It’s a wild world out there, with companies growing at exponential pace, hiring good talent that fits into your corporate culture may be the one defining factor that can either make or break your company’s success. Listed below are some best hiring practices you can put to use in your own organization.
Talent comes in all forms. Depending on your type of company, it is important to identify the key areas that need good talent and make every hire count. Given limited budgets and growth plans that require speedy, yet effective hires, it is important to fine-tune your own unique techniques and tactics that work.
Company cultures have become bold and distinctive statements of their unique identities and would attract potential candidates that actually want to work in a particular company purely because of their corporate culture.
By way of an Organizational chart you can plan your hires effectively and ensure you are teams are aptly supported when crunch time hits. We have a fantastic tool that can be used to draw your own unique Org chart or even modify one of our many org chart templates.
Org chart to identify future growth plans ( click on the image to use it as template )
Cut the Clutter: Review every single application
Recruitment costs can be high if your HR has to spend a lot of time ‘interviewing’ applicants. Instead, review every single application and have a basic matrix of criteria that either qualify or disqualify applications based on the role advertised.
This filters the irrelevant and gives you a bunch of candidates that have good credentials on paper. What it also does is, gives you a pulse of the current job seeker market. You might be able to shortlist for a future position that you hadn’t been looking to fill yet.
‘On the Floor’ interviews
After you have shortlisted and weeded out your list it is important to give the candidates a feel of the real work environment. ‘On the floor’ interviews, where you conduct parts of your hiring process on the actual work environment, as opposed to a boardroom or a meeting room, would give the candidates a feel of being part of the company, even before they join.
Generally, companies that have a flexible and fun culture, would become highly desirous and spread the word out to the other job seekers as a ‘cool workplace’.
This may be difficult in larger organizations, but if you can invest the time to do this, it will reduce your staff turnover on the long run, as the new hires would know what they are getting into and they may be less likely to accept the appointment if they feel irked by the culture and vibes of the workplace.
Diamonds in the rough
Some don’t know that they are diamonds, until they get picked and polished to shine flawlessly. Likewise, there are many ways to screen applicants but recognizing their talents that make them unique and eventually a good fit for your company may be harder than it sounds.
You can do this by asking 3 important questions, which leads to answers that clearly give you a reliable sense of the candidate’s impromptu attitude and real self.
Give an example where your behavior had a positive impact on your team? (followups: main goal, reaction from team, outcome)
Relate a time you effectively managed your team to achieve a goal? (followups: Target, how was it achieved individually and by team, key take aways)
How would you handle difficult colleagues at work? (followups: what steps were taken, how did it effect you and the team, outcome)
Be unique: Advertise jobs to stand out
Reflect your company’s unique culture in your job adverts. Include pictures of the team, while at office and also on outings. This would give a feel of the ‘real nature’ of your company as opposed to just some text on an advert. Quality over quantity. Be clear on the role you are hiring and be specific on what talent you are looking. If samples are required, in the case of a creative designer, ask them to include their portfolio in the application.
Referrals: A breath of fresh air.
This is one of the best ways to find relevant and good talent. Nevertheless, run your process, irrespective if the CEO or a peer recommended the candidate.
Hire with a personal touch
When running the process of hiring, make the experience as smooth and personable as possible for the candidates. Try to be flexible with the interview dates and times, as most good candidates would already be working and may not be able to take time off on the fly. Give them the flexibility to choose from a few options to come in and also explain the process in brief so that they would not be caught off guard when they have to sit for a 60-minute test.
Any Others Best Hiring Practices ?
Recruiting isn’t always easy, in-fact, it’s never easy. If it’s easy, you are not doing it right! Improve your hiring process by following the best hiring practices described above and discover fantastic recruits, that may have gone under the radar.
And if you have some awesome tip to improve the hiring process do let us know in the comments section.
Flat organizations are when the organization has few or no levels of management between everyone in the organization. It is a popular topic these days and many organizations try to become flat organizations.
Some organizations naturally evolve into becoming flat organizations while others are hierarchical or have a different structure and try to move into a flat organization.
Why Flat Organizations ?
Flat organizations have numerous benefits. These include increased responsibility held by each employee aiding their motivation, faster decision making (if people are truly empowered), reduced salaries as the middle management is no longer needed.
Additionally there is a sense of better communication, more clarity of the organization’s purpose and better collaboration among members.
How are flat organizations implemented?
Many a time people equate a flat organization to an open office concept. However nothing could be further from the truth.
A flat organization is more to do with reporting requirements and culture than office layouts. The organization must empower team members to make decisions, it must allow everyone to be accessible at all times and reduce the reporting requirements.
Creating a flat organization takes significant effort from the leaders to ensure there is a high degree of clarity in the vision and goals, ensure everyone’s tasks and work is aligned with the organization’s direction.
Common pitfalls in flat organizations
Flat organizations tend to create lots of generalists but no specialists as everyone tries to know and do everything.
People will feel that they have no where to get promoted and grow in a flat organization as the structure is limited.
Larger companies will have great difficulty in becoming flat as it really is difficult to manage when you are flat and have many people to work with.
The largest pitfall though is that there is a degree of confusion and indecisiveness with who is the boss and who to take direction from in a flat organization.
How Org charts can help flat organizations ?
Clarity of direction is paramount in a flat organization and an org chart can actually help hear. Regardless of the type of structure, you could illustrate the leaders for each team in an organization. You could illustrate it in a way that is not a typical org chart yet shows the key individuals to take direction from or team leaders.
The following Organization Chart diagram shows a way to do this without making it feel like a hierarchical organization. This was drawn using our org chart software and the template is available for free use by anyone.
While the chart is a simple tool, it clarifies many things to the organization and is a key tool in making sure no one is confused in their own roles.
While it keeps away from people’s positions or roles, it draws the reporting lines in a horizontal manner so that people feel that they can collaborate and cross communicate without any need of formality.
Similarly the culture, structure and the organization needs to come into play and needs to be reinforced by conscious decisions by the leadership to ensure that everyone works in a flat manner in the organization and collaboration is the default way of working.
A growing company brings more than one challenge to any leadership team. Going from a 3 person team to a 10 person company to then growing to 20 or 50 people brings about extremely different sets of challenges. Left unmanaged, this may mostly lead to chaos and miscommunication among the team.
Therefore having a clear understanding about your organization and its structure from multiple aspects is essential to be a successful HR leader.
In trying to do this Organization Charts (sometimes called Org Charts or Organigrams) are an essential tool. While many people think org charts are just shows the structure of the company, its use as a planning tool is frequently overlooked. We’ll look at how we can optimally use Org Charts to manage your company’s growth.
Keep track of the current organization
Drawing the org chart to match the current organization structure is an essential step. It takes a few minutes to draw one and the diagram literally can convey information worth thousands of words in a document.
Record additional dimensions on the chart with visual changes
Many people think you can only convey 3 things in an org chart. The Name, Position and reporting structure.
Yet by changing things like Line Style, Outline color, fill color and having one or more text fields in each box can convey so much more in an org chart.
Below is an org chart where it identifies future growth of the organization with dashed boxes. By drawing the future employees and where they belong in the long run inside the same diagram it enables the management to see clearly at a glance where the company is supposed to grow.
Org chart to identify future growth plans
The chart is also color coded so it’s easy to spot trends. People with longer service than 1 year are colored in yellow. People who are not performing well are identified by having a red outline. That’s just two attributes and you could add many more attributes by carefully using the parameters of line style, fill color, outline color as well as the actual text content inside the box.
By using the techniques used above you could easily draw out the future state of the organization. It makes sense to do this with multiple diagrams for each period of hiring that you want to do so that you can see the organization growth in stages.
You can use this to align with the strategy of the company and easily spot if there are any issues early on.
In conjunction with a chart, using a spreadsheet to project the growth is essential. Suggested things to track in such a sheet include Roles, hire dates, salary expectation, key skills for the role, department to belong to, hiring manager etc. This would give you a summary view of the larger picture as well a way for you to play with the numbers and budget when planning for the future.
Although extremely useful for many purposes organizational charts are not for everybody. In our previous articles we’ve covered types of org charts and best practices to follow when creating org charts. Now lets look at advantages and disadvantages of organizational charts so you can make an informed decision to whether to have one or not.
Advantages of Organizational Charts
Lets get started by exploring the benefits of organizational charts.
Shows clear reporting structure – employees know who to report to, who to contact when there is an issue that needs resolving or a question that needs to be answered. This is especially important in large organizations where there are many departments. Someone else from another department can quickly get in touch with the relevant person of another department.
Helps new employees – enables them to get to know the people he or she is working with even before meeting them, thus helping them to connect much more easily.
Helps to manage workload – A well managed organizational chart helps to visualize the workload of individuals. This is especially useful to manage the workload of managers because you can clearly see how many people they are managing and in some cases how many departments are under them.
Makes planning easier – Because you can visualize the structure it helps in future plans. You can allocate resources better, quickly find competencies of individuals and much more.
Org chart helps you to visualize the reporting path
Disadvantages of Organizational Charts
Depending on the situation organizational charts can be a disadvantage as well. So lets take a look at some disadvantages.
Not showing informal channels – This is one of the biggest disadvantages of organizational charts. Not all communication channels are formal and well defined and org charts fail to capture them. Although org charts are not meant to capture them, informal channels are vital in any organization or business so failing to capture them might hinder communication.
A maintenance headache – An outdated organizational chart is almost worthless. But keeping it up to date is very hard, specially for large organizations. Employees might change departments, leave the company, assigned a new role etc. in a short period of time. Since it is hard to keep track of these changes properly maintaining an org chart will be time consuming.
Above I have listed down advantages and disadvantages of org charts. I feel the advantages outweigh the disadvantages but that might depend on your organization. Also you can get started right away with our ready to use organizational chart templates.
What do you think about organizational charts? You think they are beneficial or a waste of time? Do let us know in the comments. If you think they’re beneficial you can easily draw one using our org chart software.
In one of our previous articles, we discussed organizational chart best practices. Now let’s take a look at types of organizational chart structures which can be used in different scenarios. And you don’t have to worry about creating them too. Our organizational chart software supports all the types mentioned below.
Organizational Structure Types
1) Hierarchical Structure
The hierarchical model is the most popular organizational chart type. There are a few models that are derived from this model.
In a hierarchical organization structure, employees are grouped with every employee having one clear supervisor. The grouping is done based on a few factors, hence many models are derived from this. Below are a few of those factors
Function – employees are grouped according to the function they provide. The below image shows a functional org chart with finance, technical, HR, and admin groups.
Geography – employees are grouped based on their region. For example, in the USA employees might be grouped according to the state. If it’s a global company the grouping could be done according to countries.
Product – If a company is producing multiple products or offering different services it can be grouped according to the product or service.
These are some of the most common factors, but there are many more factors. You can find org chart examples for most of these types in our diagramming community.
A functional organizational chart, a variation of the hierarchical model
This is the dominant mode of organization among large organizations. For example Corporations, Governments, and organized religions are hierarchical organizations with different levels of management, power or authority.
Pros:
Helps establish a clear line of authority and reporting within the organization
Clarifies employee roles and responsibilities
Establishes a clear career path for employees which can in turn keep them motivated
Allows employees to be in-depth specialists as they are more likely to have niche positions
Cons:
Slow decision-making due to the complicated chains of command
A disconnect of lower-level employees from those of the top-level management
Inconsistencies in communication due to the vertical and horizontal levels between teams
Restricted information due to the very little downward flow of information to the lower-level employees
2) Matrix Structure
In a Matrix organizational structure, the reporting relationships are set up as a grid, or matrix, rather than in the traditional hierarchy. It is a type of organizational management in which people with similar skills are pooled for work assignments, resulting in more than one manager to report to (sometimes referred to as solid line and dotted line reports, in reference to traditional business organization charts).
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 with multiple managers in their job roles.
Helps eliminate traditional siloed communications barriers
Improved decision-making due to the availability of two chains of command
Allows employees to use their skills in different roles
Better use of resources which leads to increased efficiency
Cons:
May result in confusion regarding roles, responsibilities, and priorities
Conflict of power between the project manager and the functional manager
Blurred lines of accountability
Large overhead costs due to employing several managers
3) Horizontal/Flat Structure
This is an organizational chart type mostly adopted by small companies and start-ups in their early stage. It’s almost impossible to use this model for larger companies with many projects and employees.
The most important thing about this structure is that many levels of middle management are eliminated. This enables employees to make decisions quickly and independently. Thus a well-trained workforce can be more productive by directly getting involved in the decision-making process.
This works well for small companies because work and effort in a small company are relatively transparent. This does not mean that employees don’t have superiors and people to report to. Just that decision-making power is shared and employees are held accountable for their decisions.
So in summary, when deciding on a suitable organizational chart, it is important to have an understanding of the current organizational structure of your company.
Pros:
Fosters better communication and collaboration between team members
More autonomy and responsibility to employees
More transparency due to limited bureaucracy
Because the chain of command is shorter, it allows for faster decision-making
Cons:
Lack of opportunities for employee progression
Risk of power struggles arising due to the lack of a formal system
Employees may have a lower sense of accountability because they have one lead
Risk of confusion because employees don’t have a clear supervisor
4) Network Structure
Network organizational structure helps visualize both internal and external relationships between managers and top-level management. They are not only less hierarchical but are also more decentralized and more flexible than other structures.
The idea behind the network structure is based on social networks. Its structure relies on open communication and reliable partners; both internal and external. The network structure is viewed as agiler than other structures because it has few tires, more control, and a bottom flow of decision making.
Using a Network organizational structure is sometimes a disadvantage because of its complexity. The below example of a network org chart shows the rapid communication between entities.
Promotes healthy competition, innovation, and collaboration
Allows organizations to adapt quickly to changes in their environment
Paves way for an environment that fosters healthy competition, innovation, and collaboration
Smaller, streamlined teams help save costs and contribute to improved efficiency
Cons:
Due to teams being independent and small, large-scale tasks may prove difficult to accomplish
Without immediate supervision, network organizations may struggle with control over employees
Can create an environment where employees compete in an unhealthy manner with each other to perform tasks
When work is outsourced, secret information about the organization may get breached
5) Divisional Structure
Divisional types of organizational charts have their own division which corresponds to either products or geographies. Each division contains the necessary resources and functions needed to support the product line and geography.
Another form of divisional org chart structure is the multi-divisional structure. It’s also known as M-form. It’s a legit structure in which one parent company owns several subsidiary companies, each of which uses the parent company’s brand and name.
The main advantage of the divisional structure is the independent operational flow, that failure of one company does not threaten the existence of the others.
It’s not perfect either. There can be operational inefficiencies from separating specialized functions. An increase in accounting taxes can be seen as another disadvantage.
Makes it much easier to assign responsibility for actions and results
Works well in markets where there is high competition as local managers can quickly respond to changes in local conditions
Tends to yield faster responses to local market conditions
Helps build a culture that contributes both to higher morale and a better knowledge of the division’s portfolio
Cons:
Multiple divisions add more overhead costs to the organization
When a number of functional areas are spread among many divisions, it might lead to inefficiencies
With skills being compartmentalized by division, it can be difficult to transfer skills or best practices across the organization
Since each division may have its own strategic goal, it might not always align with the overall company strategy.
6) Line Organizational Structure
Line organizational structure is one of the simplest types of organizational structures. Its authority flows from top to bottom. Unlike other structures, specialized and supportive services do not take place in these organizations.
The chain of command and each department head has control over their departments. The self-contained department structure can be seen as its main characteristic. Independent decisions can be taken by line officers because of its unified structure.
The main advantage of a line organizational structure can be identified as effective communication that brings stability to the organization.
It is the simplest method of administration and is easy to understand and manage
Since it’s easy to add or remove levels of management, this approach can be beneficial to companies that are constantly growing and changing
Since the decision-making authority is concentrated at the top, it allows for faster decisions
Ensures that everyone is well-aligned with formalized rules and procedures within a line organization
Cons:
Being overly reliant on line officials may become an issue in instances where they aren’t available
Line organizational structures are rigid and inflexible, as such they maintain discipline so rigorously that they can rarely change
Might create a culture of favoritism based on relationships or friendship
Since the department manager is concerned only with the activities of his own department, employees are only skilled in tasks of their own departments
7) Team-based Organizational Structure
Team-based organizational structures are made of teams working towards a common goal while working on their individual tasks. They are less hierarchical and they have flexible structures that reinforce problem-solving, decision-making, and teamwork.
Team organization structures have changed the way many industries work. Globalization has allowed people in all industries around the world to produce goods and services cooperatively. Especially, manufacturing companies must work together with suppliers around the globe while keeping the cost to a minimum while producing high-quality products.
Pros:
Communication between employees is much more free-flowing and effective
Since communication is more efficient, information flows faster leading to quicker problem-solving
Allows employees from different backgrounds and different skillsets to come together and learn from each other
With higher flexibility, team-based organizations find it easier to adapt to a fast-changing industry environment
Cons:
Personality conflicts within the team can negatively impact efficiency and group harmony
Have less clear promotional paths for employees
Since team accomplishments are rewarded rather than individual achievements, it might prove difficult to keep individual employees motivated
Underperforming employees may hide behind those who are working hard and reap the benefits
Other Types of Organizational Charts
The ones shown above are the most commonly used types of Organizational Charts or organogram structure types as some call them. But there are plenty more models which have various advantages and disadvantages based on the situation and organization. You can easily experiment with different models using our org chart software.
Have questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments or you can reach to us via our social media channels.
When you want to present the bigger picture in an easily understandable way or define your ideas/proposals succinctly, visual representation works better than just words. Here’s where diagrams can be useful in breaking down different elements of an idea or thought, and say a lot without actually saying too much! There are five such essential diagrams that you can use in just about any setting such as business, education or home science.
1. Mind maps
A mind map is a graphical representation of concepts and ideas. It breaks down big topics into handy chunks, creates associations between various elements of the topic and explains the structure of the topic in an easy way. It encourages the use of color and images, with some resembling works of art. A mind map is a powerful visual thinking tool that gives you clues to recall the information contained within it.
Project managers use mind maps to describe ideas and agendas to teams
Students use them as a mnemonic tool to remember structures or shapes of a study topic clearly and easily
Mind maps help event planners organize different aspects of their upcoming event
In the hands of marketers, mind maps can offer different potential avenues to promote products/services
Mind maps are an excellent collaborative tool for team members of a project
Creative writers use them to define a method to their madness
Business owners use mind maps to develop dynamic business plans
To create a basic mind map, you start at the center of the page and draw a picture/geometric figure for your central idea. There will naturally be major subheadings under the core idea that directly relate to it. These can be lines or rays that you draw outwards from the central image. You then delve into the next finer level of subheadings that delivers more information and is important to completely understand the bigger idea. These can be lines/rays linking to the subheading lines. Basically, a mind map grows by association; you can incorporate drawings, myriad colors and a slew of connecting shapes to create this diagram.
Creately’s mind mapping tools are easy to use and the real-time collaboration features make it perfect for teams as well. Can’t wait to get started? Our professionally designed mind map templates speed up the process and presents you with plenty of mind mapping ideas. Like the mind map below? Just click on it and modify to your liking.
E.g.: Weekly Employee Meeting Mind Map
A Weekly employee meeting mind map. Useful in many situations mind maps is a must in your essential diagrams list. ( click to use this template )
2. Flowcharts:
There is no one definition for a flowchart. A computer programmer will tell you that it is a step-by-step diagram to describe a complex program, while a business professional will call it a process map or a graphical representation of data flow in an organization. The purpose of a flowchart is to give a reference point when communicating or dealing with a process, problem or project. Like a mind map, it can be used in various situations to great effect.
Before you can draw a flowchart, you will need to identify inputs and outputs and cause and effect. You will also need to be familiar with the standard flowchart symbols or ones that your company may use as a standard. Once you have figured these two aspects, you draw the ‘start box’ and then add subsequent boxes that follow a logical sequence of questioning, i.e. answer the question ‘what happens next?’ To understand the basics of creating a flowchart, click here.
Flowcharts are probably the most popular diagram type in the world and deserves a place in essential diagrams list
Now that we have added flowcharts to the essential diagrams list next step is to give you tools to draw them. Our flowchart tools comes with some awesome features like 1-click create and connect which will help you become even more productive.
3. Fishbone Diagrams
The fishbone diagram was invented by quality control expert Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa. The operative phrase here is ‘quality control’, which tells you that this diagram visually represents the cause and effect analysis of a problem. You create this diagram in the shape of a fish. Start with the head, which is the problem in question. A straight line leading to the head is the fish’s backbone. Lines connecting to the backbone are the ‘causes’ of the problem or the first bones of the fish. Each cause will then need to be brainstormed to break it down further. This way of identifying root causes will help you zero in on potential solutions.
Fishbone diagrams, sometimes referred as cause and effect diagrams
Our diagramming community has many Fishbone diagram templates so all you have to do is modifying them to fit your requirement.
4. Hierarchy Charts / Org Charts
A hierarchical chart is a type of organizational chart that presents the relationships and ranks of people within the organization. These relations and hierarchical structures may include top-level management only or management and subordinates, depending upon the purpose for which the chart is being used. A much-leveraged benefit of a hierarchy chart is explaining the chain of command to new employees. It can be used in a number of scenarios, including business proposals and in-house strategy meetings to gain clarity into a business functioning and management roles.
Hierarchy charts are easy to create, involving one basic shape such as a rectangle or oval to indicate the position/role and ascending or descending lines that logically indicate the seniority of each position/role within the larger organizational framework. It can resemble a family tree diagram, with CEO, top-level/senior management on top of the chart and the branches (descending lines) indicating middle-level management, team leads and employees.
If you’re working at a company the organizational / hierarchy charts are a must have in your essential diagrams list
5. SWOT Analysis Diagrams
A SWOT matrix provides a visual framework to analyze four key elements – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. From helping you extract maximum advantage from business opportunities and identifying weaknesses and minimizing them, to building on your strengths in a particular area of business and preparing you to counteract threats from competitors, this diagram finds utility in a number of scenarios.
SWOT analysis diagrams are useful in many situations including planning and forecasting
A working knowledge of these five essential diagrams can make a big difference in the way you address problems, get your point across, and manage your work. Creately understands this perfectly well and has made your job of leveraging these highly-beneficial visual thinking tools super-easy.
Listed above are some generally essential diagrams. Depending on your job these can change dramatically. For example if you’re a software engineer then UML probably ranks very high in your essential diagrams list. Can you think of another generally used diagram type that is essential? Do mention it in comments and we’ll consider adding it.
