{"id":20998,"date":"2013-12-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/ostrich-management-who-needs-a-matrix-anyway\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:13:13","slug":"ostrich-management-who-needs-a-matrix-anyway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/ostrich-management-who-needs-a-matrix-anyway\/","title":{"rendered":"Ostrich Management \u2013 Who needs a Matrix Anyway?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cartoonOstriches are famous for putting their heads in the sand when there is trouble. Well, ostriches do many things, but hiding their heads in the sand is not one of them it seems. This urban myth is attributable to Pliny the Elder who wrote of ostriches:<\/p>\n

\u2026they imagine, when they have thrust their head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Historians believe that this single sentence is the root of this myth.<\/p>\n

However, the English language, being rich and descriptive in metaphor, has embraced this idea, so someone who is ‘hiding their head in the sand, like an ostrich’ \u00a0is said to be foolishly ignoring their problem, while hoping it will magically vanish.<\/p>\n

In our work over the past 20 years, we\u2019ve come across some companies that claim they don\u2019t have a Matrix<\/a> (even though they seem to have one), and even some CEOs that have banned the use of the word!<\/p>\n

Are they right \u2013 or are they engaging in Ostrich Management? And, by extension, do all companies need a Matrix? And if not, which companies really do need one?<\/p>\n

The answer is simpler than you might think.<\/p>\n

Small companies are simple to organise. People typically work within a function (for example \u201cSales\u201d, \u201cHR\u201d, \u201cFinance\u201d etc.) and report to a functional leader. No matrix, no problem.<\/p>\n

But then as companies grow \u2013 at first usually by expanding into different countries \u2013 organizational challenges start. If we now create an organization based on countries, then we\u2019ll get duplication: the same people doing the same job in different countries. I.T. is a prime example \u2013 why would we need I.T. in each country? That\u2019s inefficient, so the CEO will soon want to do something about it.<\/p>\n

So we could chose to organise by function (I.T. Sales, Marketing, etc.), or by product instead. Indeed, a whole variety of other organizational solutions have been tried, but experience shows that whatever primary structure you create, you soon return to the same problems of duplication of effort, inefficiencies, and people not working or communicating outside of their ‘silo’.<\/p>\n

At Global Integration, we firmly believe that \u201cThe Matrix\u201d is actually just a way of working and that \u201cThe Matrix\u201d simply expresses this need to work across<\/em> the primary organization structure.<\/p>\n

So the smaller and simpler your world, the less you\u2019ll need a Matrix. By contrast the larger you are, the more essential it is \u2013 unless of course you want to be an Ostrich and ignore inefficiency, duplication and a lack of communication and co-operation.<\/p>\n

Why not…..?<\/h3>\n