Office OrientationThe Role and functions of the office

What is an office?

The office is the centre of all business activities, whether

it is located in one room or several rooms, and needs a

certain amount of information in order to function

properly.

The office acts as an intermediary between the public and

the organisation.

Types of offices

Records Management Office – looks after all the documents

and records that are generated by the other offices in the

company. They ensure that documents are stored safely, in a

logical way, and that they are easily accessible.

The Human Resources Office – responsible for recruiting staff,

as well as employee interest such as pension plans and health

and safety.

The Accounts Office – handles the processing of all money that

comes into the business, as well as that which is spent.

Types of offices

The Purchasing & Stock Control Office – responsible for

buying raw materials and ensuring that materials remain

at adequate levels.

The Sales & Marketing Office – promotes and sells the

good or service produced by the business

The Factory, Despatch & Transport Office – Factory

office ensures that the factory is functioning efficiently.

Despatch & Transport organise distribution to the

customer.

The role and functions of the office

The role or purpose of the office is to provide rooms, labour and other facilities which are used to organise and coordinate the various activities in which the organisation engages

The functions of the office are:

Production

Distribution and exchange of goods and services

Collection, processing and preservation of data (Manually & Electronically)

Dissemination of information

Organisational management and Legal Control

The role of the office- production -

Production combines land, labour andcapital to create goods and services inorder to satisfy consumer needs.

In the production of goods (tangibleitems i.e. can be seen and touched)and services (intangible items such asinsurance and education), machineryhas to be bought, personnel has to berecruited and paid, and materials willhave to be bought locally or fromoverseas.

The functions of the productiondepartment include ensuring that goodsare produced at an acceptable qualitystandard maintained by quality control.

Land/

Materials

Labour

Capital

Production

Goods

Services

The Production Cycle

Inputs Outputs

The role of the office - Distribution and exchange -

Distribution entails transporting the finished product.

The method of distribution will depend on the nature of

the product i.e. whether it is bulky or if it is perishable.

Channels of Distribution

Producer Agent Distributer Wholesale Retail Consumer

The role of the office - Distribution and exchange -

Money is used as a medium of exchange in the process of buying andselling.

An article sold for cash is an example of an exchange of goods formoney.

The dressmaker and the hairdresser charge a fee for servicesrendered.

Office activities generated by the exchange of goods and servicesinclude:

Preparing sales slips

Writing cheques

Preparing receipts

Making ledger entries.

The role of the office - collection, processing and storage of data -

Data is unprocessed information i.e. raw facts and figures

e.g. 685 units.

Information is processed data i.e. it informs us of

something e.g. 685 units were sold this week.

Two main reasons why businesses collect and process

information:

To ensure customers are getting what they want

To maintain processes that allow all the different offices to

function together in delivering the good/service to the customer.

The role of the office - collection, processing and storage of data -

Manual Storage of Information

The filing clerk must ascertain that the information is categorised

properly to make it easily retrievable.

The storage media (filing cabinets & folders) require a lot of space

and may be expensive.

The storage environment must be clean, accessible, fireproof and

easy to operate.

Records that already exist must be updated as things change.

Manual storage is time consuming.

The role of the office - collection, processing and storage of data -

Electronic Storage of Information

CD Storage

Microfilm – a special camera is used to photograph the record and

reduce it to a small file. They are then packaged on rolls of film

called microfilm.

Zips

Flash Drives

Zip Drives

Hard Drives

The role of the office- dissemination of information -

Disseminate – distribute to various parties

Once the business collects the information, it is disseminated.

Information can be disseminated in a variety of ways such as:

Emails

Meetings

Letters

Fax

Internet

Telephones

The role of the office- organisational management and legal control-

Accounts offices keep financial records that record sales

and predict profit or loss for example.

This is vital information for managers who run the

business.

Is it also required in order to comply with tax laws in most

countries, which require that all profit or losses must be

disclosed.