Management of Products Conflict in Matrix Organizational Structure

ABSTRACT 

Conflicts are inevitable consequence of human interaction; and if not properly managed they can seriously hamper achievement of project objectives. This research study examines veritable strategies for managing conflicts in matrix organization structure of project management. The study was designed as a survey, and data was collected from 83 project participants using structured questionnaire. Relative Importance Index (RII) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were employed as analytical tools. The result of the analysis revealed that contrary to general perception that conflicts are mainly caused by interpersonal factors, the major causes of conflicts in matrix organizations are taskrelated issues. It was also revealed that the personality conflict management approach is effective in managing interpersonal conflicts but less effective in managing task-related conflicts. Also, cooperative conflict management strategy is effective in managing task-related conflicts but poor in managing inter-personal conflicts. This study recommends that strategy for managing conflicts in the matrix organizational structure is an integrated conflict management approach. It combines the cooperative management approach that focuses on building positive dependencies and coordinating efforts with the personality approach that focuses on empathy, influence and self-awareness. The integrated approach will build positive dependencies between the competing arms of the matrix, while also enabling the manager develop a better understanding of peoples perspective.