Organizational charts are used to display how employees’ roles in an organization relate to each other. Based on an organization’s size, you can use a chart to portray the roles and responsibilities of the entire company, or it could be broken down department-wise, showing the relationship between roles within departments.
This graphical depiction of the roles found inside the firm aids employees and stakeholders in implementing the organizational hierarchy. Symbols on the chart, such as lines, aid in demonstrating the link between roles.
Other names for organizational charts include organograms, organogram charts, hierarchy charts, and org charts.
Use cases
Here are some of the use cases of organizational charts for management:
Organizational Communication
Organizational communication becomes much more efficient when all staff members can access the organizational chart. It tells employees who they should contact if they have any queries or complaints. A well-stated chain of command decreases the time an employee might otherwise spend seeking information or permission from the appropriate management. Thus improving overall company productivity.
Organizational charts also assist managers in better understanding how to convey information to employees. They will be able to see who reports to them and how they must communicate corporate news or new processes to the employee.
Workforce Planning
The organizational chart illustrates the many functions inside a firm. This information is helpful for managers and human resources professionals to determine:
- What additional personnel needs to be hired to help the business work properly.
- How to restructure by switching responsibilities in a team to better utilize everyone’s abilities.
- Resource planning by rearranging positions to reduce inefficiencies within the organization.
Budgeting
Organizational charts make it easier for finance executives to plan budgets that work for the organization. They can easily view every employee, their role in the organization, and what they require to accomplish their tasks.
This is vital for reviewing healthcare expenses, scheduling workplace trips and group events, awarding increases, incentives, and promotions, and supplying a department with the funding required for operations.
Motivating staff
Another benefit of an organizational chart is that it motivates employees since employees can view a chart to understand their opportunities for promotions within their organization.
An entry-level marketing assistant, for example, may discover that they may advance to the positions of a marketing expert, social media marketer, digital marketing supervisor, marketing manager, and, eventually, director of marketing. This is an excellent motivation for employees who want to know that they can advance their careers inside their firm if they want to.
Types of organizational charts
The main types of organizational charts are Matrix, Flat, and Hierarchial.
Matrix Chart
Rather than as a hierarchy, you set the reporting links in a Matrix organizational structure as a grid or matrix. This style of organizational management pools workers with comparable talents for work assignments. Resulting in several managers reporting to the same boss.
For instance, in a manufacturing company, engineers may work in the same department and report to the same manager. However, these same engineers can also be assigned to multiple projects and report to different project managers. As a result, certain engineers may be required to collaborate with many supervisors to complete a project.
Flat Chart
In flat charts, line relationships, or chain of command refers to the relationships between various roles and functions within a chart. They display supervisor-to-subordinate and lateral relationships, which depict persons on the same level. Line relationships can be solid (showing the significant lines of authority) or dotted (showing secondary lines of power). There are no hard and fast restrictions on the use of symbols and lines. As long as the formal links between roles are made apparent.
Hierarchical Organization Chart
These are the most widely used organizational charts. They group employees in a hierarchical structure, with each employee reporting to a single supervisor. This type of organizational chart is dependent on a few parameters. Thus several different models are formed from it.
The factors that shape an organization chart include Function, Geographical Region, and Product.
To illustrate, org charts group employees based on their functional roles in a hierarchical organization chart. For example, employees can work in finance, technical, HR, and admin groups. Secondly, they group employees based on the geographical region in which they operate. For example, US employees fall under different states. Or, if it’s a global company, you group employees according to country. Finally, if a company provides multiple products and services, you group employees responsible for each product or service.
How to make an organizational chart
Define your purpose and scope
Before making your organization chart, define your purpose and scope. Think about what is most useful for your purposes. For example, if you plan to use the chart as a “who’s who” resource, it’s good to include pictures and contact information. If you’re planning to chart the entire organization, you might have to make more than one chart.
Gather the information
Once you’ve determined your purpose, gather the information required. You might be able to find an existing employee list or an outdated chart that you could use as a starting point.
Remember to collect contact information, images, and anything else you want to utilize. You may require other materials to define and set out the lines of responsibility for your chart.
Determine the platform you plan to use
You have many options, including Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or even excel. You can even use online whiteboards to build and display charts online.
Update the chart regularly
Remember that things frequently change in many businesses, so you’ll need a method to keep the chart or charts up to date efficiently. With a collaborative online platform like Online Whiteboards, this becomes much easier.
Tips
When starting, try breaking down your organizational chart into manageable pieces. This ensures that all information is consistent and leads back to the organization’s top. You may divide your chart into sections using the following categories: department, team, unit, project, and location.
You can even add details about persons or departments to your chart. Including contact information, location, and other data can help your organization run more smoothly and avoid misunderstandings about who does what.
You can use colors or shapes to distinguish different workforce groups or levels.
Advantages of organizational charts
Here are some of the benefits of using organizational charts:
Displays a clear reporting structure
Employees know who to report to and who to contact to resolve a problem or query. Someone from one department can immediately contact the appropriate person in another department. This is especially true in large corporations with several departments.
Helps new employees
Allows them to get to know their coworkers before meeting them, helping them to bond much more rapidly.
Aids in workload management
A well-managed organizational chart aids in the visualization of people’s workload. This is especially beneficial for tracking managers’ workloads since you can see how many people they supervise and, in certain circumstances, how many departments they oversee.
It facilitates planning
Because you can picture the structure, it facilitates planning. You can effectively deploy resources, quickly identify particular capabilities, and much more.
Limitations of organizational charts
- Organizational charts can quickly become out of date, especially in high-turnover workplaces. Online charts are an excellent alternative to physical ones as they are easier to update. However, without consistent edits, even online charts can become obsolete.
- They show the formal relationships instead of the informal relationships between the people that help get things done in an organization.
- Organization charts don’t reflect how authority is exercised. Instead, they show the hierarchy and lines of authority.
Online Whiteboards
Online whiteboards are a great tool for making organizational charts. They allow you to make charts collaboratively with your team. Another advantage of online whiteboards is that they allow you to make updates consistently. To learn more about how to use online whiteboards, follow this link!
