When you think of organizational charts, what often comes to your mind is probably the top-down, pyramid-like organizational chart of large companies.
I’m sure you’ve seen something like this before:
Of course, this is just one type of business organizational chart that exists today for organizations big and small.
Ever wondered how those organizational charts speak volumes about a company’s vibe and values? Well, that’s what I’ll help you figure out today.
I’m going to break down what business organizational charts are, share plenty of neat examples and show you how to design your own using an Organizational Chart Maker or awesome organizational chart templates.
20 organizational chart examples
Let’s take a look at 20 organizational chart examples you can use in your business.
The majority of these examples feature hierarchical org charts, but you can add or delete branches to create other types of org charts as well.
1. Vertical smart organization chart example
A vertical organization chart works well for smaller corporate structures or for departments within a larger organization. It represents the chain of command and reporting relationships from the top to the bottom. It typically starts with the highest-ranking individual or position (such as the CEO or President) at the top and brances into lower levels of management and employees down to the bottom.
This vertical corporate structure chart uses dynamic colors to differentiate the teams and their reports, making it easier to understand the role of each team member.
2. Corporate vertical organizational chart example
This vertical rganizational structure chart helps employees understand who they report to, who their peers report to and the responsibilities everyone has.
Although the layout itself is minimal, the shapes and colors bring life to the design. You can also use icons to differentiate between departments in organizational chart designs. This will especially help new hires understand right away what they’re looking at.
3. Simple vertical organizational chart example
For a more modern look and feel, check out this alternate take on a healthcare organizational chart.
It incorporates a digitized background design and a flat color palette. You can use this template to show the structure of a project team with the project manager at the top, followed by team leads, and then individual contributors. This helps ensure accountability and clarify decision-making authority.
4. Bold vertical organization chart example
When designing your own organizational chart, it’s important to group employees together who report to the same manager/executive.
It’s up to you how you visualize those connections. One method is to use lines and nodes for a typical layout. Or, as in this vertical organizational chart example, you can use a legend and a varied color palette to indicate the reporting structure.
Large departments within corporations can use this chart to show internal team hierarchies, ensuring that employees understand the flow of communication, supervision, and responsibilities within each department.
5. Modern vertical organizational chart example
An organizational chart can also be more than a breakdown of reporting relationships.
This organizational chart includes contact information for individual staff. This is especially helpful for new employees or when communicating across departments. You can use this template to showcase the structure of board of directors. Outline the board members, their roles, and any committees. It gives a clear, bold look, suitable for corporate reports or investor presentations.
This is a memorable way to show the connections between departments and team members and it makes a statement.
Learn more: Venngage for Healthcare Organizations
6.Vibrant functional smart organizational chart example
If choosing a design style for your organizational chart feels challenging, consider your organization’s brand guidelines.
It can provide you the style and color inspiration you need to get started.
7. Marketing organizational structure example
In this example, the organizational chart is broken down by function and it’s clear the president oversees the marketing, sales, and production departments. Marketing, design, or creative agencies can use this template to display their team hierarchy while maintaining a visually compelling, artistic presentation.
8. Blue functional organizational chart example
Generally, a traditional marketing organizational structure is broken down by departments.
You have teams entirely dedicated to areas like branding, communications and digital. It’s also important to identify teams that marketing relies on – like customer success and developers.
With the use of a vibrant color palette, you can clearly identify each department and who belongs in each. It’s easier to scan and follow over angular lines, especially in more complex organizational structures.
This blue functional organizational chart example is broken down in a similar way. The layout is just set to landscape and reads from left to right.
Notice how this organizational chart design makes use of employee headshots? That’s especially helpful to new employees.
With the rise of remote work and remote employee onboarding, you may not always share an office or break room with fellow co-workers so headshots in a organizational chart is a simple way to help folks get acquainted.
9. Vertical organizational chart example
A vertical organizational chart, or hierarchical chart, is the traditional org chart you see in many organizations.
The layout positions the CEO at the top, with those report directly below and so on. The goal of a vertical organizational chart is to present reporting relationships between employees.
Here’s an example vertical corporate structure chart for Apple. You can see it’s a very typical hierarchical chart with lots of layers of leadership.
It’s clear who reports to whom in upper-management at a glance. Large corporations like Apple also have unique roles such as the Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives executive, or the Apple University Dean.
Plotting these types of roles in a business organizational chart is essential as it indicates where these roles fall in terms of hierarchy, who they answer to and what their responsibilities are.
Another aspect of a vertical organizational chart are the organizational functions. This is often referred to as a functional organizational chart.
10. Inbound marketing organizational structure example
In a presentation by Hubspot on creating agile teams, they shared a breakdown of how their (powerhouse) marketing department is structured. The breakdown is by specific functions/objectives, channels and relevant metrics.
You’ll also notice that there is no clear reporting structure because the objective of this chart design is to highlight how the marketing team operates. This is what a functional organizational chart can look like within a department.
The functions are defined as teams and channels. Your own organizational chart design will probably look different since it depends on the types of channels your marketing team is divided into.
11. Vertical divisional organizational chart example
This divisional organizational chart is broken down into its separate business areas of focus.
This type of organizational structure applies to larger organizations with divisions that are geographical, product-focused, industry-focused, market-focused or anything along those lines.
You’ll see that each division has its own marketing team, sales team and services team and they operate independently of one another and have all the same functions.
12. Simple horizontal organization chart example
Flat organizational structures can share the same layout as vertical organizational structures, but there are fewer executive and managerial levels.
The horizontal organizational chart example above also uses a landscape orientation.
This helps to emphasize the lack of hierarchical tiers and the extended role of management. While it is just a design choice, it communicates how the organization is structured at a glance.
Valve, the popular video-game developer, is proud of the flat organizational structure they’ve built.
Here’s how they visualize their organizational structure in their employee handbook. They include a few quips as well.
This is a fun way to understand Valve’s views on hierarchy, structure and collaboration. It’s clear there is a level of camaraderie and togetherness they aspire for.
It’s also a great example of presenting an organization’s brand and culture through documentation.
Rather than just a flat organizational structure with minimal hierarchy, Valve aspires for a completely collaborative organization with no hierarchy at all.
Within a horizontal organizational structure, managers will have a higher set of responsibilities and more direct reports than a typical manager.
This means a marketing manager may have designers, product people, support staff and others who don’t necessarily fall into “marketing” as reports, too.
13. Lean marketing organizational structure example
Github has a lean marketing organizational structure. The VP oversees many areas, but they are not layered with upper and middle management. Instead, the teams are small and collaborative.
It’s always helpful to mimic your organizational structure in the design of your organizational chart. Reduce the number of tiers and group teams together in the way that makes the most sense.
In Github’s lean marketing structure, you can see where responsibilities overlap, those teams share a color code.
These color palettes can carry over into project sprints and tasks that get tracked in applications like Trello and Asana! It’s a great way to maintain consistency in all your corporate communications.
A lean organizational structure is most suitable for startups or small businesses with limited resources where different roles are efficiently managed by a small, versatile team.
14. Matrix organizational structure example
The matrix organizational chart combines traditional organizational structures.
A matrix organizational chart ties in project planning needs by pairing project managers with interdisciplinary teams.
That means the chart needs to highlight departmental or functional managers and their direct reports, as well as project managers and their reports.
Here’s a detailed look at the layout and reporting structure of a matrix organizational chart:
There is a clear vertical functional structure with functional managers lining the top row.
But project managers work with employees from each function and so form a parallel column to the employees in each function.
In this layout, the tiny squares highlight which employee in each function reports to a project manager.
The simplest way to indicate reporting relationships here is through the use of arrows or lines and aligning the correct staff vertically with their managers and horizontally with their project managers.
The matrix organizational structure is necessary for large organizations that have multiple projects going on and need collaboration across departments.
t would be a cluster of super-circles representing departments or functions, with smaller groups of circles for specific areas.
15. Meet the team company organizational chart
If you’re welcoming a new member to the team, this team organizational chart can help you provide a clear visual of how the team is structured, highlighting each person’s role and responsibilities.
It can also show new hires who they’ll be working with directly, making it easier for them to understand reporting lines and build connections within the team from day one.
16. People and culture HR organizational chart
Creating a People and Culture HR organizational chart is essential for providing clarity on the structure and responsibilities within the HR department.
This visual tool also makes it easier for team members to know who to approach for specific HR-related questions, improving communication and fostering a more organized and transparent workplace environment.
17. Leadership organizational chart
Designing a leadership organizational diagram can clearly outline the hierarchy and reporting structure within a company’s leadership team.
They help employees understand who holds key decision-making roles, making it easier to know who to contact for specific issues or approvals. These diagrams also offer transparency in leadership roles, reinforcing accountability and ensuring that everyone is aligned with the chain of command.
18. Hierarchy organizational chart
A hierarchy chart diagram is useful for visually representing the levels of authority and relationships within an organization or department. It helps clarify the chain of command, making it easy to see who reports to whom and how different roles are connected.
This chart enhances communication, ensures that responsibilities are clearly defined and supports efficient decision-making by outlining the organization’s internal structure at a glance.
19. Organizational structure flow chart example
Here’s another example of a flat organizational structure for media and entertainment organizations. You can use this template to show the leadership structure of the company. This template can also be customized for lean teams where decision-making is distributed across various levels of the organization. Instead of decisions flowing from top management, employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute and innovate.
20. HR department org chart example
This template explains the hierarchy in the HR department of an organization. It uses distinct colors codes to differentiate between various levels or groups within the HR department, such as leadership, managers, and specialists.
You can use this template to show the organizational structure during employee onboarding sessions, company meetings, or while doing organizational planning.
Org chart examples from real companies
Nike’s org chart example
Nike’s organizational structure gets a lot of praise and it happens to be a matrix organizational structure.
Spotify’s organizational chart example: Tribes, squads and guilds
Spotify, the well-known audio-streaming service, is known for its unique tribe organizational structure.
Due to its growth and success, many startups have tried to adopt the same organizational structure, or some variation of it and make it work for them.
At a glance, it may seem strange and overly complex. But the organizational structure facilitates the communication and collaboration Spotify needed (and still needs) to grow quickly and reliably.
It starts with a tribe and its tribe leads.
They lead the squads that oversee different areas of the product. Across the squads, in each tribe, you have chapters that facilitate communication between the squads and chapter leads.
Of course, there are numerous tribes across the organization.
They work fairly independently of one another on a wide range of things that may or may not overlap.
As these individuals learn from new experiences, problems, outcomes and so on, they need to share information, tools, code and best practices.
These folks form guilds which include members across tribes. People can also belong to multiple guilds.
Spotify’s tribal organizational structure is meant to cut down on bureaucracy, which naturally builds as a company grows to hundreds or thousands of staff.
This way Spotify can still collaborate effectively as an organization, deliver projects sooner, implement changes faster, grow better and behave in a far more responsive manner.
You can also see from the way the organizational charts are arranged, there is an emphasis on fluidity within the structure, rather than rigidity.
Zappos organizational chart example: Holacratic organizational structure
Zappos is an online shoe and clothing retailer. They’re also known for having a unique culture and organizational structure.
They share insights on their approach to structure on Zappos Insights. This includes the fact that they are a holacracy.
A holacracy has a decentralized leadership, rather than one concentrated in an individual or handful of people.
It aims to distribute power typically reserved to executives across an organization to all employees.
It rejects the notion of hierarchy completely. The benefit is that it enables regular staffers to put forth ideas, collaborate with other employees and work with minimal restrictions.
Here’s an example of what a holacratic organizational chart looks like:
You can see right away there aren’t any lines, columns or rows like in the previous organizational chart examples.
Employees belong in a space that is shared, brought together in areas of specific functions and tasks.
How to create an organizational chart in Venngage
As an online visual communication tool, creating any type of organizational chart can be done in minutes.
First, go ahead and set yourself up with a free Venngage account. This will let you access organizational chart templates and use our editor.
It’s not a trial and doesn’t require any payment info.
Next, head over to our organizational chart templates and choose a template that looks appealing to you.
Then, in the editor, access neat features to customize your organizational chart design.
Apply your branding, add organizational sections and levels, upload employee headshots and include a range of icons for an engaging design.
With Venngage’s Smart diagrams, you can edit, add and duplicate sections of your organizational chart with the click of a button.
You can also change the formatting to your brand colors and apply the same to any or all shapes in the diagram.
When choosing color palettes or fonts, keep accessible design principles in mind.
You want an organizational chart that anyone can read and comprehend with ease.
For additional resources for planning and organizing your teams or even company, check out these blog posts:
