An organizational chart is a visual communication tool. The organizational chart allows employees and other stakeholders to see the reporting relationships in an organization. The organizational chart is a reflection of your organization’s culture.
The organizational chart usually portrays the organization’s structure using boxes and vertical and horizontal lines to connect the boxes. The vertical lines demonstrate the reporting relationships of supervisors and their reporting staff members. The lateral or horizontal lines indicate a working relationship. A dotted or broken line indicates a strong working relationship with an employee who may supervise your work or projects. But, the employee is not your supervisor.
Use of Organizational Charts
Organizational charts are used for:
- organizational and supervisory communication,
- workforce planning,
- departmental or team planning,
- resource planning,
- change management,
- organizational restructuring or redesign, and
- job analysis.
Types of Organizational Charts
If you look at an organizational chart and find rows of vertical boxes with few relationship lines extending from the boxes, the organization is probably hierarchical. The boxes on an organizational chart for a flat organization have a more horizontal relationship. In a team-based, empowering organization, each supervisor has many reporting staff members.
The team-based organizational chart may focus on the relationship between teams to illustrate the interlinking of people and teams. A matrix organizational chart is difficult to make because of the number of interconnected employees and teams. The matrix organizational chart I have seen most frequently has products listed in the left hand column, teams (or functions) listed horizontally, and lines and dotted lines demonstrate the relationships.
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