Meaning of Office-
Office is a place for transacting business where clerical and administrative functions are carried out to coordinate and control activities of an organization. A typical office performs tasks such as framing business policies, processing and communication of information, record keeping, and handling e-mails, execution of orders, managing receipts, and payments. An office can be described as any place where information converges on paper, is documented, preserved and used for both current and future operation of businesses.
In the past few decades, office activities have undergone vast changes. The old dingy, cluttered, stuffy office rooms have vanished have been replaced by well-ventilated, well-lit, air-conditioned offices with up-to-date furnishings in alluring designs. Gone are the days when the head of the concern had to personally supervise the work of clerks. Today, modern offices are organized on scientific principles and their management and administration are in the hands of a specialized office manager. Managers do not share the same room with clerks but sit in separate rooms. The clerks are supervised and controlled with the help of supervisors and through standard office systems, routines, office manuals, etc.
Advancements, in the recent past, have led to an expansion in the scale of production and business activities as the size of business enterprises grows; there is a corresponding increase in the volume of office work. The office activities of today are not performed by general clerks but by specialized clerks – Receptionist, Cashier, Typist, Telephone Operators, etc. There is also a higher division of labour. Departmentalization of office has been affected. The office managers of today welcome greater use of machines and minimal use of human beings in the office work. Machines-typewriter, telephones, computers, calculators, duplicating machines, Dictaphones, accounting machines, intercom, cellular phones, internet system, etc. help save time and labour. Computers are the latest additions to the long list of office machines, capable of performing most clerical operations at high speed without errors. Thus, modern offices are embracive to more and more technical advancements.
Office is an important section of business. The term business implies office work. The office is defined as “a place for the 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 organization are dealt with”. An office is the centre of an organization. Commercial office acts as a central directing and coordinating agency of the various activities of any business.
In the modern age, the “office” is used in a broader sense. Prof. Dicksee states, “An office is to a business what the mainspring is to a watch”. An organization cannot be carried on without an office, as a watch without the mainspring is useless. In 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 of the business, process the collected information (analyses, arrange and classify) and put them into an 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.
According to the Random House Dictionary “An office is a place where business is transacted or professional services are available” An office is the place where the control mechanisms for an enterprise are located, records are initiated for communication, control and efficient operation of the enterprise. According to Mills and Standing Ford, “The office is the administrative centre of a business”. The purpose of an office has been defined as the providing of a service of communication and record.
It is generally seen, in commercial offices, there are some persons to receive information, process them and supply the processed information to the management. Doing so can be called a clerical job. Clerical job includes correspondence (to collect information or clarify the information received) serving (filing), typing, book-keeping, handling of money, etc. Efficient management of the organization helps the managers or executives to formulate planning, organizing, controlling, and supervise activities. Prompt and accurate decision depends upon timely information.
An office is a place to record the information for control through collection (of information) handled and serviced. The control mechanism for a business is located-paper work is to attain an aimed result. One must give importance to the office function rather than to the place. An office is a place of paper processing and memory centre for all its departments. In the office, policies and ideas are formulated through collection and analysis of obtained information. An office maintains all records. And this readymade, scrutinized and processed information is made available to the management to attain the best result.
Office Work-
According to the old concept “Office work” is mostly concerned with clerical work where the records of an enterprise and making, preserving the records for further usage. Office work not only deals with records, it also includes communication, mechanical data processing, planning and scheduling.
Office work being mainly concerned with clerical work or paper work is narrow view and an old concept of office work. Nowadays, office work has a very wide scope. Office work is primarily concerned with making, preserving, and using records. The records are concerned about purchasing, producing, selling, accounting and correspondence, inventories, and written or printed memorandum of all kinds. These records are essential for an efficient and effective control of the organization.
An office serves as the memory centre and control organ of an organization. The office performs many services like communication, reproduction, mechanical data, processing, procuring of stationery, furniture and equipment, secretarial assistance, etc to other departments in an organization.
Office is a unit where relevant records for control, planning and efficient management of the organization are prepared, handled and preserved. Office provides facilities for internal and external communication as well as coordinates activities of different departments of the organization. The purposes of an office are:
• To preserve all the records of the business.
• To handle incoming correspondence.
• To plan the policies of the business and ensure their implementation.
• To direct and co-ordinate the activities of the various department.
• To maintain accounts, statutory and non-statutory books, etc of the business.
Office Activities-
Each office has a personality of its own. This personality is a reflection of the purpose of the existence of an office. The manufacturing office has a profile that differs from that of the sales office. Likewise, the accounting office has a different orientation from that of a research and development office. In organizing a new office, the office manager must first determine the prime reason for the existence of that office and then add the necessary ingredients to bring about an efficient operation entity that achieves predetermined results.
Although offices differ from one another in prime responsibility, many activities are commonly carried out by all the offices. Some of these activities are:
• Processing incoming mail.
• Processing outgoing mail.
• Maintenance of the records (Filing and Indexing).
• Establishing standard at office work.
• Designing and procuring at office forms, stationery, etc.
• Recruitment and training of office staff.
• Maintenance of furniture, machines, appliances, etc.
• Preparation of statements, reports, etc.
• Maintenance of accounts and other financial records.
• Handling Telephone calls and enquiries.
• Preparing updated information for the whole firm.
• Arranging the data in a quick and accessible form for using and safeguarding the assets.
• Keeping prompt and accurate handling of enquiries orders etc.
• Maintaining an efficient flow of work in the office.