TRAINING
A Fresh Perspective on the Organizational Chart
by Thomas Dullien
T
he organizational chart, also called org chart
or organigraph, is a diagram that shows the
structure of the organization and the relationships
and ranks between positions, people, and departments. Traditionally most org charts are in
form of a pyramid and, as such, reflect the power
structures and the authorities within an organization. As companies grow larger, their charts become
so complex and complicated that they often become
incomprehensible and must be divided into several
segments. While the hierarchical structure
(pyramid) is the most prominent format, there is
also a matrix format, emphasizing project assignments, and the flat (horizontal, functional)
format, which gives special consideration to the
work processes. They all were conceived and
designed primarily around manufacturing and
product services, and ultimately return to some
form of a pyramidal structure as the bureaucracy of the processes increases with the organizational growth. Pure service industries, like
casinos, have adopted these formats, which raises the
questions if there are formats out there that could better
represent a casino’s organizational structure and possibly
combine the ranking of authorities with specific functionalities. Because of the fast changing nature of our service
industry, and its exclusive focus on the casino player, an
argument can be made that a web design may offer a more
advantageous format. Advantageous, because it reflects the organizational structure with its core business, its main functions and
components while offering flexibility as the organization growths
and needs to address other internal modifications.
What is the core business?
It has to be the casino player, because he or she is the only
cause for and source of the casino’s revenues. There is no
tangible product for sale and all casino services have the
single aim to elevate the player’s gaming experience to an
exceptional experience while gambling. In order to generate
guest loyalty the delivery of exceptional gaming experiences for
each individual guest requires total and seamless collaboration
between the various departments. Employees of the various
(immediate) guest service departments need to have easy and
appropriate access to the knowledge base about the player’s
history, gaming habits, betting and machine preferences, comp
expectations and comp qualifications, and time on device. It also
32 Indian Gaming
August 2010
means knowledge access about food and beverage preferences,
prior accommodation requests (hotel, golf, day spa, special
events, valet or limo service), preferred gaming times and days
and preferred promotions and events. In the past only
supervisors and managers had access to this knowledge and
based their decision on theoretical play and other classified
information. That causes delayed responses and a lack of
proactive and immediate guest service.
In support of the immediate guest service, employees are
supporting guest service from the “back of the house”
operations. Their assistance to the front line staff also had
to go through an approval process of their supervisory and
management levels. Given the sheer volume of decision
making procedures and the asynchronous guest service
processes, valuable time is lost towards delivering the
exceptional guest services, which severely curtails any
pro-active guest satisfaction efforts. Since information is
made available instantaneously in every aspect of the guest’s
life, the expectations for immediacy has risen significantly.
The function of departments
The traditional functions of departments continue to
serve the efficient division of labor, the coordinated planning
of processes and achievement of goals, and the effective
production of goods or delivery of product services. That also
means that the control over products and their services was
at the total discretion of the organization. In casinos the
latter of the three functions is at the discretion of the guest.
Just as their gaming experience – subject to fluctuations of
probabilities and chance – is immediately consumable the
guest service that enhances a positive gaming experience, or
tries to recover a negative gaming experience, must
be equally instantaneous. If the time of supervisors and
managers is divided into responses to
guest requests, arbitration decisions,
employee supervision, policy and procedure enforcement, and employee
performance observations it runs
counter to the immediacy that ultimately creates player loyalty. Furthermore, while departments are necessary to achieve an efficient division of
labor there is a danger of thinking first
about the departmental “silo” rather
than thinking first about the casino
player.
One example is the changed role of the cash cage operations, which even ten years ago was the nerve center of any
casino operation. Today, because of rapid innovation and
advanced technology, this role has transitioned to the
IT department. While it has reduced the required labor
force in the cash cage operation it has also elevated this
department into a key function of immediate and support
guest services.
What really drives casino play and
player loyalty?
The concept that well functioning
departments drive casino player and
player loyalty is a myth that was also carried over from the manufacturing
process. What drives casino play
and player loyalty is individualized and
appropriate player recognition and
rewards, which is delivered through the
synergy of the immediate guest service
teams regardless (and sometimes in
spite) of their department affiliations.
This requires a common vision and a
unified service approach. Connecting
the various departments and its employees with the players are six driving forces,
which are dynamic and systemic enough
to flex with the volatile and constantly
changing market as well as with the
organization’s growth. Those driving
forces are:
• Innovation and technology
• Improvement and development
• Gaming development
• Community relations and communication
• Administration
• Risk management
August 2010
Indian Gaming 33
Who is doing what?
Without oversimplification it can be said that the front line
employees (immediate and support guest services) have
operational objectives, i.e. they complete their operational
duties and tasks in a friendly, accurate, trustworthy, and
accountable way. The objectives of the supervisory level are
to organize, prioritize, support, measure, and evaluate the
performance and behaviors of the front line employees. The
higher the level of accountability of the front line staff the
more are supervisors in a position to focus strictly on their
duties. The managers have the objectives to synergize the
department’s performance, to promote and evaluate the
department’s performance as a whole, and to plan tactics that
advance the progress of the departmental staff. The directors’ objectives involve the synchronization and alignment
of departmental performances along the driving forces while
proposing strategic plans for the organization and engaging
the necessary resources that continue to support the organizational development and growth. It is important to point
out that this synchronization and alignment is not department specific. This is an important aspect that can prevent
the above-mentioned “silo-thinking,” which leads to a false
sense of protectionism and fuels the development of larger
organizations into bureaucracies. It also encourages a close
collaboration between the directors and the executive level,
whatever their titles may be called in the organization, which
plan and develop the economic future of the organization with
specific accountability and focus on the driving forces.
Why the web model?
The most convincing argument is that the six driving forces
are not only centered on the core business, but are also the
strong support lines for the departments. It defines the primary
functionality of the executive level. The cross connection
between the various departments also shows the necessary
information flow through all departments. A major function
for directors is, therefore, not just directing the department,
but directing the information flow, the information content,
and the information speed.
A second advantage is that all departments are crossconnected and reflect the essential close collaboration as they
get closer to the immediate guest service center. As departments change in size and functionality they can be modified
without direct impact on the business’ driving forces. It also
allows flexibility to have various levels of supervisory and
management depending on the overall size of the department.
Organizational structures, just like a web, are not symmetrical in design and constantly show fluctuations.
Thirdly, when Organizational Development specialists
turned the pyramid on its head in 1980 to encourage empowerment and increased accountability at each “moment of
truth”, i.e. at the point of the immediate guest service impact,
it was unable to show the target of its impact. This model
reflects that, while powers and authorities are still
kept intact at the various levels, each level also serves a support function. Not just for the next level in, but also ultimately
for the core business: the individual casino player.
Lastly, the web model tries to combine the hierarchical,
matrix, and functional organizational structure with a large
amount of flexibility for modifications. It can be more
meaningful for a better understanding of the casino
industry, which is strictly a service driven industry, rather than
adopting a model from the manufacturing process. It is not
driven by positions and powers of a higher level of authority
over the next lower level, as is the case with traditional
hierarchical model. For that reason it will be difficult to find
acceptance, but like any model, it is another attempt to
think beyond traditional concepts. The deciding question is
if it is more important to have power and authority over something or someone or to use one’s given power and authority
to drive and advance the core business. p
Dr. Thomas Dullien, CCE, CCM, CHE is the Executive
Director of the Barona Institute at Barona Resort & Casino.
He can be reached by calling (619) 328-3442 or email
[email protected].
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August 2010
Indian Gaming 35