ORGANIZATIONAL

CHARTS
Form 4
Examples of organizational charts
Organizational charts defined
•Organizational charts are diagrams that give a pictorial
representation of the different management and employee
positions in a business.
What do organizational charts show?
•Organizational charts show:
•The lines of authority (hierarchy)
•The roles of people in an organization and the relationship
between them
• The Span of Control & the Chain of Command
•The different functions of the business and how those relate to
each other
Important terms defined
•Lines of authority – this indicates who is senior to whom in terms
of having more responsibility and power.

•Hierarchy – a system which organizes people or things into levels

of seniority or importance.
Span of Control
Span of Control explained…
•The SPAN OF CONTROL of an individual is the number of
people that he or she manages or supervises directly.

•The SPAN OF CONTROL can be wide or narrow.

•A narrow span of control makes it possible to control people and

to communicate with them closely.
 This is an example of a WIDE
Span of Control where one manager has
many persons under his/her control.
 This is an example of a NARROW
Span of Control where one manager has only a few
persons under his/her control.
 The Chain of Command
•The Chain of Command is the direction of authority within a
business.
•This example shows who must answer to whom and who can give
instructions to whom.
 Understanding Line, Line and Staff and
Functional structures
•Lines and arrows in organizational charts are used to show:
• LINE RELATIONSHIPS (between different managers and
employees)
•STAFF RELATIONSHIPS (between employees).
•FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS (between those working in
different areas of the business, such as production, marketing,
finance and sales)
Important points to note:
•Positions towards the top of an organizational chart have
more authority and responsibility than those lower down.
In summary
• Organizational charts can show
• The Organizational Hierarchy: the different levels of management within
the organization
• The Chain of Command of each manager in terms of the other levels of
management they have authority over
• The Span of Control each manager has in terms of the number of employees
that report directly to them
• The auxiliary or support staff to managers within the firm. E.g. secretaries,
legal advisers and administrative assistants