The Author
JAY R. GALBRAITH is professor emeritus at the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is also senior research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Designing the Global Corporation and Designing Your Organization, both from Jossey-Bass.

Organization structures do not fail, says Jay Galbraith, but management fails at implementing them correctly. This is why, he explains, the idea that the matrix does not work still exists today, even among people who should know better. But the matrix has become a necessary form of organization in today's business environment. Companies now know that if they have multiple product lines, do business in multiple countries, and serve many customer segments through a variety of channels, there is no way they can avoid some kind of a matrix structure and the question most are asking is "How do we learn how to operate the matrix effectively?" In Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work, Galbraith answers this and other questions as he shows how to make a matrix work effectively.