Organizational chart

An organizational chart is a chart which represents the structure of an organization in terms of rank. The chart usually shows the managers and sub-workers who make up an organization. The chart also shows relationships between staff in the organization which can be:

• Line - direct relationship between superior and subordinate.
• Lateral - relationship between different departments on the same hierarchical level.
• Staff - relationship between a managerial assistant and other areas. The assistant will be able to offer advice to a line manager. However, they have no authority over the line manager actions.
• Functional - relationships between specialist positions and other areas. The specialist will normally have authority to insist that a line manager implements any of their instructions.

In many large companies the organization chart can be large and incredibly complicated and is therefore sometimes dissected into smaller charts for each individual department within the organization.

There are three different types of organization charts:

• Hierarchical
• Matrix
• Flat

Limitations of an organizational chart

There are several limitations with organizational charts:

• It only shows 'formal relationships' and tells nothing of the pattern of human (social) relationships which develop.

• It shows nothing about the managerial style adopted (e.g. autocratic or democratic)

• It very quickly becomes out-of-date, especially in large organizations which change their staff regularly.

Example of an organizational chart

The following is an example of a simple hierarchical organizational chart:

An example of a line relationship in this chart would be between the general and the two colonels. These two colonels are directly responsible to the general.

An example of a lateral relationship in this chart would be between "Sergeant A", and "Sergeant B" who both work on the same hierarchical level and both report to the "Captain A".

Drawing organizational charts

There are a number of software products that can be used to create organizational charts. Microsoft Visio and PowerPoint are common tools. There are also dedicated organizational charting products created by Aquire, HumanConcepts and Cezanne Software that allow companies to create organizational charts by connecting to SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle ERP systems.

External links

• OrgPlus LIVE Org Charts On Demand
• Forbes.com Org Chart Wiki Corporate Org Chart Wiki
• Acquire's OrgPublisher Organizational Chart software for SAP, Oracle, and PeopleSoft
• MS Visio Charts
• OrgPlus by HumanConcepts Workforce Modeling and Intelligence
• HRCharter from Cezanne Software Organization Charting for SAP and PeopleSoft
• Nakisa Visual Workforce Management Solutions (OrgChart)
• Cogmap The Org Chart Wiki!
• PDW OrgChart Organizational Chart software for LOGA, SAP, Hansalog, ...