The Two-Headed Monster

Because I love the topic of the Matrix so much, I have to write another post about it.
By having two bosses with conflicting goals, the Matrix is a two-headed monster. You have one boss (the Functional Manager) whose job it is to place you wherever your skills are best utilized, fostering your career development. On the other hand, you have another boss (The Team Lead) whose job it is to keep you busy and ensure assignments get completed on time. Two bosses, two different goals. So here's what happens:

If your manager does find an good opportunity for you (and that's a big if), your Team Lead will do everything possible to prevent you from capitalizing on it. This is especially true if you have really been a good, reliable employee to the Team. They aren't thankful for the years of hard work, they are accustomed to it. You are their property and so they will fight tooth and nail not to give you up, even temporarily, because it may jeopardize their empire.

So if laziness wasn’t a big enough factor hindering your manager from finding career opportunities for you, strong resistance from your "team" makes it all the more senseless for him to even try. This creates a mindset that he shouldn't even bother looking for career development opportunities for you. "They’ll never give him up, even if I do find something for him.” And this reinforces the laziness.

Because the Matrix is designed to prevent me from escaping the miserable routine that has become my "career", I throw rocks.