NARRATOR: Imagine that you're considering a position at a new organization. In addition to the actual position, you should be interested in the organization itself, right? So how do you learn about an organization?

One of the best ways to learn about how an organization is structured is by looking at its organizational chart. An organizational chart is a graphic representation of the formal structure of an organization. It includes the employees and leaders broken down by departments, units, or functional areas.

For instance in institutions of higher education, the highest level of authority is the Board of Trustees and the President. Immediately following the Board of Trustees and the President are the units that comprise the President's cabinet. The rest of the organizational chart reflects the units and departments that make up the rest of the institution. Notice that each box on the chart is connected in some way all the way back to the President and Board of Trustees. These connections represent the authority reporting lines.

Depending on the size and complexity of the institution, the number and types of units representing the remainder of the organizational chart will vary. For smaller institutions, the organizational chart may show all, or most, of the units at a single glance. Larger institutions may need multiple pages of charts to represent all of the units and employees of the college or university. This means the units can also have their own organizational charts, requiring further exploration to reveal the actual details of the unit.

So when you're considering a new position at an institution of higher education, there are a lot of details available to help you get a better understanding of the institution and where you might fit within it. When you accept a position in the institution, the organizational chart will serve as a resource for you to better understand your position and role within the broader organization.

Let's use the Penn State organizational chart to help us with an example. At first glance, the Penn State organizational chart can be overwhelming to comprehend. The reason for this? It's a large, diverse organization with many units representing many employees. But what if we were to focus on one person? We could then begin to digest and understand the complex system that is Penn State.

Take for instance, Dr. Kelly Austin. Right now in 2015, Dr. Austin is not only one of the co-authors of this course, he's the Chancellor of the Penn State's Schuylkill Commonwealth Campus. Where are Commonwealth campuses located on the Penn State organizational chart, you ask? Commonwealth campuses fall under the auspices of the Executive Vice President and Provost. In 2015, this position is held by Dr. Nicholas Jones.

The Provost's office has its own organizational chart, as direct reports to the Provost include the deans from the academic colleges, the leaders of offices ranging from Educational Equity to Undergraduate Education, as well as the Vice President of Commonwealth Campuses. Dr. Madlyn Hanes, the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses, is responsible for the oversight of all of the campuses.

Keep in mind that Penn State's Schuylkill, in addition to other Commonwealth campuses, University Park, and World Campus are combined together to create one university, geographically dispersed.

The Penn State Schuylkill campus also has its own organizational chart. This example not only shows the complexity and size of an organization, it also reinforces the need for facets of the organization to be able to be self-contained. Commonwealth campuses are a good illustration of how units can be largely self-contained and still be part of a bigger organization.

Let's examine Penn State a little more from Dr. Austin's perspective. Within an organization, savvy administrators, such as Dr. Austin, manage up, down, and laterally.

DR. AUSTIN: When managing up, the Chancellor must develop good working relationships with those above him in the organizational chart, seeking to communicate needs of his or her campus. It is imperative that a Chancellor have a clear understanding of the strategic priorities of those above them in the organizational chart and work in unison with the greater university agenda, which is established by the senior leaders higher up in the organizational chart.

Developing these relationships also ensures that they are invited to be an active participant in establishing the course, not only for their unit, but the entire university. While it is clearly important that the Chancellor of each campus has a positive relationship with those directly up the line-- Vice President of Commonwealth Campuses, Provost, President, Board of Trustees-- it also greatly benefits the chancellor and their respective campus if they are able to build a good rapport with those in senior leadership positions, for example Senior VP for Finance and Business, Senior VP of Development and Alumni Relations, et cetera, and those within their respective units.

NARRATOR: For Dr. Austin, managing down involves the many individuals working at the Schuylkill campus. The people that Dr. Austin manages are represented on the Schuylkill Commonwealth Campus organizational chart. The Chancellor, however, does not simply want to engage direct reports as he also builds relationships with, and regularly engages, individuals deeper on the organizational chart.

DR. AUSTIN: The Chancellor works closely with those direct reports to carry out the strategy development as well as the implementation. This is carried out through regular communication, updating of desired outcomes, routine assessment of the work being done, feedback on progress, and a continual effort to advance forward the goals of the campus. These meetings take place one on one with a few campus leaders and as an entire cabinet to inventory progress and strategize future plans.

Oftentimes, it is necessary and important for the Chancellor or other leaders to directly engage in conversations with those throughout the organization to transact business.

NARRATOR: Managing laterally involves Dr. Austin engaging those portions of the institution that are not involved in his formal reporting chain. For instance, he is not relating to someone directly above or below him in the organizational chart, but rather up here-- someone lateral to him-- such as Dr. Lori Bechtel-Wherry, Chancellor of the Altoona Commonwealth Campus.

In addition to managing up, down, and laterally, one needs to be able to interface with individuals in other units. To explore this concept, let's imagine that Dr. Austin, as Chancellor of a Commonwealth campus, needs to start a new development activity. Here are some of the various development offices located throughout Penn State University.

Which development office Dr. Austin needs to work with depends on the nature and scope of his new development activity. If it's a development activity that focuses on local alumni within a 20 mile radius of Penn State's Schuylkill, then it might make sense to work with the Campus Development office. However, if it's approaching a prominent Penn State graduate who happened to enroll their first two years at the Schuylkill Campus, then University Level Development Office will likely want to be involved.

So we now know that formal organizational charts can be used to see positionality within a unit or organization, the relationships of units to one another within an organization, and how those units might communicate and collaborate with one another.