Office
Manuals:
The
office manual contains the details of the work to be performed in an office and
other important particulars of the organization. It is the source of
information, knowledge of which is essential for the performance of the work.
It may be in the form of a book or booklet and contains the information which
benefits the office staff. If Office employees are supplied with copies of
office manual they do not have to approach their superiors again and again.
Therefore, they do not interrupt the work of their superiors and there is no
wastage of time to office employees (new entrants) as well as to executives
(Superiors).
Office
manual is useful to the employees, especially new joined, to understand the
work without any difficulty. The office manual contains the details of the
whole office work such as standard practices, current practices, instructions
and organizational policies in such a form that they are easily and readily
available to the office personnel for reference and guidance.
An
office manual means a handy form of book or booklet containing information
relating to the policy, organization system, routines and procedures, methods
and standards and the rules and regulations regarding employment.
An
office manual is prepared to help the employees know all relevant information
regarding the organization, its set up i.e. structure and how he fits into it.
According
to George R. Terry, An office manual
is a “written record of information and instructions which concern and can be
used to guide the employee’s efforts in an enterprise”.
Also,
an office manual has been defined as “a document disclosing the information
about an organization, its set up, conditions of employment, and the
established systems, routines, procedures, methods, standards, rules and
regulations of an office operation.”
A
large size organization has a number of branches or departments or sections or
divisions. Thousands of employees are employed in large size organization.
Hence it is very difficult to control the employees by the management. If
instructions or guidelines are given in writing to the employees, the management
can control the employees very easily and avoid misunderstanding of employees.
Office manuals help the management and the employees in various ways.
1.
Employees
understand their position, duties and responsibilities in an Organization.
2.
Employees
understand their role in the achievement of office Objectives.
3.
There
is a possibility of maintaining good relations among the employees by
themselves.
4.
Both
existing and new employees freed the management in getting the same
information, explanations and instructions repeatedly.
5.
The
concerned employees are held responsible if the duties are not performed by
them in a specified manner.
6.
Delegation
of authority can be enhanced throughout the organization set up without much
difficulty.
7.
Each
employee can understand the extent of authority delegated to them.
8.
New
employees are getting training with the help of office manual by knowing
policies, practices, systems, routines and procedures.
9.
Office
manual is imparting refresher training to existing employees.
1. Policy Manual: Every organization has its own policy which is served as basic guide to
action. The entire activities of an
organization are fully guided by policy manual. A policy manual contains
decision, resolutions and directions of the board of directors stating the
policies of the company.
2. Organizational Manual: The organizational manual describes the organization structure. The
duties and responsibilities of each employee in department wise or section wise
or division wise are explained along with the line of authority and
responsibilities connected with them. Each employee can understand the
relationship with others. Sometimes, a separate manual is prepared for each
department in case of multinational companies.
3. Administrative Practice Manual: Standard methods and procedures for
effective performance of work are given in this manual. Separate methods and
procedures are given for each department specifically, if needed. This manual
also contains guidelines and
instructions on education required to an employee and training to employees,
format of correspondence and reports, and the inter-relationship of office
employees.
4. Departmental Practice Manual: This manual deals with policy of the concerned department, methods and
procedures followed in the concerned department. This type of manual is
prepared for each department separately.
5. Mailing Manual: A mailing manual gives detailed instructions in all phases of handling both
incoming and outgoing mail. The letter drafting procedure is also given in this
manual.
6. Filing Manual: The names of the files to be maintained in an office are given
in this manual. Besides, the preparation of title and its maintenance are also
clearly discussed.
7. Rules and Regulations Manual: Rules and regulations are very much important to every office employee.
Everybody should work according to the rules and regulations. Various types of
leave are availed by the office employees. The number of such leave and their
availing procedure are given in this manual.
8. Historical
Manual: An
employee should know something about
his enterprise. This manual contains brief history of an enterprise. Name and
address of the enterprise, founders, objectives for establishing such
enterprise, circumstances under which the enterprise is established, capital
required and contributed by the founders, registration, coverage of law etc are
briefly discussed. This information is highly useful to new entrants in an
office.
9. Multi-Purpose
Manual or Hand Book: Some
offices prefer to have a single manual instead of several manuals such as
discussed above; If so, only relevant and important information are combined in
the form of a hand book. In such a way, multi-purpose manual is prepared.
The
information included in a manual of one office may not be the same of another
office. In other words, the contents of a manual are according to the needs and
preferences of the concerned office.
The
following principles should be observed in preparing manuals:
1. Centralise all authority and
responsibility for the office manual programme.
2.
Write
the level of the employees who is going to use the manual.
3.
Prepare
and revise the distribution list so that manuals are distributed among the
employees without omission.
4.
Use
simple and direct Language.
5.
The
material should be arranged in simple manner without much complication
6.
The
matter should have proper cross referencing and indexing
7.
Make
use of charts and diagram
8.
Revise
manuals constantly and highlight changes.
9.
Periodic
audit should be carried out.
A
standard and an orderly procedure should be followed while preparing office
manuals. If so, the prepared manual can ensure complete, accurate and
comprehensive. The preparation is to be completed within a reasonable period of
time. The following steps may be taken while preparing an office manual:
1.
Assigning an Individual or Formation
of a Committee: An
individual is enough to prepare an
office manual in small size organization. A committee has to be formed to
prepare an office manual in case of large size organization. So, this formality
is carried on according to the size of the organization.
2.
Preparing the List of Subjects
Covered: The
responsible executives prepare the list of subjects to be covered in the
preparation of office manual. List of subjects vary according to the type of
manual preparation. The subjects and topics to be covered should be classified
and arranged into logical headings and sub-headings.
3. Receiving
Ideas and Suggestions: Ideas and suggestions have to be received
from the managers of functional departments and supervisors as per the subjects
covered. A time schedule is to be fixed for receiving ideas and suggestions.
4.
Verification of Ideas and Suggestions:
Received ideas and suggestions have
to be tabled and verify the same. Irrelevant and impracticable ideas and
suggestions have to be rejected with due care.
5.
Classification and Arrangement of
Information: The
collected information and data have
to be classified and arranged under each subject and write them up in
subject-wise. The information and data included should be accurate and complete
in all aspects.
6. Prepare
a Draft Manual: A
draft manual is prepared by
considering the relevance of the concerned manual. A limited number of copies
of such draft manual is typed or cyclostyled for circulation. A copy of draft
manual is circulated among the office manager, functional manager, union
representatives and top management executives for their criticism. Such
criticism is used for the betterment of the preparation of office manual.
7. Revision
of the Draft Manual: Suggestions and criticism have been incorporated
in improving the manual by adding new points or deleting some points. The style
and standard of language can be improved by the process of revision of the
draft manual. As for as possible, short sentences and words can be used. The
language should be simple and direct.
8.
Submission for Approval of Top
Management: The
revised manual has been placed before
the top management for approval. Approval of top management is necessary before
the production of the manual.
9.
Mechanical Production of the Manual:
Arrangement for the production of
the manual should be made after the draft is approved by the top management.
The type of production of manual is depending upon the number of copies
required. Details regarding size, paper cover and binding should be considered
before the actual production of manual. The manual should preferably be in a
booklet form.
10. Distribution of Office Manual: Copies of office manual are distributed among the employees of an organization on need basis. A few copies are maintained as spare copies which will be used for the future reference and further revision of the manual.
The
advantages of Office Manuals are
1.
It
contains printed instructions and all the important decisions for the execution
of the work, so the employees don’t want explanation for the work again and
again.
2.
It
gives readily available printed instruction about system, procedure and duties
existing in the organization, so it is easy to train the employees.
3.
In
large organization which is having many branches, similar type or uniformity of
activities can be performed if they have manual
4.
The
entire work of an office is brought together, studied, examined and
incorporated in office manual, so that the activity having less importance can
be eliminated.
5.
It
helps the executives to take decision promptly by referring instructions and
policies contained in printed form.
6.
When
the rules and regulations are in the written format it is easy for the
employees to get an idea about their responsibility, duties and authorities. It
helps to improve good relation between the employees.
7.
When
the employees are transferred from one office to another office,with the help
of manual they can start their work without delay.
The
disadvantages of Office Manuals are:
1.
To
keep the manual up-to-date is a difficult job
2.
It
is costly and time consuming process, so it is difficult to have manuals in
small firms.
3.
If
simple words are not used in manuals the employee reading can misinterpret it.
Revision
of Office Manuals: Manuals must be revised from time to time. It is necessary
to keep them up to date. In revising manuals the following factors should kept
in mind
1.
The
responsibility of revising manual is in the hands of the department that
created it.
2.
It
is necessary to revise the manual as frequent as practicable
3.
Where
no provision has been made to revise manual and the responsibility of revising
them is not fixed, manuals should be discarded.
Office
Manuals are useless unless they are properly distributed amongst employees for
whom they are meant. In fact, it is they who would be responsible for carrying
out the instructions and ideas given in the manuals. Organization manuals may
be distributed only amongst the major executives and in rare cases amongst those
with lesser responsibility. The different departmental practice manuals should
be distributed to departments and employees directly affected by them.
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