King of Industry

  Chapter 304 Matrix Structure

"The term enterprise organization originated from the division of large western companies at the beginning of this century. The specific classifications include U-shaped organizational structure, M-shaped organizational structure, matrix system, multi-dimensional system and super division system, H-shaped organizational structure and simulated division. power structure and so on.”

  "Enterprise organization is a dynamic combination of activities and a management structure formed in the process of enterprise business activities. Reasonable division of enterprise organization plays a huge role in the management of an enterprise."

Hearing what Zhao Guoyang said, Zhang Zhizhong interjected: "Guoyang, according to you, shouldn't the party & structure? Would such an organization still exist in another country?”

When Zhao Guoyang heard this, he nodded and said, "Secretary Zhang's question is a good one. In fact, in enterprises, there are two types of organizations: functional organizations and non-functional organizations. Enterprises in Western countries, although there are no party & branches , but they also have honors colleges and similar non-functional organizations."

   "And these non-functional organizations are also an integral part of Western companies."

  After Zhao Guoyang finished speaking, several leaders nodded, expressing their satisfaction with his introduction.

   Mu Aijun said even more radiantly: "Guoyang, your statement is very novel. The division of functional departments and non-functional departments is also applicable to our state-owned enterprises."

   "That's right, Director Mu!" Ma Jian also nodded in agreement.

   "Guoyang gave us a class on the popularization of corporate structure. We have gained a lot of knowledge."

  Wang Youchang's attitude changed after hearing what Zhao Guoyang said.

  He couldn't help but raised his hand at Zhao Guoyang who was sitting opposite and said, "Guoyang, go ahead and tell us about the classification of these types of business organizations in the West."

  Zhao Guoyang let out a "hmm" and continued to talk.

  "At the end of the last century and the beginning of this century, some large Western companies generally adopted a vertically integrated functional structure that divided departments by function, that is, a U-shaped structure."

  “The characteristic is that the enterprise is divided into several departments according to functions, such as production, sales, and development. Each department has little independence and is directly managed by the senior leaders of the enterprise, that is, the enterprise implements centralized control and unified command.”

"The U-shaped structure maintains the advantages of the centralized and unified command of the linear system, and absorbs the advantages of the functional system to play the role of professional management functions. It is suitable for an environment where the market is stable, the enterprise organizational structure has fewer product varieties, and the demand price is more elastic. However, Its shortcomings are also obvious...”

  Zhao Guoyang paused, and continued: "Because the U-shaped structure relies too much on senior leaders, they are trapped in daily production and operation activities, and lack the energy to consider long-term strategic development."

   "In addition, the administrative organization is getting bigger and bigger, and the coordination of various departments is getting more and more difficult, resulting in rising information and management costs. So it is gradually eliminated by the times."

  “At the beginning of the 20th century, General Motors of the United States, in response to the defects of this structure, first carried out organizational structure changes within the company, adopting the M-shaped organizational structure, achieved remarkable results, and gradually became popular all over the world.”

  After Zhao Guoyang finished speaking, Mu Aijun couldn't help but applaud.

  He clenched his fist and said: "That's right, Guoyang, what you said is very good. When Yiyi gave me advice before, she wanted Hongda Machinery Factory to use this type of organizational structure."

  Hearing this, Zhang Zhizhong sitting next to him was amused.

He turned his head and said to Mu Aijun: "Director Mu, your Yiyi is a top student at Coventry Business School, and she will serve a big company like the world's top 500 in the future. You ask her to advise you for such a small factory , isn’t it overkill?”

  After Zhang Zhizhong finished speaking, everyone laughed in good faith.

Mu Aijun waved his hand and said, "Hey, Lao Zhang, what you said is wrong. What happened to the top student? The top student has learned a lot abroad, but he can't forget his roots. Besides, she is the one who learned it for me. So that it can be used."

   "Hehe, Director Mu is right."

  Zhang Zhizhong nodded cheerfully, and signaled to Zhao Guoyang who was smiling and silent: "Guoyang, I interrupted you, it's okay, you continue to talk about yours."

  Zhao Guoyang drank saliva, moisturized his throat and continued to preach: "The so-called M-shaped organizational structure is also called the business department-based organizational structure in Western countries."

  "The basic feature of this structure is that strategic decision-making and business decision-making are separated. According to business, semi-autonomous business divisions are established according to products, services, customers, regions, etc."

"Under this kind of organizational structure, different departments and personnel are responsible for the strategic and operational decisions of the enterprise, which frees senior leaders from the heavy daily business operations and concentrates on the long-term operational decisions of the enterprise, as well as supervision and coordination. the activities of each division and evaluate the performance of each division.”

  Zhao Guoyang waved his hands and made a summary evaluation: "Compared with the traditional U-shaped structure, the M-shaped structure is undoubtedly more advantageous. Both in terms of management and flexibility, it is more suitable for the requirements of modern business development."

   "Well, we probably understand what Guoyang said. What do you mean, we still prefer this kind of M-shaped structure in our factory?" Lian Hongjun, the chairman of the labor union who had been silent for a while, asked.

  Lian Hongjun's words basically expressed the aspirations of several factory-level cadres.

   After Zhao Guoyang tried his best to explain it, everyone thought that he definitely wanted to have an M-shaped organizational structure in the factory.

  Zhao Guoyang shook his head slowly, and said: "No, that's not what I meant. In fact, compared to the M-shaped structure, the matrix structure may be more suitable for the current situation in our factory..."

   "Oh? Matrix structure? What's going on here, Guoyang, please continue to talk!" Mu Aijun looked at Zhao Guoyang with great interest and said.

  Zhao Guoyang smiled at Director Mu, and explained unhurriedly: "The so-called matrix structure is actually an evolution based on the M-shaped organization."

   "It combines the departments divided by function and the teams divided by projects to form a matrix, so that team members accept the dual leadership of the team and the functional department."

  “The characteristic of the matrix structure is to set up a specialized agency with cross-functional departments around a specific task. This organizational structure is fixed, but the personnel are changeable, and they can leave after the task is completed.”

  Zhao Guoyang glanced over several leaders one by one, and said pointingly: "The reason why we think the current situation in our factory is more suitable for this structure is because our factory is in a transition period."

"The production of frames and other iron parts can be regarded as one project; the production of complete motorcycles can be regarded as another project. With little change in the existing departments, we can join the project team. In this way, It can better integrate resources and improve work efficiency.”

After letting the leaders digest it, Zhao Guoyang went on to say: "As for the several structural forms that still exist in Western companies, such as the multi-dimensional system structure, the super division structure, and the H-shaped organizational structure, based on the current situation in our factory, they are not suitable. It's too practical. Here, there is no need to discuss it."

   "Well said, well said, Guoyang! Your narration has taught us a good lesson!" After Zhao Guoyang finished speaking, Mu Aijun took the lead in applauding.

   It can be seen that Director Mu is quite satisfied with Zhao Guoyang's explanation and appreciates it very much.

  Zhang Zhizhong and Mu Aijun had the same views, and also praised Zhao Guoyang a few words.

  Although he had the wrong chance to deal with a young man like Zhao Guoyang, every time he met, Zhao Guoyang could leave a deep impression on him.

  In addition to these two bosses, Ma Jian is also a staunch supporter of Zhao Guoyang, always supporting him.

  As for Wang Youchang, although he didn't really agree with Director Mu's idea of ​​adjusting the departments in the factory with great fanfare, but after Zhao Guoyang's narration, he was finally convinced.

  However, Wang Youchang still has something he doesn't understand, so he wants to ask some questions.

  Looking at Zhao Guoyang with a calm expression, Wang Youchang asked straightforwardly: "Guoyang, do you think our factory really needs departmental integration and reform?"

  Zhao Guoyang nodded without hesitation: "Yes, Director Wang. I am in favor of departmental reform. As for the reasons, I personally think there are three points."

Zhao Guoyang stretched out his right hand, opened his fingers and said to Wang Youchang one by one: "First of all, our factory is in a good period of transformation. Taking advantage of this shareholder wind, if we can adjust this department and push it forward, It will undoubtedly have advantages and no disadvantages for the next stage of development in the factory."

"Secondly, our existing organizational structure is indeed worthy of criticism. For example, in our technical department, Zhang Chaoyang and Chang Yuan are in charge of both the frame and the fuel tank. Vehicle design. This kind of multi-head allocation is actually very unreasonable, and it is easy to cause conflicts and differences."

"If we can pass the reform of the department, add one or two working groups. In this way, although they are all from the technical department, you are in this working group and he is in that working group. In this way, who is responsible for what project and who assumes what responsibility will be determined. It's clear."

  After Zhao Guoyang finished these two points, several leaders in the office were full of approval.

  Obviously, what Zhao Guoyang said spoke to their hearts.

Wang Youchang himself also echoed: "Guoyang, you are right about these two points. Just like Huang Xiaohua from our technical department, he is in charge of wind fire extinguishers in name, but in fact, wind fire extinguishers have long been mature products. There is no need for him to ask."

   "Now let him do some other things, and he will push back and forth. If everyone's tasks can be redistributed, it will undoubtedly be a good curb for this phenomenon."

  Zhao Guoyang continued: "In addition to these two points, there is another most important reason. In fact, in my opinion, whether our factory needs to be reformed or not, this one reason is enough..."

  (end of this chapter)