Describe the role and functions of the office in business activities
- Office Orientation The Role and functions of the office
- 2. 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.
- 3. 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.
- 4. 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.
- 5. 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
- 6. The role of the office – production – Production combines land, labour and capital to create goods and services in order to satisfy consumer needs. In the production of goods (tangible items i.e. can be seen and touched) and services (intangible items such as insurance and education), machinery has to be bought, personnel has to be recruited and paid, and materials will have to be bought locally or from overseas. The functions of the production department include ensuring that goods are produced at an acceptable quality standard maintained by quality control. Land/ Materials Labour Capital Production Goods Services The Production Cycle Inputs Outputs
- 7. 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
- 8. The role of the office – Distribution and exchange – Money is used as a medium of exchange in the process of buying and selling. An article sold for cash is an example of an exchange of goods for money. The dressmaker and the hairdresser charge a fee for services rendered. Office activities generated by the exchange of goods and services include: Preparing sales slips Writing cheques Preparing receipts Making ledger entries.
- 9. 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.
- 10. 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.
- 11. 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
- 12. 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
- 13. 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
