What is Organisational structure?

The common structures

• Functional — grouped by discipline: kitchen, front of house, cleaning. Common in single-site venues
• Divisional — grouped by site, region or brand, each largely self-contained. The usual multi-site model
• Matrix — staff report to both a site manager and a function lead. Powerful and confusing in equal measure
• Flat — few layers, wide spans of control. Typical of small operators

Most Australian SMEs with several sites end up divisional by default, whether or not anyone decided it.

The structure that actually governs the day

There are usually two structures in a shift-based business: the one on the org chart, and the one encoded in who can approve a timesheet, publish a roster or authorise leave. Staff experience the second one.

When those diverge — a chart saying someone reports to the venue manager while the system routes their leave to head office — you get delays, duplicated approvals and decisions made by whoever happens to have access. Aligning system permissions to the intended structure is usually a bigger operational improvement than redrawing the chart.

Multi-site considerations

Three questions decide most multi-site structures:

• Can staff work across sites, and who approves that shift?
• Is the labour budget owned per site or centrally?
• Who handles award interpretation and payroll — each site, or head office?

Cross-site staff are where structures usually break, because the employee has one employer but two managers and the approval path is rarely written down.

Key takeaways

• Functional, divisional, matrix and flat are the common shapes
• Multi-site Australian SMEs default to divisional
• The approval hierarchy governs the day, not the chart
• Cross-site staff are where structures most often break down