An Organogram is another name given to “Organisational Chart”. It is also sometimes known as “Organigram” or “Org chart”. Whatever the name may be, they all mean the same thing; an organisational chart which is basically a diagram or plan that shows the structure of the organisation. It also depicts the relationships and relative ranks of its jobs and positions.
Organograms are generally easy to make since they can be prepared on simple computer software like Power Point which is available to all window users very easily. Mac users also have similar software on which they can make organograms. Also, there are many free software files present on the internet accessible to anyone living anywhere at any time of the world. These can be downloaded easily and don’t take a lot of space and time. Thus the utility of organograms is clearly highlighted.
What’s important to note that even though organograms are easy to make, the general process in consideration here is the basic function of an organogram i.e. to divide and to highlight and to specify the place and position of a certain person or employee of that organisation. The real process which includes basing the organogram upon different types of organisations to clearly reap out the benefits is where the hard process starts. There are many different types of organisations and the organogram could take anyone of their shape. There is flat, tall, divisional, functional, matrix, bureaucratic, team, network and virtual organisational structure. With so many options, and all with different approach and different advantages, disadvantages and limitations, one should choose carefully after consultation from professionals in this matter. The whole business rests upon the structure through which it runs.
Since a picture is worth more than a thousand words and organogram is a picture basically, it’s worth quite a lot. It is very valuable because of the fact that it enables us to view a whole organisation. It presents a visual picture of a complete organisation. Organograms are also important since not only they represent the employee’s structure; they even relate one whole department to the other, and the function of a whole organisation to another, or others.
The organogram of a company relates different levels to each other. It comprises of managers to sub-workers, chief executive officers to different departments, directors to managing directors, and so on. Sometimes, organogram is so large that it is equally complex. This is generally the organogram of large, multinational companies which are compartmentalized. When this happens, the organogram is split into smaller pieces for each department specifically.
Even organograms have their limitations. They need to be updated manually, which results in their becoming out-of-date very quickly. It is a common problem for large organisations which change their staff regularly. Also, organograms just provide a general picture. They don’t provide an in depth view of the managerial level. They run from top to bottom, from CEO to the office worker, as a result, they are vertically oriented. They don’t show the horizontal relationships as is often in Matrix Organisational Structure where there are many managers on the same level or same department.