Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a matrix structure in organisations.

Alternative structures such as grouping by output/product or grouping by market are not options as they would result in “duplication of activities and resources, the erosion of deep technical expertise, missed opportunities for synergies and learning” (Ancona, Kochan, Scully, Van Maanen, & Westney, 2009, p. M2-19). The matrix structure provided a potential positive aspect in that it would provide a needed cross-functional linking mechanism by mixing the functional structure with grouping by output/product, but the complexity, cost, dual systems, and dual roles resulting from the matrix structure historically resulted in either the functional or the output/product system becoming more powerful than the other.

Every organisation has a different organisational structure. The private sector is funded by private investors, these invest capital into a business in hope of returning a greater capital in the future, they are generally profit drive. A public sector is an organisation generally funded by the public and state. The organisations are required to offer a service which will benefit the whole of society for example the NHS. A voluntary sector is an organisation based on non-profit, and are not funded by the state. They are used to fill gaps within the market which private and public sectors cannot do. The company I work for would fall under the private sector, our company has directors and business partners who put money into the company or use our services to benefit their own companies.

In a matrix structure, each employee answers to two immediate supervisors: a department supervisor and a project manager. The department supervisor is charged with overseeing employees in a functional area such as marketing or engineering. Project supervisors manage a specific and often impermanent project. They absorb employees from various functional areas to complete their project teams. This kind of organizational structure has several advantages especially if the project managers identify their team strengths and weakness early. Directing the staff with effective leadership skills is a key role as a project manager. A clear direction of the project from start to completion is vital. Therefore, the project managers must carry top notch planning and organizational skills. To follow the WBS and have a clear understanding of the importance of remaining on budget throughout the entire project is mandatory. The experienced project manager must keep planning, staffing, budgeting and scheduling and other control techniques under wrap, by utilizing their administrative skill according to Project Management, (Kerzner, 2013). Although the administrative and other techniques are important, in this particular project, each project manager must work closely as a team member and example. Building the team and each departmental manager into a working cohesive team, could be the true

An organization must align its strategy and structure to allow itself to achieve performance improvements over time. The four different structures, simple, functional, multidivisional, and matrix, are all suited to allow companies with different strategies to succeed but the company must decide which of these is correct for itself. A small start-up company will overburden itself with excessive cost if it seeks to implement a functional structure because it clearly will not have the talent on hand to create whole departments of HR employees or accountants. On the other hand, a company that grows to become a large multi-national

Multi Projects Inc. has moved away from the traditional hierarchy structure of organisations that have leaders and various sub departments reporting upward and opted on a new-economy approach by adopting a matrix organisational structure. Even though this is a very forwarding thinking approach, it does come with its own challenges that have been highlighted in detail under the section “Problems and their causes”.

Structure is the basis through which an organization seeks to create control the direction of an organization. This is completed through clear definitions of the allocation of work, differentiation, and the coordination of having those responsibilities working together towards the efforts of the organization, integration (Bolman & Deal, 1993, pp). Through these methods, the organization is able to devise a division of labor that collaborates to bring about the missions and goals of an organization. The structure that comes about from this can be varied in their rigidness and flexibility it allows, and to an extent this is a great contribution to its success.

Matrix organizational structures combine the characteristics of a functional and divisional organizational structure. The matrix organizational structure works more like a team. Instead of department heads, each team has a leader. Matrix organizational structures bring together employees who focus on a project, but fill different roles from across your business. The matrix organizational structure has the most decentralization, which means it can confuse employees about who is in charge. The matrix organizational structure is appropriate if your business operates on an international level, or serves different geographic regions.

Matrix – is a permanently designed to reach detailed results using employees from other areas within the company (Chand, n.d.). This structure uses a horizontal reporting within the hierarchical function structure. Some of the advantages are distributing decision making, strong project co-ordination, and there is a fast and flexible response to change. There is, however, the cost of administration is high, authority and responsibility can be confusing, and group decision making can be exaggerated. Within this structure, there are functional and product managers. The functional managers oversee the daily task of functions to keep the business going whereas the product manager oversees getting the products

All businesses have organisational structures, even if they are small or big, they have some type of structure so they can operate productively.

Let’s begin with the first of the five-structural configuration which is simple structure, simple structure is made up of a very small groups of procedural and provision staff members that

I believe that they fall under the matrix approach, but it also puts focus on their team member structure. Tyson Food are utilizing the structure approach of team structure which is also known as a cross functional team, and they are dedicated in working with all proper governmental agencies to achieve each of their goals.

Organizational structure is a system that consists of explicit and implicit institutional rules and policies designed to outline how various work roles and responsibilities are delegated, controlled and coordinated. Organizational structure also determines how information flows from level to level within the company (investopedia.com, 2017). If one level or department does not undertake its function accurately the entire business suffers, because all the departments interrelated to each other. There are generally four types of organizational structure:

As seen from figure 2, the matrix organisational structure is complex and aligns functional and divisional organisational structures merged into a hierarchical structure. The student observes that with this comes the potential to on the one hand, improve interdepartmental collaboration through avoiding silo-functioning and yet, on the other hand, blur the unity of command structure in an organisation that can be counterproductive. A critical analysis of two major advantages and disadvantages of this organisational structure here

“Divisional structure is known by the approach of having similar skills and resources grouped together into divisions” (Draft, 2013, p.318). This occurs when a company has common goals that the company wants to achieve. This allows all skills and departments to come together and produce the goal there are looking to achieve. In this type of structure not one person is viewed as important than the next one, because it takes everyone to work together to produce the outcome the company wants to achieve. “The matrix structure uses both functional and divisional structures to run an organization” (Draft, 2013, p.321). This allows the company to

“Every structure should be built to support its work load” This statement supports the use of the organizational chart within the work place, can you begin to imagine the confusion that would exist without it? In a company organizing, is to arrange or to position resources strategically in order to achieve goals. It is imperative for a company to function efficiently, under the use of an organizational structure. An organizational structure provides balance in the work environment and monitors the workflow of all employees. It also provides growth in the organization, in terms of new employment and other major achievements. A company that exist without practicing organizational structure would cause a lot of confusion and chaos as it relates