The Office

Procedures and Technology

Chapter 1
The Office in a Changing Business
World
ASM403
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 Objectives
At the end of the chapter, students
should be able to:
❖ Describe the purpose of an office and
office activities
❖ Explain how technology influences office
practices
❖ Describe alternative offices

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The Office
❑ Place in which the affairs of a
business are carried out.
❑ Place where business affairs are
handled for:
▪ A company
▪ A professional person
▪ An organization

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 “state-of-the-art”
technologies
⚫ Using the latest technology.
⚫ The state of the art is the highest level of
development, as of a device, technique, or
scientific field achieved at a particular time.
It also refers to the level of development (as
of a device, procedure, process, technique,
or science) reached at any particular time
as a result of the latest methodologies
employed.
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 Offices Are Information Driven

⦿ Information
› Facts or data summarized or organized into
meaningful form.
⦿ Examples of handling information
› Writing a policy for sales returns
› Accessing the Internet for stock prices
› Answering inquiries by telephone

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 CHECK POINT

⦿ Why is it important for office workers to have

current and accurate information?

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 OFFICE FUNCTIONS:
Key Office Activities
1. Creating /Analyzing Information
2. Searching for Information
3. Processing Information
4. Communicating Information
5. Managing Information

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 Key Office Activities
⦿ Creating /Analyzing Information
› Composing memos, letters, and reports
› Organizing and interpreting data
› Making decisions based on information
studied

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 Key Office Activities…

⦿ Searching for Information

› Accessing databases, an intranet, or the
internet
› Inquiring of persons within the company
› Inquiring of persons outside the company
› Using reference manuals and books

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 Key Office Activities…

⦿ Processing Information
› Keyboarding, editing, and proofreading
› Preparing communications, databases, and
spreadsheets
› Photocopying and reviewing
communications

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 Key Office Activities…

⦿ Communicating Information
› Answering telephone calls and greeting
callers
› Responding to inquiries
› Delivering presentations or giving instructions

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 Key Office Activities…

⦿ Managing Information
› Maintaining calendars
› Maintaining databases and files
› Maintaining financial records

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 CHECK POINT

⦿ What are five broad areas into which

information-related tasks might fall?

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 Technology in Modern Offices
⦿ Technology is used by all office workers.
⦿ Intranets aid in sharing and
communicating information within
organizations.
⦿ The Internet creates a global business
community.
⦿ Many workers telecommute from
alternative offices.
Telecommute: the practice of working and
communicating from a remote location.

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 CHECK POINT

⦿ What factors other than technology, are likely

to determine how productive office workers
are?

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 Traditional Office
⦿ Is permanent and located where the
company does business
⦿ Employees travel daily to a central
location
⦿ Employees spend the working in the same
workspace (cubicles)
⦿ Employees generally report directly to a
supervisor or manager

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 Traditional Office
⦿ Tied to hours of works and rules of the
organization, eg. Lunch break.
⦿ Limit to the use of office facilities, such as
telephone, electricity, photostat machine
etc
⦿ Any tasks assigned confined to time limit
and dateline
⦿ Communicate with other staff and
manager
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 Advantages of working in
traditional office
⦿ Adhering to work under the direction of a
supervisor
⦿ Opportunity to learn from others and ask
questions
⦿ Social interaction with colleagues
⦿ The workplace being for work only
⦿ Enjoy tasks that are completed in teams

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20
 Alternative Offices
1. Virtual Office
› The capability to perform work activities away from a
traditional office setting
2. Mobile Office
› An office located at a temporary site that can move
from place to place
› Nonterritorial office – area not assigned to specific
person/tasks, found in professional org.
› Hotelling – assigning temporary office workspace to
workers as needed
3. Home Office
› Space within a home organized for performing office
tasks

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 CHECK POINT

⦿ What does the term nonterritorial workspace

mean? What is another name for this term?

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 Workplace Connection
⦿ Gloria Diaz is an internal auditor for an
international bank. The company’s head-quarters
are in Kedah. Her work requires traveling to
branches throughout Malaysia. She also visits
cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Phuket, and
Brunei. She must write many reports to share her
conclusions and recommendations. Gloria
composes her reports on her computer. She
usually completes the reports with no help from
office support staff.
⦿ What other tasks might Gloria complete using her
computer?
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