LESSON 5 OFFICE MANAGEMENT

STRUCTURE

5.0 OBJECTIVES

5.1 INTRODUCTION

5.2 SOME BASIC ELEMENTS AND DEFINITIONS

5.3 FRONT DESK AND STATIONERY MANAGEMENT

5.4 OFFICE COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

5.4.1 EXTERNAL MAIL
5.4.2 INTERNAL MAIL
5.4.3 OUTGOING MAIL / COURIER
5.4.4 EMAIL

5.5 RECORDS MANAGEMENT

5.5.1 FILING SYSTEMS

5.6 OFFICE AUTOMATION MANAGEMENT

5.6.1 EPABX
5.6.2 FAX MACHINE
5.6.3 PHOTOCOPIERS
5.6.4 COMPUTERS
5.6.5 SCANNERS
5.6.7 PRINTERS
5.6.8 EQUIPMENT REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE

5.7 BASIC ADMINISTRATION

5.7.1 ORGANIZING MEETINGS

5.8 ASSIGNMENTS

5.9 SUMMING UP

5.10 POSSIBLE ANSWERS TO SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS

5.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

5.12 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED FURTHER READINGS

5.13 GLOSSARY

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 5. OFFICE MANAGEMENT
In the previous lesson we had acquainted ourselves with an understanding
of the basic principles of management. We had also learnt about the role and
competencies of a manager.

As you would be aware, Managers work in Offices. It, therefore, becomes

necessary to acquire an understanding of what are the components of a Modern
Office and how it can be efficiently managed. In this lesson we will, therefore,
learn about Office Management. In Lesson 6, which is the final lesson of this unit,
we will deal with the important topic of time management.

5.0 Objectives
After studying this lesson you will:

• Acquire an understanding of the structure and role of a Modern Office.

• Acquire an understanding of the various facets of Office Management like

Front Desk and Stationery Management, Records Management, Office
automation etc.

• Obtain a basic understanding of how meetings are organised.

5.1 Introduction
An office is a place of work where professional activities deploying mostly
non-manual techniques are performed. These activities could be clerical,
administrative or managerial in nature. This is an age of professionalism and this
lesson on Office Management will help you learn how to manage today’s
automated workplace.

5.2 Some Basic Elements and Definitions

Office infrastructure normally has the following elements:

• Front Office or reception equipped with EPABX or multiple phone lines

• Work stations or work desks
• Office equipment such as computers, fax, photocopiers, printers,
projectors
• Storage area like cabinets, vault etc
• Conference or meeting rooms
• Mail rooms
• Pantry or cafeteria
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 • Wash rooms

It is useful to be familiar with the following often-used words / expressions:

Working in an Office: This would typically entail being in a job where most of the
time and activities are spent within the confines of four walls.

Management: Management is defined as a process by which managers create,

direct, maintain and operate purposive organizations through systematic human
effort

Office Management: Office Management is a process of creating, maintaining,

operating systematically a place of work where the pre-dominant nature of activity
is non-manual.

Self-check Question

1. Define Office Management.

5.3 Front Desk and Stationery Management

i) Reception Manning - The Reception is the first impression and most
lasting of any office. Ideally a person trained in handling walk-in guests,
telephones, courier and mail, incoming and out going material and basic
security vigilance should man a reception. The reception should be
designed in a way that it has special seating arrangement for the
receptionist and guest seating arrangement or waiting area. Avoid
installing any storage bins or cabinets in the reception area to avoid
making the area cramped and messy.

ii) EPABX skills – The EPABX is an electronic phone handling board into
which phone lines can converge and calls can be distributed to various
office extensions. The EPABX is most often handled by the receptionist.
The basic skills required are:
• Strong communication skills – polite handling of calls, clarity of diction
and ability to understand and convey messages given for office
employees.
• Knowing the employees – this enables to transfer calls to the right
persons, take and convey messages efficiently and screen calls if
required.
• Keeping record of official contacts and maintaining directories.
• Understanding of the working of the EPABX.

iii) Office Stationery and Supplies - In day-to-day office use a lot of

consumables are required. A non-exhaustive list is given below.
• Papers in various sizes, continuous running paper for printers, etc.
• Writing pads and note pads

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 • Post-its or stick pads
• Pens, pencils, permanent markers, white board marker, erasers,
correction fluids and correction pens
• Staplers, pins and paper clips, Paper punch,
• Scotch tape, packing tapes, glue, heavy duty adhesives
• Files of various sizes and usages, separators, folders
• Envelopes, floppy and CD storage boxes
• Printer cartridges
• Calculators

Every employee based on his individual requirement requires stationery.

There should be an inventory of all such stationery used in an office. Care should
be taken to re-order once this inventory level drops below a certain level.

Storage control and issue of Stationery: Though most of the stationery

items are of low unit cost but are prone to maximum wastage which results high
expense overall. To keep a check stationery control and issuance is very
essential. Record should be maintained.

5.4 Office Communication Management

Mail Management – Internal, external, outgoing mail / courier services.

5.4.1 External mail: External mail can be received as packets/parcels via the
postal department, courier or via hand delivery at a certain receiving point in the
office. Normally this should be the Reception of the office. All packets delivered
by a courier service or hand delivered require a receipt to be given to the delivery
man. All packets should be consolidated in the mail room or a small designated
area and a detail of the mail packets received be maintained in a register marked
Mail In. This register should maintain a record as per the following format

[Link]. Date of receipt Name of Addressee Senders Name Addressee

at office Acknowledgement
with date

Once the entries are made the mail needs to be distributed to all the
addressees and an acknowledgement be taken by the recipient.

5.4.2 Internal mail: Internal Mail between individuals in an office should be

consolidated in the mailroom in a box or pigeonhole labelled internal mail/memos.
This mail should be distributed to addressees.

5.4.3 Outgoing mail / Courier: All outgoing mail should be consolidated in the
mailroom. The mailroom should have boxes or pigeonholes labelled as under
• Outstation courier
• Local courier
• Overseas courier
• Post

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 All out going mail should be entered in a register marked Mail Out. This
register should have the following format:

[Link]. Name of Date of Senders Airway Despatch POD

Addressee despatch Name Bill No. Agency

It is important to enter all the details carefully. All packets or parcels for
which is proof of delivery (POD) is required should be marked in the register
clearly. Once a proof of delivery is received it should be updated in this register.

For all outgoing mail via courier the Airway Bill given by the courier
company while accepting the packet should be filed in a large box file, date wise.
Bills of mails sent by registered post should be also filed in the same register.
This record keeping is necessary for efficient tracking of the mail sent out. Incase
of non-delivery, packets can be traced out by referring to the airway bill number.

5.4.4 Email: In a modern automated office environment a fair amount of

communication is received by electronic mail in short referred to as E Mail.
Emails are received on your computers using e mail software of using internet
email facilities. E Mail is use to communicate internally with co-workers or
externally with customers, consultants, vendors, and other business
acquaintances. Email is an efficient, cheap and quick way of sending and
receiving information and facilitates business communications and to enhances
productivity.

Emails are typically received in an inbox. Mails thereafter have to be

stored / filed in clearly demarcated folders. These folders should be divided by
subjects e.g., Travel, Accounts, Announcements, and Consultants etc. This has
to be done in way that retrieving old mails is easy. Unnecessary mails should be
deleted to avoid undue cluttering of Mail Box.

The use of email has to be done with care, as the laws on electronic media
communication are stringent. Emails are not to be used:
• to carry any defamatory, discriminatory, or obscene material;
• in connection with any infringement of another person’s intellectual
property rights (e.g., copyrights);
• in a manner that violates the terms of any applicable telecommunications
license or any laws governing trans-border data flow (e.g., laws dealing
with data collection, protection, privacy, confidentiality, and security);
• in connection with any attempt to penetrate computer or network security
of any individual or company or other system, or to gain unauthorized
access (or attempted access) to any other person’s computer, email or
voicemail accounts or equipment; or
• in connection with the violation or attempted violation of any other law.

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5.5 Records Management
Every office has a variety of records, documents, files that it needs to
maintain. Some of these records or files are to be maintained as a statutory
requirement by the appropriate government such as records of business
commencement, provident fund, and registrations under various legal acts.
Accounting records such as books of accounts, ledgers, expense vouchers too
need to be maintained by every office for a stipulated period of 10 years. Ideally
record management should follow a standard process so that retrieval is
convenient and efficient

Few of the important records that every office should have are
• License to run the business or business commencement certificate
• Property papers – either a copy of lease document if the property is rented
or ownership if the occupant owns the property.
• If the office employs more that 20 people a certificate of registration under
The Shops and Establishments Act is to be displayed and
• Registrations under various tax laws if required e.g., sales tax if sales
activities are being conducted and excise if manufacturing activity is being
conducted.
• Registrations under various labour laws if more than 7~20 people are
employed
• Books of accounts like cash book, cheque books, bill book,
• Purchase records and Material registers which record material or
equipment going in and out of office.
• Employee files

5.5.1 Filing systems: Files are efficiently managed by keeping them in filing
cabinets or filing systems by topic/department followed by date and then by
arranging them in alphabetical order. A catalogue of files should be stuck as a
label on the cabinet for ease of locating files. All deeds and original agreements
should be stored preferably in a fire proof cabinet.

Filing Hardware and Electronic Data Storage – Hardware devices such as

floppies, CDs, cartridges, external drives are used to store data. It is essential to
store these in a dust free and cool cabinet. Exposure to sun, dust and high
temperatures can destroy this medium and information may be lost. Again care
should be taken to follow the correct procedure of filing such hardware by
labelling them and then storing them by department followed by date and then by
topic in an alphabetical order. A catalogue here too needs to be maintained for
ease of access in tome of need.

5.6 Office Automation Management

Widely used office equipments and machines are EPABX, Telephone, fax
machine, photocopier, computers, scanners, LCD projectors, printers. These
basic devices fulfil various communication needs.

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5.6.1 EPABX: It is a device into which many phone lines can terminate into one
answering capability. The calls from here can be forwarded or transferred to
employees on their own phone extensions available at their desks.

5.6.2 Fax machine: This device can read documents, store the contents in its
memory and transmit it to a dialled number where a receiving device is available
at the other end e.g. another fax machine. It can receive documents faxed from
other remote fax machines. This device provides is very quick way of receiving
and sending hard copies of information in their original image copy.

5.6.3 Photocopiers: This device can copy documents in their original form.
Modification can be made to the size of copy by enlargement or by reducing the
image electronically. Most commonly used are photocopiers which give a black
and white copy. Colour photocopiers are also available

5.6.4 Computers: Computing devices used most commonly in small offices for
information storage and management, word processing or communicating when
linked to a network or Internet. Computers are either desktop, which are large
and sit on top of a desk or are laptops, which are small and portable. The size of
desktop vs. laptop does not change the functionality of the device.

5.6.5 Scanners: This device can scan a document and store the image. This
image can be transmitted via electronic mail or as a soft copy can be exchanged
between people. Such electronic soft images can be stored on electronic
medium/ hardware and can release space occupied by large and bulky files.

5.6.6 Projectors: In current automated offices most commonly used are LCD
projectors. These projectors can be linked to a computer and what is displayed
on a computer screen can be displayed on a large screen for better viewing by
larger audiences. For such projections special projection screens are used to get
the best picture quality and image.

5.6.7 Printers: A printer is usually attached to a computer to take an output on

paper of a document or any other file. Printers come in various categories such
as ones which give ink prints or laser prints or impact prints.

5.6.8 Equipment repairs and maintenance: All the office automation

equipment is predominantly electronic and susceptible to wear and tear. All
expensive equipment should be maintained under an annual maintenance
contract (AMC) taken with the original equipment manufacturer or its authorized
agents. Under these contracts the repair and maintenance is undertaken by the
trained professional of the company or its agency and thereby increasing the life
of the equipment. If a product is under an AMC with any agency, the repair and
maintenance should not be undertaken by unauthorized agencies or by any
individual. Such acts lead to the maintenance contract being declared void.

The telephone numbers of all such agencies with whom an AMC is signed
should be kept handy at all times.

Self-check Questions
2. Enumerate any five machines commonly used in modern offices.

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5.7 Basic Administration
5.7.1 Organizing meetings: While organizing meetings it is essential to know
the following -
• agenda of the meeting
• start time and end time of the meeting and meeting duration
• number of people attending the meeting and their designations
• preferred seating arrangement and name tags of the participants in the
meeting
• list of the hardware required such as projector, computer, pointers, public
address system
• list of stationery required such as writing pads, pens, white board, flip
charts, markers etc.
• list of basic refreshments such as water, beverages, snacks, meals etc.
• arrangements to take minutes of the meeting

Once these lists are ready then the arrangement are to be made to meet
all requirements as per the list. It is very important that a few hours prior to the
meeting all the equipment is checked to ensure working condition, all material
and surroundings reassessed. A copy of the agenda of the meeting should be
given to every participant.

Travel management – Travel undertaken for official work has to be planned for in
advance and recorded. Depending on the mode of travel, tickets for the journey
should be purchased well in advance. Any monetary advance given to meet
travel expense should be accounted for in a separate book and regular updates
be done. Travel could also involve getting hotel booking done. It is important to
know that most hotels change by the night and check-outs can be done by 12
noon. Late check-out could incur extra charge.

Office Maintenance and Housekeeping – Upkeep and maintenance of office is

essential to provide healthy working environment to people. Basic office
maintenance entails
• ensuring that there is adequate brightness and office is well lit
• clean water supply
• hygienic sanitary conditions
• air circulation by way of fans or air conditioning
• regular disposal of garbage
• dust free environment for preservation of records

Specialized cleaning should be done for electronic equipment. Regular floor and
equipment cleaning is a must. In hot and humid cities it is advised that regular
pest control is done.

Office waste should be segregated into:

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 • paper or paper based
• plastics or non-biodegradable
• electronic waste such as old floppies, CDs, cartridges
• pantry waste

Once segregated the handling should be done accordingly by specialized

cleaning agencies.

Pantry services - These services relate to basic requirements such as drinking

water and providing beverages to employees and visitors. Small tea and coffee
making machines can be installed at very inexpensively or arrangement can be
made for pantry services with a nearby restaurant to supply at regular intervals to
the office.

Safety and emergency services: Every office should mandatory have the
following safety measures in place

• Fire safety: Fire extinguishers– Type which will extinguish electrical fires
and wood/paper fires. Fire hose connection to connect water source to an
extended hose. Fire and smoke alarms should be installed to sound off in
case of a fire
• Emergency exits: There should be more than one exit identified and
clearly marked. The 2 exits should be placed far from each other so that at
least one exit is available in an emergency situation
• First Aid box: Contains medication to take care of minor injuries such as
cuts and bumps. This box should have antiseptics, bandage, gauze,
cotton, burn crèmes, pain sprays and small scissors
• Medicine box: This box should contain non-prescription drugs such as
lozenges, oral re-hydration solution, and glucose powder. These could
come handy in mild illness situations
• Emergency Call Numbers: These emergency call numbers of hospitals,
doctor, ambulance, police, fire need to be displayed at the reception and at
every employee work station

5.8 Assignments
5.8.1 Class assignments

i) Organize a group discussion on the skills and qualities required to

succeed in today’s challenging office environment.

5.8.2 Home assignments

i) Describe the various elements of office communication management.

ii) Write a brief note in your own words on safety and emergency services in
an office.

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5.9 Summing Up
This lesson has dealt with the various elements involved in managing an
office. These include management of front desk and stationary, office
communication, records, office automation equipment, and administration.

5.10 Possible Answers to Self-check Questions

1. Office Management is a process of creating, maintaining, operating
systematically a place of work where the pre-dominant nature of activity is non-
manual.

2. Five machines commonly used in modern offices are:

a) Telephones b) Fax c) Photocopier d) Computers e) Printers.

5.11 Terminal Questions

1. What are the various components of office infrastructure?

2. What does records management involve?

3. What activities take place in an office?

4. Give some description of offices you have seen.

5.12 References and Suggested Further Readings

1. Chopra, R.K. 1998. Office Management. Himalaya Publishing House,
Delhi.

2. Ghosh, P.K. 1998. Office Management: Principles and practice. Sultan

Chand & Sons, New Delhi.

5.13 Glossary
1. Competency Ability to deal with a matter

2. Components Parts

3. Facets Aspects

4. Deploy To station or move according to plan

5. Vault A room for the safekeeping of valuables

6. Pantry A small store off the kitchen

7. Entail Necessitate or involve unavoidably

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8. Purposive Having or serving a purpose

9. Manning Posting a person or people for work

10. Security/Vigilance Guard with watchfulness, to have a secure

condition

11. Messy Untidy or dirty

12. EPABX Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange

13. Cluttering Crowded and untidy collection of things

14. Stringent Strict, precise, requiring exact performance

15. Defamatory Attacking the good reputation of someone

16. Obscene Offensively or repulsively indecent

17. Infringement Act of in defiance of another’s right

18. Garbage Refuse, Waste material that is thrown away

19. Non-biodegradable Incapable of being decomposed by bacteria

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