Are you considering restructuring your construction company to boost efficiency, profitability, and competitiveness in the market? You’re on the right track. In this article, we’ll discuss into why restructuring is crucial for your business, walk you through the process, and show you how construction crew management software can play a key role in streamlining operations and driving success.
Establishing an organizational chart is a great place to start. Besides creating an identifiable construction company structure, this chart’s main purpose is visually representing the hierarchy of a business’s decision-making process.
Construction companies can operate without such a structure, but it’s similar to building a chair without instructions. It can be possible, but there’s a high chance you will miss a few parts, and your chair will always be wobbly.
Hence, we believe it’s better to save your time and resources by creating a solid organizational structure that your construction company can build on.
What are the Benefits of a Construction Organizational Chart?
The advantages of an organizational chart assist companies in developing a more effective organizational structure that results in happier employees, more productivity, and overall increased efficiency. A developed organizational chart, along with a growth-oriented focus, demonstrates the organization and professionalism of your company. In this manner, construction companies will have fewer inefficiencies and issues, improved internal communication, and a happier and more supportive work atmosphere.
It also aids in inspiring your staff to pursue professional advancement. Employees know there is a way to advance to a higher role—or perhaps an entirely new one—where their skills will be most effectively utilized when there is a clear organizational chart accessible.
Before we discuss the types of organizational charts your business can use, we’ll examine three important steps to follow when creating a business structure.
Steps on Creating a Construction Organizational Chart
Decide on Departments
Rather than starting from specific roles and then expanding to departments, it’s better to start at the very top. Doing this will define which department is responsible for which key responsibility in the company, making roles easier to identify.
Typically, each construction business has three core departments: Administration, Operations, and Financial. Unless you’re a large company with more than 100 personnel, it’s best to keep the organizational chart as simple as possible. Determining how these divisions can help your business is a great way to stay aligned with your main goal.
Here are some examples of how to set up departments in your construction company:
- The Administration Team is in charge of organizing all divisional and staff communications.
- The Operations Team is in charge of carrying out the task of producing the good or service you offer.
- • Financial Team is in charge of monitoring your company’s profitability.
Specify Department Roles
As the title suggests, the next step is defining the roles within each established departments. These roles help delegate specific tasks and responsibilities to the respective employee. In doing this, everyone within the company will be informed of who is responsible for what. This also makes the construction crew scheduling easier, internal communication much clearer, and workflow smoother, as employees will know who to contact for the service, answers, or advice they need.
Some general roles that construction companies might have are executive, manager, supervisor, leads, support, entry levels, and others. Similar to the first step, it’s also critical to define these roles.
As simple as this may sound, many construction companies fail to create a hierarchy with clearly defined departments and roles.
Without a proper structure, projects get delayed, expenses start to overrun, and other problems arise when there is not a single individual that management can hold accountable; instead, many responsible individuals will throw their fingers at each other.
Naming the Positions
Now that the roles are clearly defined giving them proper names is time. Typically, these titles or names combine the name of the company’s department and role, but they can always be changed to suit the company’s needs.
Here are a few examples:
- The CFO or the Chief Financial Officer is the executive-level position responsible for the financial division of your construction business.
- The DOO or Director of Operations may report to the COO or Chief Operations Officer.
- The PM or Project Manager usually reports to the Director of Operations.
What Are the Types of Construction Structures?
Now that we know how to make an organizational chart and understand its importance let’s examine the most common examples of company structure.
Businesses use many types of construction structures. These are mainly differentiated from one another by personal preference, company needs, or specific goals that require one structure above the other.
While the Functional Structure is the most common in construction, you should always choose the structure that works best for your company. You can even consolidate two or more structures if that works better! Just make sure to match it to your company’s needs so there will be no future problems or inconsistencies that can slow down your company’s progress.
Functional Structure
- Employees are grouped into teams based on their varying expertise and abilities.
- • Departments are organized vertically, with entry-level jobs at the bottom and the CEO at the top of the management.
- The goal is to create an orderly environment where departments collaborate to finish duties and responsibilities that are clearly outlined by the organizational structure.
- Managers inside the organization communicate with one another, and each department or team reports to their managers or team leaders. Managers can make decisions on their own or approach the COOs for guidance, depending on how complex the tasks are.
- One benefit of a functional structure is that it fosters a vibrant and extremely productive workplace.
Flat Structure
- Has little to no middle management standing between employees and company executives.
- Because they oversee a greater number of employees than in other structures, managers typically have extra responsibilities.
- Managers are also less dependent on their superiors for direction or assistance when making decisions. Consequently, they usually enjoy greater independence at work.
- A drawback could be that leaders mismanage their teams or become indecisive.
- A solid leadership strategy is necessary for this structure to function properly. Managers and executives must be acutely aware of everything happening in their company and know exactly what they are accountable for.
Team-Based Organizational Structure
- Another recently established structure focuses on assigning employees to teams so they can handle various company tasks.
- Teams work more independently, which facilitates better project tracking.
- Teams are also in charge of particular tasks like project management and marketing. Within these teams, each task is finished at a set time and seldom overlaps with other teams (unless specific knowledge or abilities are required).
- One major benefit of this arrangement is that teams complement one another even when they don’t collaborate directly. In this way, every team is working toward the same objective, maintaining focus, and promoting company growth.
The Hierarchy of Construction Companies: Major Positions and Duties
The roles and responsibilities of every member of your team must be clearly understood before you can create an organizational chart for your construction company. Below is a definition of them.
- Ownership: Different types of ownership exist. A single individual could be in charge of operations, or the board of directors could lead the company. The owner’s duty is to establish the company’s strategic direction and obtain finance. They also impact corporate culture and participate in high-level decision-making.
- Executive Leadership: The executive leadership is in charge of the company’s overall operations. The CFO is in charge of financial matters, including budgeting and risk management; the COO oversees day-to-day operations, and the CEO provides overall leadership.
- Directional Roles: Directors of construction companies are responsible for overseeing particular departments. Their main duty is to ensure that departmental management, strategic planning, and budgeting are used to achieve goals.
- Management Roles: Company managers oversee construction projects to meet organizational objectives in the long run. Finance managers handle budgeting and financial reporting, while project managers oversee the effective execution of construction projects.
- Project Managers: Project managers are employees responsible for supervising day-to-day construction activities and ensuring that projects stay on schedule and within budget. They manage resources, schedule construction crews, and promote communication between the job site and offices.
- Support Staff: Support staff play a critical role in a construction company’s logistics. For instance, Office managers handle administrative tasks and the material schedule in construction; HR maintains employee relations and compliance; and IT oversees technology infrastructure.
Key Takeaway
A complete construction organization involves numerous roles working together to finish a project. Construction companies need to invest in fostering a sense of teamwork and providing a comfortable work environment to guarantee that a team operates smoothly. Nonetheless, the team’s workflow may be streamlined, and collaboration will be made easier with the correct construction crew management software.
Construction businesses may improve internal communication to a new degree using Pro Crew Schedule’s team management features. Use it for delegating tasks and tracking their completion, automating communication, tracking the status of projects in real time, and much more. This is a cloud-based platform with a user-friendly interface.
