Link: http://www.cogmap.com/chart/nike
Company: Nike
As seen from Nike’s organizational chart, the chairman of Nike is Phil Knight, who represents the head of the board of directors and is accountable to the shareholders of the company. He is appointed by the shareholders collectively, usually at the Annual General Meeting of the organization. The CEO is Mark Parker, who is responsible for the daily running of the business, and he also acts as the figurehead for the organization, lead the team of directors, formulate organizational objectives and policies with Phil Knight, and devises and implements corporate strategies.
The directors are responsible for the running of the business, and as seen from the chart, the director’s responsibility is divided by functional departments, which is somewhat similar to the 2nd chart in the PowerPoint. However, instead of dividing directors’ responsibility by standard areas such as finance or human resources, directors are responsible for a specific area or country, probably due to the fact that Nike is a global company and requires different specialized strategies for different geological areas. Thus, by organizing departments through geography, the business will be more aware to local cultural differences and consumer needs. Other directors are responsible for corporate social responsibility, retail, marketing, brand management and etc.
Under each of the directors are their subordinates, who work on tasks delegated by the directors (assumingly). Each director has line authority over all of their subordinates that belong under the functional department they are in charge of. Very much like the 2nd chart, different directors have different span of control, some with a wider span of control and some with a narrower one. For example, although both Mike Blair and Elliot Hill has many subordinates due to their large department sizes, Mike Blair has a wider span of control while Elliot Hill has a narrower one. A narrow span of control means there are fewer people accountable to Hill, and it can also be beneficial to the department since it will often lead to more team spirit and cohesiveness and better control. However, Blair has a wider span of control, which may also have benefits such as lower costs since less managerial positions are hired in the firm, and communication is usually more effective with less levels of hierarchy. Overall, Nike acquires a rather flat hierarchy structure (like chart #3), since the CEO is in charge of a somewhat large number of directors and each director is directly responsible for many subordinates (however there are some exceptions under different departments).
Although it is not certain, Nike probably has a centralized organization structure, since all of the lines of the branches leads towards Mark Parker (CEO), in which leads to Phil Knight (similar to chart #7). The number of workers is also a lot higher than middle management, which is higher than senior management, with only a single CEO in charge of the daily running of the business. This resembles the Pyramidal structure (chart #6). Ultimately, the person who has the most authority is the chairman, Phil Knight), since he is elected by shareholders (presumably).
In conclusion, Nike acquires a rather flat hierarchy structure, although different departments have a somewhat different structure. Authoritative figures probably delegated jobs and tasks, which then, through a chain of command, to directors then to the workers. The person who is responsible for the daily running of the business is Mark Parker, although the person with the most authority is Phil Knight since he is the chairman and represents the shareholders.
