Glossary
Staff position: definition, examples and how to draw it
A staff position is a role that supports a manager with specialist advice, analysis or coordination, but has no authority to give instructions to the line organization. Typical examples are legal counsel, a quality manager, a data protection officer or an executive assistant. In German it is called a Stabsstelle, in French a poste fonctionnel.
What does a staff position do?
A staff position prepares decisions; it does not take them. Legal counsel reviews contracts before the managing director signs, a controller analyses figures before the board decides, a quality manager audits processes and recommends changes. The decision and the instruction to the teams stay with the line manager the staff position reports to.
This split is the core idea of the line-and-staff organization: managers keep a single line of command, but get specialist support without having to become specialists themselves.
How is a staff position different from a line position?
A line position is part of the chain of command: a head of sales gives instructions to the sales team and is responsible for its results. A staff position has no team in the line below it and cannot instruct line employees, even when its advice is followed in practice.
- Authority: line positions can give instructions, staff positions advise.
- Responsibility: line managers answer for results, staff positions for the quality of their advice.
- Place in the chart: line positions sit in the hierarchy, staff positions sit beside the manager they serve.
How do you draw a staff position in an org chart?
Place the staff position beside the manager it reports to, connected by a short horizontal line, and above the level of the teams. That position matters: a box drawn in the row below the managing director looks like a head of department and suggests authority it does not have.
Many charts also give staff positions their own colour or a label such as “staff”. In mivochart, switch on “Assistant” in the person’s layout settings: the box moves beside their manager instead of into the team, and it works the same in every layout.
What are common mistakes with staff positions?
The first mistake is drawing staff positions in the same row as heads of department, which makes the chart read as if legal counsel ran a department. The second is creating staff positions that in reality do run teams: once a staff position has people reporting to it and gives instructions, it is a line position and should be drawn as one. The third is using staff positions to park people without a clear role, which the chart then makes very visible.
What are the advantages and drawbacks?
Staff positions bring expertise close to the decision without adding a management level, and they relieve managers of analysis work. The drawbacks are just as typical: staff experts may know more than the line managers who decide, which creates friction, and advice without responsibility can turn into influence without accountability. Clear terms of reference help: what the staff position decides itself, what it only recommends, and to whom it reports.
Example: a company with two staff positions
In this line-and-staff example, legal counsel and the quality manager report to the managing director and sit beside her. The heads of production, sales and administration form the line below, each with their own team. The staff positions advise the managing director, but give no instructions to the teams.
The term in other languages
| English | German | French |
|---|---|---|
| Staff position | Stabsstelle | Poste fonctionnel (fonction d’état-major) |
| Line-and-staff organization | Stabliniensystem | Structure hiérarchico-fonctionnelle (staff and line) |
| Executive assistant | Assistenz der Geschäftsführung | Assistant(e) de direction |
Frequently asked questions
What is a staff position called in German?
In German a staff position is a Stabsstelle. The structure with staff positions is called a Stabliniensystem (line-and-staff organization).
What is a staff position called in French?
French uses poste fonctionnel or fonction d’état-major. The structure is called structure hiérarchico-fonctionnelle or simply staff and line.
Is an executive assistant a staff position?
Usually yes. An executive assistant supports one manager and has no authority over the teams, so most org charts draw the assistant beside that manager like any other staff position.
Can a staff position have its own team?
Larger staff units such as a strategy or legal department can have a few employees of their own. They still advise rather than instruct the line. If the unit starts giving instructions to other departments, it has become a line unit.
Related terms
- Line-and-staff organization
- Line organization (single-line system)
- Executive assistant
- Chain of command
- Dotted-line reporting