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Matrix Teams, Care and Feeding Of
Staff can be matrixed for short-term assignments. However, they can also be matrixed for assignments of several years’ duration. I have consulted recently to clients in a variety of industries ranging...
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Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Yes, with a nod to the late Rodney King. While Mr. King was referring to life on the streets, we will reframe his question relative to life in today’s complex organizations: How can we optimize...
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Mentoring and the Perils of the “Strengths-Only” HR Theology
There is no question that effective mentoring entails helping the mentee to “find his or her strengths.” Once key strengths have been identified, the talent development task focuses on helping the...
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Sasquatch, Santa, and Phantom Supervision
It was mid-December and Shirley was clearly excited. She breathlessly exclaimed to her co-worker Antonio, “There’s been a sighting!” “Really!? Get out of town! A real-deal sighting!?” Did he show...
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Matrix Management: Avoid the Activity Trap by Using the Matching Principle
Faster, better, cheaper summarizes the top strategic priority for nearly every enterprise. That said, we can sometimes forget that achieving better and cheaper, let alone breakthrough innovation and...
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Matrix Management/Matrix Leadership
What’s the difference between leadership and management? The short answer is that leaders make sure that the right things are being done and managers focus on things being done right. The most valued...
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The Drive-By Reorganization
As the company grew and changed, the need for reorganization became abundantly clear. The CEO called an all-hands meeting and talked about the need for change and how the firm had outgrown its...
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Quiz Show
The CFO had flattened the organization considerably and spans of control for many managers rose from six direct reports to as many as twenty. Liposuctioning the layers of marbled fat out of the...
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(e-)Remote Control
Respected widely as the guru of his organization’s fiscal policies, he sat in his glass-walled office and hammered the keyboard from morning ‘til night. He supervised 15 financial analysts who toiled...
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The Dark Side of Human Resource Management
Once upon a time in the United States, the motto was “It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.” Times have changed. Today, the proposition is more akin to “Where you start is most likely where...
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