Notre Dame Organizational Structure

Located in the northernmost region of Indiana just below the Michigan border sits a small town that is home to three college campuses. Two of those institutions, the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s College, have shared a close connection stemming from their roots. The founder of the University of Notre Dame in 1842 was a priest from the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC). He was also the driving force behind requesting sisters of CSC be sent just two years later to establish Saint Mary’s Academy, an institution that would later be chartered as a college (Saint Mary’s College, 2017 and University of Notre Dame, 2017). At first glance, it may appear that these institutions that share a town and a founding organization would also share the same
In their organizational structure chart, Saint Mary’s is intentional in denoting the horizontal interactions between positions across departments within the college. For example, the director of human resources reports directly to the vice president for finance and administration, but is also directly connected with the offices that fall under the vice president for mission. The intentionality of placing those connections on the organizational structure chart indicates the importance of horizontal relationships in Saint Mary’s College, compared to the more hierarchical relationships between departments that are depicted by Notre Dame. Bowen and Tobin (2015) predict that in the future organizations will need more horizontal structures in order to make decisions that will “transcend departmental structures.” Saint Mary’s is able to ensure such horizontal connections due to the small size of the college making such relationships feasible, and according to the predictions of Bowen and Tobin are on the path to an effective organizational