Research based advice for designing more effective organizations
I attended a conference in Denmark recently where I met Richard Burton, professor emeritus at Duke University. It was he who first raised the question in the headline. I thought it was an intriguing one. Computers are increasingly doing the work … [Continue reading]
One firm that I have followed for many years is FMC (now TechnicFMC). It’s a world leader in subsea technologies – in particular, valve trees that are placed on the sea bed as part of large oilfield installations. It has its headquarters here in … [Continue reading]
When I was a consultant, many managers remarked to me that they had never had any training in organization design. They learned the stuff while doing it. I am all in favor of learning on the job. But I don’t think it hurts with a bit of … [Continue reading]
If you recall my last blog post, I discussed the matrix organization, and argued that it is fairly rare to find a formal matrix structure these days (despite what some people claim). I have interviewed managers in dozens of firms, and … [Continue reading]
What is a matrix organization?Are matrix structures inevitable in complex organizations?Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about this.One reason is that textbooks and articles fail to provide good definitions.A book I just read proclaims that … [Continue reading]