The office

SIZE AND NATURE OF A BUSINESS

There are factors that influence the size of an organisation. Some of these are: The type of ownership. The financial constraints. The market demand for the commodity. The nature of the product. Business enterprises are described according to their type of ownership. The types that are usually concerned with commercial services are:

SOLE TRADER

One person owns a sole-trader business. This person runs the business on his/her own, by putting in all the capital, therefore, all the profit goes to him/her and he/she is responsible for any losses incurred.

PARTNERSHIP

At least two but not more than 20 persons, known as partners, share in the ownership of the firm.

PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY

At least two persons, known as shareholders, contribute funds to provide share capital in a business that is controlled by a board of directors. The liability of each shareholder is limited to the amount of share capital invested.

PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY

Its securities are traded on a stock exchange and can be bought and sold by anyone. A public companies is strictly regulated and is required by law to publish its financial position so that investors can determine the worth of its shares. It is owned and controlled by at least two shareholders and there is no limit to the number of shareholders.

PRIVATE SECTOR

This is owned and controlled by private enterprises.

STRUCTURE OF THE ORGANISATION

An organisation’s structure is designed to outline the lines of authority, responsibility and the relationship between the personnel in an organisation. The structure gives clear lines of demarcation where each employer reports to meet the objectives of the organisation. (This organisational chart for a large company is partially done. Please complete it.)

Usually, a large organisation such as a public company will be divided into sections or departments, each of which performs a particular function within the organisation. A manager directs each function.

So, now students, we can safely say that the office plays an important role in the chain of production – from the raw material stage until the goods and services are in the hands of the consumer. The office, therefore, is concerned with processing all documents that are involved.

The functions of the office are based on the collecting, processing, preserving and disseminating of information. These functions should be controlled so that there will be no waste of time, money, space, material or equipment. The volume and nature of business activity are determined by the size of the organisation and type of business ownership.

OFFICE LAYOUT

There are two basic forms of layout used for offices – they are the enclosed (cellular) and the open-plan layout.

The enclosed office (cellular) consists of small, individual rooms occupied by one or two people. It offers more privacy, but this type of office is more costly to build and workers are more difficult to supervise.

The open-plan office consists of a large open room with no dividing walls or partitions. This type of office is less costly and workers are easily supervised as everyone can be seen. There is, however, a lack of privacy and the atmosphere is impersonal.

ACTIVITY

List the departments that can be found in a large organisation and give the specific tasks that are carried out by each.

See you next week.