Real leaders know how to draw an org. chart. When did the leaders ego grow so big as to invert the diagrams purpose and meaning?
The first organizational chart (How information design solved a big problem for the Erie Railroad in the telegraph age) was a tree form describing the people and roles of the Erie Railroad with the executives at the bottom.
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| Erie Railroad Org Chart |
By 1917 the org chart had mutated to the now traditional pyramid shape. See Wikipedia article.
A better alternative to the org chart is the Organigraph. "The organigraph shows how companies really work. It uses symbols like stars, funnels, tubes, links and chains—in all, there are six specific symbols that represent how a company actually works." -- Building Business Value Blog Here's an example:
The secret to Walt Disney's strategy Organigraph.
So do you see how the first Org Chart was both an organizational chart and an organigraph? And why it may have provided great informational value. Here's Enron's organigraph - it reminds me of an attack cell.
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| Enron's Organigraph |
What's wrong with your Organizational Structure? by Brian Robertson of Holacracy.org.
The Last ReOrg You'll Ever Do by Aaron Dignan
Today’s most disruptive organizations are beginning to organize around a new pattern: the ability to evolve in real time. Holacracy -- Agile Squads -- Self Organizing framework.
"Once upon a time, there were no line graphs or bar charts. Then, in 1786, the Scottish engineer and economist William Playfair published 44 of them. The Commercial and Political Atlas, a sprawling examination of British trade and debt from 1700 to 1782, utilized charts to explain business over time—a dramatic departure from the tables then commonly used to display data."
It presents important events from the beginning of time as rivers flowing into and out of each other.
By David Doochin June 06, 2016 via Atlas Obscura
Data viz isn’t just a modern-day craze. Designer Manuel Lima, author of The Book of Trees, discusses the origins of the tree diagram.
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