Leadership Behaviours in Matrix Environments (Wellman, 2007)

 Senior Leadership in Matrix Organisations

Wellman, Jerry: Leadership Behaviours in Matrix Environments; in: Journal of Project Management, Vol. 38 (2007), No. 2, pp. 62-74.

Wellman uses Grounded Theory to analyse his case study. Grounded theory is an „inductive method to understand the perspective of actors relevant practices“. Thus it combines the world of the structural researchers with the systems researcher’s world. Wellman applied a five step research process

  • Collecting (1) Interviews, and (2) Organisational Artefacts
  • Identifying (3) recurrent themes and concepts which are validated against empirical data
  • Follow-up (4) interviews to test conclusions
  • Construction of (5) meta-concepts and their relationships

Wellman investigates the senior management role in matrix organisations. He shows that Empowerment, Support, Decision-Making, Flexibility, and Communications are critical success factors for projects in matrix organisations. Moreover he identifies culture and competence as two basic requirements.

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