TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. An Introduction to Organizational Structures pg. 2

2. Building Blocks: Organizational Structure Basics pg. 3

3. Types of Organizational Structures pg. 8

4. Marketing Team Org Structures: 7 Real-World Examples pg. 17

5. How to Structure a Modern Marketing Team pg. 24

Created by: Erik Devaney | @BardOfBoston | Content Strategist, HubSpot

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 INTRODUCTION

To put it in the simplest terms

possible, an organizational structure
describes how a company, division,
team, or other organization is built;
how all of its various components fit
together.

More specifically, it is a framework

that organizes all of the formal
relationships within an organization,
establishing lines of accountability
and authority, and illuminating how
all of the jobs or tasks within an
organization are grouped together and arranged.

Ideally, the type of structure your company, division, or team

implements should be tailored to the specific organizational goals
youre trying to accomplish. Because ultimately, even if an
organization is filled with great people, it can fall apart (or fail to
operate efficiently) if the structure of the organization is weak.

As executive coach Gill Corkindale noted in a Harvard Business Review

article, Poor organizational design and structure results in a bewildering
morass of contradictions: confusion within roles, a lack of co-ordination
among functions, failure to share ideas, and slow decision-making bring
managers unnecessary complexity, stress, and conflict.

In this guide, well explore the world of organizational structures by taking a

visual approach. The guide includes several organizational structure
diagrams (or org charts), which highlight structures that can be applied to
entire businesses as well as to marketing departments and teams.

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 BUILDING BLOCKS
In this section, well be looking at six components or
building blocks that you can tweak and arrange in order
to build an organizational structure.

1. Chain of Command
One of the most basic elements of an organizational structure, chain of command is
exactly what it sounds like: an unbroken line of authority that extends from the top
of the organization (e.g. a CEO) all the way down to the bottom. Chain of command
clarifies who reports to whom within the organization.

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 2. Span of Control
Span of control refers to the number of subordinates a superior can effectively
manage. The higher the ratio of subordinates to superiors, the wider the span of
control.

3. Centralization
Who makes the decisions in an organization? If decision-making power is
concentrated at a single point, the organizational structure is centralized. If
decision-making power is spread out, the structure is decentralized.

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 4. Specialization
Also known as division of labor, specialization is the degree to which activities or
tasks in an organization are broken down and divided into individual jobs.

High specialization can be beneficial for an organization, as it allows employees

to become masters in specific areas, increasing their productivity as a result.

However, low specialization allows for more flexibility, as employees can more easily
tackle a broader array of tasks (as opposed to being specialized for a single task).

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 5. Formalization
Similar to specialization, formalization deals with how jobs are structured within
an organization. The key differentiator here is that formalization also takes into
account the degree to which an employees tasks and activities are governed by
rules, procedures, and other mechanisms.

A formal organizational structure seeks to separate the individual from the role or
position, as the role or position stays the same regardless of whos holding it.

An informal organization, on the other hand, places more value on the individual.
It allows for the evolution of a role or position based on an individuals
preferences, skill set, etc., and places less importance on what team or
department that individual is part of.

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 6. Departmentalization
Departmentalization refers to the process of grouping jobs together in order to
coordinate common activities and tasks.

If an organization has rigid departmentalization, each department or team is

highly autonomous, and there is little (or no) interaction between different teams.

In contrast, loose departmentalization entails that teams have more freedom to

interact and collaborate.

Its worth noting that the way in which an organization departmentalizes is often used
as a proxy for the overall type of organizational structure that organization has.

For example, an organization that departmentalizes by function (i.e. marketing,

sales, services), is said to have a functional organizational structure.

Well talk more about functional organizational structures, in addition to other

types of structures, in the next section.

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 TYPES OF ORG STRUCTURES
Now that youve learned about the building blocks of
organizational structures, its time to explore how you can
combine these blocks to form different types of structures.

Mechanistic vs. Organic Structures

Organizational structures fall on a spectrum with mechanistic at one end and
organic at the other end.

Mechanistic structures are typified by narrow spans of control; high centralization,

specialization, and formalization; as well as by rigid departmentalization. And the
chain of command, whether long or short, is always clear.

Oppositely, organic structures (also known as flat structures) are typified by

wide spans of control; decentralization; low specialization and formalization; and
loose departmentalization. And the chain of command, whether long or short,
can sometimes be difficult to decipher.

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 As youve probably been able to infer from their respective characteristics, the
mechanistic structure represents the traditional, top-down approach to
organizational structure, whereas the organic structure represents a more
collaborative, flexible approach.

In this rest of this section, well uncover more specific types of organizational
structures, most of which fall on the more traditional, mechanistic side of the spectrum.

1. Functional Org Structure

One of the most common types of organizational structures, the functional
structure departmentalizes an organization based on common job functions. So,
for example, an organization with a functional structure would group all of the
marketers together in one department, group all of the salespeople together in a
separate department, and group all of the customer service people together in a
third department.

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 The functional structure allows for a high degree of specialization for employees,
and is easily scalable should the organization grow. However, the structure also
has the potential to create barriers between different functions, and can be
inefficient if the organization has a variety of different products or target markets.

2. Divisional: Product-Based Org Structure

You can think of a divisional organizational structure as a structure thats
comprised of multiple, smaller functional structures (i.e. each division within a
divisional structure can have its own marketing team, its own sales team, etc.).

In this case -- a product-based divisional structure -- each division within the

organization is dedicated to a particular product line. This type of structure is ideal
for organizations with multiple products and can help shorten product development
cycles. The downsides: it can be difficult to scale, and the organization may end up
with duplicate resources as different divisions strive for autonomy.

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 3. Divisional: Market-Based Org Structure
Another variety of the divisional organizational structure is the market-based
structure, wherein the divisions of an organization are based around markets,
industries, or customer types.

The market-based structure is ideal for an organization that has products or

services that are unique to specific market segments, and is particularly effective
if that organization has advanced knowledge of those segments. The
downsides: too much autonomy can lead to divisions developing systems that
are incompatible with one another, and divisions may also end up inadvertently
duplicating activities that other divisions are already handling.

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 4. Divisional: Geographical Org Structure
The geographical organizational structure establishes its divisions based on --
you guessed it! -- geography. More specifically, the divisions of a geographical
structure can include territories, regions, or districts.

This type of structure is best-suited to organizations that need to be near

sources of supply and/or customers (e.g. for deliveries, or for on-site support).

The main downside of a geographical org structure: it can be easy for decision-
making to become decentralized, as geographic divisions -- which can be
hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from corporate headquarters -- often
have a great deal of autonomy.

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 5. Process-Based Org Structure
Process-based organizational structures are designed around the end-to-end
flow of different processes, such as research & development, customer
acquisition, and order fulfillment. Unlike a strictly functional structure, a process-
based structure considers not only the activities employees perform, but also
how those different activities interact with one another.

So, in order to fully understand the diagram below, you need to look at it from left
to right: The customer acquisition process cant start until you have a fully
developed product to sell. And likewise, the order fulfillment process cant start
until customers have been acquired and there are product orders to fill.

This structure is ideal for improving speed and efficiency, and is best-suited to
rapidly changing business environments, as it is easily adaptable. The main
downside of a process-based org structure: barriers between the different
process groups can lead to problems communicating and handing off work.

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 6. Matrix Org Structure
Unlike the other structures weve looked at so far, a matrix organizational
structure doesnt follow the traditional, hierarchal model. Instead, all employees
(represented by the green boxes) have dual reporting relationships.

Typically, there is a functional reporting line (shown in blue) as well as a product-

based reporting line (shown in yellow). When looking at a matrix structure org
chart, solid lines represent strong, direct-reporting relationships, whereas dotted
lines indicate that the relationship is secondary, or not as strong. So, in our
example below, its clear that functional reporting takes precedence over
product-based reporting.

The main appeal of the matrix structure is that it can provide both flexibility and
more balanced decision-making (as there are two chains of command instead of
just one). Its primary pitfall: complexity, which can lead to confused employees.

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 7. Circular Org Structure
While it might appear drastically different from the other organizational structures
highlighted in this section, the circular structure still relies on hierarchy, with
higher-level employees occupying the inner rings of the circle and lower-level
employees occupying the outer rings.

That being said, the leaders or executives in a circular organization arent seen
as sitting atop the organization, sending directives down the chain of command.
Instead, theyre at the center of the organization, spreading their vision outward.

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 From an ideological perspective, a circular structure is meant to promote
communication and the free flow of information between different parts of the
organization. Whereas a traditional structure shows different departments or
divisions as occupying individual, semi-autonomous branches, the circular
structure depicts all divisions as being part of the same whole.

From a practical perspective, however, the circular structure can be confusing,

especially for new employees. Unlike with a more traditional, top-down structure,
with a circular structure it can be difficult for employees to figure out who they
report to and how theyre meant to fit into the organization.

In the next section, well explore some examples of organizational structures that
actual marketing teams utilize.

Youll likely notice that these structures dont always fit neatly into the structure
types we just learned about. Instead, in real-world applications, organizations
often use hybrid structures, which borrow elements from a variety of different
structure types.

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 STRUCTURING YOUR TEAM
In this section, well be looking at how you should
structure a modern marketing team based on your
teams headcount.

Before we dive in, its important to understand that when it comes to organizational
structure, there is no magic bullet. The success of a marketing team (or a business,
for that matter), doesnt rest solely on the structure that underlies it.

Poor management and decision-making can disrupt any organization, regardless of

how well its structured. And while restructuring your organization (a.k.a. doing a
re-org) might seem like an appealing option for increasing efficiency, its not
something to be taken lightly: A re-org can be a very difficult and complex process.

That being said, if youre looking to build an inbound marketing team (i.e. a team that
follows the inbound methodology of attracting visitors, converting visitors into leads,
and closing leads into customers), we have some best practices you can follow.

For starters, youll need to think about how members of your marketing team fit
into the stages of the inbound methodology. Heres a quick breakdown of which
roles belong where:

ATTRACT CONVERT CLOSE

Your content writers, Everyone involved in Your sales enablement
designers, SEO conversion optimization, marketers helping
specialists, and social including landing pages, the sales team close
media managers. calls-to-action, lead opportunities.
scoring, and nurturing.

On the next page, well explore how you should organize these roles based on
your teams headcount.

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