Competencies Needed by the aom

Studies have been undertaken in which office managers, directors of human resources, and instructors of office management were asked to identify those competencies needed by office adminis trators. The findings of these research studies are summarized in Figure 1-5, which classifies the relative importance of the competencies in the training of office administrators.

COMPETENCIES NEEDED FOR OFFICE	ADMINISTRATION
***Vital*** "Essential**	•Important*
Communicating Controlling	Records management
Decision making	Data processing
Directing	Word/information processing
Human relations	Telecommunications
Planning	Office planning, layout,
Problem solving	and design
Staffing
Supervision

GLOSSARY (Class 1 Administrative Office Management in general)

Administrative office management - the process of planning, organizing, and controlling all of the information-related activities and of leading people to attain the objectives of the organization.

Administrative office manager (AOM) - the person responsible for planning, organizing, and controlling the information-processing activities and for leading people in attaining the objectives of the organization; known by several other titles, such as office manager (OM).

Conceptual skill — the ability to view an entity as a whole and to see how a change in one part or function of the entity affects all other parts or functions.

Controlling - a function of management which ensures that operating results conform as closely as possible to the plans made for the organization.

Decision making - the process of consciously choosing between two or more alternative courses of action.

Human skill — the ability to lead a team, to work effectively as a member of the team, and to obtain cooperation from all team members.

Information cycle - the collecting, processing, storing, retrieving, and distributing of information.

Information manager - the person responsible for the information-handling activities of an organization.

Leading - a function of management in which workers are motivated and directed so that the objectives of the organization will be successfully achieved.

Management - the process of planning, organizing, and controlling all the resources and of leading or directing people to attain the goal of a productive, unified organization.

Management information system (MlS)-a specialized system designed to supply timely information to managers for use in drawing conclusions, making predictions, recommending courses of action, and making decisions in order to take action.

Manager - the person who performs the functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Operational decisions - those decisions that are concerned with day-to-day operations of the office; also known as administrative decisions.

Organization - any form of group endeavor.

Organizing - a function of management that brings together all economic resources (the work, workplace, information, and workers) to form a controllable (manageable) unit—the organization—to accomplish specific objectives.

Planning - a function of management that analyzes relevant information from the past and the present and assesses probable developments of the future so that a course of action—the plan—may be determined that will enable the firm to meet its stated goals.

Technical skill — the ability to understand a specific function or activity, with its specialized knowledges, and to use efficiently the tools and techniques related to that function or activity.