Have you ever met an org chart you’ve loved?
Like really, truly felt passionate about?
Yet, could you imagine working in a large organization without one?
People love to hate structure, but that doesn’t change the fact that people need structure.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, org charts provide structure.
More than than, they also provide the illusion of forward progress: “Hey, my box links all the way up to the CEO’s box! Now if I can just navigate my way through these lines… up from box to box…”
The illusion of forward progress is incredibly attractive… at least for men. What guy hasn’t hopped off a crowded highway to take a side road, knowing full well may actually add 10 minutes onto the drive but finding comfort in the feeling of constant progress?
(Are women like that, too? I don’t know; please weigh in.)
Trouble is, unlike roads, which do often get you to where you need to go, the lines on org charts don’t take you anywhere. They’re reporting relationships, not developmental paths.
To excel as an individual contributor, it’s about solving functional problems, which means working more/harder/better/faster/smarter.
To excel as a manager, it’s about solving interpersonal problems, which means solving problems with a handshake.
To excel as an executive, it’s about solving political problems, which means controlling the frame through which others interpret their worlds.
What this means is, that little line connecting your box to the next box up is no more passable than a one lane, one way road filled with traffic and coming right at you.
Of course, most of us aren’t looking at the org chart for a full picture. We like the unsatisfying incompleteness of those lines and boxes; it allows us to maintain the illusion of progress.
I wonder when we’ll be ready to let go of the illusion and start working toward the real thing?
I wonder what alternative forms of organization will spring up on account of all the mobile, project-based talent that’s now out there?
What’s your organization doing? How have you seen org charts impact your institution’s ability to execute?
Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.
I'm the CEO of Ajax Social Media. We're helping 1 million people shine by making their online stories better. 
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you raise the conceptual problem with any model…it has flaws and errors.
Org charts function by providing some idea of how the org works, functions,, flows.
Yes they are just a fancy connections graph…yet they can assist in understanding how a company sees itself.
From an outside perspective when consulting and coaching I like looking at the org. chart to gain perspective into the positive illusion that the company as an organism has of itself.
The ability to execute in reference to an org chart can be added or subtracted depending upon your direct connection (or lack of connection) to the org chart and the perception you hold of it.
An org chart is like a stick figure drawing — it’s a slim representation of the entire multi-dimensional landscape of an organization.
@Michael—org charts explain reporting relationships. To show me how an organization works, show me an organigraph or flow chart. Show me a relationship map that includes both formal and informal relationships, a decision making model, or a strategic plan. Show me a reward/incentive plan or a disciplinary process. Those things demonstrate how organizations work. Org charts just show who’s the boss…