Crafting an Operational Org Chart
By Lee Charles- Senior Operations Manager
Have you ever found yourself not knowing who to contact, who someone is, or who does what? If you answered yes, you are more than likely not alone! Whether it be within your own business, or with a client company, this is a common problem that most of us will likely face at some point in our careers. The solution? Enter the Operational Org. (Organizational) Chart!
A strong operational org. Chart is equally important when it comes to optimizing efficiencies and streamlining processes, whether you are part of a large enterprise or a small business, the importance is just the same. In today’s landscape of ever-evolving titles, roles, and responsibilities, having a clear way to visualize the relationships between individuals within your organization is critical, and can help reduce superfluous correspondence and be a great reference point for yourself and your clients.
Common challenges in creating an operational org chart
While creating an operational org. chart may seem easy on paper, it’s just as easy to create an end product that is vague and/or confusing to the reader. To address this, let’s dive into some of the most common challenges individuals face when creating an operational org. Chart.
To begin, lack of clarity on roles and/or hierarchy can be a common problem when creating an org. Chart. So how can we address this?
Having a clear title is critical - an individual's scope of responsibilities or job function should be clearly summarized by their title or “role” on the org. Chart, or as clear as possible. This may become more difficult as the organization grows, but there are some additional steps we can take to address this, which we’ll cover in the following paragraphs below. Just as important as having a clear title, is to make clear the reporting lines of the organization so that the reader may seamlessly understand the company's hierarchy and points of escalation. This is why it’s important to choose the appropriate organizational structure when generating your org. Chart, which we’ll dive into later.
The other, arguably more common, challenge when creating an org. Chart is the difficulty of adapting to organizational changes, i.e. keeping the chart up to date.
What happens when we onboard or offboard an employee?
If this process isn’t clear, it’s likely that the org. Chart may be outdated. Building in the process and cadence for updating the org. Chart, to the onboarding/offboarding SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), is a great way to solve for this!
Steps to create a well-crafted operational org chart
Now that we’ve taken a look at some of the common challenges in developing an operational org. Chart, let’s dive into some of the steps to create one that is well-crafted. As mentioned in the paragraph above, job titles can often times be a pain point when developing the org. Chart, especially for larger organizations.
For example, a company may have 3 employees in their operations department with the following titles, “VP of Operations”, “Operations Manager”, “Operations Associate”. In this case, hierarchy may be implied, but what about the actual responsibilities of each member? Those may be a bit more vague.
Using this example, sometimes it may be necessary to include supplemental information within your org. Chart, to more clearly outline the division of responsibilities, and who to contact for “X”.
This can be done in a variety of ways, like outlining 3 summary bullets under each title or having the titles link out to a separate job description page, just to name a few.
Clearly outlining the roles & responsibilities is the first step in creating a successful org. Chart. In addition to identifying roles & responsibilities, it’s also important to assess the departmental structure and hierarchical relationships within the organization. To do this, we need to ask ourselves questions like, “what are the departments?”, “who reports to who?”, “are certain roles hierarchical, or lateral?”. Mapping these things out will be crucial when developing a strong operational org. Chart.
Designing an effective operational org chart
While the concepts above apply to almost all scenarios, choosing the appropriate organizational structure and/or technology to develop the org. Chart can be unique to the needs of each individual company.
To help provide guidance on this matter, let’s discuss a few key considerations to take into account when making these decisions. To begin, we’ll quickly summarize the 4 main types of operational org. Charts.
First is the Functional Top-Down Hierarchy, which is the most common Org. Chart, and shows C-suite at the top, followed by senior management, middle managers, etc… This type of chart is grouped by functional role and divided into traditional departments like IT, Finance, etc…
Next is the Divisional Org. Chart, which differs from the Top-Down chart in that it is divided and organized by product line or specific geography. For example, a car company may have divisions like “SUVs”, and Sedans, or “Midwest” if it were being divided by region.
Another less common type of chart is the Matrix Organizational chart. This chart groups employees into teams by projects or product lead/project manager. This chart shows a company that operates using cross-functional groups as opposed to vertical silos.
The last type of chart is the Flat Org. Chart, which will show few or no levels of management between employees. This structure supports self-management and empowers decision making ability for every employee, and is most common among smaller businesses.
Now that we understand the four main types of Org. Charts, it’s time to take a look at some of the various tools that can be leveraged to build Org. Charts. As you can probably imagine, there are a plethora of tools out there that can be used to build Org. Charts. Each person or company, may have different needs, and although there isn’t a “one size fits all” solution when it comes to selecting an org. Chart software, there are a few important questions that you can ask yourself when making the decision. Consider asking yourself questions like the following:
What kind of Org. chart do we need, and how complex is it?
How often will we need to update our org. Chart?
What are the key pieces of information that need to be included on the org. Chart?
What’s the budget for software?
Are there any additional functionality needs that the software can help with in the company?
Conclusion
In conclusion, the operational org. chart is a vital tool for both businesses and clients, offering a clear means of visualizing organizational relationships and streamlining processes. It addresses the challenges of role clarity and organizational changes, making it essential for maintaining efficiency. To create an effective org chart, it's crucial to define roles and responsibilities clearly and map hierarchical relationships within the organization. Additionally, choosing the right organizational structure and technology is critical, with options such as Functional Top-Down Hierarchy, Divisional, Matrix, and Flat Org Charts to consider. Selecting the right software for building org charts requires a thoughtful analysis of complexity, update frequency, information needs, budget, and additional functionality requirements. Investing time and resources in developing and maintaining an operational org chart is, without a doubt, a decision that can yield substantial benefits.
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