Working in a Matrix Organization

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Make sure there are clear lines of responsibility in your matrix organization.

Jake is a marketing executive, and, as part of his role, he's responsible for promoting a new product. His work on the promotion is overseen by a product manager.

She's an expert on this type of product, and she's responsible for coordinating people across all parts of the organization to make the product a success.

However, Jake also reports to the marketing manager, who is responsible for overseeing Jake's overall performance, his pay and benefits, and his professional development.

This example may sound complex, but, in fact, it's a highly successful management approach known as "matrix management." It's used by companies that need to maximize the impact of expert managers, while keeping the organization's staffing overhead under control.

If your organization has a matrix management structure, you're likely to participate in key decisions. And, like Jake, you're also likely to have managers with specialist knowledge, who can give you expert guidance.

But matrix management can also present some challenges. In this article, we'll explain what matrix management is, how it can benefit an organization, and how you can thrive within this structure.

About Matrix Management

A matrix management structure is an organizational structure in which people report to multiple managers, who have different roles. Figure 1 shows the matrix in our example above....