OFFICE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT 567 



describes all the things heretofore discussed under the general heading of 

 management; it affords not only a guide post to the employee but it also 

 presents to the employer any loopholes in his process which may exist, 

 and frequently reveals the cause of lack of cooperation between employees 

 and acts as a measuring stick when making decisions affecting processes of 

 work and compensation of employees. It is the standard by which all work 

 is judged and all employees are judged. Its advantage lies in that it does 

 not change from day to day as the mental attitude of the office manager 

 may change. Once fixed it is there unless revised by proper authority and 

 is subject to consultation by all interested. 



Every office should have an office manual and it would be a fine experi- 

 ence if every office manager would write his own. A possible outline of an 

 office manual is included here for illustration purposes: Introduction. Giving 

 the purposes of the manual, and including the general conditions under 

 which the employees of the office are working. Part One: Work to be done. 

 Being a general description and classification of the work carried on in the 

 office regardless of who handles the various parts of the work. Part Two: 

 Organization and duties. Being a description of the various classifications 

 of employees in accordance with civil service rules and a detailed description 

 of each office position, including the name of the position, the qualifications 

 of the one filling the position, the approved methods of carrying on the 

 work of that position described in minutest detail, the lines of promotion 

 from this position to the next higher position and the salary connected 

 with the position. 



S. Progress of office work. The general object of any office organization 

 is to accomplish a certain amount of work or a certain kind of work in a 

 certain length of time. An office manager is weak if he does not know at 

 all times the status not only of the routine work of the organization, but 

 of special jobs as well. It is not safe for him to rely upon his memory or 

 mere observation to determine these facts. It is much safer for him to 

 have his office processes charted so that a daily progress report may be 

 simply obtained and that the progress reports on all special jobs are avail- 

 able at all times. Weaknesses in the organization are easily detected, and 

 in fact slow tendencies are easily observed so that immediate action can 

 be taken before office calamities occur. 



Figure 3 illustrates such a chart, and the following comment is made 

 on that portion of it pertaining to the work of the time clerk and the assist- 

 ant. It will be noted that the routine functions necessary in keeping track 

 of the time of each of the employees of the department are analyzed and 

 noted on the chart. In this particular case the time is mailed in daily by 

 various foremen and employees on the job and the first item on the chart 



