Evaluating the user experience of different representations of organizational structures

Abstract: Information overload is a widely recognized problem in the workplace, with an overwhelmingamount of information being presented from several sources constantly. By being able tovisually represent organizational structures in an efficient way, it can significantly aid in makingthe data easier to consume, utilize and incorporate in future decision making. This master’sthesis aims to contribute to research regarding information visualization, specifically in regardsto visually representing organizational structures in an efficient way. The research questionsthat will be explored during this thesis are whether the hierarchical list or the vertical tree is amore efficient method for representing organizational structures, as well as whether thehierarchical list or the vertical tree present information in a more useful way that is easier tounderstand, according to users’ personal preference. These questions are explored byconducting an empirical study measuring the users’ efficiency in both models, as well asrecording which model the users preferred in terms of ease of use and usefulness. The resultsindicate an overall higher efficiency of the vertical tree, of statistical significance, as well as anoverall favoring of the same model by users. Thus, for representing organizational structuressimilar to ones used in this thesis, there is evidence to suggest that a vertical tree wouldperform better than a hierarchical list. However, future research would be of interest for testingdifferent types and sizes of organizational structures, as well as analyzing whether familiaritycould have an effect on the results.