Case Study: Office Administration and the Impact of Poor Practices

This case study analyzes the role of an office administrator, focusing on essential skills like communication, technology proficiency, and time management. It presents a scenario where an office administrator, Monica, makes critical errors in handling business documents, leading to computer failure. The case study explores the necessary skills for effective business documentation, including writing, organization, and research. It details various methods for presenting business documents and compares different approaches. The core of the case study examines Monica's mistakes, such as opening multiple files simultaneously and taking breaks without closing applications, which resulted in computer malfunction and missed deadlines. The solution proposes that Monica should have opened files sequentially, closed applications before breaks, and immediately sought technical support. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of proper computer handling and efficient operational work for office administrators to support organizational goals. The case study highlights the potential consequences of poor practices and offers practical solutions for improved office administration.

Running head: CASE STUDY OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
CASE STUDY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1CASE STUDY OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
Introduction
An office administrator is responsible for drafting important business documents targeted
to customers and other organizations. In this case Monica does some blunders which results in
computer failure (Beardwell and Thompson 2014). .
Discussion
1. The skills required to be a good office administrator in terms of business
documentation are communication skills which includes writing skills, technology skills like
competency to work with word processing software, spreadsheet, databases, ability to organize,
and ability to manage time and finish work within deadline. A good office administrator should
be able to efficiently use the Web for research while documenting and should be able to handle
the applications which are specific to the employer. Competency with drafting e-mail,
newsletters, presentation and reports are required (Armstrong and Taylor 2014).
2. There are various methods for presenting a business document within my organization.
The audiences for the business document are identified; the documents purpose are analyzed,
the information in the business document has a logical flow, is clear, informative and concise,
ideas are supported with logic and facts, the business document look professional, appropriate
font, layout grid are chosen and the documents are proofread before printing. Inkjet and laser
and toner printers can are used to print business documents (Pribadi 2016).
3. Speaking to a friend, I learned that business documents like memos, emails,
summaries, and letters are presented following several steps like preparation, research,
organizing, drafting and reviewing. Memos and emails have a subject line and formatting is done
in paragraphs, business letters are formatted in block style with the exception of the letterhead

2CASE STUDY OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
and usually aligned to the left margin, business reports have charts, statistics, graphs, images,
transactional documents have receipt or invoice attached and financial documents have bank
statements, payroll reports, balance sheet. Magnetic digital printers are used to print documents
in his office.
4.While modifying the three documents, Monica made the mistake of opening the three
files together before commencing work, she also left the three applications open in her computer
and went for a coffee break which resulted in failure of the computer.
5. Monica should have opened the files one by one, start working on one document and
complete it within deadline before beginning to work on another document. Monica should not
have went on a coffee break keeping all the three applications open, the applications should have
been closed by her before taking breaks. Also Monica could have open one file, note down
important information and then she could have opened the next file. After noting important
information in all files, she could have started working which could help her in research
(Liebowitz and Frank 2016).
6. Monica’s actions could be detrimental for her as she would miss deadline of her
documentation tasks. This could affect the business process.
The solution is to immediately inform the technical team to fix her computer or to use
another computer to complete the allotted task so that business process is not delayed.

3CASE STUDY OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
Conclusion
The daily operational work of an office administrator is of paramount importance to
support teams and higher authorities in an organization. So an office administrator should handle
computer properly.

4CASE STUDY OF OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
References
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Beardwell, J. and Thompson, A., 2014. Human resource management: a contemporary
approach. Pearson Education.
Liebowitz, J. and Frank, M. eds., 2016. Knowledge management and e-learning. CRC press.
Pribadi, T.F.N., 2016. A Job Training Report as an Administrative Assistant at International
Office and Partnership Universitas Airlangga from 11th January 2016–11th March
2016 (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Airlangga).