I work currently in a matrix organization, where employees have dual reporting relationships - generally to both a functional manager and a product manager. Project Managers may or may not have a lot of power. Functional Heads may or may not have a lot of power. Projects are done by project teams, and everything depends on how strong the matrix is. Instead of choosing between lining up staff along functional, geographic or product lines, management has both. Staffers report to a functional manager who can help with skills and help prioritize and review work, and to a product line manager who sets direction on product offerings by the company. If I was not working in a matrix organization, I would still choose in work in one, because it has a lot of advantages. Resources can be used efficiently, since experts and equipment can be shared across projects. Products and projects are formally coordinated across functional departments. Information flows both across and up through the organization. Employees are in contact with many people, which helps with sharing of information and can speed the decision process. Staffers have to work autonomously and do some self-management between their competing bosses; this can enhance motivation and decision making in employees who enjoy it. No department or project silos. Also knowledge transfers well from project to another and between departments.

I do not currently work in an organization, but if I had to pick the type it would be a matrix organization. I like that with this type of organization you can transfer knowledge about the project with other departments without it being an issue. I think to successfully run a project everyone must work together to ensure that production is carried out successfully. Also, you'd be working with people who are specialized in their area, and this gives the opportunity for them to focus more on their specified task rather than worrying about multiple things.

Companies structured based on functional, project, and matrix organization have their individual advantages and disadvantages, as discussed during this week’s lecture. I work in a hybrid organization that utilizes functional and matrix structure. The hybrid organizational approach uses project managers that work with functional area representatives such as regulatory, engineering, quality to mention a few. These project managers also report to other project managers at higher levels of the organization that allow transparency and escalation of issues when they arise. I believe that matrix organizations are more effective and efficient as advantages are far greater than disadvantages such as better management of resources, no department silos, and team collaboration.

I would like to work in Project based organization. Since I would like to work as a quality or regulatory department and I see in this it is better for person who want to work in department. the only disadvantage is getting into high end project but the selection of the person in the project team would be most closely based on the performance of his or her in the previous project so it wont be a matter of concern for your selection in a high end project. In this type of organization one would also get to develop his skills by working in different organization and they would have to take care of only one leader unlike matrix organization where you have to take care of two leaders.

My company has a matrix organizational structure, and I would say that for the most part, it works really well and is an efficient way of running a project. One downside which Dr. Simon mentioned is that often the project managers and department heads have different goals and it results in a tug of war for resources. Also, the project managers have a difficult role because the project team does not report to them so technically they don't have much control over their team. However, they are still ultimately responsible for the project and for meeting deadlines.

I would like to work in matrix type organization. As mentioned in the video, the matrix organization structure is a combination of two or more types of organizational structures, such as the projectized organization structure and the functional organization structure.This combination may help organizations achieve higher efficiency, readiness, and quick market adaptation. Moreover, they often can respond faster to market or customer demand while decreasing the lead time to produce a new product.

I have never worked as part as one of these teams; however, with that being said, I am torn between wanting to work with either a project-based organization or matrix organization. In project-based organization, there is no "silos of departmental information" in the sense that all the information for a project is shared transparently between departments. In addition, project teams get to know each other fairly personally and usually run well as result as well as having the advantage of using the knowledge acquired from a past project in a potential new project. The disadvantages of this are that projects will have multiple project teams and various "toxic cultures" can form between different project teams that can hinder the project due to non-compliance between project teams. Matrix Organization is practically the same idea only that the managerial powers may have significantly less power than they do in a project-based organization. This leads to no "informational silos" between departments and project teams and allows for good use of resources. The only real disadvantages in this type of organization is that the project teams will have two (or more) bosses simultaneously and there is a lot more negotiating between use of resources and scheduling. Overall, if I was not an organization head I would choose to work for a matrix-organization; however, if I was to be a head I would probably lean more to the project-based organization.

The organization I would like to work in should be Project based organization. Something I value is the ability to work as a team on a specific job. And being part of a project based organization, I would have the opportunity to work with a team and have a clear end goal in mind. This provides clarity as well as room for exploring and expanding the final product. Being part of a project based organization, I would be able to transition from each project to project with ease, as the team I work with will transfer along with me. This would allow for less time to be wasted getting readjusted to team members. Additionally, there will be no pain when dealing with informational silos.

When I worked at General Dynamics Electric Boat, I feel it was more of a functional organization. The functional heads have a lot of power. I had a great rapport with my functional manager so I didn't mind it but I could see where problems could occur. The functional manager typically wasn't a technical expert or knew what was going on in individual projects. When you have a problem you have to go to him and explain everything from the ground up and pretty much tell him what you need him to do to push the project forward. I would have preferred to work in a project based organization because as a project manager, I could fight for my team and plan things instead of having someone who isn't really familiar with the project do it.

Currently I work as a Process Engineer and the organization type I work in is a matrix organization. We have associate directors in our group and a director that oversees several departments and has the strategic outlook for our Manufacturing and Science Technology group. I prefer this organization as we interact with different departments and are involved in a variety of projects. Moreover, this organization type makes it easier to understand different aspects of the companies products as we deal with manufacturing technology and contract manufacturers, packaging division, quality, regulatory, and R&D on a consistent bases. Finally the main advantage of the matrix organization structure is the communication between departments and project teams is effective and any time I need information on product/process descriptions or regulatory filings it is accessible.

I work as a Quality Engineer in a company that runs as a matrix organization. The management provides excellent guidance to their team on various aspects. Also, the directors amongst the different departments are always willing to collaborate with each other. The issue becomes when deadlines are due for each department and or personnel. With the matrix organization, schedules do clash because of the diverse team. Personnel is not only focused on the project but are involved in other priorities as well which is prone to a departmental schedule conflict. This also brings up a fight for resources (personnel) which ultimately comes down what is the top priority for the business.

I would like to work in Process-based organizational structures, because it is designed around the end-to-end flow of different processes, such as Research & Development, Customer Acquisition, and Order Fulfillment. Unlike a strictly functional structure, a process-based structure considers not only the activities employees perform, but also how those different activities interact with one another. Unlike a purely functional structure, a process-based organization considers how the different processes relate to each other and the customer. The sales process doesn't begin until the manufacturing process produces something to sell, manufacturing, in turn, waits on research and development to create the product.

I used to work in a functional organization where the functional head has a lot of power. From what I have observed they make most of the decisions. They choose who can work on what project and have the power to determine your future within the company. In this kind of establishment if the functional head likes you, you are bound to succeed and move up within the company. In this kind of establishment one will tend to notice some form of bias. It is very difficult to introduce new ideas as the one in charge believes they know best. Also, I believe functional managers have little understanding of the work being done by the staff which leads to unrealistic timelines being set

I currently work in a functional organization where as @aaq2 mentions, the functional head has a lot of power and make the decisions. As mentioned in lecture one of the main disadvantages is that we are one of many silos which can be detrimental to sharing information and culture. I work in the licensing group, but then you have contracts legal group, regulatory group, clinical group etc. My employer is very big and has over 10,000 employees so there are changes within the leadership and the addition/expansion of different groups. It's hard to keep up with sometimes. I agree that there are advantages to the functional organization type in that only one person is making the decisions, and there is a clear path for advancement but I wish there was more interaction with other departments/groups. I think it would be interesting to work in a project-based organization where there is more collaboration among groups and no silos of departmental information. I'm not sure if I'd like it better since it might be competitive among the project groups and that could be detrimental to the culture, but I'd be interested to see what it would be like to work on a specific project and collaborate with different team members.

I would like to work in matrix-organization, which all departments work closely together and communicate with each other frequently to solve issues (teamwork).The structure of a matrix organization, which is built on relationships between departments as a matrix, is better than the traditional hierarchy .Though a matrix organization is meant to increase the specialization of different departments, areas of specialization can often overlap. Also, in a matrix-organization employees are in contact with many people, that can help sharing for information and speed up the decision process(speed up information flow).Although the matrix organization is more complex structure, but I think it is a good environment for professionals to develop their career.Finally, succeeding with matrix management requires the active involvement of all parties.