","training-virtual-teams"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Too few middle managers in a matrix organization? - Global Integration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A number of organizations move to a matrix organization structure in order to reduce costs by sharing resources and getting better utilization of people\" \/>\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\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Too few middle managers in a matrix organization?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A number of organizations move to a matrix organization structure in order to reduce costs by sharing resources and getting better utilization of people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Integration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-06T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-11T16:03:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Puzzle-Piece-330x226.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevan Hall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevan Hall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevan Hall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3ad6577af9c33612e410fbcdc3ff2a9a\"},\"headline\":\"Too few middle managers in a matrix organization?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-06T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-11T16:03:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/Puzzle-Piece-330x226.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.global-integration.com\\\/insights\\\/too-few-middle-managers-in-a-matrix-organization\\\/\",\"name\":\"Too few middle managers in a matrix organization? 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