Two aspects of administration, namely organization and management, cannot be separated from each other. To know the position and role of “office activities” in the organization, it is necessary to first know about the organization.
Various kinds of formulations of understanding are given about the organization, among others, it can be stated that the organization is any form of alliance of two or more people who work together to achieve predetermined goals and are formally related in a hierarchical arrangement.
From the formulation of the definition of organization mentioned above, it means that when viewed from the elements, the organization contains the following elements:
1. Group of people
2. Cooperation
3. Purpose
4. Formal linkage
5. Hierarchical arrangement.
Any organization can be viewed from at least two angles, namely
(1) as a group of people working together, and
(2) as a forum for the cooperation. As a group of people working together, it is dynamic, while as a container it is relatively static.
- Main Duties and Supporting Duties in the Organization.
One element of the organization is the goal. To achieve the goals that have been determined, the organization performs tasks or activities. Tasks can be grouped into two major groups, namely main tasks and activities and supporting tasks or activities. Main activities or often called substantive activities are activities that are directly related to organizational goals. Because these main tasks or activities are directly related to organizational goals, the main tasks of one organization will be different from the main tasks of other organizations. For example, the main task of another Regional General Hospital with the main tasks of the Road Transport Traffic Service (DLLAJ), the main task of DLLAJ) will be different from the main tasks of the Tourism Office. Both are departments but of course the main tasks of the Ministry of Industry and Trade are different from the main tasks of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and so on.
The main tasks vary from one organization to another, depending on the purpose for which the organization was originally founded. However, the supporting tasks, for any organization with any main goals and tasks, can be said to be the same. What is meant by supporting tasks are tasks that are helpful, serve, rejuvenate and expedite the main tasks and tasks of the leadership.
These supporting tasks or activities include activities such as handling personnel, finances, materials, data/information, and depending on the need it can continue to grow. Other activities that can be included in supporting activities, for example in a Department, include planning, public relations, handling legal issues.
- Office Activities as Supporting Activities.
One of the supporting activities as mentioned in point one above is data/information handling activities. These data/information handling activities are called office activities as described in sub A and sub B above. Thus it is clear that the position of office activities in the organization is included in supporting activities or often referred to as FACILITATIVE activities. In other words, in an organization office activities are not the main task. The mention of main tasks and supporting tasks has nothing to do with important and unimportant, because both tasks are of the same importance. The main task will not run well without supporting activities that help, serve, facilitate and expedite. The mention of supporting tasks also depends on where you see it. Regarding this, it can be explained as follows:
a) The selection of main tasks and supporting tasks is a common concept used by organizations both in the public administration environment and by organizations both in the public administration environment and in the private or commercial administration environment.
b) In organizations, especially in the public administration environment, supporting activities are carried out by an organizational unit or institution which is usually called the secretariat. The Secretariat handles all or part of the supporting activities. Example: United Nations Secretariat General, Secretariat of State, Cabinet Secretariat, General Secretariat of Departments, Secretariat of the Directorate General, Secretariat of Non-Departmental Government Agencies, and so on.
c) From the example in point two above, the General Secretariat of a Department is the executor of supporting tasks for the Department concerned. Therefore, the Secretariat General of a Department shall at least handle activities related to personnel, finance, materials or equipment, data/information, planning, law, public relations, and other matters deemed necessary. In short, it is said that the main activity of the secretariat is to carry out long-term activities for the organization and management.
d) With the explanation as described in point c above, it can be seen from the scope of the organization (eg Department) that data/information handling or office activities are supporting tasks. However, judging from the scope of the secretariat (eg Secretariat General of the Department) office activities are the main task)
From the explanation above, it is easy to understand that the mention of the main task or the supporting task depends on which side you look at it.
- The Role of Office Activities.
Discussing about roles means discussing the relationship between one another. Discussing office activities in the organization means discussing the relationship between office activities and other activities of office activities. Office activities as described above are handling data/information. What is meant by handling here is the activities of collecting, recording, processing, storing and distributing or delivering data/information.
It is difficult to imagine activities that run without data/information, because every activity must grow data/information as one of the inputs in addition to other inputs such as materials and energy. The result of each activity, in addition to services or goods, is also data/information. Thus, office activities whose main activity is to handle data/information infiltrate all activities within the organization, both on the task of the substance of the organization’s organization and other facilitative tasks. In relation to leadership activities, office activities are also very important in supporting the implementation of the functions and roles of leaders at every level. Every leader or manager has a function and role which for its implementation cannot be separated from the need for data/information.
- Office Activities and Leadership Functions
It has been widely discussed in various forums and other literature that every leader or manager has the functions of planning, organizing, mobilizing and directing, monitoring and controlling. All levels of managers have these functions. Indeed, the volume and intensity for each level are not the same, but for the purposes of planning, organizing, moving and directing, as well as supervising and controlling all of them definitely need data/information. The percentages for each function at each level of manager, namely Core Managers (Top Managers), Middle Managers (Middle Managers) and Frontline Managers (Bottom Managers) are stated by Mintzberg as follows:
| Control 10% | Control 10% | Control 20% |
| direct 35% | direct 50% | direct 60% |
| coordinate 20% | coordinate 25% | coordinate 10% |
| plan 35% | plan 15% | plan 10% |
For the implementation of these functions, it is necessary to handle data/information whose activities are in the form of collecting, recording, processing, storing and distributing or delivering data/information.
- Office Activities and Leadership Roles.
In addition to having functions, each leader at every level has pragmatically interperonal roles, informational roles and desisional roles.
- Interpersonal role.
Leaders at every level always carry out interpersonal relationships both with superiors, with subordinates, with other leaders of the same or relatively equal level, both within the organization itself and with other leadership officials outside the organization. In carrying out the interpersonal role, the leader must act as a figure or the main character within the scope of his organization. Leaders must also be able to act as leaders for their “people”. In addition, the leadership must also act as a liaison for the interests of the unit or organization. It is very difficult to perform this interpersonal role without the help of office activities.
2) Informasional Role.
Leaders at every level always perform an informational role. In carrying out this role the leader must act as a monitor, as a disseminator of information and as a “spokesperson” or act as a positive “public relations officer” for the organization and its units.
Without the help of data/information handling, it would be impossible for this informational role to work properly.
3) Desisional Role.
Leaders at each level also always perform a desisional or decision-making role. In carrying out this desisional role, the leader must be able to act as a problem solver, as a determinant, regulator of the resources needed by the organization or its unit. In carrying out this decisional role, the leader also acts as a negotiator in the discussions that need to be carried out. The actions that must be taken by the leadership as mentioned above require the leader to be able to make the right decisions. The right decision requires the right information. The right information can only be produced by the right office activities.
- Office Activities and Leadership Skills.
The application of leadership skills also requires the support of office activities. As is known every leader or manager needs interpersonal skills, technical skills and conceptual skills. The higher the level or leadership position in the organization the more it requires interpersonal skills and conceptual skills. Meanwhile, the lower the level or leadership position, the more technical skills are needed. To be able to acquire and maintain, what’s more to be able to develop the skills mentioned above, the role of office activities is very dominant.
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