Lesson 1: Managerial Organization


Geographical Organization

A company that is located in different regions or countries will want to set up a geographical organization when local decision making is important.

Geographical Organization

  • Organization based on regions
  • Support staff perhaps organized by function
  • Works well when operations spread over large areas or in several countries
  • Regional managers have authority to make immediate decisions without waiting for approval from top managers

Try This


Below are 13 boxes with the different positions for a hypothetical global company. Arrange the boxes into the dotted lines to complete a Geographical Organizational Chart for this company.

Geographical Organizational Chart

Think about the possible advantages and disadvantages of this type of structure and then click on the Advantages tab or the Disadvantages tab to see how you did.


  • Each office is able to deal effectively with local concerns.
  • Regional managers have power to make most operating decisions immediately.
  • Decision-making easily can become decentralized because geographic divisions (which can be hundreds, if not thousands of kilometers from corporate headquarters) often have significant independence.
  • Services might be duplicated.
  • Costs might be higher due to the need for more managers with general skills.