The Basics
Choosing the right visual to communicate structure
Most of us are familiar with the classic top-down organization
chart.
An org chart is an excellent way to communicate hierarchy: Who
reports to whom, and title (and hence) responsibilities of
each position.
Many organizations feel that this simple hierarchy is too
restrictive to fully represent their structure. You hear terms
like "matrix organization", or the need for "dotted line"
relationships. This is often because the humble org chart is
being used to represent more than its intended to.
No matter how people are organized to accomplish their work,
almost all organizations have an underlying simple hierarchy.
The best way to ferret this out is to ask "who sets your
salary?", or "who do you ask when you want to schedule
vacation days?" The answer is the (one) person they report to,
and hence their supervisor in the org chart.
A matrix organization is a term better applied to the structure
of a team designed to perform a task. Teams may be drawn from
different part of the organizational hierarchy, but they always
have a leader (or should have!). Teams are best represented by
a team chart.
Most of the problems people have with top-down org charts
occur because they try to shoe-horn team structure into the
organizational hierarchy. Keep these ideas separate: Use org
charts for showing company reporting relationships and team
charts for showing cross functional teams.
Tips for Top-Down Org Charts
The top-down org chart has two primary purposes:
- To show reporting relationships: Who's your boss.
- To show the division of responsibilities in an organization.
You should think of your organization as a collection of
positions, not a collection of people. Taking this approach
leads to a much more logical organization than starting with
people. The person who currently is filling a position is
the incumbent.
Sometimes (particularly in smaller organizations) the same
person may fill more than one position. For example the CEO
may fulfill the function of the VP of Marketing. The right
way to show this is to create a box for both, with the VP
reporting to the CEO.
This keeps the organizational structure intact and shows that
Barbara Smith has two distinct roles.
Each position should be defined with a title and job
description that describes:
- The goal of the position
Why is there such a position? What do you want the incumbent
to accomplish?
- The responsibilities of the position
What activities is this position accountable for? For what
activities is this position the "go-to-guy" if something goes wrong?
- What position this position reports to
When this seems unclear because a position may be directed by
several different managers, ask "who sets this position's salary?"
The top-down organization and accompanying job description is
an invaluable tool for assigning accountability in your
organization. An organization chart is the ideal way to
communicate it.
Tips for Team Charts
Place the leader of the team in the central box and surround
it with boxes for the other team members. Just as with org
charts above, show the role first and the incumbent second.
It's useful to list the specific responsibilities for each
team member as additional boxes attached to the side of their
box.