Feature Article - September 2009

Czars on the Rise:  

President Obama has Installed a Matrix Organization but without the Matrix!

                                                                                                                                                  by Tom Davidson

Delivering again on his promise of “change,” President Obama has appointed 32 special-purpose “czars” to date, high-level government officials who appear to advise him and set policy on a cornucopia of issues.  How their purpose and authority juxtaposes with his Constitutional leadership team -- The Cabinet -- has yet to be clarified, and it is the subject of growing consternation and confusion. 

This article is about the latter, and what leaders need to know before making a foray of their own down this particular method of structuring and leading an organization.

Structuring "Outside the Boxes"

In business terms, what the president appears to be doing on the surface is creating a “matrix organization,” a structure that is sometimes used to manage large projects, develop products, or improve processes.  This structure works more like an Excel spreadsheet than the traditional organization chart, with its one-person, one boss simplicity. 

In the spreadsheet analogy, functional leaders would be shown in the headers of the columns (e.g., manufacturing, finance, human resources), and project leaders at the beginning of the rows.  Project teams would be composed of “cross-functional” experts from the various units or divisions of the organization, their names inserted where the rows and columns intersect.  The team members in these cells end up reporting to two authorities, the one at the head of the column and the one at the start of the row, and that’s just if they are on one cross-functional team!

Easy to Appoint, Hard to Manage

Ideally, this arrangement blends the best of both worlds, the deep knowledge of functional experts with the integrating nature of teams to deliver the best possible results.  But this is one of those management theories that looks great on paper but is extremely difficult to execute in real life.  The research continues to show mixed results, largely because of certain “human factors” and the difficult leadership challenges that they pose. 

One such study summarizes that when you attempt to use a matrix organization, you can expect the following:  (1) misaligned goals, (2) unclear roles and responsibilities, (3) ambiguous authority, (4) lack of a matrix guardian (someone to coordinate activities and facilitate communications), and (5) silo-focused employees (http://www.allbusiness.com/public-administration/administration-human/394122-1.html). 

Fortunately, these are also clues about what you can do when faced with a matrix challenge: 

1.  Get all parties “on the same page” about the overarching goals and recognize them for their mutual contribution and accomplishment of them.

2.  Clarify roles and responsibilities like they’ve never been clarified before.  This process should be repeated many times during the project as they will get off track regularly.

3.  Build teamwork between the two matrix authorities first.  The function (or dysfunction) of every such team is a direct reflection of how the leaders work together.

4.  Orchestrate the entire entire symphony from a central point.  This is a very hands-on process that requires a coordinator with deft facilitation skills and his/her own authority. 

5.  Create and maintain a culture of flexible, autonomous, self-motivated individuals who can adapt quickly without constant supervision.

Unfortunately, very few of these appear to be happening among the czars, the cabinet members and the president.  Not only that, those holding the “project manager” slots seem to be functional experts themselves, or they duplicate the cabinet positions already in place.  In short, the emerging matrix is missing the structure, coordination, communication, and culture it needs to succeed, which does not bode well for this new form of our federal government. 

For leaders, the matrix organization can be a daunting structure work within, but if called upon to lead in such an environment, do your homework, find a mentor, and be nimble as a cat.  The skills you learn will make you a better and more adaptable leader.

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