Organizational Structure

NAMING CONVENTION INITIATIVE

Sharing an understanding of our organizational structure and naming conventions

The Town of Hinton recognized via Organizational Review and Policy, Procedure, and Directive work that organizational documents, both internal and external, feature inconsistent terminology.

This has led to:
- confusing/conflicting documents
- procedures and guides compromised/less effective

As a result, Senior Leadership working with the Human Resources have come together to prepare an informed and consistent terminology schematic. All documents from now onwards will use this new naming convention, consistent across the organizational documents and webpages.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

UNIFORM OPERATIONS

An entire employee base united to core terminology, removing confusion and enabling cooperation

NO ROLE CHANGES

This is a naming initiative - it does not impact reporting structures, pay grids, or seniority status

IN LINE WITH ICS STANDARDS

While it isn't the precise terms from Incident Command System (ICS), this structure is built on the ICS foundation

IMPROVING COOPERATION

Having a clear organizational structure enhances our ability to cooperate with external agencies

Our naming convention at each level defined

Division
Division refers to the highest level of our structures; lead by the CAO, that we all work as a part of.

Department
Department refers to the second highest level of our structures; the overall team, led by a director.

Service Branch
This is the manager level; generally, members of the service branch level are managers who lead teams of employees in achieving the goals of the department, or manage ongoing complex projects, reporting up to their director.

Service Area
Service area refers to management staff who lead smaller teams and report to the service branch level, but in unique situations may report up to their director.

Service Unit
Service units are front line staff, carrying out tasks and reporting either to a service branch or a service area, on a case by case basis.