Office Management - EDM 401

Introduction

Office is an important section of a business. The term business implies office work. The
dictionary meaning of office is, “a place for transaction of business, the room or department,
where the clerical work is done”, or we can say, “a place where business is carried on”, or it is
“a place where all sorts of activities of organizations are dealt with". Office is the centre of an
organization. Commercial office acts as a central directing and coordinating agency of the
various activities of any business.

An office is understood to be a place where clerical work is performed and where all kinds of
paper work (letters, correspondence, file, records, etc) is maintained and dealt with. It is a
central place where all sorts of clerical work are done to coordinate and control the affairs of
the whole organization.

In modern age, the “office” is used in a broader sense. Prof Dicksee states “an office is to a
business what the mainstring is to a watch. An organization cannot be carried out without an
office, as a watch without the mainstring is useless. In the present times, the modern office
organization has so much importance as the brain in a human body. Thus a commercial office
can be called, “a clearing house of all essential business information. The office has to receive
or collect all information. The office has to receive all information of the business, process the
collected information/analyze, arrange and classify and put them into understandable form on
the one hand. On the other hand, the processed information has to be presented or
communicated to the management of the business, as and when required”

Modern office and its functions

“An office may be regarded as a place where the control mechanisms of an organization are
located” -George R. Terry

An efficient and effective organization and management must possess all the information it
needs to enable it to come to a variety of decisions. To retain information, to analyze it and
furnish it for the management, are the basic functions of a modern office. So much so that the
phrase, "Information management" has gained much preference to the older one "Office
Management”. The reason is that Information Management represents more precisely the
activities performed by a modern office.
"It is a mistake to regard an office as a specific place, instead we are forced to conclude that an
office exists anywhere, that certain kinds of work are performed” Edward Roche

The modern approach to the study of the term office is to view it as a function rather than a
particular place. When an office is regarded as a function, it can plan, organize, coordinate,
standardize and supervise paperwork, wherever it is done and whoever does it

Office activities

Although offices differ from one another in prime responsibility, many activities are commonly
carried out by all the offices. Some of these are;

- Processing incoming Mail

- Processing outgoing mail

- Dictation

- Transcription

- Typing

- Printing

- Copying

- Filing

- Records retrieval

- Records disposal

- Communication

Office functions

The functions of a modern office may be classified into two categories

i. Basic functions (or routine functions)

ii. Administrative management function.

 i. Basic functions - Receiving information

Recording information

Arranging information

Arranging information

Giving information

ii. Administrative management functions

1. Management functions (a) Planning (b) Organizing (c) Staffing (d) Directing (e)
Communicating (f) Controlling (g) Coordinating (h) Motivating

2. Public relations function

3. Instituting office systems and routines

4. Retention of records

5. Safeguarding Assets

6. Form designing and control

7. Stationery and Supplies Control

8. Selection and Purchase of Office Appliances

9. Personnel function

10. Controlling office costs

Importance of office

1. Office as Information center - storehouse of information or memory centre of an

organization

2. Office as an intermediary

3. Office as a coordinator
 4. Office as a service Centre – providing clerical and other service to the various
departments, divisions or branches of the organization.

5. Office as an administrative nerve centre – making decisions about products to

manufacture and sell when to purchase materials. The heart of all big activities

6. Office as control centre - helps management to take decisions and implement them.

VIRTUAL OFFICE

A virtual office is an integrated suite of application that can be accessed via the internet and
available 24/7.

- may be created by an individual or may be eopened up to a group of employees, colleagues

etc within or outside the business

Advantages of virtual office

- More freedom, more flexibility(WFH)

- Opportunity to operate from anywhere

- Reduced stress benefits

- Time saved in commuting to an office

- More relaxing work environment

- More opportunity to hire part-time or contract workers

Disadvantage

- Lack of face to face communication

- Technical difficulties in communication or manage work progressing

- Feelings of disassociation among employees

The challenge is to turn the disadvantages into advantages.