Organizational Chart

An organizational chart is a diagram that visually conveys a company's internal structure, by detailing the roles, responsibilities, and relationships between individuals within an entity. Organizational charts either broadly depict an enterprise company-wide or drill down to a specific department or unit.

Organizational charts are alternatively referred to as "org charts" or "organization charts".

Organizational charts graphically display an employee's hierarchical status, relative to other individuals within the company. For example, an assistant director will invariably fall directly below a director on the chart, indicating that the former reports to the latter. Organizational charts use simple symbols such as lines, squares, and circles to connect different job titles that relate to each other.

Organizational charts are constructed in the following three main formats:
Hierarchical: This most common model situates the highest ranking individuals atop the chart, and positions lower ranking individuals below them. For example, a public company typically shows shareholders in the highest box, followed in descending vertical order with the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vice Chairman of the Board, board members, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and then other C-suite executives, who are joined to one another by horizontal lines. Other job titles that may follow C-Suite execs include President, Senior Vice President, Vice President, Assistant Vice President, Senior Director, Assistant Director, Manager, Assistant Manager, full-time employees, part-time employees, and contractors. Organizational hierarchies generally depend on the industry, geographical location, and company size.

Flat: Also known as a "horizontal" chart, the flat org chart positions individuals along the same level, indicating more power equality and autonomous decision-making ability, than is typical with employees in hierarchical corporations.

Matrix: This more complicated organizational structure groups individuals by their common skill-sets, the departments in which they work and the people they may report to. Matrix charts often interconnect employees and teams with more than one manager, such as a software developer who is working on two projects--one with his regular team manager and another with a separate product manager. In this scenario, the matrix chart would connect the software developer to each manager he is working with, with vertical lines.

Regardless of a company's structure, org charts are extraordinarily useful when an entity is contemplating restructuring its workforce or changing its management complex. Most importantly, org charts let employees transparently see how their roles fit into the overall company structure.