The World of Work

By David Spurling

Educationalists suggest an inductive approach to education, where we go from the experience of the students to the underlying principles, provides best results. The objective of this book is to provide people at school or college with realistic examples of dilemmas they will face in the world of work, or when looking for work. This may be as part of their PSHE development. The book also aims to provide material which can be used by people working on their own. Young people need to have transferable skills and some of these can be obtained by looking at the ways in which businesses approach them. It is therefore worthwhile trying to understand these approaches, and to see why some are effective while others are totally misplaced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524634698

David Spurling

David Spurling B.Sc., P.G.C.E, D.G.A, F.C.I.L.T is the founder of Learning Through Cooperation Ltd. He has taught people from more than fifty countries and was a member of the Nigerian Business Examinations council. He uses this diversity to make his books relevant. He is also a Quaker and is interested in social issues. He has taught at a wide variety of schools and colleges, including being a senior lecturer in transport economics at what is now Birmingham City University. He has been a statistics examiner for the Chartered Institute of Transport. He has been an assistant examiner with Edexcel for Labour Economics and is now currently a script marker for the Association of Business Managers and Administrators. He has had seventeen textbooks published by major publishers. These textbooks are on a range of subjects including life skills, sociology, economics, business, business calculations, accounts, and transport and road freight. He has also published a joke book. His was formerly a councillor in Southend and Swale Borough Council, as well as being a parliamentary candidate in Meriden. He is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and so was Florence Nightingale, but not at the same time!

Book preview

1    Introduction to Office Practice

1.1    What is the office?

The office is part of the total commercial process which ensures that raw materials are available in the right place and at the right time for factories and other organisations in the secondary industries, including the construction industry. It also ensures that the right components are bought in at satisfactory prices at the right time and that goods are delivered to wholesalers in the right quantities at the right time. Often wholesalers may be bypassed and the office will be responsible for ensuring the goods are delivered directly to the retailer.

1.2    Office work and new factories

If new factories are to be built there will be many office workers involved to check that the land use planning procedures have been complied with before building can start. Contracts for the builders involve many office workers. Once the factories have been built, it will be necessary for the office to ensure that suitable machinery is installed.

1.2.1    Contracts of employment

Before new workers can be employed, contracts of employment have to be issued. Negotiations with trade unions and/or professional organisations often take place. Employers have to deal with Health and Safety at work and Human Relations legislation, which again require more office staff.

1.3    Service industries

The service industries have had an increasing share of employment in recent years in many countries, including the United Kingdom. The office staff in service industries will be responsible for ensuring that the right equipment, such as computer hardware and software and related machinery such as printers, are available in the right place and at the right time.

1.4    Chain of production

It is often said that the office is part of the chain of production. If we take a car firm operating in the United Kingdom, the rubber for the tyres may be brought from Malaysia. The supply chain ensures that the rubber goes from the plantation to the port, perhaps by lorry. There will be documentation at the ports and with the shipping company.

The materials then go through similar port procedures within the United Kingdom and then are delivered by road or rail to the appropriate factory. The factory will make the tyres which in turn will be transported to the car manufacturer. All of these processes require some form of office work.

Many other firms, apart from tyre manufacturers, would also be involved, for example, component and battery manufacturers. Other raw materials, such as metals, have to go through a similar chain-of-production process.

1.5    Payment procedures

Apart from documentation procedures it is also important that payments are correctly made to the owners of the raw materials, the transport authorities, the transport operators and sometimes to the customs authorities. All of these involve a vast complex of different office workers.

1.6    Office procedures in marketing and advertising

Once a car has been assembled there is scope for marketing and advertising, which requires the use of both the sales and marketing staff. There is also a need to ensure the deliveries are made, and people in turn supervise these staff. Customers too, often buy on credit rather than cash, and so will need to deal with office staff involved in the banks or finance houses.

1.7    Classification of occupations

Commercial activities can be classified into primary production, which is where oil, coal and other raw minerals are extracted from the earth. Primary production also includes agricultural activities, fishing and forestry.

Office work was unnecessary when people were engaged mainly in self-subsistence i.e. mainly hunting, and gathering or producing a few crops or owning a few animals. However, in the modern era, where primary producers are often at a considerable distance from the consumers, office procedures are necessary to ensure that food is available in the right condition at all times of the year.

Timber is still used considerably for many different products, including the construction industry. If we look at most houses we can see wood has been used. One of the concerns at the present time is that deforestation causes many problems, not just in local neighbourhoods, but also to the world as a whole. Therefore, if we look at the labels on many items we will see that they claim that they come from sustainable forests.

Rubber and copper are still widely used for many different products, although the price of copper fluctuates considerably.

1.8    Secondary production

Secondary production includes manufacturing and the construction industry. Secondary production means that the raw materials are often changed in their form and are also often moved. Large-scale building projects, whether in London for the Olympics 2012, in Qatar for the 2022 football World Cup, or Crossrail (Elizabeth line from Reading through London to Essex, 2019), need organisation and office procedures will help.

1.9    Tertiary production

In most modern societies service workers, including office workers, have increased in numbers. Tertiary production includes financial services, health services, education, transport and distribution, and as the credit crunch from 2008 onwards has shown, we now live in a global economy. Changes in one economy will often have effects on many other economies.

1.10    Imports and exports

If we look around us we will see that goods and services are imported from a large number of different countries.

1.11    Different departments and need for clerical work

A typical manufacturing firm has a production department, an accounts office, a legal office, a purchasing department, a sales department as well as the human resources department and sometimes a distribution department. The names of these departments may vary from one organisation to another. All of these departments, as well as sometimes a general office, will have office workers.

1.12    The digital revolution

This is the name given to the way in which computer technology has transformed office procedures. Whilst some people originally talked about the paperless office, this has not come into being, but we see computers, even in small items such as watches as well as what we think of as typical computers in offices.

1.13    Self-examination questions

Q1.    Many people suggest that offices are unproductive whilst other parts of organisations are productive.

How far is this true?

Q2.    Why has there been an increase in office work when technology has reduced the need for such work?

Q3.    What is meant by the term supply chain?

Which type of office work would be involved at each of the stages of getting a loaf of bread from the wheat at the farm to the customer of a large supermarket?

Q4.    What different departments are there in a typical manufacturing firm?

What office work is likely to be involved in each of them and how has it changed with the digital revolution?

Q5.    What is meant by the terms primary, secondary and tertiary production?

Give examples of two types of employment in each of these.

Which types of employment are likely to increase and which likely to decrease?

2    Growth of Clerical Activities

What are the main clerical activities?

One of the main functions is communication.

2.1    Internal communications

Communications can be internal, such as having a manual of office procedures which shows staff how to carry out certain activities. This manual would also show what needs to be recorded.

2.2    External communications

External communications, to use the management jargon, means dealing with stakeholders apart from those within the organisation. These could include customers, suppliers, government, and even local residents.

External communications could include requesting information from potential suppliers. External communications include helping customers. People buying computer software often need help with the installation and not all firms have been very good at providing this.

2.3    Setting up a new office or plant

If a new office is to be located in a different town or a new plant is being set up in a manufacturing environment within the firm, the organisation will need to consider what forms of documentation are necessary and to whom they will be sent.

2.4    Calculations

Calculations are an increasingly important activity. Computers are used to ensure that the organisation has an adequate cash flow. Spreadsheets are often used to do this. Knowing an organisation’s cash flow is particularly important, since unauthorised overdrafts are not merely expensive but can be withdrawn at any time, particularly since the credit crunch in 2008. Calculations will also be necessary for payment of wages, materials and other supplies, including fuel. Organisations which are tendering for a contract want to ensure that they have information available in a suitable format before they tender. This may sound obvious, but in the United Kingdom many organisations in the rail industry have tendered for contracts without fully thinking out the implications.

2.5    Recording information

Another important clerical activity is recording information. Organisations need to be aware of legislation such as consumer protection or health and safety at work to ensure that they comply with these. Accidents must be reported, the reasons given and any treatment administered. This is so that safety can be improved and any systematic faults can be rectified. Recording of information is an important feature of most offices and can be eased by the use of pre-digested information. In some cases this may be through the use of books or CDs which summarise existing employment law.

2.6    Records of consumers’ purchases

Organisations need to keep records of consumers’ purchases. This ensures that usual accounting records are kept but that information is also available to other departments such as the production and marketing departments. Organisations are introducing more sophisticated methods of recording information. They keep records of names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of individuals or organisations who are important to them. There is data protection legislation and in many cases consumers are asked if the organisation can send information and if they mind if the information is used for other purposes.

2.7    How this information is used.

The information may be used at a later stage for mail shots, which are letters usually addressed to individuals who are responsible for purchasing equipment or services. The same information may also be used for email shots.

Many organisations now have websites, and whilst it is easy to find out how many people have viewed them, they also want to know how many of these hits have been transformed into sales.

2.8    Report writing and communications

The target market needs to be considered when a report is written. Financial institutional shareholders, such as pension funds or insurance companies, will usually have a good knowledge of financial terms and jargon, so a report intended mainly for shareholders will use such language.

On the other hand if the majority of shareholders are ordinary individuals, they would have relatively little technical or commercial knowledge.

A report which was written solely for top engineering staff could well include high level technical information without a great deal of explanation of these terms. Similarly a report written for the chief statistician could include mathematical formulae which would not be appropriate for a general report.

It is also important to consider what the report will be used for. A report that sets out possibilities for the main board to consider, will be set out in a different way from a report on incidents within the company, for which there may be a legal requirement for records.

There is a danger that because the cost of producing reports is substantial, but the costs of sending information by email is low, that organisations get bombarded with information only parts of which are relevant. This is sometimes referred to as information overload.

A great deal of time is often taken by people having to read complete reports when it would have been better to select and email any relevant parts.

Reports must often show the main trends within the organisation, and whether there are likely to be any problems occurring in the future. Too many organisations exist on panic, patronage or crisis management.

2.9    Need to be proactive

Organisations are frequently said to need to be proactive rather than reactive. If we believe that fuel prices are likely to rise over time, as most commentators do, then it seems sensible to see in what ways we can improve energy efficiency, such as better insulated premises or using solar energy, rather than merely moaning about it when prices rise.

Documents need to be written intelligently, but in such a style that the people receiving them can understand what they need to do. If there is nothing which the recipients can do with the information; questions need to be asked about why it is being sent in the first place. In some cases, the reports will list who should take action on which parts so that people have an overall idea of what a project is and who is responsible.

Organisations dealing with activities which could be regarded as a nuisance by local residents, such as an airport increasing the size of a runway or the number of runways, will try to minimise complaints by giving information to local residents and giving press releases to local newspapers.

There is currently considerable controversy about fracking to extract shale oil, which has caused slight earth tremors in some parts of England. Organisations involved in this will try to make sure that they put forward their point of view.

2.10    How do the recipients absorb information?

People absorb information in different ways and it is necessary to remember this when sending information. A report showing sales progress over the year might well be shown in bar charts, pie charts and graphs. There is little point in producing numerous tables of information unless it is reasonably certain that they will be understood.

2.11    A range of options

Where the report suggests a range of options it may be possible to summarise them and then to give more information for the very interested reader. This might include detailed plans, statistics or maps showing locations of proposed sites.

2.12    Use of appendices

Sometimes appendices can be attached so that the person reading the report can refer to them if necessary. Other readers can absorb information without their reading flow being interrupted by information which is difficult to take in.

2.13    Role of the office manager

One of the important roles of the office manager is to organise office procedures effectively, showing clearly what the priorities are.

In too many offices, nearly all tasks are marked urgent, and then sit on the executive’s desk for a couple of weeks without being looked at. It is also important that office managers try to foresee any bottlenecks (another name for hold-ups), rather than waiting for crises to arise.

The office manager may also be responsible for ordering machines, although this may be a centralised function.

2.14    Welfare role

The office manager will probably be responsible for the day-to-day personnel role, even though there may be a separate human resource department. There may also be a welfare role which includes looking at any potential conflicts and trying to reduce these before they turn into a minor or major disciplinary problem.

Office managers may have to tackle immediate problems such as staff illness where replacements are urgently required. They may either consult agencies or obtain casual labour, or in some cases see whether the problem can be solved in the short run by making use of overtime.

They will usually be responsible for ensuring that new staff are adequately supervised after their induction training.

2.15    Suitable filing systems

The office manager may be responsible for setting up and monitoring suitable filing systems, including the use of appropriate forms.

2.16    Role of the office junior

Many offices have office juniors carrying out some filing operations. Although this has become less important with newer computer systems it is important that office juniors have an overall concept of the organisation. They may carry out a range of activities including photocopying, taking minor messages and sometimes assisting in the postal room. This may well help to give them an overall view of the organisation. There is a danger they may be shunted from one post to another without being given any clear overall purpose.

It is important for the office junior to keep a list of new tasks they are supposed to tackle. It is also important that they keep other relevant material, for example, press cuttings or brochures about the organisation, which might assist in future duties.

2.17    Office forms.

The individual office may have specially designed message pads which give the name of the organisation itself or the department or section. There may be a space underneath this to indicate the time of a message. It is frustrating when people leave a message and are told that someone will ring them back, and this does not happen.

2.18    Petty cash forms

Many organisations still have petty cash forms for small expenses such as buying tea and coffee.

They will also have their own requisition forms which might require the name of the individual, the section, the title or the number of the file and the date on which it was ordered. Organisations often have their own stationery requisition on which it might state the quantity, number and possibly the cost of such items.

2.19    Holiday forms, absence forms, timekeeping forms

Holiday forms can help large organisations arrange holidays so that not too many key individuals are away at the same time. In small offices, this may be done more informally, although it is still an important job. Many organisations also have absence forms, which would require the name, possibly the title of the person and also the reason for absence. This has become even more important in recent years with changes in legislation about sick pay, as well as an increasing volume of health and safety at work legislation. There may also be timekeeping records, perhaps just with an attendance sheet or sometimes for use with special clocking-in machines or computers. It is important that office procedures should enable the office to carry out its tasks in a cost-effective manner with the minimum of delays.

2.20    Management techniques

There are a number of techniques which can assist office managers, such as network analysis or queueing theory, which determine the length of time which tasks take. Network analysis can also be used to highlight how much it would cost to speed up or to slow down procedures. This may be very important for major organisations in the construction industry.

It is important that forms such as timesheets are easy to fill in, so that they are intelligible to all members of staff as well as to the public. Unfortunately, some staff manuals can be difficult to follow. In large organisations it may be sensible to do a pilot test to check that people can understand and follow any procedures. It is important that details of payments are recorded, although this may be done by the cashiers or the entire accounts department.

2.21    Knowing who does what

It is helpful to know which members of staff can deal with which procedures, although this should not become too rigid. Generally speaking, it is considered sensible to ensure that certain jobs are done at the lowest possible level of the hierarchy. We do not normally expect the office manager to have to do his or her own photocopying. Office procedures should also guide staff as to the use of relevant machines. We would not normally expect a form to be photocopied 200 times when there are much cheaper ways to do this.

2.22    Management by exception

An important development in office procedures is that management by exception is frequently used. This means that reports only show the highlights such as major changes in production and the reasons for these. This means that managers do not have to wade through masses of irrelevant information.

2.23    Variances

Accountants and businesspeople often call these differences variances and it is important that managers can distinguish between variances, which should have been anticipated and those which could not reasonably have been anticipated.

2.24    Sales records

Sales records can be kept in different ways, for example through geographical areas, or by types of product. Computers can be used to subdivide the information in a way which is most helpful to the recipients.

2.25    The changing nature of clerical jobs

The scope of clerical jobs has altered radically in the last few years. Computers are now used for routine accounts work, which at one stage involved mental calculations or written communications, which were boring and time-consuming.

2.26    The accounts department

The accounts department in particular has been radically altered with invoices, totals and numbers being checked through computerised systems. There have, however, been many scandals regarding the accounting practices of some major organisations.

2.27    The use of spreadsheets

The use of spreadsheets means it is possible to discover what would happen if particular items were altered very slightly, office procedures were altered, or different ideas were tested. For example would customers be happy to have a three day delivery service, rather than one day delivery if it was much cheaper for them?

2.28    Renewals of subscriptions

In the past sending of renewals for insurance premiums or subscriptions to organisations was a time consuming process, but is now carried out very rapidly by computers.

2.29    Which occupations have declined and which have grown?

The digital revolution has led to a decline in many of the former routine jobs, although this has been partially offset by newer occupations such as systems analyst.

2.30    Stock keeping records

Stock keeping now relies less on people’s memories of vast numbers of items and instead computers are frequently used. Use of bar-coding allows organisations to automatically keep track of stock. This helps in the distribution process, including deliveries.

2.31    Self-examination questions

Q1.    What type of clerical functions would you expect to find in?

a)    A general insurance company.

b)    A salvage company.

c)    An electrical goods retailer.

d)    A local authority education department.

e)    A major department store.

f)    A large government department.

g)    A major car manufacturer.

Why might the office procedures vary between the different undertakings mentioned?

Q2.    Explain in the form of a memo to an office junior the job procedures in a small office.

Q3.    What is the office managers’ role?

Why has it changed in recent years?

Q4.    What is the role of the office junior?

Are there any advantages in insisting that all young staff fulfil this role in an office and are there any disadvantages?

Q5.    What is meant by the digital revolution?

Why is it important to keep up to date with developments in this field?

Q6.    What are the main types of clerical activity?

Q7.    Why might an office manager need knowledge of basic psychology as well as technical expertise?

Q8.    What is meant by internal communications and what methods can be used for internal communication?

Q9.    Why have calculations increasingly become important in business today?

Explain how calculations are used in at least four different departments within a typical large organisation.

Q10.    What factors would you expect to influence the growth or otherwise of the numbers of clerical workers employed in your country?

Q11.    Does the growth of the computer industry mean that there is less need for a general office than in the past?

Q12.    What is meant by information overload?

Explain in relation to any organisation you have either worked for or studied.

How can an organisation try to organise its information so that this problem does not arise?

Q13.    What is meant by saying that organisations should be proactive rather than reactive?

How can a hotel chain try to do this if it owns a group of shabby run-down hotels with a workforce most of whom are likely to retire in the next ten years?

3    Looking for Office Work

3.1    Training for office work

In the past, many people entered an office, and learnt about office procedures by trial and error. Now more emphasis has been placed upon appropriate qualifications such as GCSE’s or A Levels in relevant subjects, which might include economics and business studies.

There are also other bodies which offer a wide range of courses which are geared towards commercial activities. In many African countries students can take the exams of the Association of Business Managers and Administrators (ABMA),¹ which has the advantage of being geared towards the application of business studies, rather than just the theory. Students may take exams for the International Association of Book-keepers (IAB)² and its sister body. They may also take examinations for the Association of Business Executives.³

In the United Kingdom many school leavers go on to university. Others may wish to take professional examinations and these have the advantage that in many cases people can still earn whilst they learn. The professional bodies include those in accountancy, as well as the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA)⁴ and also the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).⁵ Many professional examinations have economics, management, law, accountancy and quantitative methods as part of their syllabus. (The names of the subjects vary slightly from one professional body to another.) Therefore, if someone has obtained a professional qualification they may find it relatively easy to obtain another professional qualification since there will be a considerable overlap.

Most office jobs require people to have basic ability in numeracy, whether in mathematics or business calculations and also ability in English language. Again, there are options here since whilst most people take GCSE English and mathematics some people take alternatives such as the Cambridge certificate in English, which tests, both written and spoken English. This is useful as many jobs require oral skills.

Whilst it has often been assumed that a thorough understanding of mathematics is a prerequisite to computer studies, this is not necessarily the case. If someone wants to have a programming career, the system of computer logic may well be acquired by most people who thoroughly understand the English language, although other mathematical skills may be useful later in their career. As computers are now widely used within schools and colleges knowledge of computing and word processing skills is helpful to potential recruits. For those who left school without formal qualifications many governments offer a wide range of schemes, including apprenticeships which may help to overcome any basic deficiencies.

Many who have left jobs to become carers may wish to ensure that their computer skills are up to date today if they wish to return to work, since computer software is continually changing. In 2012 the UK government announced that it was going to alter the GCSE ICT so that more emphasis could be placed on learning about programming rather than just using existing software. The logic behind this was that it was very important if the United Kingdom wanted to compete in the future in this very important field.

3.2    Careers advisers

Many schools, colleges and universities have career advisers who specialise in giving advice about finding and applying for suitable jobs. The advisers can tell students, whether it is worthwhile staying on at college or school in order to gain extra qualifications which would improve their job prospects, or whether to look for jobs outside.

Good careers advisers would normally have contact with local firms, the government and civil service departments. In many cases the careers advisers may be able to arrange for local employers to visit the school or college to give talks and to hold discussions which help students decide on their future career.

3.3    Short and long-term careers

It is important that job seekers look not just at the current salary, but also the future salary as well as the working conditions. Holiday allowances differ tremendously between different organisations. This may be important to many people, especially those who have a caring role. Some organisations offer assistance with training whilst others have very little interest. Some jobs expect the post holder to travel extensively, whilst others which may be located on one site would not expect travel to be a major feature. If travel is a feature they may look more favourably at someone who has knowledge of the languages of countries they are likely to do business with.

Some organisations have a clearly defined promotion structure which may be linked to passing professional or other examinations. Some organisations will pay money towards examination fees and may give time off, whilst others will expect people to pay money for the exams and will expect people not to take time off, other than on paid leave.

3.4    Job centres

Many people when looking for their first job will approach the job centre or possibly specialist agencies.

3.5    Media

Jobsites (websites with job vacancies), sometimes affiliated with local newspapers, provide a free service whereby one registers one’s qualifications as well as any other relevant details. They often give details of a great many jobs in the locality. Local newspapers and radio stations may also advertise job vacancies. There are also specialist parts of the media, which may be helpful. In the U.K, The Times Educational Supplement is widely read by people looking for teaching jobs as well as administrative jobs within the educational sector.

3.6    Word-of-mouth

A great deal of recruitment, however, is still done informally by word-of-mouth for example using employees to notify others, including their friends and relatives. There are therefore, sometimes opportunities which are not being currently advertised.

It is important when looking for jobs to be realistic about one’s own abilities and about the number of vacant posts. Many people are attracted to journalism, but the number of vacancies is likely to be relatively small, especially for people without relevant experience.

3.7    A Suitable Career

Many schools and colleges now have psychometric tests which can be used to ensure that one has the right temperament as well as the