A company organizational chart is a picture of reporting relationships: who each person answers to, and by extension who answers to them. That is all it claims, and most of the disappointment people have with charts comes from expecting the other three things they look like they should show. This page is what the chart is, what it is not, and which of those other three things belong on a profile, in a document or on a second view. On the worked example a company of 120 people produces a chart of 128 boxes, 15 managers and four layers, and none of those numbers say anything about influence.
What it shows: lines, layers and spans
The chart says who writes whose review and approves whose leave, how many layers sit between the top and the work, and how many people each manager carries. From a headcount and a span of control those follow arithmetically: 120 people at a span of seven is 15 managers and 105 individual contributors, with four leaders at the top reaching 228 people within three layers. Those are the questions a chart answers well and quickly.
What it is not: influence, workload or the real decision path
It does not show who actually decides, who people ask when they are stuck, or who is overloaded. Those are real and they are not reporting relationships, which is why an organisation chart and an honest description of how a company works are two different documents. Trying to draw influence onto the chart produces a diagram nobody can read and nobody maintains.
What belongs on the profile instead
Responsibilities, tenure, skills and contact details all belong behind the box rather than on it. A chart with a line of responsibility under each name works for a team of nine; at 128 boxes it becomes unreadable. The rule that keeps both useful is that the chart carries the line and the profile carries the person.
Questions people ask about what is a company organizational chart
Is an organizational chart the same as an org structure?
The structure is the arrangement; the chart is the drawing of it. People search for both and mean the same thing about eight times in ten.
Who should be able to see the company chart?
Everybody in the company, in almost every case. A chart that only leaders can see is one new joiners recreate badly in their heads.
Does a small company need one?
Under about twenty people, a list of who owns what is more useful. The chart earns its place when nobody can name everyone.