Operations department org chart example
An operations department of about thirty for a company that makes and ships physical goods, drawn around what operations means there: getting the product made and delivered. Supply chain and fulfillment are the two big lines; business operations, facilities and quality are the small ones that decide whether the big two are any good.
How an operations department is usually structured
"Operations" means whatever the company delivers. In a goods company it is supply chain and fulfillment; in a services company it is delivery and the field; in a software company it is often everything that is not engineering or sales. Draw the version your company has, and put the chief operating officer at the top with the chief executive above, because the COO's reports are the clearest statement of what the company thinks operations is for.
Supply chain plans and buys: demand and supply planners who decide what to make and order, procurement that buys it, logistics that moves it. Fulfillment stores and ships: a warehouse with two managers because it runs two shifts, each with shift leads and their crews stacked beneath, and a returns supervisor because returns are a queue of their own. Both directors are measured on service level and cost, and both need the small functions beside them to be believed.
Business operations is the COO's own team: analysts, a continuous improvement lead and a project manager who work on the operation rather than in it, and belong beside the directors rather than under any of them. Quality reports to the COO with a dotted line to the chief executive, because an inspector who reports only to the person whose output they inspect will eventually be asked to look away. Procurement reports to supply chain and is dotted to the CFO, the same arrangement the finance department draws from the other side.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | Chief Operating Officer, VP of Operations; Director of Supply Chain, Director of Fulfillment or Distribution, Head of Business Operations |
| Managers | Procurement Manager, Logistics Manager, Warehouse Manager, Facilities & Safety Manager, Quality Manager, Continuous Improvement Lead, Operations Project Manager |
| Planners, analysts and leads | Demand Planner, Supply Planner, Buyer, Transportation Coordinator, Import/Export Specialist, Operations Analyst, Inventory Control Specialist, Shift Lead, Returns Supervisor |
| Crew and support | Warehouse Associate, Forklift Operator, Picker/Packer, Quality Inspector, Facilities Technician; cleaning and maintenance contractors (as contractors) |
Where these charts go wrong
Operations charts fail by making operations mean everything that is not sales or engineering, so the COO has fourteen reports and no operation; by drawing the warehouse as forty cards in a row; by hiding procurement in finance or in operations with no line to the other; by leaving the facilities contractor off, so one technician appears to maintain a building; and by putting quality under the manager whose output it inspects with no route around them.
Questions people ask
- What does an operations department include?
- Whatever the company delivers, plus the functions that judge it. For a goods company: supply chain (planning, procurement, logistics), fulfillment (the warehouse and returns), business operations (analysts and improvement), facilities and quality. For a services company the middle changes, delivery teams instead of a warehouse, and the edges stay the same. What it should not include is everything nobody else wanted.
- Who should report to the COO?
- The directors of the operation itself, usually supply chain and fulfillment, plus the small functions that need to be independent of them: business operations, facilities and quality. Five to seven reports is the range; a COO with fourteen is running a holding company of departments, not an operation.
- Where does procurement sit on an org chart?
- In supply chain with a dotted line to the CFO, or in finance with a dotted line to supply chain. The buyers need to sit with the planners, and the spend needs an owner in finance; whichever line is solid, draw the other one, because the department without a line is the one that finds out about the contract afterwards.
- How do you chart a warehouse with day and night shifts?
- If each shift has its own manager, as two teams with the crews stacked under their shift leads. If one manager runs crews that rotate, as one team, with the schedule kept elsewhere. Never draw the shifts as departments, and never list forty associates in a row: stack them, or show the shift leads with team sizes in their titles.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.