Org-chart: easy math for a complex task

Recently I’ve been in a conversation with a friend on the challenges of big organizations, when it comes to structuring an effective reporting structure and drawing an org-chart. I’ve brought to the table my personal experience in Cisco, while my friend has suggested to aim higher and look into huge organizations like Walmart or McDonald’s. Doing some research I’ve found out that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/wal-mart-stores/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Forbes, in 2017, listed Walmart, at 2.3 million employees</a>, as the biggest private employer, followed, in second position, by McDonald’s with 1.9 million employees (including franchised locations around the world). We were puzzled by a simple question: how can you draw the org-chart of a 2 million employees company? In 1996, when I joined Cisco, the organizational structure of the sales teams was incredibly effective. Each team leader was managing 6–8 reports. And then we applied a “divide and grow” approach. As soon as the team was generating enough revenues to justify a new hire the team received a new job position to be filled in. When the team reached the 8 people mark the manager had to split the team in 2 teams, nominate a new team leader for the newly created team and go back to growing the business. <a href="https://medium.com/@ssomenzi/org-chart-easy-math-for-a-complex-task-c178ebbd7e9f">Learn More</a>