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OFFICE

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OFFICE – An office is generally a room , a hall, or other area in which people work. An office is a place where work in connection with the pairing and furnishing of information is done . The collection , processing , storing and distribution of information .

e.g a company or any organization office

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Office NameAddressStatusNumbers of employees Head

ATTRIBUTES

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The purpose of an office is mainly to provide services , communication between services and keep record . An office is a processing medium , is also responsible for directing and co-ordination the various activities of the organization. It is like the mainspring in a watch. It works like force.

PURPOSE OF AN OFFICE

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The main purposes of an office are-

1.To direct and co-ordinates the activities of various departments.

2. To plan the policies of the business and ensure their implementation

3.To preserve all the records of the business

4. To handle all types queries

5. To maintain accounts ledgers, balancesheets etc of the business.

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Each office has a personality of its own.this is because the work of a particular office. The manufacturing office will have different activities and records from that of a particular office . Some of these activities are

1.Processing incoming mails – the activity of the office is concerned with the mails or letters or application which have been sent to the particular office . It reads those mails and taking necessary actions.

2. Processing outgoing mails- it is typing , numbering and checking the mails etc which are to be sent by the office after checking posting of these mails etc are part of activity.

ACTIVITIES OF AN OFFICE

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3. Dictation - it is something like taking the material from the offices in dictation by the stenographer. This includes like to whom it must be referred and what should be the matter etc.

4. Transcription – in this activity the format or template of letter is already there. Simply the main matter required for the letter is collected and the given format is used.

Transcription: A written or printed representation of something.

5. Typing – this activity is the next step after taking dictation and transcriptions . After taking dictation every letter needs to be typed using typewriter etc. to have a hard copy.

6. Printing - if the letter is typed in computer then it needs to be printed to have a hard copy this also is an activity of an office . If the same letter is meant for sending to many offices then we need to take its carbon copies or xerox copies. This is the activity obtaining copies of the same matter.

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Filing - it is organising or arranging various faxes , mails, letters and application for future reference. It is very important activity of an office . It is storing of records in an organised manner.

Record retrieval - if any existing letter , mail or fax etc.are required by anyone concerned then it it is the job of the office staff to locate it in the files or records and make it avialable to that person.

Records disposal – this is also an important activity of any office .it is disposing or deleting the record which are of no use in future i.e which are not required in future.

Communication - one department of an organisation needs to communicate with other departments of that organization as well aa other organization so this communication is taken care of by the office of that particular department.

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A system may be defined as a group pf inter-realted and interdependent parts operating in sequence , according to a predetermined plan in order to achieve a goal or series of goals.

e.g human body , or any organization system

In terms of management also and Office sytem may be regarded as a planned approach to the activities which are necessary for the attainment of desired objectives set for any office . It refers to the complete picture of the personnel, forms, records, machines and equipment involved in completing a major phase of office work.

OFFICE SYSTEM

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1. Flexibility – it should be sufficiently flexible to allow for special or unusual circumstances.

2. Adaptable – it should adapt the changes without destroying or hindering its functions.

3. Systematic – it must be systematic and logical.

4. Simple- it should not be complex .

5. Resourceful – it should properly used as organizational resources.

6. Dependability- it should produce consistent and reliable output with minimum time.

7. Acceptability – it should be designed to be easily accepted by the human who have to follow or use it.

CHARACTERISTICS OF AN OFFICE SYSTEM

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These differ from organisation to organisation. Some of the major ones are –

1. To ensure efficient usage of organisational resources.

2. To control operating costs.

3. To improve operating efficiency

4. To help to achieve the objectives of the organisation.

5. To assist in carrying out various functions of the organisations.

FUNCTIONS OF AN OFFICE SYSTEMOR

OBJECTIVES OF AN OFFICE

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Some general principles of office system are- 1. To have a good work flow without bottlenecks.

2. To avoid duplication of work and records.

3. To keep the movement of staff to the minimum.

4. To avoid unnecessary writing

5. To make the best use of specialization

6. To keep the amount of paper work to the minimum

7. To use the principle of management by exception

8. To make as few as exceptions to the rule as possible

9. To avoid unnecessary checking

10. To use the machines efficiently

11. To seek simplicity.

PRINCIPLES OF OFFICE SYSTEM

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1.Smooth flow of work

2.Uniformity can be achieved

3.Duplication can be avoided

4.Helps in training office personnel for efficient performance without supervisors.

5.Eliminations of unnecessary operations and control wastage of any nature.

6.Responsibility can be fixed for each employee

7. Office personnel can perform their jobs independtly and confidently.

8.Ensures better control and eliminates fraud possibilities

9.Aims at better form design and form control.

10.Chances of errors are eliminated

11.Better co-ordinations

12.Liberates the management from 90 percent of its work.

IMPORTANCE OF OFFICE SYSTEM OR

ADVANTAGES OF OFFICE SYSTEM

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1.Effectiveness of an office depends on planning

2.Strictness makes it inflexible and unworkable

3.The repetitive use of an office system adversely affects its efficiency whereas frequent changes impose expenditure burden on the organization

4.Cost-benefit analysis is required to check the efficiency

5. System need to changed to meet changing environments but it impose a limitation of operation of system.

DISADVANTAGES

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An office manual is an authorized guide to office organization.It is a source of information,knowledge of which is essential for the office work.It may be in the form of a book or booklet.

For the benefit of the office staff, it contains information on operating office system and procedures,methods and routines, executive decisions,standard practices,organisational policies and so on.If office employees are supplied with copies of the office manual,they do not have to approach their superiors again and again for necessary guidance ,instructions and decisions.Since, instructions,rules and regulations are written for each employee receiving manual can be held responsible for their work and for manner in which they are carried out.

OFFICE MANUALS

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An office manual usually contains the following information:

General Information: Name, address,telephone number etc., of company; its branches and departments and executives.

General rules and regulations of office: These relates to office ours,salary, vacations and holidays, promotions, dismisssed, compensation,etc.

General office facilities: The location of rest room, lunch room, dispensaries,telephone faclities, recreation facilities etc.

Safety instructions: These instructions indicate what should in case of fire, accident or any other emergency. The name and address of the doctor or nurse who is in permanent service of the company is also mentioned.

Organizational Policies: It includes policies bearing on credit sales, selection of advertising media, training and development programmes etc.

CONTENTS OF OFFICE MANUAL

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Executives relationship: Laying down the relationship betweens different executives/departments, or individuals responsible for policy decisions, the nature of supervisions and control etc.

Job Descriptions: Laying down the basic functions of each job, it is explained in terms of the authority and responsilbility. It helps the employees in understanding what is expected from them.

Standard Practice Instructions:Laying down instructions related to repetitive works such as instructions for handling incoming and outgoing mails,replenishment of stationary, filling, etc.

General instructions- these instructions are regarding the non-standardised work i.e the work which are not repetitive

Appendix – this contains various forms(specimens) used by different departments of the office.

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1.It contains printed instructions and important decisions on the executive of office work

2.An office manual is a useful aid in the training of new employees

3.In large firms/offices it brings about a uniformity in the office system and procedures .

4.It enables executive to make decisions more easily by giving reference to the instructions and policies in the manual.

5.It is the best way of bringing useless work to light.

ADVANTAGES OF OFFICE MANUAL

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6. Everyone gets the idea of responsibility, duties , and authority of his job and its relationship to other jobs.

7. During transfers it helps employees to pick up their work at new locations quickly without delay or hesitation.

Disadvantages – The disadvantages of the office manual are –

1.Small firms cannot afford office manual because time and cost

2.If its not stated clearly a manual can be misinterpreted

3.To keep a manual up –to-date is a difficult job4.It may put on record the relationshipd which

everyone may not like.

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Document flow is concerned with the way ,documents of work move along from one operation to another. It has to do with the documents gone through , the rate at which documents move along and the smoothness of flow of documents .

A steady , constant flow of work following a routine results in high efficiency.

Flow of documents – a management Problem - the flow of documents is a management problem for it can be solved only by managers. Management cannot completely control the document flow but it can take steps to minimize the effects of any uncontrollable factors. it is a test of the mangement ‘s abilityto analyse and plan a proper document flow .

Document Flow Management

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1. The office manger should see to it that

a) The document flow is un interrupted

b) Each duty in document flow is performed in its prpoer sequence

c) Work is finished according to a predetermined schedule.

2. The office manger should know

d) By whom and using what means each document is checked or completed etc.

e) This means available to accomplish the desired results.

f) If any department is getting behind in document flow , steps should be taken to correct the situation.

3. work getting behind schedule may be due to

a) A sudden and unexpected increase in the volume of documents

In order to achieve smooth flow of office documents , the following points should be taken care of:

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b) the absence of one or more workers assigned to that work

c) ineffective documents

d) Interruption to work

e)ineffective supervision

4. The mangers of each department should know

a) the volume of documents received each day

b) The quantity of documents handled each day

c) The documents left over ,if any ,at the end of that day and reasons for their being left over.

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Many difficulties may arise in getting the ideal document flow .Few of the

factors can be:

1.Unequal flow of document: At certain seasons, in almost every kind of business ,the document flow is much heavier than at other times.

2.Interruptions to document flow: Every interruption

causes delay. Interruptions can be internal or external.

Internal interruptions can be lack of material or information, changes in the plan or pattern or methods etc. External interruptions can be visitors ,external noise, telephone calls, absenteeism.

Problems in the document flow

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3.Unequal times required for different operations: Usually different operations of a job require different times for their completion. this difference can be from few seconds to few minutes.

4.Lack of standards :the amount of documents to be processed by different workers of the same rank is usually unequal. So it is necessary to standardize the workload for all the workers in the office

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5.Lack of planning and scheduling: Without planning ,there can be no scheduling .this adversely affects the steady flow of processing of documents.

6.Faculty layout :whether the layout is a straight line, a circle or whether it is u-shaped, the movement of people and documents should be reduced to the minimum. It ensures smooth processing.

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The documents must always move forward from the beginning to the end of each operation. as far as possible, the straight line flow of document which involve very few backward movements should be adopted. the advantages of straight line document flow for processing includes:

1.Increased speed: the document pass from one clerk to another for further processing

2.Less danger of documents being lost or mislaid

3.Less massenger work when document flows in straight line

4.Keeps executives and clerks at their desks

5.Conveyor belt or other transportation device may be used carrying the documents from

Straight line flow of documents