Let’s Get Organized

3 Types of Organizational Charts

Types of Organizational Charts
• Many types of organizational charts exist—the way you structure your
document depends on what you want it to accomplish.
• the three common types of organizational charts are:
1. Hierarchical
2. Horizontal or Flat
3. Matrix
Types of Organizational Charts
(Hierarchical)
• The pyramid-shaped organizational chart known as a hierarchical org chart.
Each employee should have one supervisor. Most organizations group
departments by function—e.g. marketing, HR, sales, etc.—but you could
also group by product for larger companies or physical location for
international companies.
• grouping is done based on few factors:
a) Function – employees are grouped according to the function they provide
b) Geography – employees are grouped based on their region.
c) Product – If a company is producing multiple products or offering different
services it can be grouped according to the product or service.
Faculty of Science and Technology Organogram
(Hierarchical)
 A functional organizational charts, a variation of the
hierarchical model

This is the dominant

mode of organization
among large
organizations. For
example
Corporations, Govern
ments, and organized
religions are
hierarchical
organizations with
different levels of
management, power
or authority. 
Types of Organizational Charts
(Hierarchical)
Pros Cons
• Better defines levels of authority and • Can slow down innovation or
responsibility important changes due to
• Shows who each person reports to or increased bureaucracy
who to talk to about specific projects
• Can cause employees to act in
• Motivates employees with clear career
paths and chances for promotion 
interest of the department instead
of the company as a whole
• Gives each employee a specialty
• Creates camaraderie between
• Can make employees toward the
employees within the same department bottom of the chart feel
undervalued
Types of Organizational Charts
(Horizontal or Flat)
• A horizontal or flat organizational chart fits companies with few levels
between upper management and staff-level employees.
• Many start-up businesses use a horizontal org chart before they grow
large enough to build out different departments
• some organizations maintain this structure since it encourages less
supervision and more involvement from all employees.
• The most important thing about this structure is that many levels of
middle management is eliminated.
Types of Organizational Charts (Horizontal or Flat)

enables employees to make decisions quickly and independently. Thus a well trained work force can be more
productive by directly getting involved in decision making process.

This works well for small companies because work and effort in a small company is relatively transparent. This does
not mean that employees don’t have superiors and people to report. Just that decision making power is shared and
employees are held accountable for their decisions.
Types of Organizational Charts (Horizontal or Flat)
Types of Organizational Charts
(Horizontal or Flat)
Pros Cons

• Gives employees more • Can create confusion since

responsibility employees do not have a clear
• Fosters more open supervisor to report to
communication • Can produce employees with
more generalized skills and
• Improves coordination and
knowledge
speed of implementing new
ideas • Can be difficult to maintain once
the company grows beyond start-
up status
Types of Organizational Charts (Matrix)

• A matrix organizational chart looks like a grid, and it shows teams that form
for special projects
• In a Matrix organizational structure, the reporting relationships are set up as
a grid, or matrix, rather than in the traditional hierarchy.
• people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments, resulting in more
than one manager to report to
• For example, all engineers may be in one engineering department and
report to an engineering manager. But these same engineers may be
assigned to different projects and might be reporting to those project
managers as well. Therefore some engineers might have to work under
multiple managers in their job role.
Types of Organizational Charts (Matrix)
Pros
• Allows supervisors to easily
choose individuals by the needs
of a project
• Gives a more dynamic view of
the organization
• Encourages employees to use
their skills in various capacities
aside from their original roles
Cons
• Presents a conflict between
department managers and
project managers
• Can change more frequently
than other organizational chart
types