Knowledge Matrix - a transformative organisation

The volatile external prerequisites of today make bureaucratic organisations dysfunctional. New organisational forms characterised by decentralisation, integration and diversity is emerging. The key question changes from “Which is the best way to organise the work?” to “How to give conditions for a good organisation to emerge while the work is performed?”. A Knowledge Matrix organisation has been studied through participative observation by one of its managers. The organisation and the reasons behind it are described. Positive effects like; holistic awareness, alignment, flexibility, learning, motivation, co-operation and shorter time to decision are stated. But there are also problems of insecurity and vagueness. One big threat against the matrix organisation is if managers do not dare to loose control by creating autonomy for employees. The organisation in question has also bee studied of researchers by explorative interviews. The result is presented through a lens of complexity theory and focuses upon the interaction between independent individuals, the collective that each member is a dependent part of, the vertical relations, and the evolution of the organisation. The main conclusion is that interaction is not good enough to nurture a common internal model. Another more successful matrix organisation is described to make the shortcomings of the first one clear. Managers in the success case were decisive to fulfil the change and trusted their co-workers. They made an extensive upfront work. And they invested heavily in communication to keep everyone informed and involved. Volatile times: new environmental conditions for old organisational structures It is possible to see two trends in organisational development. One trend is towards a postindustrial system with decentralisation, integration and diversity. The other goes back to old tayloristic and bureaucratic ideas, with focus on production and to compete with low price. It uses a rather simple organisation with a potent structure that determines most of the actions in the organisation: a one-boss hierarchy, centralisation, straight command and reporting lines, rules and instructions, negative feed-back control, and balance. We have more than 100 years of experience and research in using this type of industrial system and it may be reasonable to say that it is the most stable and efficient way to organise production. Why then do we have the other trend, towards a post-industrial system?