office management

OFFICE MANAGEMENT


Office Management is that part of the management process which deals with communicating and recording activities in an organisation. But this dealing with communication and records does not suggest the actual assignment of all such activities to the office manager. All managers, whether engaged in sales, production, finance, personnel or in any other work require the help of communicating and recording activities for getting their work accomplished through efforts of their own people. I tis preposterous to think that the office manager assumes all communicating and recording activities, particularly correspondence, typing and filing, on behalf of managers in other areas of the business. What then, is the role of the office manger ? Office work is a service function as opposed to the basic operating function in most of the manufacturing and trading concerns and has no end in itself. The office manger, being a staff executive, has no right of command and control over the people of other departments who carry out their office or clerical activities in their own spheres. As the usual function of a staff manager is vested with functional authority, the office manager confines his activities of giving necessary advice and service to other managers throughout the organisation.

The introduction of separate office manager in the organisation is justified by the fact that office work is a specialist function requiring expert knowledge and technical skill on this facet of the operation. Since office work is largely paper work entailing numerous forms, documents and memorandas, the design and format of such paper are vital for successful communication and records in different segments of the enterprise. Effective communication must encompass four essential C's in them-clear, correct, complete and concise. For economy and efficiency reasons, all communication devices are to be designed with an eye to these four attributes of communication. Besides the generalized form of correspondence, communication includes a lot of other forms and documents alike invoices, delivery notes, shipping advices, bills, purchase orders, tenders, quotations, requisition slip, route cards, cost sheets, budgets, collection memo and cash receipts, employees' service records, and analysis sheets of different types. In addition managerial decisions in the form of policies, procedures, orders, instructions or rules are conveyed through written communication. The office manger has to give advice on the wrong format and design of communicating instruments.

Apart from this advisory function, the office manger has to discharge a service in the organisation. There are certain office activities that tend to serve the requirements of all departments to an equal extent. Such common groups of activities goes by the name of “general office services” Obviously, the work of general office services falls under the jurisdiction of the office manager. Such activities can neither be assigned to other managers not they cab be divided among departments of the business. Integration of those activities is essential for purposes of economy, efficiency and promptness in many cases. The nature of these general office service can be explained by taking some illustrations. First, telephone, postal and messenger services are necessary on the part of all departments for conveying information both internally and externally. It would be a sheer waste of money in arranging these services on the basis of individual departments. All incoming and outgoing communications are channelled to their other destinations by the office manager. Secondly, purchasing and storekeeping of stationery articles for all sectional offices are best performed when they are centralized under the control of the office manger or any other individual manger. Accordingly, the supply of stationery stores and office forms is included on the list of general office services Thirdly, facilities of costly mechanical equipments are better utilized under a system of central services. Unless these office machines can be used to their full capacity in individual departments, such equipments, have to be placed under the charge of the office manager for providing common services to all the department. Fourthly, the work of typing, shorthand-typing and filing is centralized in those cases where the work load in individual department is not sufficient for keeping the copy-typist, hand-typing or filing clerks busy through-out the office hours. Although better results are obtained from the distribution of these services to the operating departments, yet the cost of idle time prevents the adoption of such a course. Even when these services are centralized, some amount of typing and filing work particularly for confidential mater, is obtained by senior mangers at the departmental level. To this group of activities, letter drafting is added in some trading and service concerns which require some generalized correspondence on the part of individual departments. Lastly, selection acquisition and maintenance of office furniture, and arrangement for working accommodation come under the group of general office services.

Office activities of communicating and recording assume a large proportion of the total work in enterprises like insurance, banking, building societies or export-import agency houses. In non-business enterprises like government departments, local authorities or universities, office activities become still more important, and virtually all the operations are performed through recording and communicating work on paper. Industrial enterprises too are finding the increasing importance of office activities day by day because of the requirement of public relations. Public relations had appeared now-a-days as a vital contributory to the success and credit standing of an enterprises, and it calls for maintaining relations with the government, the community as well as with the customers. Customers relations become a part of the sale work and is included under sales management. But public relations with t government and community goes beyond the submission of periodical reports and returns on financial, personnel or other aspects of the business, as required by the regulatory measures of the government. Numerous facts, figures and statics pertaining to the whole business are required to be supplied for justifying the position of the enterprise for influencing the public. Because of their generalized charter these activities are assigned to the office manger in many enterprises.

Irrespective of the volume and nature of activities, office work is amendable to the management process in the same way. All the four management functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling apply with equal validity in every case. As already pointed out, total office activities are classified into two major groups : (1) Sectional offices required on the part of every operating department like sales, production, finance, personnel, etc. : and (2) the office for general services required for the whole organization. The work of office management involves not only advisory function with respect to the affairs of sectional offices but discharges services function also in rendering general assistance to all such sectional offices. That is, the office manger is a still executive with functional authority in regard to sectional offices. But the office manager is a line executive or a controller in respect of the office for general services and can exercises direct authority and control over these personnels. Consequently, the directing function of office management is of limited character and is supported by the device and service of personnel manager in the same way as it is done for other areas of the business.