Organisation Design : Part 3

Between the pyramid and the flat organisation we witnessed the matrix organisation, driven by increasing complexity and continuous need for doing things better, faster, more efficiently.

The emphasis in the matrix organisation lies on cross functional collaboration. From top-down communication in the pyramid organisation, communication flows now went crisscross in all directions.

The move to a matrix organisation allowed employees to develop expertise, and to think "out of the box". Remember when the job was task oriented, it required repetition, following a strict set of actions. In a matrix organisation, employees are required to actively reflect and develop expertise, reach out to other experts, and focus simultaneously on the customer, the product, and the multiple different functional teams they work with. Their expertise and knowledge have become the driver of information, and decision making is decentralised.