The first step should be a study of the work required of the office, as we now understand the term, and an analysis of the amount of energy available. To put the matter more concretely, we may compare the office manager's work with that of a contractor about to build a schoolhouse or other building. His plans and specifications are laid before him. He knows what is wanted. He knows, too, that he has so many men, so many dummy engines, and so on. Tbe men and engines represent a given amount of energy, which the contractor measures by the amount of work they can perform. A bricklayer can lay an average number of bricks a day ; a forty-horse-power engine can move an average number of loads a day.
The office manager may have five, six or more departments to serve. Each department requires certain services which are approximately determin able. These services are the "results" required of him. He studies the people on his force and the mechanical appliances at his command. The efforts that the two groups put forth represent the energy under his control. He, too, measures energy by re sults. For instance, he realizes that while a typist can turn out about 900 lines a day, a duplicating ma chine can produce about 35,000 form letters a day.
Knowing what the office can do, with its present equipment of people and machines, the office manager must determine whether the existing standards are sufficiently high and, where possible, must raise the standards, thru the introduction of new methods or a better grade of help, or by reorganizing the work where reorganization is required. This really is the axis around which all the office manager's duties re volve.
3. Office head.—The term "office manager" has been used above. Since the duties properly within the scope of the office may be separated from other duties, and since the management of the office may be consid ered as a separate function, it would seem that there should be an official who would be specifically respons ible for its efficient conduct. Theoretically this is true, and in many large concerns, such as the West inghouse Air Brake Company and branches of the United States Steel Company, there is actually such an official. In the majority of cases, however—par ticularly in medium-sized and small concerns—this duty is either divided among a number of department heads or is only one of a number of duties assigned to an officer also in charge of some other branch of the concern's activities. This feature is considered in a.
later section of this chapter. It is desirable now to inquire into the necessary qualifications of the person or persons charged with governing the office.
We have seen that the office proper is in close touch with every other department in a business establish ment. As a matter of fact, it is an essential to the effi cient conduct of these departments. What would be easier, for instance, than to frustrate an important plan for increasing sales by neglecting the clerical features of the plan? Or if the financial department were contemplating a special campaign to stimulate collections during a month usually "slow," the person in charge of the clerical work, failing to comprehend the importance of the movement, might easily cause a loss of several thousand dollars by postponing atten tion to certain details in favor of "more pressing things to be done." It is highly desirable, then, that there be complete harmony between the office and all the other departments.
There is a corollary to this conclusion. The per sons in charge of the office must be thoroly familiar with the purposes and policies of all the other depart ments, and must be fully aware of the import of eveiy move that is made involving clerical work. This would hardly be possible unless these persons under stand the principles that underlie the conduct of busi ness in general. Knowledge of what the sales depart ment is for, of how it operates, of the method of the work in the production, financial and accounting departments is important to the office head. He should also, of course, be thoroly familiar with the sub ject of organization and management-and should be in touch with all the modern office methods and de vices. In addition, he should possess the natural qual ifications of any leader—tact, precision, sympathy, forcefulness and a keen, accurate perception of the de tails of problems presented for his decision.
4. Selecting and handling employes.—The prob lem of directing the office force so that its members will work harmoniously and with maximum efficiency is one of the hardest to solve. Yet the principles of good administration are as capable of application in the management of an office as they are anywhere else.