What is Office Management?

As previously stated, there are many distinct aspects of office management, and not all organisations include the same responsibilities under the title of office manager. But even among highly specialised industries, the core functions tend to remain the same. These functions include:

The most traditional responsibility associated with office management is optimising the office space. This includes establishing a working environment conducive to high employee performance, and may also involve taking an active role in setting and promoting positive office culture.

Office managers are involved in defining goals and outcomes for the office and planning office activities. The office manager works with other leaders to map out initiatives and determine what steps are necessary to reach company objectives and how success should be measured. Office managers may also handle employee travel arrangements.

Closely tied to planning, office resource management is responsible for ensuring that materials, equipment, personnel and finances are all being applied effectively towards achieving company goals. Optimising resource usage means keeping a detailed and accurate inventory of available resources and then applying those resources toward more productive functions and workflows.

Office management has the responsibility to act as a liaison between corporate leadership and office employees—facilitating effective communication and articulating needs and expectations in both directions.

Hiring, onboarding, retaining and even firing are all aspects of staffing in office management. This extends beyond company employees; office managers may also be involved in managing external contractors and facility staff members and are the primary points of contact for property owners and property managers of rented office spaces. Although this is especially true for small businesses, enterprise-level companies may also include some elements of staffing in office management.

Although IT is usually a department all its own, office management is often responsible for working with IT to ensure that the office environment has access to the right functioning technology to operate effectively. This includes coordinating with IT on software and equipment usage and optimising support technology (such as Wi-Fi, network access, video conferencing etc.) in the office space.

Finally, office managers must work to ensure that the office is a safe working environment and that the correct steps have been taken to protect the employees and the company from external threats. This includes establishing and regulating office safety policies, managing security teams, handling parking arrangements, resolving employee conflicts, addressing harassment and discrimination, approving materials and tools, managing badging systems, and working with IT to establish proper data security procedures.

With so many different responsibilities falling under the umbrella of 'office management', the position naturally requires a range of important technical and interpersonal skills. These include the following:

• Organisation 
• Multitasking
• Time management 
• Communication ability
• Conflict mediation
• Strategy building
• Employee coordination
• Negotiation skills
• Leadership

Every business is unique, and every working environment comes with its own advantages, challenges and quirks. As such, the role of office management within a company and the positions involved in fulfilling various office management responsibilities cover a wide territory and may even overlap with other departments (such as Human Resources). To make matters more complex, modern office management must also be capable of handling the many administration duties associated with remote and hybrid offices.

But while each company may have its own approach, the basic duties and goals of office management positions are similar. These roles include maintaining a productive office work environment, supervising and organising the work of administrative staff, outfitting employees with the right equipment, preparing and submitting reports, and managing office budgets, and may also involve employee hiring, training and promotion.

Variations on traditional office management positions include:

Not every business has the resources to invest in bringing in an office manager full-time. In these cases, the company may instead choose to outsource to a part-time office manager. These 'virtual' office managers typically operate remotely and may fulfil office management responsibilities for multiple clients. At the same time, the term 'virtual office management' sometimes refers to an office manager over remote and hybrid office environments where a company's employees do not all work from the same location.

A corporate office manager works in the central office of a company that owns several other offices. This person, often given the title of 'District Manager', coordinates with the 'branch managers' over satellite offices. Corporate office managers take the lead in coordinating with the leadership of these other offices. While some of the duties may be like those of an office manager who works directly for the company's clients, the corporate office manager tends to work behind the scenes to support branch offices in reaching their goals. This may involve regularly travelling between branch locations to oversee branch managers.

Every resource has a cost and a value. From equipment, to finances, to the employees themselves, getting the most out of these resources means understanding what is available and how best to apply it to ensure that its value to the business outpaces its cost.

In the day-to-day grind of processes and workflows it can be easy to lose sight of big-picture objectives. Office managers are responsible for keeping their eyes on the prize—knowing the purpose behind the work and conveying that purpose in a way that employees can understand and appreciate.

Inefficiency is the enemy of productivity. Office management must always be conscious of the current processes occurring within the office and ready to identify and refine inefficiencies to ensure a more streamlined way of doing things.