Question

An organizational chart of a company shows vice presidents with responsibility for key areas such as design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and after-sales support. This reflects a _______ structure.

Answer 1

Answer: Functional

Explanation: The functional structure of an organisational chart places people with similar skills who perform similar activities in a group under a common manager who answers to an executive a level up in the hierarchy who may oversee multiple departments. Therefore, an organizational chart of a company showing vice presidents with responsibility for key areas such as design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and after-sales support would reflect a functional structure.

An advantage of the functional structure is that employees are allowed to focus their collective energies on executing their roles as a department but sometimes they might develop tunnel vision (seeing the company solely through the lens of the employee’s job function) and often at times there is a lack of inter-departmental communication.