TYPES OF AIANAGEMENT-THE OFFICE 1. Function of the office.—The function of the office is to facilitate the work of production and distribu tion. In other words, here is the place from which the facilitating activities are directed. In its usual sense, the "office" is the part of a business establish ment in' which the administrative and clerical work is performed. That is to say, if the vice-president hap pens to have charge of the factory, his headquarters are said to be "in the office." The department of the sales manager, the advertising manager, treasurer and accountant are also regarded as parts of the office. But for our purpose—that of laying down basic prin ciples in the management of the office—we must adopt a different point of view.
It has already been explained that, generally speak ing, a business is divided into four basic departments —the production department, the sales department, the financial department and the accounting depart ment. Each has its own specific functions to per form. The production department supplies the art icle to be sold, the sales department is concerned with• selling it, the financial department collects and dis burses the money involved in the conduct of the entire business, and the accounting department records all the transactions, summarizes the facts and presents the results in statements and reports for use in further operations.
The office, as we shall have to regard it, performs the clerical work required by these four depart ments. In the production department, records of or ders, quotations, invoices, stock, requisitions and the like are constantly needed. The whole attention of the factory superintendent or manager should, the oretically, be devoted to the efficient production of goods. This calls for the use of all his skill and ability in the handling of machinery, plant, men and ma terials. He is interested in the clerical work only as it is an aid in the performance of his duties. -When he is about to purchase a new machine, for example, his interesidoes not lie in how the quotations are filed, but in the bids themselves. If the factory manager is uncertain as to the specifications on an order going thru the plant for one of the customers, be wants the original order when he calls for it. He does not care
how the order is found ; be wishes only that it be brought to him promptly.
There are also sales records and statistics, follow-up files, prospect lists, clippings, electros and other mate rial which must be cared for. The sales manager, like the factory superintendent, is supposed to give his whole thought and attention to increasing sales. It is necessary that the sales records be reliable, and that they be on hand when wanted. Further than that the sales official's interest does not go.
The financial department also has its records, such as credit information, lists of delinquents and the like upon which it relies in conducting its operations. The accounting department requires sundry clerical work, such as billing, filing vouchers, etc.
In addition, the four departments referred to re ceive and send out mail, which must be typewritten, filed and otherwise handled. There are other details incident to the routine of every office, such as the oper ation of duplicating, addressing and other machines, and attending to callers, errands and inter-office com munications.
All these details fall within the scope of the office proper. From a management point of view, then, the office may be defined as that part of a business organ ization which performs the purely clerical work neces sary in the conduct of the whole business.
2. Elements of management applied.—The same cardinal elements of management discussed in previ ous chapters are present in the management of the of fice. In other words, we face the problem of direct ing -forces or energy toward the fulfilment of a pur pose. There are, for this, two kinds of energy— human and mechanical. The purpose of the office is to provide the clerical work necessary in the con duct of the entire establishment. To perform this. work expeditiously and efficiently contributes to t-he profit-making of the concern in the same sense that increasing sales or reducing the cost of production does.