An organizational chart, otherwise referred to as org chart, is a diagram that illustrates the structure of an organization. It clearly shows the rank and relationships of the employees, and help keep the work operations organized. Depending on the size of the company, a chart may comprise of numerous lines, arrows, and boxes, or it may consist of only a few. Because relationships within a company often change, charts should be flexible and simple, so that they can be changed easily.

Importance of Organizational Chart

Organizational charts are considered important and vital in allowing the members of the company to clearly communicate with each other, from upper management level, to the regular employees. Charts have been around for several centuries because businesses and non-profit groups in the past and present realize that this is a necessity for them to be able to fulfill their functions.

Organizational charts allow leadership positions to see quickly the way the organization is organized; it allows managers to navigate to the employee rank patterns; and for the employees to know exactly where they fit in. In addition, this helps employees know where they can go within the organization should they need assistance, permission, and resources for them to accomplish their tasks.

In its entirety, an organizational chart explains the culture in the company, especially to the new employees; it is helpful to allow others to visualize the full scope of relationships within the company.

Benefits of Organizational Charts

First of all, an organizational chart will give each team a visual aid that will enable them to see who is part of the project, and where each project fits within the organization. Secondly, it allows them to identify their stakeholders, and how they relate to one another. Thirdly, this chart paves the way for more efficient problem-solving methods knowing that each team and individual member can easily determine point-of-contacts and officers-in-charge for a given team, function, or department.

Moreover, a good chart helps members to communicate more effectively with other members, along with stakeholders ensuring that all the essential parties play an active role in ensuring the success of the organization. An org chart provides the graphical method of showing relationships within a company.

How to Make an Organizational Chart

In the past, organizational charts were made using a template and ruler. However, today’s use of computers and the Internet has paved the way for much easier methods of making a chart, using many different programs. But take note that the design of the chart is always dependent on the type of organization.

For example, there are organizations wherein members report to only one person, and this type of organization is referred to as “flat.” There are also organizations that have a small number of people reporting to top management and these are “vertical” organizations. If there are many variations within the organization, then the chart may seem somewhat complex.

A chart can be made with titles and names of the members listed; however, in larger organizations, only the titles and the number of people within that group are provided. For example, a chart may contain: Technical support specialists (10), Tier 2 technical support engineers (5), and customer service representatives (5). In smaller companies, this would not only contain the functions and titles, but the names of the members as well.

Often, organizational charts only require a one-page piece of paper but with much larger organizations, two or more papers may be needed. Executive positions are generally listed on the first page, and the chart will need to be broken into several smaller divisions to group different departments.

Lastly, using of box size variation, color, and line thickness are necessary to show the relationships between the departments and functional units within the organization, as well as to identify the higher-ups and the subordinates.

An organizational chart can be made using one or two Microsoft applications. In fact, many companies in making their organization chart have used PowerPoint and Word programs. But whether it is with the use of programs or simply manual creation of an org chart, the whole process is quick and easy to make. The important thing is to keep the org chart flexible and simple, so that members of the organization who refer to it will not have any difficulty analyzing and using the chart.