Matrix Organizations, What Are They?

Until the 1970's, typical, large organizations tended to function in "silos", logical divisions where essentially isolated groups of workers reported to a line manager or functional manager. Imagine columns on a page with a line manager at the top of each column and a group of workers inside each column under the manager. As these groups operated autonomously, it was not unusual to find functions replicated in each silo. In an Information Technology company for example, you might find software programmers in the development area, some more in the customer support area, and yet more in the quality assurance area, because each of these functional units had a programming need. If your organisation still operates in this manner, give your boss a copy of this article. And View the rest of this article