Definition of Office Administration: Functions, Purpose, and Duties

Definition of Office Administration – Does Sinaumed’s already know what office administration is? Office administration is an activity that is directly related to the administration system within the scope of the office. The management system within a scope in this office is one part of management that provides information in accordance with the administrative fields needed to support the work of an activity effectively.

In order to understand it easily, we must know the meaning of office administration. There are many who give opinions in defining the notion of office administration. Well, Sinaumed’s can listen to the explanation in this article.

What is the definition of office administration?

What is the meaning of office administration? Office administration is a series of routine activities in an organization related to data and information management in order to achieve the goals of the organization systematically .

When viewed etymologically, the word ” Administration ” comes from Latin, namely ” Ad” which means intensive and ” ministrare” or which, if interpreted in Indonesian, means to help, serve , or fulfill . We need to know together, the notion of office administration is divided into two, namely the broad definition of office administration and narrow office administration.

Then what is meant by office administration in a narrow sense? In a narrow sense, office administration is all technical activities and has a main role in carrying out operational activities, presenting reports to the directors, and playing an important role in creating a more effective company organization.

Meanwhile, if viewed in a broad sense, office administration can be understood as planning, organizing, directing, administering and supervising various work related to the scope of work in the office as well as orderly and good administration.

What is the meaning of office administration in general? In general, office administration is an activity of financial planning, billing and recording, personnel, and distribution of goods and logistics within an organization. Generally, an employee who serves as office administration is referred to as an office administrator or office manager.

What is the meaning of office administration according to some experts? According to George Terry, a researcher and author entitled Principles of Management, office administration is planning, controlling and organizing work in an office and being a driving force for those who run it so that the goals that have been set can be achieved properly.

Another opinion was expressed by Prajudi Atmosudirdjo, Director of the first State Administration Agency, who stated that office administration is a combination of corporate management (office as a unit consisting of buildings, land, personnel and equipment) with operation management (work in the office).

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What are the Duties of Office Administration?

WH Evans, an office administration expert, stated that the task of office administration is a function related to management and directing all stages of company operations regarding the use of information, memory, and organizational communication.

Then what is the main office administration task? So, his job is to recapitulate data, manage documents, and store documents in a structured manner. From this main task, we can derive several office administration tasks which include:

1. Communicate using the telephone

Office administrators generally have the most important tasks of communicating by telephone, receiving and outside telephone calls. In this task an administrator needs to have good communication skills. For small and medium sized offices, usually the mandatory task is answering the phone. Unlike big companies, usually there are other divisions such as customer service or what we usually know as customer service .

2. Make all the office agenda

With the task of communicating via telephone, raises the possibility of a partner wanting a meeting with the company’s management or also with other departments. Other duties of office administration are also needed to prepare the agenda for the activity. However, to schedule a meeting, further communication is needed with other departments so that the schedule can be arranged properly and there are no clashes with other schedules.

3. Data entry on the company

The next task that is important to implement in every office for this job is usually the problem of data entry or data recap. Transaction data from customers, consumer data, and other information that will be summarized. However, not everything is recapitulated alone. If the company already has other divisions, such as the warehouse division, the admin office task is usually just a recap that other divisions have been worked on.

A person serving as office administration is required to have deep thoroughness. Data such as addresses, telephone numbers, and others must be recapitulated to make it easier to search.

4. Create data files

The last task, so that data can be managed properly and easily, the data must be archived. This is also an office administration task. This allows document data and everything to be well managed.

What is the Scope of Work for Office Administration?

From the various office administration tasks above, we can actually predict what needs to be done. By knowing the scope or scope of office administration, we can prepare ourselves to learn what skills are needed later. The scope of office administration duties includes:

1. Office activities

This scope includes planning (planning) , organizing (organizing) , directing (actuating) , and controlling (controlling).

2. Office work facilities

This scope includes buildings or buildings, office locations, interiors, equipment, to the machines available in the office.

An administrator must be responsible for planning work for employees, supervising employees, and requesting the procurement of necessary facilities and infrastructure or repairs of office equipment that is already available.

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What is the Purpose of Office Administration?

In general, the purpose of this office management process is so that the company’s goals can be achieved effectively and efficiently and meet the requirements from a technical, economic and psychological perspective.

  1. Technical, namely having benefits and usability

  2. Economical, namely the price that is appropriate or appropriate

  3. Psychological, namely giving satisfaction

So, here are the complete office administration goals.

  1. Providing complete data and information to parties who need it to carry out organizational tasks effectively and efficiently.
  2. Supervise office and administrative work in order to ensure the proper implementation of quality standards, deadlines and procedures.
  3. Implement company or department policies and provide good service standards in relation to management.
  4. Communicate with employees regarding work performance to identify problems and their causes, and work to resolve these problems.
  5. Provide training or work orders to employees.
  6. Verify, monitor and evaluate work by making reports related to production, delivery and payroll activities.
  7. Conducting the employee recruitment process, from interviewing to selecting employees.
  8. Interpret and communicate all work procedures and company policies to all employees.

Meanwhile, GR Terry in his book entitled Office Management and Control , has his own views on the goals of office administration.

  1. Provide all detailed and complete information and classify who, when and where it is needed for the proper and efficient implementation of the organization or company.
  2. Keep records at minimum cost.
  3. Providing administrative work effectively and efficiently.
  4. Helping companies in good competition with competitors
  5. Provide financial reports with minimal cost

Meanwhile, in general, the objectives of office administration include the following.

  1. Implement and improve information technology capabilities so that the implementation of tasks runs effectively and efficiently.
  2. Implement and improve document management capabilities in accordance with standard operating procedures that apply within a company.
  3. Implement and improve the ability to manage financial administration ( accounting ), so that the process of managing financial aspects can be accounted for and reported.
  4. Implement and improve the company’s services to relations with outsiders.
  5. Implement and improve capabilities in planning, implementing, organizing, and evaluating the tasks that are the responsibility of each employee.
  6. Implement and improve the ability to communicate in relation to external parties, of course with due regard to ethics and the environment.

What are the Functions of Office Administration?

According to Quible (2001) there are five types of administrative support functions in offices, namely routine, technical, analytical, interpersonal, and managerial functions. The following is a description of the office administration functions.

1. Routine Function

Routine functions are administrative functions that require thought and skill, which at least include filing and duplicating company goods

2. Technical Functions

The second function is a technical function that requires opinions, decisions, and qualified office skills for administrators

3. Function Analysis

The third function is the analysis function which requires critical and creative thinking as well as the ability to make decisions quickly and accurately.

4. Interpersonal Functions

The fourth function is the interpersonal function which requires analysis and assessment as a basis for deciding something as well as skills in communicating well with other people.

5. Managerial Functions

The last function is a managerial function that requires planning, organizing, measuring, and motivating employees