Small business org chart example
A fifteen-person plumbing and heating company, drawn at the moment most small businesses need a chart for the first time: the owner has just hired a second manager, half the company still reports to him out of habit, and the bookkeeper, the apprentice and the marketing agency are on the payroll in three different ways. The chart is the owner's first honest look at what he built.
How a small business is usually structured
A small business has a founder at the top who does several jobs, and the first thing the chart shows is which ones. Here the owner is chief executive, head of sales and, until last year, service manager. He has hired a service manager and an install lead, and the chart draws the two lines he has actually handed over and the two he has not: the dispatcher and the estimator still report to him, because nobody has decided otherwise. That is not a mistake to hide; it is the thing the chart is for.
The office manager sits beside the owner, not below him, because that is the job: she runs the office, the phones, the paperwork and half of everything else, and she is not the manager of anyone in the field. Drawing her as a staff position keeps her off the line of command and on the page, which is where the person who actually knows what is happening belongs.
Then the people who are not employees, drawn as what they are. A part-time bookkeeper on a contract, a marketing agency on a retainer, an apprentice on a training scheme — three different arrangements that a chart with one kind of box would flatten into fifteen identical employees. Mark them. When the business applies for a loan, bids for a contract or sells, the first question is how many people it actually employs, and the chart should already know.
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 |
|---|---|
| Owner | Owner, Founder, Managing Director, President, General Manager (when the owner steps back) |
| First managers | Service Manager, Operations Manager, Office Manager (staff), Install Lead or Foreman, Sales Manager, Shop Manager |
| Office | Dispatcher, Estimator, Bookkeeper (often part-time or contracted), Customer Service Representative, Administrative Assistant, Marketing (often an agency) |
| Field and trade | Lead Technician, Service Technician, Installer, Apprentice, Helper, Subcontractor (as a contractor), Driver |
Where these charts go wrong
Small business charts go wrong by pretending the owner has delegated more than he has, so the chart shows a service manager and the technicians still phone the owner; by drawing the office manager as a report when she is the operation; by leaving off the contractors and the agency, so the company looks smaller or bigger than it is; by drawing family members by relationship; and by not being drawn at all until the day a bank, a buyer or a new hire asks.
Questions people ask
- Does a small business need an org chart?
- From about the day it hires its first manager. Before that everyone reports to the owner and the chart is a list. After it, the chart is where the owner decides, and everyone sees, who reports to whom now — and it is the first document a bank, an insurer, a large customer or a buyer asks for that the business usually does not have.
- Where does a family member go on a small business org chart?
- In the job they do, with the title the job has. A spouse who does the books is the bookkeeper and reports to whoever the bookkeeper reports to. Ownership is a separate document. Drawing the family relationship on the chart tells new hires something about how decisions are made that the owner probably does not mean to say.
- How do I show part-time staff, contractors and an agency?
- Part-time employees as employees, with the hours in a note if it matters. Contractors — a part-time bookkeeper on an invoice, a subcontracted crew — as contractors, under the person who directs their work. An agency as one contractor card under the person who holds the relationship. An apprentice as an apprentice. The distinctions are what the accountant, the bank and the tax office will ask about.
- When should a small business add a manager?
- When the owner has more than about eight direct reports and is doing a job that a manager could do better than a part-time owner. The sign is usually the dispatcher: when scheduling has become someone's whole job and the owner is still doing it at night, the next hire is a manager, not another technician. Draw the chart with the open role on it and the business can see the gap before the owner burns out.
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, programmes 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 centre, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defence, 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.
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.