Modern Office and Its Functions Part 2

Office Management THE CHANGING OFFICE SCENE Office Yesterday A few decades ago, a typical business Office presented a gloomy picture. Housed in one or two small rooms, poorly lighted and ill-ventilated, it was generally situated in the least conspicuous part of the building. There was a small volume of paperwork, which was handled by a few clerks manually and without the aid of mechanical and labour-saving devices. Since typewriters were somewhat rare, the clerks had to do all the written work with their own hands. Letters were copied before despatch on loose sheets or in fat leather bound registers. All the internal and external communication was performed or carried on through the human agency, for telephones and intercom systems were not generally in use. The proprietor of a business or the head clerk would be found sitting in the office room, supervising and guiding office work, and personally dealing with the visitors or customers. There was no departmentalisation of office activities, and the techniques of scientific management were either not known or not practised. Historical Developments The following technological developments made during the last 150 years have led to the evolution of the modern office: 1870 : First commercial typewriter introduced. 1880 : Alexander Graham Bell invented telephone. 1920 : Electric typewriter introduced. 1930 : Important machines like duplicators, dictaphones, intercoms developed. 1950 : Calculators, computers, copying machines, addressographs, franking, tabulating and accounting machines developed. 1961 : Memory electronic typewriters launched. 1964 : Word processing equipment, cash registers, etc. 1970 1980 : Introduction of digital networks local area networks (LAN). : Computerised telephone networks, picture phone, etc. 1990 : Personal computers, microprocessing equipment, electronic mail, fax machines, modems, pagers, Cellular Phones, Internet Systems, etc. 2000 : Internet Banking, Internet Trading, BPO servicing, Internet Telephony, Digitised office. 2008 : Apple i-Phones, Voice Mails, Teleconferencing, Handwriting and speech Recognition Softwares, Broadband Spectrum, L.C.D. and Plasma T.V.s. 3D image Videoconferencing (telepresence), etc., Black Berry, Google gphone, Robotics; etc. 2012 : Voice/Face/Handwriting Recognition, 3D Printing, Apple iPhones 4S, ITB Hard Disk, 2014 : Blue Ray Disc, Voice Navigation, Wi-fi, Wireless Printers, Cloud Computing (Google Drive, DropBox, Skydrive-Microsoft), iPad, Business Analytics (for Cash Management, Website Management, Employee Management, etc.) SaaS (Software as a Service), LED, Mobile Banking, Virtualisation, Android, Ubuntu, Internet of all things etc. Chapter 1: Modern Office and Its Functions Office Today Office activities have undergone vast changes in the last five or six decades. A Modern Office is well-planned, well-laid out and well-organised. The scope of office activities has widened tremendously following spectacular developments in science and technology, industrialisation, transport and communication, etc. These developments have led to an expansion in the scale of production and business activities, to greater governmental and legislative interference and control, and the consequent enlargement of the volume of office work. In today’s Office, activities are performed not by general purpose clerks but by specialised clerks — by receptionists, accounts clerks, cashiers, stenographers, typists. There is, thus a greater division of labour. The old fat leather-bound ledgers have been replaced by loose-leaf binders. Filing and indexing techniques have been developed. Departmentalisation of office has been effected. A greater and wider use of machines (typewriters, dictaphones, calculators, accounting machines, computers, etc.), is made to save time and labour. Work standardisation, job evaluation, merit rating and other techniques of personnel management are being practised. Telephones, intercoms, telex and other communication device are used for rapid and global communication. Many large sized offices use computers to handle the enormous volume of work. The use of carbonless copy paper has become very popular. In short, Offices today are organised on scientific principles, and their management and administration is in the hands of highly specialised managers. The term “Office Management” is rapidly being replaced by the term “Administrative Office Management” 13 and “Information Management”.14 Office of the Future Advancements in technology are having enormous impact on the working of the office. The New Office Technologies are converting the information that was written or typed, transmitted and stored on paper to be processed by computer-based machines more accurately and at much greater speed. However, it may be stressed that the rate of introduction of the new technology is very 'Variable' and it night take many years before all offices resemble ‘office of the future’. In India, we usually find a mixture of traditional and new machines in the same office. Few organisations have the finance or are prepared to take the risk of replacing all their old office equipment with the new machines all at once. We are, in fact, in a period of transition which might extend to a few years or even more. In the more distant future, we might see an Office that is virtually 'Paperless'. However, in near future, there will be an important reduction rather than a total abolition of paperwork.14A The Office of the future has to face a variety of challenges — social, political and economic. For instance, with the increased mechanisation of office activities and the installation of sophisticated machines like the computers, it seems we are on the threshold of office automation. With the increasing pace of industrialisation and government control of business, the need to employ more experts and specialists to perform office activities has become pressing, and has led to the utilisation of consultancy services to a greater extent. These developments call for a greater “professionalisation of management” and increased application of the principles of management to the Office. The other challenges faced by the office of the future include: 13. Neuner and Keeling, op. cit. 14. George R. Terry, op. cit. 14A. Working in an office: Jennifer Clayton: Botsford Academic and Educational: London: First Ed. Office Management (i) The challenge of legal provisions; (ii) The challenge of reducing paperwork; and (iii) The challenge of reducing office cost. Once these challenges are met, the productivity of an Office would increase, and its importance would be enhanced in relation to the business organisation of the future. THE PAPERLESS OFFICE The 21st century Offices will be an electronic wonderland where expensive paperbased routine work will be replaced by result-oriented and advanced information technology.15 Office automation, with its microcircuitry and visual display screens, is surely to take over the old and wornout methodology, in Office management. In all probability, within next 3-5 years, Office information system would be installed and developed to such an extent that it would replace the desk, the typewriter, the filing cabinet and the plethora of paperwork. With the evolution of a new work style, based on speed, accuracy and efficiency the Offices which fail to wake up to the implications of modern information technology will find themselves lagging behind. They would become vulnerable to the technological onslaught of their better equipped competitors. A US study16 on office automation has indicated that 100% of the banking industry has already installed Office automation systems of some kind. An average of 85 word processors per 1,000 employees was reported. Together with these, the banks are likely to add private videotex, electronic mail, online management information systems with graphics and voice information systems. Future developments also imply adoption of multifunctional workstations with a wide variety of capabilities. The technological advances have also invaded Offices in Europe, UK and Japan, etc. However, in India, the position has started to emerge and in certains sectors rapid computerisation is taking place particularly in BPOs, Stock Market Operations, Banking, Retailing, Higher Education, etc. The concept of paperless Office encompasses the following: (1) The omnipresent desk will now be replaced by the multifunctional workstation with a personal computer linked to other personal computers via a highspeed Local Area Network (LAN) system. The workstation can be further linked to the main station so that the staff positioned at the workstations can contact and manipulate information from the Office records. (2) Computers, equipped to process words as well as figures, will totally replace typewriters. The present day, word processor will slowly give way to personal computers. (3) The electronic-magnetic or optical-filing is the one to succeed the paper filled filing cabinets in our offices. Microfilming will also reduce paper records and facilitate retrieval of records. (4) For outward communication, fascimile (FAX) system will replace despatch section. (5) For inward communication, shorthand notebooks and typewriters will give way to dictating machines and printer computers, etc. 15. Sunny Sebastian: The Paperless Office, H.T. Supplement (Adapted). 16. Op. cit. Chapter 1: Modern Office and Its Functions (6) Desktop Publishing System will look after the entire printing work of office. It will write and format documents, create and incorporate graphics, prepare camera ready copy for printing, keep data bases of mailing and subscription lists, create official advertising files and brochures and keep all financial records — no matter how large or small it is. (7) Various machines like accounting machines, billing machines, payroll machines, addressing and mailing machines, punched card machines, etc., shall be replaced by computer network (LAN) system. (8) The automatic answering devices and automatic electronic branch exchanges will reduce the workload of the reception counter of the office. (9) The new emphasis will be on LAN system — a low cost method of connecting microcomputers, printers and data storage devices on a single site. Imaginative use of the information technology helps to create new opportunities. It cuts down operating costs, provides faster and more accessible information and reduces time spent on clerical functions and unproductive tasks. Are the Days of Paper Limited? The increasing use of Office machines in transmission, storage and data processing has facilitated the Offices to abandon the use of paper to a large extent, but the realisation of the goal of ‘Paperless Office’ is subjected to the following problems: 1. Transmission: Fascimile transmission is already possible but it requires that the receiver and sender both have compatible electronic apparatus, which will restrict transmission for sometime to come. 2. Storing: Microfilm has long been used as a storage medium but as yet it has made no serious inroads into the use of paper. Data storage of huge quantities of information is already carried out by computers. Yet the most used device of many computers are not video display units (VDU) but printers. 3. Data Processing: Again, computers already perform many data processing tasks which previously were being carried out by clerks armed only with pencils and paper. However, aspects like — financial, organisational and resistance to change — will inhibit the rapid elimination of paper. As such, the transformation of the Office is not an easy task. An integrated approach where information is treated as a primary resource, is necessary to reap maximum benefits from Office automation. Further, the software supporting an electronic office should be totally reliable, accessible to everybody and easy enough to be operated by everybody irrespective of their ability or status, “Office automation can be carried out in a phased manner starting with the clerical staff and later moving on to the professionals and managers”. Managers can have desktop on to workstations, which can be used for electronic mail, finding information from large central data bases and typing text while producing reports. Through a properly linked network system, a manager can send electronic messages to his colleagues and arrange meetings and appointments. He can also type letters from his own laptops (screen-based/workstation). For maximum results the technology used should be matched to the needs of the business and business objectives. The persons who are coordinating the ‘Information Technology’ (IT) activity must be familiar with the business objectives of the organisation. Office Management TIPS FOR A ‘PAPERLESS’ OFFICE Many people who use computers — whether it’s for their home or business — are moving towards a “paperless” Office. Simply, they are tired and overwhelmed by scraps of paper, heaps of old file folders, envelopes — and they want to reduce the clutter. Take a look at how many messages are stored in your e-mail’s in-basket. Now imagine how much paper would have been generated if they hadn’t come to you from cyberspace. Many companies have made at least a partial move to a paperless Office. They’re doing so this way: by using scanners instead of copying machines, sending electronic faxes instead of paper faxes, storing information electronically instead of in filing cabinets, giving staff clients or vendors information on CDs or through Internet attachments instead of in bound folders. In short, they’re getting greater return on their hardware, software and technology investments. Here are six things to keep in mind as you move towards a paperless home or business office.17 1. Without paper, make sure you’re backing up files. In the traditional backup system, you would make a photocopy of a document and put it in a properly-labeled folder that can later be retrieved from a filing cabinet. Many people and businesses develop electronic filing systems that mimic the old paper systems, using Microsoft Word or customized programs for storing documents by type of document, client, project or other prioritization. But those files can’t just be created — they have to be backed up as well. Backup solutions can include backing up to second hard drives, to removable drives or to Internet and off-site locations to minimize the risk of loss of data from a computer failure. So, the message here is to have a system in place for regular and consistent backing up of your information. 2. Realize that a paperless Office doesn’t happen overnight. Your home Office or business won’t go from all-paper one day-to-paperless the next. It’s a progression. You might start out by scanning all incoming bills into your system, and then expand to include all general business correspondence. Initially, you might imagine you’re creating more work instead of less —especially if you run a business. It’s just another way of backing up information. 3. You’ll need to rearrange your office — a good thing. There usually savings of office space when you first start focusing on using less paper. After all those paper documents housed in your big, clunky file cabinets. At some transition to a ‘paperless office’, however, the difference in your physical storage apparent. aren’t tremendous all, you still have point during your space will become 4. “Paperless” often really means “less paper”. Yes. it’s possible to scan all received documents into your computer, and to store all in-house documents in your system as well. You can virtually eliminate paper faxes by generating faxes on your computer and having inbound faxes delivered to your computer system. You can even electronically sign or signature-stamp outgoing documents. But you’re still likely to have some paper floating through your Office. Not all of your clients or customers will want to be billed electronically. Some vendors will still want to 17. Joseph Authory: Microsoft Small Business Centre. (Google Search) Chapter 1: Modern Office and Its Functions communicate by snail mail. And tax and regulatory requirements could force you to either do some current business on paper or to keep hard copies of your past home or business records. 5. Everyone has to participate in change. Merely saying as head of household, owner or manager of a business that you want those around you to embrace your paperless office doesn’t make it so. Your partner or staff has to buy into the transition as a permanently-new way of doing business. Change can be difficult. People who have been making photocopies, sending paper faxes, putting documents into legal sized folders — or saving tons of mail and catalogues that they just can’t part with — are going to have to change their perceptions. They will have to learn new routines that they already feel skilled at. 6. Realize that less paper is just the beginning of the pay-off. The most visible impact of a move to a paperless office is the reduction in the cost of printing, mailing, shipping and storing paper. Overtime, lots of other benefits should become apparent: Less time spent looking for paper lost in the shuffle. Fewer hours looking for bills, documents and, if you’re in business, copies of client documents. The ability to access all sorts of information from computer files — in a matter of seconds without having to search your office. If you’ve got a home Office that serves as a satellite office of a business, you can have access to all of your business files, using a product like Terminal Services or other software, even if you’re not at your business location. In short, change can be hard — but it can be profitable. Working towards the Paperless Office18 The paperless office — promised since the first desktop computers started appearing in the 1980s — has yet to become a reality for most companies. Despite the increasing use of computers in all types of businesses, a good portion of most day-to-day work is still paper-based. In addition, basic human behaviour works against a truly ‘paperless office’: employees will always want to print documents for more careful study or to bring to meetings. For now, the perfect paperless Office system remains an elusive goal. Despite these challenges, you can drastically reduce the amount of paper documents your business depends on by choosing a document management system. The term “document management” (DM) covers a range of systems for managing paper and electronic files. To work towards a ‘paperless office’, a more specific term is “document imaging systems” — they include tools to help convert paper records into electronic files. Benefits of a Paperless Office Solution One of the biggest benefits of getting rid of paper files is the cost savings : It provides additional cost savings by eliminating paper records. Converting records rooms into usable office space can let you make much better use of expensive real estate, and to eliminate warehousing costs entirely. Other benefits include increased security, better disaster recovery protection, environmental benefits and remote access for your important documents. 18. Jeremy Sacco: Editorial staff Buyer zone. com (Google search) Office Management THE AUTOMATED OFFICE Till now, it was customary to transfer and store information on paper. With new electronic procedures and systems becoming more and more popular in use in modern Automated Office, the so called “Paperless Office” is becoming a near reality. A ‘Paperless Office’ is one in which paper has been replaced by electronic, digital, micrographic and microprocessing systems and equipments. It is aptly said that. “The Office is now in a period of transition” where more and more information processing functions are being automated through sophisticated electronic systems, the Paperless Office is attainable today.”19 “It may be noted that though paperwork can be reduced by up to 95 per cent in the traditional Office, many people believe that a completely Paperless Office will not be attained in near future.” According to William Benedon in the ‘Paperless Society; fact or fiction,’ there are six major barriers to a totally paperless office; namely 1. Traditional Values; 2. Legal Requirements; 3. Accounting and Audit Values; 4. Legislative Values; 5. Societal Values and; 6. Procedural Values; In contrast, the System Analysts, Records Managers, and other management professionals often complain of the high cost of creating, storing, retrieving, reproducing and disseminating paper documents.20 Modern offices are increasingly converting all incoming and original data to either electronic form or microfilm, which can then be edited, indexed, stored, retrieved or converted to paper. In some companies’ ‘Paperless Office’ integrates voice inputs, word processing, optical character recognition, electronic mail, calendars, message sending, filing directiones and text editing, computer indexing and processing, COM, Micrographics, automated storage and retrieval, telecommunications and colour graphics systems into a fully automated office facility.21 The Integrated Office has evolved into “Communicating Integrated Office”. Office Systems Communicate with each other by the use of sattelites. Several Modern Offices provide sattelite communication, video teleconferences, electronic mail and computer-to-computer hookups for intra-company use. 19. Professor Perkins at Washington State University, as quoted by Nathan Krevolin in Communication Systems and Procedures for the Modern Office: Prentice-Hall. 20. William Saffady: “The Automated Office: An introduction to the Technology” Journal of Micrographics. 21. The Paperless Office: A Total Commitment: IRM. Chapter 1: Modern Office and Its Functions Subsystems of an Automated Office The Modern Office System is said to have the following subsystems that are integrated into the Automated Office.22 1. Voice System. 2. Word Processing. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Data Processing. Reprographics. Micrographics Communication and Fascimile Graphic systems. Telecommunication (i) Teleconferencing (ii) Videoconferencing. (iii) Computer conferencing (iv) Telepresence (Latest innovation by CISCO Inc.) 10. Electronic Mail. 11. Photocomposition. 12. Computer Networking 13. Robotics, etc. The Business Office is currently undergoing a dramatic change, an abrupt transition from antiquated procedures that have been evolved fundamentally for over a century to sophisticated, integrated systems involving electronic and advanced microcomputer technology. VIRTUAL OFFICE (Run Your Business Virtually Anywhere) What is Virtual Office? A Virtual Office is an integrated suite of applications that are accessed via the internet and available 24/7. The 18 applications include calendar, addressbook, webmail, etc., and can also synchronise with PDA or Phone. One can receive agenda by SMS/Text Message everyday and send SMS/Text Message right out of Virtual Office. One may access the Virtual Office even from a pocket PC or mobile phone. A Virtual Office may be created by an individual or may be opened up to a group of employees, collergues, vendors or anyone else within or outside the business. One can decide as to who joins, what to share and who can share what. Anyone who has access to the Internet has access to the Virtual Office, if allowed. 22. Also see Don M. Avedon: ‘The Automated Office, IRM 14, No. 7. Office Management Features22A The Virtual Office offers the following features: 1 . Calendar Personal and group calendar. Share public events within your group, view other member’s calendar and sync it with your PDA or wireless phone. 2 . Addressbook Personal and group addressbook. Share public addresses within your group and view other member’s addresses. 3 . WebMail Compose, send, receive, reply, forward e-mail with your new “@office.com” e-mail address. Includes POP3, folders, attachment, addressbooks, templates, signature, anti-virus and anti-spam. 4 . Documents Full document management centre with automatic backup. Share and jointly edit your persona l or group’s valuable information. 5 . To Do’s Be better organized. Manage your tasks, send tasks to other group members and control completion... 6 . Forum Broadcast company news and ideas with your group effortlessly. Great for keeping everyone on the same page or brainstorming. 7 . SMS Get your daily calendar by wireless phone via SMS (Short Message Service, commonly known as Text Messaging) or send reminders by SMS, send SMS directly from your address book. 8 . Virtual Drive Using the virtual drive, you can access all your private and group documents directly from your PC or Mac computer. 9 . Groups Create groups (or Virtual Offices) to share information with other members, such as addresses, documents, and bookmarks. 22A. Office.com (Goggle search) 10 . Meetings Schedule your meetings online in seconds and automatically invite others in your group to attend. See the responses as they roll in. 11 . Calls Don’t miss another important phone call. View a list of the calls “while you were absent,” marking them off as you return to them. 12 . Notes Create, save and stick notes to any object in your Organizer. Better than all those “Post-It” notes stuck to your monitor. Keeps the notes where you will see them, when you need them. 13 . Reminders Meetings, birthdays, reminders on time of any events. Reminder displayed by screen pop up, e-mail, messages or SMS. 14 . Bookmarks Save bookmarks which can be used from any browser, share them with other members. 15 . Fax Using your messaging account, you can send faxes worldwide. You simply send a message in the same way that you send an e-mail. 16 . Synchronize Synchronize your personal calendar, addressbook, tasks and notes with your PDA or PC. Whether it is Palm, Outlook, Lotus Organizer, iPaq Pocket PC or Treo, you can sync up and run. 17 . WAP Access your Virtual Office through WAP in order to check and enter information, using your WAP enabled wireless phone. 18 . Encryption Use secured transfer when required (documents, calendars, addresses, or e-mails) or faster, non-secured transfer for nonsecure transfer. Chapter 1: Modern Office and Its Functions Advantages of Virtual Office23 The advantages of working from a Virtual Office may seem obvious, such as — — — — More freedom, more flexibility Opportunity to operate from anywhere, e.g., home, airport, train, car, park, anywhere. Time saved (plus savings on Petrol, etc.) in commuting to an office. Reduced stress benefits — A more relaxing work environment. — More opportunities to hire part-time or contract workers. Disadvantages Include: — Lack of face-to-face communication — Technical difficulties in communication or managing work progress. — Feelings of disassociation among employees. — Lack of support — both administrative and managerial. Both the lists can certainly go on. However, one can always identify the disadvantages and turn them into advantages. Through good planning, communication, and outside technical support when needed, the virtual office can succeed and help foster future virtual businesses. THE INDIAN SCENE While the IT advancements are rapidly changing the office scene in the West, India’s attempt in this field so far has remained patchy but rapid progress in being seen in several sectors (explained earlier). In India, the number of computers may not exceed 25 millions and the personnel working on these machines would be around 50 millions only. Indian offices are 1 to 2 years behind their counterparts in West and Japan. In India, Indian Airlines was probably “the first to use computers in their booking operations. Now, most of the Airticket bookings are done online. The Railways have started using computers in all cities for reservations, etc. Banks have been using computers in clearing house operations and in branch banking at many places. Many of the public sector enterprises like the Oil and Natural Gas Commission have ventured into using a fascimile system for inter-office dissemination of data and diagrams. MTNL, DDA, Electricity Boards, Improvement Trusts, Water and Sewerage Departments have also computerised their billing operations. The meteorological department of the Government of India has acquired a Super Computer from U.S. and the Election Commission also has introduced computers in its working. The corporate sector is however racing ahead in automation of office operations. Apart from these, in India the in-things presently are computers and word processors. In metropolitan towns, the cellular phones have also made inroads in matters of office communications. Many corporate houses are providing laptop computers to their senior executives, and mobile phones to their field staff to facilitate communication with them. The launch of Apple i phone 6, 6 plus and iwatch and Windows 8 in India was almost simultaneous with the rest of the world and the time gap in introduction of technology in India with the advanced countries is fast reducing. 23. Adapted from “How virtual offices work” by Lee Ann obringer. (howstuffworks.com) Office Management Banks are computerising their branches as also opening ATMs in all towns to facilitate banking. Offices of Income Tax and Sales Tax Departments are rapidly being computerised. However, the worst scenario is presented by the post offices and offices of small business units spread over the length and breadth of the country. It is indeed a very long road ahead. SUMMARY What is an Office? An Office is generally understood to be a place where clerical work is performed and where all kinds of paperwork is done. According to Mills and Standingford, the office is the administrative ‘centre of a business. According to George R. Terry, it is the information centre of the business, and its functions include the acts of collecting, processing, storing and distributing information. According to Leffingwelf, “it is wrong to confine the office to a particular place. If there is office or clerical work in one place, there is office or clerical work everywhere, regardless of where the work is done or who does it”. Thus the term Office refers to the functions performed by a certain set of persons rather than the place where clerical work is done. “Office work is concerned with records and statistics, with communication, with computing, with planning and scheduling etc.” Office activities include: (i) Processing incoming mail; (ii) Processing outgoing mail; (iii) Dictation; (iv) Transcription; (v) Typing; (vi) Printing; (vii) Copying; (viii) Filing; (ix) Records retrieval; (x) Records disposal; and (xi) Communication. Office Functions: The functions of a modern Office may be classified into two categories: (i) Basic Office Functions, and (ii) Administrative Management Functions. Basic Office Functions include: (i) Receiving information; (ii) Recording information; (iii) Arranging information; and (iv) Giving information. Administrative Office Functions include: (i) Management functions of planning, organising, staffing, directing, communicating, controlling, coordinating and motivating; (ii) Public relations function; (iii) Instituting Office systems and routines; (iv) Retention of records; (v) Safeguarding assets; (vi) Form designing and control; (vii) Stationery and supplies control; (viii) Selection and purchase of Office appliances; (ix) Personnel functions; (x) Controlling Office costs. Importance of Office: An Office is an important and indispensable part of every organisation, big or small. The importance of the Office to a business enterprise arises from the fact that a modern business cannot be managed efficiently without clerical assistance in some form or other. The Office serves modern business: (i) As an information centre; (ii) As an intermediary; (iii) As a coordinator; (iv) As a service centre; (v) As an administrative nerve centre; and (vi) As a control centre. It is rightly said that “the office is to a business what the mainspring is to a watch”.