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Figure 8: Barriers of matrix management organisation structure
The top barriers that the respondents strongly agreed with were: Ambiguous authority and dual reporting (17 respondents), Decision making delays (14 respondents), Management of cross-functional teams (12 respondents), Lack of a matrix guardian (10 respondents) and Level of conflicts (9 respondents). They also agreed with Level of conflicts (13 respondents), Lack of a matrix guardian and Complexity (11 respondents), Allocation of resources and priorities (10 respondents), Decision making delays; Ambiguous authority and dual reporting; and Unclear roles and responsibilities (8 respondents).
The top responses of respondents to neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the barriers of using the project matrix management organisation structure, are as follows: Silo focused employees (7 respondents), Management of cross-functional teams (7 respondents), Misaligned goals (6 respondents), Allocation of resources and priorities (6 respondents) and Lack of a matrix guardian (4respondents).
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Misaligned goals Unclear roles and responsibilities Ambiguous authority and dual reporting Lack of a matrix guardian Silo focused employees Management of cross-functional teams Complexity Allocation of resources and priorities Level of conflicts Decision making delays
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The top barriers that the respondents disagreed with were: Unclear roles and responsibilities (8 respondents), Misaligned goals (7 respondents), Management of cross-functional teams (7 respondents), Complexity (5 respondents) and Silo focused employees (5 respondents). They also strongly disagreed with Misaligned goals (3 respondents), Lack of a matrix guardian (3 respondents), Silo focused employees (3 respondents), Unclear roles and responsibilities (3 respondents), and Decision- making delays; Level of conflicts; Complexity and Ambiguous authority and dual reporting (2 respondents).
Out of the 12 barriers that were outcome of the literature review, the respondents unanimously agreed that Ambiguous authority and dual reporting (24 respondents), Decision making delays (22 respondents), Management of cross-functional teams (12 respondents), Lack of a matrix guardian (21 respondents) and Level of conflicts (22 respondents) were barriers of using the project structure according to their experience of working with this type of structure.
Out of the 12 barriers that were outcome of the literature review, the respondents unanimously disagreed with the following barriers as compared to their experience of working with project matrix management organisation structures: Unclear roles and responsibilities (11 respondents), Misaligned goals (10 respondents), Management of cross-functional teams (7 respondents), Complexity (7 respondents) and Silo focused employees (8 respondents).
The respondents have provided the following comments as additional barriers of using the project matrix management organisation structures:
Conflicts between managers (linked to level of conflicts)
Increase in overhead management costs
Functional managers tend to avail the not so desired resources (linked to allocation of resources and priorities).
The top three rated barriers to the adoption of the matrix management organisation structure within the organisation were as follows: Ambiguous authority and dual reporting (24 respondents), Decision making delays (22 respondents) and Level of conflicts (9 respondents). The top three rated barriers that the respondents strongly disagreed with were as follows: Unclear roles and responsibilities (11 respondents), Misaligned goals (10 respondents) and Silo focused employees (8 respondents). An additional disadvantage that was provided by the respondents was that “the matrix management
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organisation structure is associated with increase in overhead management costs”, respondents were asked to advise if they agreed with this statement on not. Follow up interviews were undertaken to better understand the factors identified.
4.4.1. AMBIGUOUS AUTHORITY AND DUAL REPORTING
All five of the respondents agreed that ambiguous authority and dual reporting is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“It brings a lot of confusion. It is a huge disadvantage. We have a direct line of reporting with more dotted lines which is more confusing. Information reported differs or reported differently, depending on how each Department wants to report.” (Res3)
4.4.2. DECISION MAKING DELAYS
All five of the respondents agreed that decision making delays is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“If the PM can have 100% DOA in the project. The PM can make sure that the decision-making delays are not there. The hierarchy is too long and there are unnecessary levels to make a decision in the project matrix management organization structure.” (Res 1) “We have a lot of delays and red tape in place. Our decision making takes too long, with more processes and red tape contributing to the delays.” (Res 3)
4.4.3. LEVEL OF CONFLICTS
All five of the respondents agreed that level of conflicts is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
4.4.4. UNCLEAR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
All five of the respondents agreed that unclear roles and responsibilities is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
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“It is a disadvantage. If the resources are managed properly and structures are in place without diverting from the plan, these would be not disadvantages.” (Res3)
4.4.5. MISALIGNED GOALS
All five of the respondents agreed that misaligned goals is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“The Project resources are aligned in terms of goals. Functional resources focus on operational goals, as things keep changing on the functional side and on projects all things are cast, and stone and changes are done via approval by the Steering Committee or Project Sponsor.
Internally the resources have different goals. Expectations are not aligned.” (Res2) “If the portfolio is managed properly, including the programme down to a project, this shouldn’t be encountered in a project. The goals tend to differ with each layer and the structure should be set up to properly track these goals.” (Res3)
4.4.6. SILO FOCUSED EMPLOYEES
Four of the respondents agreed that silo focused employees is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
One of the respondents also disagreed that silo focused employees is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“Matrix management organization structure does not encourage silos, it encourages teamwork.”
(Res5)
4.4.7. INCREASE IN OVERHEAD MANAGEMENT COSTS
Four of the respondents agreed that increase in overhead management costs is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“Yes, I do agree, this is a disadvantage. There is a duplication of efforts, use of FM and PM resources. The lack of dedicated resources to a project actually caused this. Having a resource that is billed to the project and not dedicated to the project increases the costs, as when that resource is not available to do the work or not performing the work, you will need another
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resource to undertake the work. This is adding more man-hours on the resources that were not planned. When individuals are assigned to do functions on the project and are not performing them or not productive, there are man-hours that are agreed on and the use of a different resource is adding on those costs. There are cost impacts linked to both resources.” (Res1)
One of the respondents disagreed that increase in overhead management costs is a barrier to the matrix management organisation structure.
“This is not an issue of the matrix management organization structure, rather than an issue of structuring of the project. There is a duplication of resources, the Engineers are not doing Engineering work, they rely on work done by the Consultants and it also depends on the output.
These two resources are being paid where the internal Engineer will spend hours reviewing work done by the Consultants. The project might have savings in costs where designs are done internally. To avoid the increase in cost one must do resource structuring, it is very important to get the right people for the right job.” (Res3)
4.5. THEME 3: THE ROLE OF THE FUNCTIONAL MANAGER IN A MATRIX MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION STRUCTURE
The respondents were asked to choose the roles that they associate or believe that the Functional Managers should be performing in a project matrix management organisation structure. These roles were
based on the literature review conducted for the study. They were also requested to list any other roles that the Functional Managers should be performing and were not mentioned. The figure 9 below shows the respondent’s responses with regards to the roles the functional managers should be performing in a project matrix management organisation structure.
Page 91 of 132 Figure 9: Roles of functional managers
The top roles of functional managers that the respondents strongly agreed with were: Provide subject matter expertise (20 respondents), Assign specific individuals to the team, and negotiate with the project manager regarding resources (17 respondents) and Manage activities within their functional areas (14 respondents). They also agreed with Assign specific individuals to the team and negotiate with the project manager regarding resources (15 respondents); Improve staff utilization (13 respondents) and Manage activities within their functional areas (14 respondents).
Out of the six roles of functional managers that were outcome of the literature review, the respondents unanimously agreed that Provide subject matter expertise (20 respondents), Assign specific individuals to the team, and negotiate with the project manager regarding resources (32 respondents) and Manage activities within their functional areas (28 respondents) were the roles of functional manager in a project matrix management organisation structure.
0 5 10 15 20 25
Assign specific individuals to the team, and negotiate with the project manager regarding resources
Provide subject matter expertise Recommend changes to the project, including
corrective actions
Manage activities within their functional areas Assist with problems related to team member
performance
Improve staff utilization