How To Set Up A Project Team In Matrix Organisation?

The matrix is a structure that not only groups employees by function but also by product. The matrix sets out to combine function and product in order to take advantage of the strengths of the product and employees but with the assumption that these strengths will cancel out the weaknesses within the structure.

A team is brought together because of a shared value which could be engineering or some other form of construction structure which is project driven and therefore more ideally suited for the matrix structure.  For the team to be formed you will need a chief executive who will oversee the entire project, several functional managers that look after the staff and depending on the size of the project will obviously determine the populous of the work force. Staff will be made up of those that are functional, which are those dealing with the technical excellence of the project, and those that are not.

Project managers are then needed to look after the functional managers and ensure that information sharing is a mandatory part of the project and they are in turn overseen by a person that manages all of the project managers. In this kind of organisation the best ratio to have is a ‘strong project matrix’, this means that the project manager is primarily in charge and responsible for the project and the functional mangers look after the technical side of the operation and consign resources when needed.

This organisational structure can run into a disadvantage if management responsibilities are not balanced properly. A ‘weak functional matrix’ would see a manager with limited power and the functional mangers with most of the control. A ‘balanced functional matrix’ would have the project manager and the functioning manager sharing the power but this could cause battles for authority. The success of this structure solely depends on the purpose and function of the organisation.

A Matrix organization is an organization that has a matrix structure. Matrix structure is one of the many structures that an organization can take. Instead of having a formal pyramidal structure, it is based on both the axes.

There are dual lines of authority, responsibility and accountability in this structure. Thus a person is answerable to two bosses instead of one. Normally a matrix structure is organized according to product groups and strategic business units.

There are teams of employees from functional groups such as manufacturing, R & D, sales, finance etc who report to a manager for their overall performance in a certain product category. Apart from that these teams are also reporting to their respective functional bosses.