Org Chart Examples: 8 Real-World Structures You Can Copy (2026)
TL;DR: Below are eight fictional but realistic org charts — a 5-person startup, a 17-person SaaS company, a creative agency, a restaurant, a hospital ward, a nonprofit, a factory and a remote team. Each one explains why the structure looks the way it does, and each has an Open this example in SimplOrg link. The chart opens in your browser; click "Create My Copy" and change the names and titles to match your own organization. No account, no upload, free.
Last updated: October 2026. All people and companies are made up.
Most org chart examples online are screenshots. You can look at them, but you can't change them, and they rarely explain why the boxes are arranged that way. That is the part that actually helps you: the reasoning behind who reports to whom, how many people a manager covers, and where the structure bends for a special case.
If you need the basics first, start with what an org chart is or the seven types of org charts. If you already know what you need, pick the example closest to your situation below. Every link opens the chart in the free SimplOrg editor — nothing is sent to a server, and your edits stay in your browser.
How to use the examples: open the link, click Create My Copy, then double-click a card to rename it. To add a person, select their manager and use Add Child. When you are done, export PNG, SVG or PDF, or copy a share link. A step-by-step walkthrough is in How to Create an Org Chart Online.
Quick Chooser: Which Example Fits You?
| If your organization is... | Start with |
|---|---|
| 2–10 people, founder-led | Example 1: Startup |
| 10–50 people with product, sales and engineering | Example 2: SaaS company |
| Project-based, client work | Example 3: Creative agency |
| Shift-based, customer-facing | Example 4: Restaurant |
| Has people reporting to two managers | Example 5: Hospital ward |
| Board, volunteers, grant-funded programs | Example 6: Nonprofit |
| Production lines, shifts, safety roles | Example 7: Factory |
| Distributed across time zones | Example 8: Remote team |
1. Five-Person Startup
Structure: one founder-CEO, three direct reports (CTO, designer, growth lead), and one engineer under the CTO. Three levels, almost flat.
Why it works: at this size nobody needs a layer of managers. The chart exists mainly to answer one question for new hires and investors: who decides what? The CTO owns engineering decisions; the CEO owns everything else. Naming the owner of each area early prevents the most common early-stage confusion — two co-founders who both think they run product.
Watch out for: the founder with too many direct reports. Past about seven, one-to-ones stop being meaningful. The first hire that fixes this is usually a head of something, not another individual contributor.
2. Seventeen-Person SaaS Company
Structure: CEO with four direct reports (CTO, VP Product, VP Sales, Head of Finance). Engineering has two managers, each leading a small team of two engineers. Product, sales and finance are still single-threaded.
Why it works: this is the classic functional structure — people grouped by what they do. It is simple to understand and keeps specialists together. The two engineering managers show the moment a team splits: one manager per three to six engineers is a common rule of thumb, and splitting before that adds overhead without benefit.
Watch out for: handoffs. When product and engineering report to different executives, their priorities can drift. Many companies add a regular joint planning meeting rather than changing the chart.
3. Creative Agency
Structure: a managing director over four heads — creative, strategy, accounts and studio operations. Designers and a copywriter sit under the creative director; strategists and account managers under their own heads.
Why it works: agencies sell people's time to clients, so the chart separates who makes the work (creative, strategy) from who manages the client (accounts). Account managers sit in their own line so that client pressure doesn't directly pull on the creative team's schedule.
Watch out for: the chart shows permanent reporting lines, not project teams. A single campaign may pull a designer, a copywriter and an account manager together for six weeks. Most agencies keep the chart as the "home" structure and track project staffing separately.
4. Restaurant
Structure: owner, a general manager, then two parallel branches: the kitchen (head chef → sous chef → line cooks, plus a dishwasher) and front of house (manager → head server → servers, plus a bartender).
Why it works: restaurants run on two crews with different rhythms that meet at the pass. Splitting the chart into kitchen and front of house mirrors how the shift actually works, and gives each branch one person to call when something goes wrong during service. The sous chef under the head chef is a second-in-command that keeps the kitchen running when the head chef is off.
Watch out for: part-time and seasonal staff. If your roster changes monthly, chart the roles ("Server ×4") instead of every individual, and keep the named list in your scheduling tool.
5. Hospital Ward With a Dotted Line
Structure: a medical director over two head nurses and an operations manager. Each head nurse leads a nursing team; operations covers reception and supplies. One nurse also has a dotted-line to the operations manager — shown as a dashed connector.
Why it works: this is a small matrix. The nurse reports day-to-day to their head nurse, but also coordinates equipment and supply logistics with operations. A dotted line records that second relationship without breaking the main chain of command. In SimplOrg this is the "Also reports to" setting in the sidebar — it is free.
Watch out for: too many dotted lines. If most people have two managers, the chart stops clarifying and starts confusing. Reserve dotted lines for relationships that are real and ongoing, and spell out who has final say on performance reviews and priorities. For more on this, see the seven types of org charts.
6. Nonprofit
Structure: a board of trustees at the top, one executive director beneath it, and four areas — programs, fundraising, finance and admin. Programs includes a community outreach lead who coordinates a volunteer network.
Why it works: the key detail is the board above the executive director. Funders and auditors often want to see that governance is separate from day-to-day management. The chart makes that boundary visible. Fundraising sits beside programs, not under it, so grant work and service delivery don't compete for the same manager's attention.
Watch out for: volunteers. They don't report in the employment sense, but they need a coordinator. The example shows the volunteer network as a single card attached to the person responsible for it, which is honest about the relationship.
7. Factory
Structure: a plant manager with five direct reports: production, quality, maintenance, health and safety, and a day-and-night split of shift supervisors under production. Operators, inspectors and maintenance technicians appear as teams rather than individual cards.
Why it works: manufacturing org charts are about span of control and independence of safety and quality. Quality and health & safety report to the plant manager, not to production, so a production deadline can't quietly override an inspection result. Showing operators as "8 operators" keeps the chart readable when the real headcount is large.
Watch out for: shift handover. The chart shows two supervisors, but people want to know who is in charge at 3 a.m. Consider adding on-call or duty-manager information to the card.
8. Remote Team Across Time Zones
Structure: a CEO with three leaders (engineering, design, people). Engineering has two tech leads; engineers, a designer and a contractor report to them. Every card includes the person's city and time zone.
Why it works: in a distributed company the chart replaces the office. Putting the time zone on the card answers the question new joiners ask most — "can I message them right now?" The contractor is labeled as such, so no one assumes they have the same availability or access as employees.
Watch out for: stale data. A remote org chart is only useful if it's current; assign one owner and update it whenever headcount changes. More on that in Org Chart Best Practices for Remote and Hybrid Teams.
What These Examples Have in Common
Across very different organizations, the same few habits show up:
- One line of reporting for everyone. Even in the matrix example, each person has exactly one primary manager.
- Groups follow the work. Kitchen vs. front of house, programs vs. fundraising, production vs. quality — the chart mirrors how the work flows, not how the org was drawn on a whiteboard once.
- Independence is drawn on purpose. Quality, safety and governance sit where they can say no.
- The chart carries only what it needs. Name, title and department are usually enough. Add a field (time zone, location, contractor status) only if someone will actually use it.
- Someone owns it. An outdated chart is worse than none, because people trust it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good example of a company org chart?
A good example shows clear reporting lines, groups people by the work they do, and has one primary manager per person. The SaaS company example above (Example 2) is a typical small-company chart: CEO, functional heads, and small teams beneath them.
How do I make an org chart for a small business?
List everyone with their title and manager, then draw the hierarchy top-down. For fewer than ten people you can start from the startup or agency example, open it, click Create My Copy, and replace the names. You can also import a spreadsheet — see How to Create an Org Chart Online.
Can I edit these examples?
Yes. Each link opens the chart read-only first; click Create My Copy to make it yours. Your changes are saved in your own browser, and the original example link stays unchanged.
Are these real companies?
No. All names, titles and organizations are fictional and made up for illustration.
Is SimplOrg free for this?
The editor, the examples and PNG, SVG and PDF export are free, and you don't need an account. Details and alternatives are in Free Org Chart Tools Compared.
The Bottom Line
The best org chart example is the one closest to your situation, copied and then edited until it matches reality. Pick the nearest of the eight above, open it, rename the cards, and you have a working draft in a few minutes.
Start from any example, or build from scratch: open SimplOrg — free, no account, no upload.
Try SimplOrg — free, no signup
Drag-and-drop org chart editor. Your data stays in your browser.
🌳 Open the App