Business readiness: Organization Chart

What is an Organization Chart?

An organization chart presents your company’s hierarchical structure and the reporting lines among your employees, their teams and management.

An organization chart is a visual representation of the internal structure within your company. It represents roles and responsibilities of your employees and the reporting hierarchy followed. It also highlights the chain of command followed by your employees and depicts the flow of authority and communication within your company.

An organization chart can be classified into two broad types:

• Hierarchical Organization Chart: Refers to a structure that is usually in the shape of a pyramid, with every employee reporting to some other employee within your company
• Matrix Organization Chart: Refers to a structure that is usually in the shape of a grid or matrix, with multiple levels of reporting and responsibilities for each employee

Why is Organization Charts important for business today?

An organizational chart enables your company to:

• Define and communicate your company’s hierarchy to internal and external stakeholders
• Outline the roles and responsibilities and reporting structure to your employees
• Evaluate the gaps in your company’s hierarchy to restructure your resources and workforce
• Ascertain the workload of your management team by analyzing their reporting relationships

Why is Organization Charts important for an event tomorrow?

An organization chart is important for an event tomorrow, as it helps:

• Assess the number of employees working in your company and their roles and responsibilities
• Evaluate the key positions in your company, degree of supervision and the span of control
• Determine and assess the type of organizational structure followed by your company
• Assess the employment relationships which exist within your company and the line of authority and communication followed

Pros of addressing Organization Charts

• Eliminates overlap and duplication of roles and responsibilities
• Improves employees performance by clearly defining roles and responsibilities within the reporting hierarchy
• Helps plan, manage and review employee workload
• Improves communication and coordination between your company and employees
• Assists your management team in resource planning by restructuring to improve productivity
• Helps new employees understand your organizational hierarchy during the onboarding process

Cons of not addressing this topic

• Potential for duplication and overlap of work, increasing resource waste due to undefined roles and responsibilities
• Stressed communication and coordination between your teams and employees due to undefined communication and reporting channels
• Potential to mismanage work and allocate resources inefficiently, causing burnout or underloading
• Limits the decision-making process due to limited understanding of organizational hierarchy.

ALSO LEARN ABOUT

• Employee Agreements
• Employee Register
• Industrial Action
• Payroll Register
• HR Policies & Procedures
• Trade Unions