Office administration is a set of day-to-day activities that are related to financial planning, record keeping & billing, personal, physical distribution and logistics, within an organization. An employee that undertakes these activities is commonly called an office administrator or office manager, and plays a key role in any organizations infrastructure, regardless of the scale. Many administrative positions require the candidate to have an advanced skill set in the software applications Microsoft Word, Excel and Access.
Office Administrator
An office administrator has the responsibility of ensuring that the administrative activities within an organization run efficiently, by providing structure to other employees throughout the organization. These activities can range from being responsible for the management of human resources, budgets and records, to undertaking the role of supervising other employees. These responsibilities can vary depending on the employer and level of education.
Skill Set
The importance of an office administrator to an organization is substantial due to the duties that they are entrusted with, therefore specialized training is required in order for the employee to work efficiently and productively, these being;
Payroll training that involves the responsibility in ensuring that all employees receive their pay slips on time.
To have good communication skills in order to coordinate with other employees around the organization.
The ability of being able to supervise support workers
To be able to work under pressure when given a task that is of vital importance to the organization.
Roles
There are some an extensive range of roles that can be associated with an office administrator, these being; organizations advertise junior office administrator vacancies targeted at students that are currently studying or who have left secondary school or college, the opportunity to gain experience or build a career through full-time work or an internship over the course of a summer break. Receptionists play a key role in the organizations management, as they are entrusted with arranging and greeting the clients, suppliers and visitors directly via emails, phone calls or direct mail. The employee undertaking the role of a receptionist must show good organisational, communication and customer service skills in order to ensure efficiency with the organisation. The receptionist should be aware from those scammers who try to obtain the inner information of your office/ medical practice to abuse or exploit it. Other responsibilities that a receptionist is entrusted with are;
Ensure that the outgoing and incoming mail is allocated to the right department within the organisation
Organise and assist fellow employees with meetings, conferences and direct telephone calls when required
To communicate with members of the public when an inquiry is made
Manage and maintain the filing system that has been implemented into the organisation e.g. information systems
Clerical duties that involve the ordering of equipment, office supplies and other inventories that are required
Personal Assistants are commonly associated with an office manager that help maintain the efficiency of their day-to-day work, this is through providing secretarial support and assistance. Becoming a personal assistant requires the employee to have experience in previous administrative jobs, in which entailed the use of computers and information systems. Like any other role that is related to an office administrator, the job title of personal assistant requires the employee to be organized, show professionalism and the ability to work under pressure when given a task of vital importance. The duties that a personal assistant must carry out each day are the following;
The task of inputting, filing and managing the data that is stored within the organization's office system
To arrange transportation and meetings that are of importance to the office manager
Ensure that documents, reports ad presentations are set up prior to any meetings
Process emails and letters that are received in correspondent to the office manager
Office Manager
An office manager has the responsibility of ensuring that an organization's office duties are completed efficiently and effectively, while also supervising other staff members. The role of an office manager is more demanding than other administrative positions, including such skills and qualifications as strong administrative experience, competency in human resources, reporting skills, delegation, management processes and the ability to communicate with other members of the organization.
Duties
The duties of an manager include:
Organize the office's operations and procedures by undertaking several administrative tasks, for example designing and implementing new filing systems
Assigning tasks to employees and following up on their progress
Recruiting, selecting and training new employees
Developing employees through coaching and counseling
