If you are a person who wants to work in a team that administers organisation structures there are some matters that you might wish to think about. It is important to always understand the human sensitivities that underpin information management.

Each top level organisation unit is headed up by a person who is responsible for that specialist area. This person in theory then sets out and agrees the sections that report to them and the heads of those areas can in turn set out further sections within their areas. It is very easy for orgnaisation structures to appear like military hierarchies, this may not always be helpful in some environments.

The above could go on through many levels. A problem with this is the fact that it requires a high level of maintenance. The more levels in an organisation the more work needs to be done to keep them up to date. Imagine how embarrassing it would be to be referring to a team or a section that stopped existing the previous month or year. So even though systems allow the creation of many levels it is probably best to try to keep to five or less in any one specialist area.

Looking closely at specialist areas it is sometimes possible for a manager to decide that some sections or teams would benefit from being merged together. This is handled by way of a reorganisation and can at times mean that areas of duplication are removed from the structure. It looks logical on paper but the effects on people can be massive if jobs disappear or change. Good practice is for managers to always ensure that people have been spoken to and given a chance to comment about or even better contribute to major changes that might happen.

One of the larger difficulties is how an organisation determines which sections fit within specialist areas. It can be difficult if someone suddenly notices that they are actually part of a specialist area that is headed by someone they strongly disagree with. What does the organisation do? Does an upset person have the authority to demand that their section is made a seperate specialist area in its own right? or does the organisation just say this is the way it is get on with it?

And finally an interview question and answer for anyone planning to be a systems administrator.

Question: You are asked over coffee one evening to adjust the organisation structure, what would be important for you to remember before proceeding?

Answer: Systems administrators should avoid changing the organisation structure without the appropriate authority. The request should normally be in a format that you can keep for future reference. Why is that an issue? I leave you to ponder that.

If you are planning to get into a systems administration role here is a little bit of background on how data gets displayed in an organisation chart.

The information on each of the organisation units is stored in a database.

A database is simply an organised collection of information. In this context we are referring to a computerised database.

A call or query to the database brings back a series of rows of data which show each unit's name, its code and the code of its parent. It is actually that simple. The web page then draws together each of the top level parents and associates them with their children and children of their children and so on.

When displayed on the web page each sub level in a relationship is indented slightly so that there is a visual indication of parents and children.

Below is a live extract from our database of the very top level of the sample organisation. Look carefully at the unit codes and the parent codes and get familiar with the relationships. Note how the top unit has no parent, then notice how for example the top unit's code is the parent for its immediate children.

Table showing an extract of some rows from the database

From looking at the extract see if you can work out which section the Finance Division is within (i.e. which section is the parent of the Finance Division?), then check on the main page to see if you are correct.