As a business architecture, SOA changes the structure and operating relationships between business units. Services are provided by business units that serve multiple lines of business. As a result, services should be managed in a matrix organization.

Wikipedia describes matrix management as a type of organizational management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments. This is typical of organizations engaged in projects where specialists are pooled and assigned to projects that come and go over time. In Challenges and Strategies of Matrix Organizations by Thomas Sy, et al, the matrix is a grid-like organizational structure that allows a company to address multiple business dimensions using multiple command structures. Asif J. Mir, in Knowing about Matrix Organization, describes a matrix organization as where one or more forms of departmentalization are superimposed on a functional departmentalization. In one example, product departments are superimposed on a functional departmentalization.

These definitions allow for a great deal of variation. In general, managers with different objectives are directing the same resources. For projects, this may mean that individuals have two bosses. For a superimposed departmentalization, whole departments may support two or more managers with different objectives. SOA requires a matrix organization and provides the structure in which potentially competing objectives can be reconciled.

SOA for business provides for sharing of capabilities. Where two or more lines of business have a similar capability, those capabilities can be consolidated for economies of scale or control, and engaged through defined service interfaces. A business unit responsible for the service then serves multiple product lines, so it cannot be managed by the manager of only one product line. Its operation should be managed by a functional organization that is focused on optimal utilization of resources.

The service interface defines how the service business unit is engaged by the lines of business and specifies the levels of service required. The service unit has a functional manager and customers, not two bosses. The customers resolve their requirements through a shared interface specification, and the functional manager takes responsibility for how the service is implemented and operationally managed.

The lines of business are responsible for value chains that deliver value to their customers. Services contribute value at appropriate points in each value chain. Top management can assess the costs and contributions of each service unit to the various value chains in order to identify problems and opportunities for improvement. The value chain model for definition and management of services is discussed in my earlier blog on " Value Chain Modeling Is Essential for SOA Management." Transformation to a matrix organization is a key aspect of business transformation to SOA.