Since its inception more than three decades ago, there has been a prolific adoption of the matrix organisational design across diverse industries. Despite the ubiquity of matrix organisations, there remains several challenges primarily related to interpersonal relationships; most notably ambiguity of authority as a result of the dual command structure. This study examines the perceptions of the types of power and influence mechanisms used by the direct functional manager and the indirect project manager to influence project personnel. The effect of the types of influence mechanisms used on attitudinal outcomes is also examined with a view to understand the impact on project personnel performance. The research was conducted using a two phase design. The first phase was qualitative with various stakeholders required to validate the constructs of power and influence identified in the literature and identify new constructs. The results from phase one and the literature review findings were used to develop a self-administered questionnaire for phase two. Quantitative data was obtained from 23 functional managers, 28 project managers and 101 project personnel in South Africa, Italy and Canada from one large project execution and technology company. There appears to be a large perceptual gap between managers and project personnel. Two themes that emerge are the perceived use of inspirational and personal influence mechanisms by managers in comparison with the perceived use of coercive punitive mechanisms by project personnel. Relationships were observed between the perceptions of the type of influence mechanisms used on project personnel and their satisfaction with manager, performance and the amount of effort expended. Relationships were also observed between satisfaction with each type of manager and performance & employee engagement. Finally the results indicate a strong relationship between the functional manager and overall job satisfaction, highlighting the role of the direct line management relationship. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

The main purpose of this report is to identify and describe the type of behaviors that should be promoted in a matrix organization. This report shows how the performance management system is a very important tool in promoting these behaviors. The report starts with an introduction to the relationship between the success of a matrix structure and the appropriate performance management system followed by the definition of important concepts in this topic. Next, the report provides general recommendations to the leaders of matrix organizations with respect their performance management system. Finally, a case study of a company with this type of structure is analyzed. / text

Over the last decades, there is a constant experimentation on new organizational models and structures by many international companies aiming to overcome the difficulties of a highly competitive global market and satisfy the needs of the customers 24/7. As such, the companies have commonly adopted virtual team strategies using also the technological advancements. In order to optimally use their resources, they have also used matrix organizational structures. In such complex and demanding organizational models, the virtual managers face a lot of challenges in order to effectively lead their teams. Therefore, the required managerial competencies and skills related to an effective team performance are of great scientific interest. The objective of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, this thesis aims to examine how managerial competencies of a virtual manager in matrix organizations influence the performance of a team and what the most important skills of these competencies are. Secondly, it aims to identify the managerial skills that a virtual functional manager and a virtual project leader need in order to effectively manage their teams and compare these skillsets. This study adapts a survey strategy with the use of an online questionnaire and gathers responses from professional engineers that virtually work in matrix organizational schemes mainly based in Sweden and Switzerland. The descriptive analysis of the collected data shows that both type of virtual managers (functional and project) have similar managerial skills which are commonly found in managers working in more traditional organizational models. This is not in line with the findings of our study, since in our analysis we considered the virtuality dimension, for which our results show that it strongly affects the virtual team performance. Therefore, the required managerial competence is formed with skills that are more important in the virtual context than in other traditional models. A second finding is that a virtual functional manager requires different skills compared to the virtual project leader, which suggests that the companies should account for the management role in the hiring process of a specific type of virtual manager. A future research on virtual teams in matrix organizations taking into consideration the different levels of virtuality or broader sampling techniques or case studies per industry would be of a great interest.