corporate organizational structure

They have: 5,633 posts

Joined: Jan 1970

Greetings,

I am a non-for-profit webmaster and I was recently informed that it is common for "non-for-profit webmasters" to report to both the head if IT and the head of PR. Which strikes me as odd, and doesn't make much sense. However, I have no clue if it's true or not. So I am posting this here to see what the deal is out there. Under what "department" do you fall? Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers,
J

He has: 1,758 posts

Joined: Jul 2002

Ive never heard of anything like this before and I've done web design for a couple of charity sites.

The Webmistress's picture

She has: 5,586 posts

Joined: Feb 2001

I work for myself so I can't really help but I would imagine that it depends and varies from company to company, as there would be no 'rules' about structure that any of them 'have' to follow.

Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....

druagord's picture

He has: 335 posts

Joined: May 2003

I agree with Julia that they don't 'have to follow something. But on the other side having to report to more then one person is never a good thing du to possible conflict in what the IT and PR see as your responsability. If there is a good communication between both of them then it can work but IMO this not a good way to deal with human resource.

IF , ELSE , WHILE isn't that what life is all about

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Well, who would you think that the web designer should report to? PR would be the most logical group to be reponsible for the website since any company's website is primarily a PR concern. IT should just be a consultant on backend technologies & techniques. That's the way it is here at the university - Communications & Public Affairs maintains the main website and sets standards for other sites under the uwaterloo domain. The base design and development techniques was a collaboration between C&PA, IT, graphics and maybe some other groups, I don't remember.

I wouldn't see a problem with reporting to two different people as long as the roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. As an example, my boss reports to one person for administrative details (i.e. hiring new staff) and to another person for design & development issues (i.e. best technologies to use for a certain project). So you could report to the PR person in matters of content and the IT person in matters of technology. Design & visuals would be a grey area that could go to either.

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.