Employees may feel a stronger sense of teamwork and autonomy, though conflicts among employees can become more pronounced due to fewer people doing the work.

This is common in smaller companies and organizations, but it’s generally not practical for larger organizations. In a flat, horizontal structure, most layers of management are cut out, with close relationships between the top and the employees. However, having more than one person or department to answer to can also create confusing loyalties or conflicts of interest for employees. In a matrixed organization, cross-department relationships may be more fruitful and cooperative. The management layers can sometimes bloat an organization as well. If the strength of this structure is clarity and stability, the potential weakness is rigidity, the inability to be flexible when called for. In the business world, think of the chief executive and other C-suite executives, working down to perhaps directors, senior managers, middle managers, team leaders and team members. In its purest form, think of the military. In a hierarchical, vertical, top-down organization, lines of authority and communication should be clear. The types of organizations reflected in these chart types have advantages and disadvantages. While is still reflects organizational structure, it’s less linear than an org chart and serves a different purpose: to illustrate associations and opportunities among departments, products or supply chains. The lesser-known synonyms “Organigram” and “Organogram” came into use in the 1960s.Ī related diagram is called an Organigraph. The charts were mainly used in engineering circles until the 1920s, when they began to find their way into the business world. He touted the value of the charts and said they should be more widely used. Brinton used the term in his 1914 textbook, Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts.

The term “organizational chart” took another 50 to 60 years to come into common use. Henshaw, a Canadian, worked for waterworks and railway companies in Canada, the United States and Denmark. McCallum, born in Scotland, also served as a Union major general in the Civil War. McCallum had it drawn up by draftsman and civil engineer George Holt Henshaw (1831-1891). It was an illustrated diagram of the New York and Erie Railway. In 1855, railway general superintendent Daniel McCallum (1815-1878) designed what is thought to be the first modern organizational chart.

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