what is an organizational chart 
an organizational chart is a diagram that visually conveys a company s internal structure by detailing the roles responsibilities and relationships between individuals within an entity it is one way to visualize a bureaucracy organizational charts are alternatively referred to as org charts or organization charts understanding organizational chartsorganizational charts either broadly depict an enterprise organization wide or drill down to a specific department or unit organizational charts graphically display an employee s hierarchical status relative to other individuals within the company for example an assistant director will invariably fall directly below a director on the chart indicating that the former reports to the latter organizational charts use simple symbols such as lines squares and circles to connect different job titles that relate to each other regardless of an organization s structure org charts are extraordinarily useful when an entity is contemplating restructuring its workforce or changing its management complex most importantly org charts let employees transparently see how their roles fit into the overall company structure hierarchical organizational chartthis most common model situates the highest ranking individuals atop the chart and positions lower ranking individuals below them organizational hierarchies generally depend on the industry geographical location and company size for example a public company typically shows shareholders in the highest box followed by the following in descending vertical order other job titles that may follow c suite execs include many formal organizations are organized hierarchically and can be shown in chart form these include corporations but also nonprofits governments schools universities and the military as the chart below illustrates there is no single correct way to fashion an organization chart as long as it identifies the officials employees departments and functions of the firm and how they interact with each other other types of organization charts