The problem with Matrix Organizations – from Office Space

This sums up how frustrated employees feel in a matrixed environment:

Peter Gibbons: I have eight different bosses right now.

Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?

Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.

Bob Slydell: Eight?

Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

Are you really “Busy”?

I recently read an article where the topic really hit a nerve.  The article, The Worst Word in Business: “Busy”, discusses people’s obsession with appearing “busy” at work and the perception that in order to be effective one must always be “busy”.  Throughout my career I have always place more value on working smarter, not harder.  I place a higher value on customer service and in my opinion, the way to provide my clients with a high level of service is to be flexible and respond to the client proactively rather than reactively.  In order to be proactive, one must have control of their time, schedule, and to a certain extent, their tasks at work. 

I have managed teams ranging in size from 2 to 45+ individuals, so I can say that I have pretty much seen/heard it all when it comes to the way team members interact with each other and perform their jobs.  Each team member joins a team with different expectations.  The most effective team members are proactive and seek to understand where they are needed and what tasks they can take that provide the most benefit.  These team members seek to control their schedules.  Other team members are reactive and wait for the boss to assign them tasks.  Once assigned, the team members do their jobs, seek to fill their schedules, and come back looking for additional work when complete.  The effective team members seek to create or expand upon their tasks to add benefit to their clients. 

When I approach effective team members with new work, I have never once received a response that they are too busy to take on additional tasks.  Effective team members seek to discuss and strategize how to fit the work into their schedules and what can be moved around or prioritized to ensure that the important work gets done first.  They realize that not everything is a priority and can distinguish between what needs to be done now versus what can wait.  This is a talent that I wish everyone I work with would have, but sadly, a lot of people still cling to the idea that in order to be effective at work, one must be “busy” and make sure everyone knows that they are “busy”.

Collaboration and Conflict

Today I read a great blog article on why teamwork in the office is so difficult and ways to try to ease collaboration with your colleagues.  Whitney Johnson describes 4 easy, no-nonsense rules to follow when working in a team environment.  The 4 suggestions are meant to build trust between team members so that communication and ideas can begin to flow freely.  According to Johnson trust is the key to avoid negative conflict in collaborative environments.

What do you think?

http://blogs.hbr.org/johnson/2011/06/collaboration-is-risky-now-get.html

Dealing with a rude co-worker

Practically everyone has been forced to work with someone that for one reason or another annoys them.  Maybe this colleague just annoys you or, more than likely, they annoy everyone around them, too.  It is important to face these issues head-on before they start to negatively impact your work.

 This article outlines some important methods that one should investigate when this type of organizational conflict begins to impact your work environment.

Blogging about Organizational Conflict

Welcome to a new blog that will cover topics around organizational conflict and performance management.  My experience is gained from over 16 years advising and consulting with companies from all over the world and ranging in size from 10 employees to 100,000.

Please use the “About” tab above to find out more about me and my personal and professional interests.  I hope you enjoy and find useful the content on this site and please feel free to pitch in and contribute or ask questions.

The first topic I’ll cover is how team performance was impacted by the structure of the Global Services organization at Blackboard, Inc., a successful education software company.

Sincerely,

–Todd.