Achieving Project Excellence in a Matrix Organization and What Utilities Are Missing
The list of challenges and “must-needed changes” the utility industry is facing keeps growing. How can utilities deliver successful projects in an overwhelming environment where priorities are constantly shifting? Find out in this whitepaper focused on achieving project excellence in a matrix organization and what utilities are missing.
Below is an excerpt from the whitepaper…
THE ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION – A MATRIX STRUCTURE
Utilities, like many other longstanding industries, are complex organizations. For the most part, they have a matrix organizational structure with multiple functional departments serving one line of business. This means that their employees might work on multiple teams every day, reporting to the same or different managers. Matrix organizations have been around for decades and have been criticized and praised throughout their history. A matrixed structure can be exceptionally good at focusing employees on a unified mission, vision, and purpose. A 2018 Gallup1 survey highlights that employees who are part of highly matrixed teams are more engaged than non-matrixed workers. At the same time, the survey indicates that poorly implemented or poorly managed matrix environment can introduce new challenges such as:
- Poor definition of expectations
- Lack of standardization (multiple initiatives or processes addressing the same issues) Gaps in communication
- A constant competition for resources and establishing priorities
Over the past fifteen years of working with a variety of utilities across the country, Motive Power has observed those issues manifesting into a lack of accountability and undefined roles and responsibilities, which defeats the benefits the organization intended to gain.
