Don’t confuse hierarchy with command and control. The mountain doesn’t control the prairie around it just because the river flows down the mountain and into the prairie. Come on, folks. People talk about org charts like they’re a bad thing. That is bunk.

People need structure. We naturally seek relationships, effective communication channels, and some sense of order.  Just because your company has a traditional org chart or hierarchy, doesn’t mean it’s managed with command and control, overlords barking orders, micro-managing and over ruling decisions.  Those are elements of a culture – not the product of a hierarchy. read more »

Bloody Monday and Ugly Tuesday are big evidence that there are a lot of jobs being cut. Most people are anticipating more layoffs. That means HR personnel have a lot of work ahead of them. Here are some quick tips to consider to save yourself and the company from a little of the pain of a badly selected layoff pool. read more »

Does your payroll match your org chart? I hope it does. There are many reasons why you need these two sources of information to match. There are requirements for accurate org charts within ISO, SOX audits, gaming commissions, energy legislation, and more. Those are all regulatory type requirements. However, even simple process inefficiencies can be very costly to an organization. One of the most expensive gaps in data accuracy I have seen actually occurred when a company continued to pay employees after they were terminated. read more »

We have so many relationships in our work lives, both formal and informal. The org chart gives you a clear vision of the formal work relationships. You might chart people based on their financial reporting relationship or by their day-to-day functional reporting. Many companies do both. Some people scoff, saying that their company works in teams thus making the hierarchy obsolete. I have seldom found this to be a reality. read more »