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Organisational Charts FAQs
In our Steegle Guide, we collect questions you might have when planning how your organisation gathers its employee knowledge in its organizational charts.
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What do organizational charts look like?
Generally, an orgisazation chart (more commonly abbreviated to org charts, organigram or oragnogram) looks like a pyramid that represents the hierarchical order of the organization.
C-level executives are placed on top, the management is in the middle, and staff-level employees are at the bottom.
However, your org chart doesn’t have to look this way. Once you determine your needs as an organization, you will be able to choose the perfect structure to meet your expectations and needs.
How do you structure org charts?
Org charts are structured in various ways depending on their purpose. It should be structured according to your company’s needs and features. You should understand the company’s internal structure to determine which type of organizational structure should be used.
Here are the key elements to be considered:
- Span of control
Determines how many staff each manager is responsible for. The size of the company can affect the span of control.
- Chain of command
This is the official authority hierarchy to determine who is in charge of who and helps eliminate inefficiencies.
- Centralization and Decentralization
Centralization means the decision making focuses on a single point in the organization. Usually, the upper management makes all decisions. While decentralization means employee input is considered so they can quickly solve problems.
- Work Specialization
work specialization is where activities in an organization are divided into separate jobs.
- Formalization
Formalization refers to standardized jobs within the organization.
- Departmentalization
Departmentalization means jobs are divided or grouped in different ways according to function, geography, product, or process.
What are the benefits of an org chart?
A company’s organizational chart is a multipurpose tool that mostly benefits the managers, external stakeholders, HR, and staff.
Advantages for HR
Allows them to easily compare the company’s structure to others in the same sector
Helps in determining the total numbers of full-time equivalent and direct reports staff members that are reporting to each manager
Advantages for Managers
Helps determine where to eliminate efficiency
Evaluate departmental resources and determine if there’s a need for additional resources
Advantages for Staff and External Stakeholders
To help determine the relationship between various departments and functions
Identify reporting structures in the company
Help understand how the company is constructed
What are the most common types of org chart structures?
- Hierarchical org structure
The hierarchical org structure is pyramid-shaped and the most common type of org structure. The C-level or managers is on top while entry-level employees are below the chart. Each employee has a supervisor on top of them.
3. Horizontal or flat org structure
Start-up companies usually use this type of org structure. The structure has fewer departments and encourages more involvement from the employees and less supervision.
5. Matrix org structure
This structure looks like a grid and shows cross-functional teams. This encourages employees to use their skills in different capacities aside from their assigned roles.
7. Bottom-Up org structure
Instead of the traditional organizational chart structure, the leader or CEO in an organization would be at the bottom, while entry-level employees would be on top.
2. Functional org structure
This is similar to the hierarchical org structure, but the main difference is the employees are grouped according to their skills and function. Separate departments are managed independently.
4. Divisional org structures
This structure is perfect for large companies. Employees are divided into different teams such as sales team, IT team, or marketing team.
6. Team-based org structure
Employees are grouped into teams to help employees focus on problem solving and cooperation. This also gives employees an opportunity to take control.
8. Left-to-Right Org Structure
Some companies flip their organizational chart on its side to avoid the top-down feel of their company's org chart.
What employee information should be visible on the org chart?
For active employees in an organization, the following information is visible:
Must-haves
Name
Job Title
Moderns must-haves
Employee profile picture
Optional
Location
Contact numbers
Email address
How do you keep an organisation chart up-to-date?
Most modern org chart software is cloud-based and every edit or revision done is automatically saved in real-time to ensure that you have the latest version published. Some software would allow managers and employees to access the org chart and easily make some changes.
What software can you use to build your org charts?
Typical packaged are
Desktop publishing software like Adobe Indesign
Office productivity e.g. Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Visio
Google Slides and Google Drawings
Specialist Organigram software
Online software like Pingboard
How to insert an org chart in Google Docs?
When inserting or creating an org chart in Google Docs, you need to start from scratch as there are no built-in org chart templates or examples in Google Docs.
Go to Google Docs them click Insert > Drawing > +New
The drawing window will appear and you can use the shapes and connectors to create a simple org chart.
Creating an org chart in Google Docs can be challenging especially for large companies. You have to manually add shapes and lines which can be time-consuming.
Here is an example of a basic org chart made in Google Docs.
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