Administrative Processes in Business
Identify a common task that might occur a regular basis. The task should be one that would occur in a business setting (as opposed to one in someone’s personal life).
Write out the steps involved with performing that task in a way that you could hand them to someone else who could carry them out for you. This should involve 10 to 20 steps overall.
Your final steps should be in a Microsoft® Word document in an easy-to-read format
Administration in business follows a similar pattern as communication processes and could occur horizontally between workers of similar status, or vertically, among heads of departments and their subordinates (Pierce, 2010). One task that businesses do regularly is obtaining office supplies such as stationery. The following is a representation of a possible step-by-step process required to obtain such supplies:
- Administrative Assistant sends an office supply request to Supervisor.
- Supervisor receives, reviews, verifies and forwards the request to Procurement Officer.
- Procurement Officer receives, reviews and verifies the request and contacts Service Providers to obtain quotations.
- Service Providers receive the request and process quotations. Procurement Officer receives, compares and selects best quotation from Service Providers, and forwards the request and quotation, to Finance Officer requesting for finances.
- Finance Officer receives, reviews and approves the request and releases funds, such as a signed cheque, and forwards them to Procurement Officer, who forwards the approved request to the Supervisor, and the Supervisor to the Administrative Assistant.
- Administrative Assistant contacts the chosen Service Provider and requests for supplies.
- Service Provider receives and processes the request and informs Administrative Assistant on matters to do with the delivery of the supplies.
- Supplies are delivered. Administrative Assistant receives and verifies supplies and signs delivery form to acknowledge receipt and submits payment to Service Provider.
- Administrative Assistant obtains a signature from Service Provider to acknowledge receipt of payment.
- Administrative Assistant forwards supply and delivery documents to the Supervisor who forwards the documents to the Procurement Officer for record keeping.
In following such a process in a timely manner, a company is able to track processes as well as mitigates short cuts and issues of corruption when handling third parties.
References
Pierce, R. J. (2010). Administrative law treatise (Vol. 3). Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
