Influence of Large-Scale Organization Structures on Leadership Behaviors

In a large agile organization (more than three teams or 30 team members) with self-organized empowered teams, R&D leadership roles are still needed to support teams through topics including resource management and strategic vision. This experience report will highlight these R&D leadership roles, describe flat, hierarchical, and matrix R&D organization structures, and then illustrate the influence of these organizational structures on key leaderships behaviors for an agile environment. These behaviors include leading versus managing, flexing existing team boundaries, driving both team and project success, and balancing team versus individual needs. The report concludes that while some organizations structures are more supportive in an agile environment, the organization structure is less important than identifying leaders who demonstrate those key leadership behaviors.