What is a mixed organization structure? Are mixed organization structures gaining in popularity? If so, why?

Mixed Organization Structure

An organization structure, in which the skilled employees often work in more than one department or on different assignments across the departments, is known as a mixed structure (Root & Visudtibhan, 1992). In this structure, an employee has to report to two managers at the same time. For example, an accountant works in a finance department and manages the company’s accounts. The same accountant is also responsible for handling the cash flows of the new project. In this situation, he needs to report to both the CEO as well as the project manager.

With an increasing trend of globalization, the organizations are widely adopting the mixed structures to effectively manage the cross-functional teams and maintain their effectiveness. The MNCs need to harmonize their IT operations all across the corporation, to ensure frequent and effective management of the shared knowledge, human resource operations, and perfect coordination of supply chain activities all around the operating countries (Azorin & Cameron, 2010). This structure is gaining popularity because it brings improvement in using shared human and infrastructure resources, allows flexible and faster decision-making, and meeting the customers’ expectations in local markets (Hall, 2012).