Organizational Chart

What Is an Organizational Chart

An organizational chart (org chart) is a visual diagram that represents the structure of an organization, showing the relationships between roles, departments, and reporting lines. The chart typically displays positions as boxes connected by lines that indicate who reports to whom, creating a visual hierarchy from top leadership down to individual contributors.

Org charts serve multiple purposes. They help new employees understand the company structure and find the right person for any question. They help leaders identify structural gaps, overly deep reporting chains, and misaligned spans of control. They support workforce planning by making the current allocation of people across functions visible. And they simplify communication about reorganizations by providing a before and after comparison.

The first known organizational chart was created by Daniel McCallum for the New York and Erie Railroad in 1855. The format has remained remarkably stable since then: boxes for positions, lines for reporting relationships, arranged hierarchically from top to bottom.

Types of Organizational Charts

Hierarchical (Top Down): The most common format. CEO at the top, with branches flowing downward through layers of management to individual contributors. Best for traditional command and control structures with clear reporting lines. Most organizations start here.

Matrix: Shows dual reporting relationships where employees report to both a functional manager and a project or product manager. Common in consulting firms, engineering organizations, and companies that run project based work alongside functional operations. Matrix charts are harder to read but more accurately represent how people actually work in cross functional environments.

Flat: Few or no management layers between leadership and staff. Common in startups and small organizations. Flat org charts have wide spans of control and emphasize direct access to leadership.

Divisional: Organized by product line, geography, or market segment rather than function. Each division operates semi independently with its own functional teams. Common in large diversified corporations.

What to Include

At minimum, every org chart should include position titles, names of current holders, department or team groupings, and reporting lines. Additional useful information includes direct report count (span of control), location (for distributed organizations), and hire date or tenure (for succession planning visibility).

The right level of detail depends on the audience. Executive level org charts may show only the top three levels. Department level charts show every position within the function. Full company charts require interactive or zoomable formats for organizations with more than 100 people.

Common Org Chart Mistakes

Not keeping the chart updated is the most damaging mistake. An org chart that does not reflect the current structure is worse than no chart because it creates false assumptions about who reports to whom and which roles exist. Assign a single owner (typically HR or People Ops) and update after every structural change.

Showing only the formal hierarchy while ignoring informal influence networks misrepresents how the organization actually operates. Matrix relationships, dotted line reporting, and cross functional team assignments are all real structural elements that a basic hierarchical chart misses.