By the end of this session:

You must know

-What is a role
-What is a function
-The roles of office for the business
-What are the functions of the office

The office is the center 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 organization

The role of the office is its purpose or the reason why it exists. So, what do offices do? All offices carry
out certain activities that supports the business and allows it to operate effectively and efficiently. Some
common activities that all offices do includes: answering the telephone, preparing documents, filing
documents, ensuring that communication takes place between the business and its partners and customers,
etc. Thus, the role of the office is to support the business so that it can operate effectively and efficient in
order to reach its goal.
The functions of the office are the jobs that it performs on daily so that the business can meet its goal.
The goals of the business are what it wants to achieve. Businesses also have mission statements and
vision statements. The vision statement helps the business to focus on what it wants to do in the future.
The mission statement of the business is its main purpose. That is why the business exist.

Functions of the office

1. Production

Production is a combination of factors ( land, Labour, capital and enterprise ) to create goods and services
in order to satisfy consumer needs. The factors of production are the things that a business require in
order to exist.
In the production of goods and services, machinery has to be bought, personnel(workers) have to be
recruited and paid, and materials will have to be purchased locally or from overseas. All these activities
generate a great deal of information.

Functions of the production department

The functions of the production department include ensuring that goods are not only produced but that
they conform to an acceptable quality standard. This standard is maintained by quality control. The
production department must liaise or works with the purchasing department so that the correct quantity
and quality of raw material is purchased.

2. Distribution

When goods are produced, they must be distributed to the consumer. Distribution entails transporting the
finished product. The method of distribution will depend on the nature of the product, that is, whether it is
bulky or if it is perishable. It is important for you to be conversant with the channels of distribution.

Channels of distribution

producer – agent – distributor – wholesale – retail – consumer

3. The exchange of goods and services

In the exchange of goods and services, 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. On the other hand,
the dressmaker and the hairdresser charge a fee for services rendered.

Office activities generated by the exchange of goods and services include:

 Preparing Sale slips

 Write cheques
 Make ledger entries
 Prepare receipts

The office worker employed in the production, distribution and exchange of goods and

services departments must be able to:

 Prepare order for raw materials

  Prepare sale invoices
 Prepare accounting statements
 Demonstrate good communication skills
 Exercise good interpersonal relationship

Functions of an office

Functions common to both large and small organizations include:

 Issuing instructions to department regarding project

 Filing all essential documents carefully so that it is easy to retrieve it
 Ensuring that the business obeys all the laws that relates to they type of business and the activities
that it performs
 Using reports to evaluate how effective and idea implemented is working
 Controlling the financial activities to make sure money is always available
 Hiring staff and ordering stationary

For the effective running of a business, communication must be conveyed properly, hence it is important
for:

Collecting of information

1 External collection – Information may be collected by general means. For example, an individual may
telephone a company to request information on its products, its line of business activities or to place an
order. Written communication is received via the post office or the Internet. In today’s modern world, the
use of computers enables organizations to collect information quickly and in great volume.

2 Internal collection – In a large organization there are several departments which deal with many aspects
of the business activities. Information from one department must be communicated to another within the
organization so that decisions can be made. The collection of information internally in an organization is
affected by person to person and through written communication, for example memoranda, routing slips
and so on.
Processing information Where there are many departments dealing with different aspects of the
organization, the data received must be distributed in such a way that each department is supplied with
the information concerned with the operation of that department. The relevant information must be
arranged in a form