Administrative Office

Management

CHAPTER 1:
The Managerial
Process

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 Goals For This Topic

• Discuss the career in Administrative Office

Management
• Discuss the functions of management
• Identify the Roles and Skills of Administrative
Office Manager (AOM)
• Discuss the evolution of Management Theory

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 Emerging Thrust

• Information management  knowledge

management
“Information management involved creating,
processing, storing and retrieving organizational
information”.
- Greater level of automation
- Technology oriented
“Knowledge management is a process of
managing the organization’s intellectual capital,
human resources, and strategic relationships”
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 Objectives of AOM

• Ensure relevant organizational activities designed

to maximize individual and unit activities.
• Provide effective management of the organization’s
information.
• Maintain reasonable quantity and quality standards
• Develop effective work processes and procedures
• Provide a satisfactory physical and mental working
environment for the organization’s employees
• Help define duties and responsibility and
responsibility of employees assigned with the
administrative office management functional area.
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 Objectives of AOM

• Develop satisfactory lines of communication among

employees within the administrative office
management functional area and between these
employees and employees in other areas within the
organization.
• Help employees maintain a high level of work
effectiveness.
• To enhance the effective supervision of office
personnel.
• Assure the efficient and proper use of specialized
office equipment.
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 AOM Function

• Enables employees to enhance productivity

• Maximize the efficiency of designed tasks.
• Helps provide employees with the information
the need, when they need it and in the format
they desire.

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 Career in AOM

• AOM is generally considered to be within the

middle-management level of the organizational
hierarchy.
• In large organizations, AOM is an important
component of one of the functional areas (such
as administrative area).
• A new career opportunity is in facility
management.
• Chief information officer

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8
 Responsibilities of AOM

• Planning • Organizing • Staffing • Directing

• Controlling

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 Planning

• Developing goals and objectives for each of the

office functions and services, including layout,
environment, telecommunications, word
processing, automation, electronic data
processing, records management, forms design,
reprographics, mail services and control
• New developments in the field and identify
changes to be made
• Assessing the need for designing and
implementing totally new functions and
services 10
 Planning

• Developing policies that help assure the

attainment of goals and objectives.
• Determining the most effective means of
implementing desired changes.
• Developing the unit’s budget.
• Determining personnel requirements.
• Determining space and equipment needs.
• Designing new operating systems.

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 Organizing

• Determining the most effective means of

organizing resources to achieve goals and
objectives.
• Determining the most effective way for
employees to perform specific tasks.
• Designing efficient work methods and
procedures.
• Assuring the maximum utilization of the
organization’s office equipment.

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 Organizing

• Developing techniques for maximizing

organizational and individual productivity.
• Developing effective methods and techniques
when implementing changes.
• Developing effective procedures for evaluating
equipment being considered for acquisition.

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 Staffing

• Assuring the use of efficient employee selection

procedures including placement and
orientation.
• Providing sufficient growth opportunities and
experiences for employees.
• Providing appropriate training experiences.
• Assuring effective appraisal of employee
performance.
• Assuring the realistic description of employees’
jobs.
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 Directing

• Using effective techniques to supervise

employees.
• Using effective techniques to motivate employees.
• Designing employee compliance with
organizational policies and procedures.
• Assuring that employees performance meets
expectations.
• Helping employees solve work-related problems
• Using a fair, objective approach for adjusting
employees’ salaries.
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 Controlling

• Developing efficient procedures for controlling

the quantity and quality of work processed in
areas for which the administrative office manager
is responsible.
• Developing efficient procedures for scheduling
work.
• Developing efficient procedures for use in readily
determining the status of unfinished work.
• Maintaining the unit’s budget.

NFS /OSM 453/CHPTR 1 16

 Controlling
• Assuring that methods and procedures are cost
effective.
• Motivating employees to be cost-conscious.
• Developing effective assessment procedures for
use in determining why actual results fail to
conform with anticipated results.
• Developing effective procedures for dealing
with employees who fail to comply with the
organization’s rules and policies.
• Developing effective strategies for taking
corrective action when and where necessary.
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 Challenges Affecting the Administrative
Office Manager

Coping with governmental regulations

Coping with new technology

Enhancing organizational productivity

Accommodating diversity

Serving as change agent

Accommodating globalization
Dealing with office systems that
fail to perform as expected

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 Qualifications of AOM

1. Completion of relevant courses.

2. Specialized knowledge of pertinent areas.
3. Capable of leading.
4. Commitment to ethical behaviour.
5. Capable of delegating.

NFS /OSM 453/CHPTR 1 19

 Roles and Skills of AOM

• Roles are defined as set of behavior and job

tasks employees are expected to perform
including:
Decision Information Interpersonal
making roles Management Roles Roles

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 Roles and Skills of AOM

• Skills are defined as abilities individuals

possess that enable them to carry out their
specified roles well
Conceptual Skills Human Skills Technical
Skills

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 Enable the manager to
Conceptual Skills perceive quickly how one
phenomenon may impact
on another.

•Help managers determine the full impact of a change or a

variety of changes.
•Often seen as possessing a “fifth” sense in dealing with
organizational matters.
•Some conceptual skills are learned; others are intuitive.
 Enable a manager to
maximize cooperation of
Human Skills
subordinates, motivating
them, or maintaining their
loyalty.

•Skills give the manager greater insight into

working effectively with each subordinate in each
situation.

•Can be learned through on-the-job training or

through courses.
 Technical Skills
Are often important in
selecting an
individual for his or
her first managerial
job.

•Nature of skills needed is determined by the

manager’s areas of responsibility.

•Skills are typically acquired through training.

 The combination of technical skills,
conceptual skills, and human skills
used by an administrative office
manager varies from situation to situation.

NFS /OSM 453/CHPTR 1 25

Evolution of Management Theory

Scientific Management Movement

(Late 1800s and Early 1900s)
Administrative Movement
(1930s)
Human Relations Movement
(1940s and 1950s)
Modern Movement
(Since 1950s)

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 Scientific Management Movement

• Conceptualized by
Frederick W. Taylor
• Famous during the late
1800s and early 1900s

Goals:
1. Increase output level of
employees
2. Improve operating
efficiency of management
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* Scientific Management Movement

“I believed in the need to

identify one best way to do a
job and to select and train
employees carefully and
thoroughly to perform their
tasks”

* Stressed the need for management and

employees to cooperate with one another
as a means of maximizing production.

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Scientific Management Movement

Frank and Lillian Gilbreth – Motion Studies

Time Study Concerned with amount of time
task completion takes.

Concerned with efficiency of

motion involved in task performance.

Motion Study
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 Administrative Movement

• Conceptualized by Henry
Fayol
• Famous during the 1930s

Concepts:
1. Focused on whole firm
2. Management functions were
identified during this era
3. Comprising a group of
universal principals involving
management
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* Administrative Movement

“I identified the management

functions which are planning,
organizing, commanding,
coordinating and controlling.

* Focused on coordinating and managing

various organizational endeavors. It also
created the bureaucracy concept.

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 Human Relations Movement

• Elton Mayo was a proponent

• Emerged during the 1940s and
1950s
Concepts:
1. Emerged because of a failure of
organizations to treat their
employees in a humane manner
2. Concern with individuals and
groups and providing employees
with grow opportunities and
challenges.
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* Human Relations Movement

“I focused on the human and

social dimensions of work and on
the relationship between the
superior and the subordinates, in
terms of interpersonal relations
and communications.

* Horton Studies – The study to determine

the relationship between the illumination
level of the employees’ work area and
their output.

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 Modern Movement

Began in early 1950s

Quantitative approach also known as:

Operations approach

Non-quantitative approach also known as :

Behavioral Science Approach

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Modern Movement
Operations Approach (Quantitative)

• Is concerned with decisions about which

operations should be undertaken.
• Is concerned about how they should be carried
out.
• Is concerned with the way they ought to be
made which involves mathematics, computer
science and statistical application.

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Modern Movement
Behavioral Science Approach (Non-Quantitative)

• Is concerned with the scientific study of

observable and verifiable human behavior.
• It can be observed at the individual, group and
organizational levels.
• Is concerned with the manner in which
decisions are made which involved psychology,
sociology and anthropology as its base.

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Modern Movement
Systems Approach

• A management concept in which the

organization is thought to be comprised of a
number of systems with interdependent parts.

• A change in one part can affect other parts.

e.g. Marketing and Sales department.

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Modern Movement
Contingency Management

• A management practice which recognizes that

no single best way exist in all situation.

• Manager need to examine the facts of a given

situation and chose a tool, method, or process
that will best handle the situation.

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Modern Movement
New Management Concepts

Total Quality Management

Theory Z

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Modern Movement
Total Quality Management

Puts emphasis on teamwork, empowerment of

employees, and organization-wide recognition.
• Assumptions:
1. Focus on customer’s satisfaction
2. Ongoing improvement of the organization’s products
and/or services
3. Work teams based on trust and cooperation
4. Statistical measurement techniques designed to
identify causes of production problems

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Modern Movement
Theory Z

• Conceptualized by William G.
Ouchi
• Japanese style of
Management
Concepts:
1. Stresses the need to hire
employees for their specific
talents, that uses consensus
decision making, based on
management-employee
trust.

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Modern Movement
Theory Z

• Assumptions:
1. Employees have lifetime employment
2. Employees are hired for their specific talents
3. Decision-making uses a consensus process
4. Managers and employees trust one another
5. Managers are concerned about employees’
well being.

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