How many organisational tiers are there between CEO's and those at the "bottom" in giant franchise based corporations like McDonald's?

[katy55]

I work in an organisation with over 20,000 employees, though only a third of us are at corporate. I'm at "tier two", and there are six or seven tiers total.

With 40,000 locations worldwide it's hard for me to conceptualise an organisational hierarchy from franchise owners/managers upwards. First off I don't know if managers who run a McDonald's that is not franchised have a different person or set of people to report to than those who franchise locations.

Either way, my thinking around tiers looks like:

1. Owners of stores/Store managers - 40,000 in this position (those that own multiple McDonalds stores would be outside of this hierarchy, and would instead report to or communicate with people from tier 2, 3 or 4).
2. District managers: Overseeing maybe 7 - 12 stores in total. 4,000 employed.
3. Regional managers/National directors (smaller countries): Overseeing 5 - 8 districts. 600 employed.
4. State directors to Executive directors of multiple countries (ie: both Australia and New Zealand): Overseeing 300 to 1500~ stores in total. 100 employed.
5. Managing directors: Overseeing "continents" (ED of Aus and NZ would report to MD Asia); except for the US that may have one singularly overseeing the country. Reporting to one or more people at C level especially in Sales, Marketing, Finance and Logistics. There are 10 people in this position
6. C-Suite.

What does the "org chart" look like for giant organisational behemoths, and am I missing out one or more steps in the hierarchy?

 

[welovejesus]

@katy55 I worked at McDonalds about 30 years ago and in addition to the store managers, there were shift managers. The store manager worked 40/50 hours week, but when they weren't working there was a shift manager who would make sure things were running properly.

I have no idea about the higher levels.

 

[fayofan]

@katy55 I work at a fortune 50 company and we have 13 tiers. Many other big Fis have a similar number with 1 being very entry level and 10+ being vps c suite etc.