Edith said:
Hey all!
What are your thoughts on matrix management? Is this old fad of management style regained it's popularity??? Anyone living it?
Edith
Edith
Hopefully it's not a fad! With the "process-approach" of ISO9001:2000, managers will need to manage their processes, but the functional / departmental split will still remain (usually for good reason). The fundamental differences between "Manufacturing" processes (“production line”) and other Business (“transactional”) processes don't make it easy:
1. You can't always "see" business processes
2. People involved in business processes (but who "belong" to a specific department) can often choose to do “bits” of different processes at different times. Like posting an invoice or opening a new account or running of a report (or gaining new information in the canteen?)
So business processes are (a) discontinuous and (b) selective. Some managers seem to think that all they need to do is to appoint a few "process
owners" and life will change - but departmental budgets and power struggles and personalities will all still exist, and will work against process management.
Maybe it's more difficult now, not only for managers, but also for the staff being managed "in different directions".