Strategy
Organisational Structure
Plain English
How a company is set up.
Definition
Organisational structure defines how teams, roles, and responsibilities are arranged within a business.
In practice
Impacts communication, glossaryDecision MakingDecision making is the process of selecting the best course of action from available options based on information, goals, and constraints.Open glossary term, and how work gets done.
In context
It shows up in the product. Teams organised by glossaryChannelA channel is a source or pathway through which users arrive at a product, such as search, social media, paid ads, or direct traffic.Open glossary term ship a web experience and an app experience that behave differently, because nobody owns the join.
The reality
Structures often create silos that slow down collaboration and glossaryDeliveryDelivery is the process of building, testing, and releasing a product or feature.Open glossary term.
Compared with
Organisational Structure vs Operating Model
Structure is the arrangement of teams and reporting lines. The glossaryOperating ModelAn operating model defines how an organisation delivers its products or services, including processes, roles, systems, and workflows.Open glossary term is how work actually flows across them. Restructures change the chart; only operating-glossaryModelA model is a system or representation used to process data and generate outputs, often trained to perform specific tasks.Open glossary term change alters how anything gets done.
FAQ
Common questions
A few practical answers to the questions that usually come up around this term.
What is organisational structure?
It is how roles and teams are arranged in a business.
Why is organisational structure important?
It affects how work and decisions flow.
What are common structures?
Hierarchical, flat, and matrix structures.
What problems do structures cause?
Silos and slow glossaryDecision MakingDecision making is the process of selecting the best course of action from available options based on information, goals, and constraints.Open glossary term.
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