Cambridge O Level Business Studies · Syllabus 7115 · People in Business
Organisational Chart
What is Organisational Chart?
A diagram showing the formal structure of a business: the roles it contains, the levels of authority those roles sit at, and who reports to whom. It shows formal reporting relationships and responsibilities, not the informal influence, workload or actual competence of the people in the roles.
This definition is part of the People in Business chapter in Cambridge O Level Business Studies.
Organisational Chart in context
Organisation is the framework that turns a motivated workforce into coordinated action: an organisational chart sets out levels of hierarchy, chain of command and span of control, and managers plan, organise, coordinate and control the work within it. Delegation passes authority to a subordinate while accountability for the outcome stays with the manager, and autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire leadership each suit different situations rather than one style being universally best. Recruitment, selection and training then supply and develop the people who fill that structure, and effective communication, understood by the receiver and confirmed by feedback, is what lets instructions and information actually move through it.