You report for two separate managers, a business head and a center head. How successful is such a dual reporting structure?

Dear Amal,

I think that duplication between the managers of the team is good but not practically useful also have negative effects in the long run because the roles and responsibilities between managers lost when rapid management decisions

Like Anita has mentioned, dual reporting structures are quite common in a matrix organization or when you are part of a cross functional team or work on a cross functional project. If each concerned manager is not clearly aligned on the job responsibilities with the other, it may often lead to conflict.

 In the example stated, a dual reporting structure will work as long as the employee clearly understands the reporting structure (i.e. who the direct manager is and whom he/she has a dotted line reporting to). It is equally important to communicate often and keep both managers informed and aligned on the key objectives to be achieved for both. 

Dear Amal,

Usually such reporting structure occurs when there is a technical manager and administrative manager

And from my experience such reporting structure is not recommended

Regards,

Maher

In a matrix organization that kind of arrangement is used and works very well. Employees in this model belong to resource pools where they report to the line manager (sets the targets and approves travel expence claims) and they are allocated to programs/projects etc where they report in matrix to the program/project manager.

The heads mentioned in the question sounded like two line managers. I wonder how would it work in real life.

Question: You report to2 separate Managers - a Business Head and a Centre Head. How successful is such a Dual Reporting Structure?

Dear Amal, Thank you very much for  this opportunity to look at the aspects of dual reporting.  This is an interesting aspect  and if not well defined can quickly turn out into  a “duel” between personnel . I  understand from your question that this is about a person in a certain position who has a solid line or direct reporting to your business head and the other dotted line or indirect reporting to the head of the geographical centre head!

When the companies are growing into multinational organizations in this fast globalizing and competitive world, Dual reporting is easily the methodology  to achieve the defined efficiencies.

Lets understand these two terms at the centre of this issue :

Direct (Solid-Line) Reporting – Solid-line reporting describes a relationship between an employee and his/her direct supervisor/leader. The supervisor provides primary guidance to the employee, controls the major financial resources the employee relies on to perform his/her work, conducts performance reviews with the subordinate, and provides all other direct supervision.

Indirect (Dotted-Line) Reporting – Dotted-line reporting describes a relationship between an employee and a secondary supervisor/leader that provides additional oversight and guidance to the employee in the execution of his/her work. The intent of the dotted-line relationship is to ensure that the dotted-line supervisor/leader has the authority to provide some level of influence and leadership over the employee. The dotted-line supervisor/leader will provide input regarding the employee’s performance to the solid-line supervisor for inclusion in the employee’s annual performance review.

Many companies are discovering they have no choice but to learn how to effectively execute a matrix organization. These companies operate with multiple business units in multiple countries. A matrix organization is one where functional leaders are responsible for more than one area. Employees report to both their immediate manager and a cross function leader. This type of organization is known as a matrix organization because when the relationship between an employee and the management team is illustrated on a diagram it is in a matrix square.

A hierarchy organization is where one person manages direct reports and those reports manage direct reports in a cascading responsibility. A hierarchy organization looks like a pyramid when illustrated, as opposed to the square that a matrix organization forms. Matrix organizations, however, utilize a cross functional approach.

Cross functional teams work with shared responsibility for both projects and traditional tasks. For example, a buyer in a hierarchy organization works in  a procurement department and reports directly to the purchasing manager. In a matrix organization, the buyer would report to two bosses. One would be the traditional purchasing manager and the other may be the manager of a project the buyer is assigned to.

Often in matrix management there is a distinction between the solid line manager and dotted line manager. This is to make it easier for the employee to understand the reporting structure. The solid line manager is typically the functional manager and will not change. In the purchasing example, the solid line manager is the purchasing manager. The solid line manager handles day-to-day issues such as vacation requests and, in most cases, delivers performance appraisals.

If you are a company spending4% or more on R&D that is situated in another country, you will need a strong global business unit head to achieve the global scale and integration to profit from the R&D. If you are doing business in Brazil, China, and India, you are going to need strong government relationships and a strong country manager. When you need both strong businesses and strong countries, that’s when you need a matrix.

A complex, multi-campus organization needs to have both direct and indirect reporting structures in place to best utilize limited resources and meet internal and external customer needs. due to facility and accountability concerns, employees who report directly to someone at one campus but who are located at another campus (i.e. their “home campus”) may also have a dotted-line relationship with a supervisor/leader at their home campus.

It is the responsibility of leaders in the organization to ensure that these solid-line and dotted-line reporting systems work in a way that best supports the mission of the organization and provides clear guidance and direction for the employees involved. Any situations that involve conflicting guidance and direction given to the employee should be proactively addressed by the supervisors/leaders involved in the supervisory relationship. Supervisors who directly oversee an employee who has both a solid-line and dotted-line supervisor should arrange for the two supervisors and the employee to meet several  times annually to discuss and document the reporting relationship and job performance expectations.

Leadership is the key driver to the success of a company. To ensure that leadership is more effective, you need organizational clarity, i.e., short decision paths, a smaller number of committees, and above all, an unequivocal allocation of responsibilities. Matrix organizations which have not yet mastered the organizational matrix feature exactly the opposite characteristics, which results in a high degree of complexity, unclear decision paths, unproductive agreement processes, and most worrisome, nontransparent responsibilities. Conflicts of competence are pre-programmed, and it is not clear who is responsible for successes and failures.

Dual Reporting, found however cumbersome, is here to stay and in many organizations it works well.  Hope this compilation of an answer is per your  expectations.

Hi Amal,

Dual reporting turned to be more used now with the increasing use of flexibility; but I personally don't advocate it on the junior level, it create many conflictions and the employee will not be capable to have effective time management.

In the senior level,  some dual reporting will be unavoidable and as long there is clear distinction and acceptable level of autonomy; the employee can manage this flexibility.

There are numerous challenges to working for more than one person, in this case of Dual boss.

1. Overload. With more than one person assigning you work, one of the greatest risks is simply having too much to do. 
2. Conflicting messages. The more bosses you have the more conflicting messages you get, sometimes this happens out of ignorance. Different bosses often have different expectations, and what impresses one may disappoint another. "When I was in investment banki, I had an idea for expanding the operations with help of quantative methods. I brought it to both of my bosses. One loved it. The other hated it.
3. Loyalty. Some bosses want to know that they're your first priority. If you have more than one boss who feels this way, it's easy to get caught in the middle,Reporting to more than one person often requires you negotiate between competing demands for your loyalty.

knowing the most common ones can help you identify what you're going through.

Know who your ultimate boss is, Be proactive about your workload, Get your bosses to communicate, Set up boundaries, and above all Don't take it personally. 

Dear Amal,

This kind of Reporting Structure is not preffered, a dual reporting structure is unsuccessful and may born problems and miss understanding.

Mohamad Kerdi

Best Regards,

by determine , interest , power of tow managers and sort them by how has2 factors

Dear Amal, in this case the question shouldn't be answered by the staff of the company but the managers and directors. Depending on the business you can report to two different departments because they use different information or they need the same information but for different uses. The problem is when there is a friction between those departments or managers when they ask you different things for the same purpose. In that case, part or all of the structure must be modified.

We normally do dual reporting in our Hospital as required by Ministry