netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Organisational Structure of Ameriprise Financial : Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) is a company that offers financial advice and products. It is the successor to American Express Financial Advisors (AEFA), a former subsidiary of the American Express Company. In 2005, American Express spun off AEFA as an independent company. Its new name came into effect August 1, 2005, and the transaction closed on September 30, 2005.
The company's headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. James Cracchiolo is the chairman and chief executive officer.
CEO
James Cracchiolo
10
Director
William Turner
2
Director
Warren Knowlton
2
Director
Robert Sharpe
2
Director
Jay Sarles
2
Director
Siri Marshall
3
Director
Jeffrey Noddle
Director
Walker Lewis
Threadneedle Asset
CH
CFO
Walter Berman
US Asset Management
WT
Market Strategy
DJ
Legal
JJ
Human Resources
KH
Service Delivery & Technology
GS
Planning & Retirement
KS
2
Advice & Wealth Management
Joseph Sweeney
Insurance & Strategy
JW
The Personal Advisors Group
DF
Communication & Community
DD
Public Communication
BP
6
Control & Accounting
David Stewart
Retirement Wealth Strategies
CB
Matrix Structure
I have personally worked in a couple of companies that utilized the Matrix Structure of organization, and it’s interesting, to say the least. This structure incorporates elements of both Functional and Divisional structures, yet in the end it operates like neither.
At a glance, the structures in Figure 9 are easily identifiable — our illustration depicts a single division of a large corporation, and closer examination reveals elements of a functional structure comprised of a Production Department, a Legal Department, an Engineering Department, and an Accounting Department.
Matrix Structures
Matrix Structures incorporate elements of both Functional and Divisional structures, yet the Matrix operates in its own unique fashion.
Figure 9: The Matrix Structure 12
Less recognizable are the entities Project Alpha, Project Beta, and Project Gamma, which seem to cut across the functional structure. These are, indeed, projects that must pass through the functional structure of this division; however, each project must be allocated its own Production Support team, its own Legal Support team, its own Engineering Support team and its own Accounting Support team.
The manager of each project has no staff at all. His job is to assemble his staff from the functional areas of the organization in order to see his project through from conception to completion. The project manager, in other words, must borrow his staffing from each department.
The challenge is that each department has a finite staff, and the demands of each project are not equal — so one project may require more staffing than the others.
Organizational Structure:
A Critical Factor for Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction 14
Organizational Structure:
A Critical Factor for Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction 15
Accordingly, if we have three different projects with three different project managers, there’s going to be some competition between them for staffing, because the project managers have no staff of their own, and there is a finite number of available staff in the organization to accommodate them.
Of course, when we refer to “projects” we could as easily be referring to clients or customers of the organization, and I’ll provide an example for the sake of clarity.
When I worked at the ABB Group in the nuclear power industry, my company had only twelve customers; however, these were huge customers, multi-billion dollar customers. We at ABB organized ourselves into a Matrix Structure with a manager (a “project manager”) assigned to each customer. When one of our customers required personal attention, the manager assigned to that customer would then borrow staff from the functional areas of our organization in order to fulfill that customer’s specific needs. When several of our customers required attention simultaneously, you may well imagine the competition among our managers to borrow sufficient staff to accommodate the customers.
Or you may try to imagine the workload of those people who are in the middle — those staffers who are borrowed and moved from project to project, working two or three projects at a time on occasion. The demands of the Matrix Structure require great flexibility and fortitude on the part of the participants. It’s an environment in which some people excel, but the pace can be overwhelming for others.
Advantages and Disadvantages of The Matrix Structure
The advantage of the Matrix Structure is that it’s extremely efficient, particularly when resources are scarce. This organizational structure is a very good way to ensure that expensive specialists are kept busy all the time and that they are using their skills on the most critical portions of a project for the good of the organization. It also allows an organization to start projects quickly, because there’s no need to hire staff from outside — the staff is readily available, and they are already acquainted with the pace, so projects can be launched very quickly.
The Matrix Structure also helps develop cross-functional skills in employees, as they are dealing with many different types of projects, working with and learning from many other participants with a diversity of skill sets. The Matrix also increases employee involvement because the project managers seldom possess all the necessary technical and functional knowledge. They rely on the expertise of those “borrowed” staffers to make more decisions at a technical level.
The main disadvantage of the Matrix Structure, certainly, is that many employees become very frustrated and confused with the chain-of-command in these hastily-assembled support teams — Who’s the boss? My department head or my project manager? There are also conflicts between project and department managers concerning deadlines and priorities. There can be competition between project managers to
The company's headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. James Cracchiolo is the chairman and chief executive officer.
CEO
James Cracchiolo
10
Director
William Turner
2
Director
Warren Knowlton
2
Director
Robert Sharpe
2
Director
Jay Sarles
2
Director
Siri Marshall
3
Director
Jeffrey Noddle
Director
Walker Lewis
Threadneedle Asset
CH
CFO
Walter Berman
US Asset Management
WT
Market Strategy
DJ
Legal
JJ
Human Resources
KH
Service Delivery & Technology
GS
Planning & Retirement
KS
2
Advice & Wealth Management
Joseph Sweeney
Insurance & Strategy
JW
The Personal Advisors Group
DF
Communication & Community
DD
Public Communication
BP
6
Control & Accounting
David Stewart
Retirement Wealth Strategies
CB
Matrix Structure
I have personally worked in a couple of companies that utilized the Matrix Structure of organization, and it’s interesting, to say the least. This structure incorporates elements of both Functional and Divisional structures, yet in the end it operates like neither.
At a glance, the structures in Figure 9 are easily identifiable — our illustration depicts a single division of a large corporation, and closer examination reveals elements of a functional structure comprised of a Production Department, a Legal Department, an Engineering Department, and an Accounting Department.
Matrix Structures
Matrix Structures incorporate elements of both Functional and Divisional structures, yet the Matrix operates in its own unique fashion.
Figure 9: The Matrix Structure 12
Less recognizable are the entities Project Alpha, Project Beta, and Project Gamma, which seem to cut across the functional structure. These are, indeed, projects that must pass through the functional structure of this division; however, each project must be allocated its own Production Support team, its own Legal Support team, its own Engineering Support team and its own Accounting Support team.
The manager of each project has no staff at all. His job is to assemble his staff from the functional areas of the organization in order to see his project through from conception to completion. The project manager, in other words, must borrow his staffing from each department.
The challenge is that each department has a finite staff, and the demands of each project are not equal — so one project may require more staffing than the others.
Organizational Structure:
A Critical Factor for Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction 14
Organizational Structure:
A Critical Factor for Organizational Effectiveness and Employee Satisfaction 15
Accordingly, if we have three different projects with three different project managers, there’s going to be some competition between them for staffing, because the project managers have no staff of their own, and there is a finite number of available staff in the organization to accommodate them.
Of course, when we refer to “projects” we could as easily be referring to clients or customers of the organization, and I’ll provide an example for the sake of clarity.
When I worked at the ABB Group in the nuclear power industry, my company had only twelve customers; however, these were huge customers, multi-billion dollar customers. We at ABB organized ourselves into a Matrix Structure with a manager (a “project manager”) assigned to each customer. When one of our customers required personal attention, the manager assigned to that customer would then borrow staff from the functional areas of our organization in order to fulfill that customer’s specific needs. When several of our customers required attention simultaneously, you may well imagine the competition among our managers to borrow sufficient staff to accommodate the customers.
Or you may try to imagine the workload of those people who are in the middle — those staffers who are borrowed and moved from project to project, working two or three projects at a time on occasion. The demands of the Matrix Structure require great flexibility and fortitude on the part of the participants. It’s an environment in which some people excel, but the pace can be overwhelming for others.
Advantages and Disadvantages of The Matrix Structure
The advantage of the Matrix Structure is that it’s extremely efficient, particularly when resources are scarce. This organizational structure is a very good way to ensure that expensive specialists are kept busy all the time and that they are using their skills on the most critical portions of a project for the good of the organization. It also allows an organization to start projects quickly, because there’s no need to hire staff from outside — the staff is readily available, and they are already acquainted with the pace, so projects can be launched very quickly.
The Matrix Structure also helps develop cross-functional skills in employees, as they are dealing with many different types of projects, working with and learning from many other participants with a diversity of skill sets. The Matrix also increases employee involvement because the project managers seldom possess all the necessary technical and functional knowledge. They rely on the expertise of those “borrowed” staffers to make more decisions at a technical level.
The main disadvantage of the Matrix Structure, certainly, is that many employees become very frustrated and confused with the chain-of-command in these hastily-assembled support teams — Who’s the boss? My department head or my project manager? There are also conflicts between project and department managers concerning deadlines and priorities. There can be competition between project managers to
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