Masters Diploma in Technology: Office Administration at the School of Business Informatics at the Cape Technikon / During visits to business organisations where students undergo co-operative education, it was revealed that functional managers, irrespective the size and type of organisation, are bound by many administrative tasks that leave them very little time for strategic planning and decision making. It also places a lot of pressure on these managers to keep up with technological developments.It also seems as if administrative staff who possess the required training, skills and proficiency are not utilised fully, and consequently do not experience work satisfaction - which leads to increased staff turnover.The solution to this problem seems to be the appointment of managers in charge of the administrative activities in an organisation - on all managerial levels, but especially on middle and lower management levels. Not only does this free functional managers from the additional burden of administrative obligations, but also enables them to concentrate on their primary function. In the study, these managers of administrative activities are referred to as office administrators.In this study, the factors that contribute most to the effective utilisation of the office administrator in business organisations were investigated. During this process, a model was also developed for the effective utilisation of office administrators.

M.Comm. / The purpose of this study is to determine how technology may be put to use by the administrative manager with a view to providing an effective and efficient information service to the business. Literature on the duties, functions and responsibilities of the administrative manager as well as the technology available for administrative activities has been studied. For any measure of future competency, the administrative manager will need to employ technology wherever practical and possible. This could lead to a decrease in paper and the virtual office in certain types of businesses.

No description available.

It has been assumed that there are disagreements as to the role of the office manager in different types and sizes of organizations in the U.S.A. and Bangladesh. It has also been assumed that there are deficiencies in the techniques of office management in the Bangladesh Sugar mills corporation. This thesis has been undertaken to determine those deficiencies in the techniques of office management used in Bangladesh sugar mills as compared to those used in the U.S.A.In addition, the thesis discussed the extent of variation in the use of organization charts, the extent of central lines of promotion, and the extent of unionization of the clerical force between these two countries. Explanation of the variations have also been given.

The need for office efficiency is now of paramount importance. Great strides have been made in factory production methods and procedures during the first half of the twentieth century. But to the present, application of scientific management solution of office problems has been much slower.

In order to effectively design an automated office system, it is necessary to understand the nature of office procedures and interactions. In the design of any office system, characterization and formalization of the information flow through the office are important factors in the attainment of effective system design. A model has been developed by defining office components and their representation in terms of system objects, attributes and relations. The model is based on a set of rules specified in a manner that supports analysis of system completeness and consistency. The model representation has been combined into an office specification system which consists of a specification language and analysis software. Using the system presented, information flow through an office can be characterized and formalized. The system provides the capability of categorizing data into one of a number of data types and of tracking data as it travels through an office. These capabilities provide information necessary to eliminate redundant data, indicate incomplete data, and specify useless data. Through the use of analyzer reports and analysis software, system completeness and consistency are determined.

Twelve participants took part in a clinical trial to investigate whether the office environment quality, specifically the decor and interior design, causes stress in office workers. The stress was measured through psychosomatic responses, to gauge the real subconscious stress, rather than through questionnaires, which measure the conscious response to stress. The participants were office workers from the same administration building, but working in different fields. There were five black, three Indian and four white participants. The gender mix consisted of two female and ten male participants. The age spectrum ranged from 27 years to 55 years of age. Participants were requested to fast from midnight and present themselves early for the tests on two consecutive days. They were divided into two groups. The tests, using two different environment qualities, were presented in a counterbalanced order to the groups, with a control group remaining in the superior environment on both days. A superior environment of four star quality decor and interior design, and an inferior environment of half a star quality were used. From research by Wing et al. (1985), after ingesting a source of glucose, the peak glucose concentration in the plasma is delayed under stress. This was used as the psychosomatic test. Participants drank a solution containing 40 g of polycose, and were then subjected to identical mental stress tests in the different environments. Blood samples were taken at thirty minute intervals for two hours from drinking the polycose, and analysed for changes in glucose concentration. The differences in stress responses were calculated as delays in the time to glucose concentration peak, and analysed. The room factor was highly significant with F(6;15) = 6.620 (p=0.001 at a = 0.05). The day of testing was of much lower significance but still significant at F(6;15) = 3.402 (p=0.025 at a = 0.05). This was due to stress caused by the memory of the pain of repeated jabs with a needle, which would only be observed on the second day. (The time of the peak concentration occurred before the second blood samples were taken, which meant the stress caused by the anticipation of pain remembered was not observed on the first day.) After correcting for the stress effects on the second day due to testing, Tukey's Honestly Significantly Different test yielded two homogeneous subsets (out of a four subsets, which were a combination of the room and day factors). The two subsets were clearly divided by room, and not by day, this time. The subsets (rooms) were both highly significant, ranging from 0.609 to 1.00, for an alpha of 0.05. It was concluded, from causality tests and hypothesis testing, a high quality office environment causes a significantly lower stress response, while a poor quality office environment causes a significantly higher stress response. A model, correlating stress with the office environment, was developed for use by businesses. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

Thesis (Masters Diploma (Technology))--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 1995 / Most organisations are normally aware of the importance of effective internal and external communication. However, if organisations do not make use of modern communication technologies and train and motivate users to utilise these effectively, it could seriously hamper effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, a competitive edge and profitability. Although large organisations normally are cognisant of modern communication technologies and largely make use of these, it does not imply that these technologies are regularly acquired and/or used to the optimum. In contrast, smaller organisations as well those functioning from home, may never even be exposed to these technologies. When taking the above-mentioned aspects into consideration, it becomes clear that employees in offices in large, medium and small organisations may experience definite needs and frustrations which may lead to dissatisfaction. This study determined the importance of communication in organisations, types of communication technologies used by large, medium and small organisations as well as communication needs and frustrations within organisations. The study also, to a lesser degree, determined how the user is influenced by modern communication technologies, ego the answering machine and electronic mail, and whether resistance to the use of these is prevalent. A literature study concerning the importance of communication in general, but more specifically in the office environment, (as a basis for the eventual productive and cost-effective utilisation of the different communication technologies) was undertaken. The study included traditional, modern and the latest available communication technologies in use overseas and locally as well as the advantages and disadvantages attached to these.

Traditionally business education teachers have placed great emphasis on skill development. / Master of Science

Thesis (Magister Technologiae)-Vaal University of Technology, Discipline Office Management & Technology / The objectives of this research project were primarily to determine the requirements of commerce and industry for competent office managers, to contribute to the curriculum development of information administration, to facilitate action learning (AL) in information administration, and by making changes in training to empower learners to become competent office managers. The influence of training and development of office managers is explained. The National Qualification Framework (NQF) integrates training and education in business and management on all levels. An important aspect is, that professional institutes, education and training institutions and other stakeholders, are combining experience to collectively benefit learners, employers, professions and the economy as a whole. A combination design of both quantitative (traditional) research and qualitative (action) research, including two questionnaires (open-ended and closed), interviews, observations, focus groups and a case study, were used. This study proved the relevance of office management education, by way of the demand for a formal qualification by commerce and industry, as a primary result of the phenomenal change in technology and the need for multi-skilled office managers. A contribution to the training of office managers concerning the following aspects was made: A profile for an office manager, as well as highlighting the need for training, curriculum development, and portfolio development