Matrix Management: Not a Structure, a Frame of Mind

In many companies, strategic thinking has outdistanced organizational capability. Often these companies make the mistake of adopting elaborate organizational matrices that actually impair their ability to implement sophisticated strategies. Keeping a company strategically agile while still coordinating its activities across divisions, even continents, means eliminating parochialism, improving communication, and weaving the decision-making process into the company's social fabric. The goal is to build a matrix of corporate values and priorities in the minds of managers and let them make the judgments and negotiate the deals that make strategy pay off.