ADMIN - HIGHER SQA

• Administrative assistant

  Role may be carried out within a general office environment or within a specialised department such as Human Resources, Marketing or Finance
• Junior administrative assistantduties

  • They work to a short timescale
  • They have very little decision making in their role
  • They have to work under constant supervision
  • They are not able to delegate to others
  • Deal with the mail, handle telephone enquiries and filing records
  • They have little decision making in their job
• Senior administrative assistant

  • They take an overview and long term perspective on tasks
  • They assist management in the decision making process
  • They supervise junior admin assistants
  • They have to delegate work and responsibility to subordinates and decide on priorities
  • They may be asked to stand in for a senior member of staff
  • They develop systems and procedures to ensure the smooth running of the admin function
• Qualities of an administrative assistant

  • Be reliable
  • Be discreet
  • Be tactful
  • Be helpful and approachable
  • Be flexible in their approach to work
• Skills of a senior administrative assistant

  • Possess excellent organisational skills
  • Possess the ability to prioritise tasks
  • Be an effective coordinator of activity
  • To be able to work without supervision and supervise others
  • Possess excellent communication skills
  • Possess excellent ICT skills
• Target

  Something you aim to accomplish, can be personal, team or departmental
• Purpose of establishing targets

  • To help managers organise their resources efficiently and effectively
  • To help employees understand what the organisation is expecting to achieve
  • To enable employees to understand their role in the organisation
  • To allow employees to measure the success of their work compared with original targets
• Advantages of establishing targets

  • Employees and departments know what is expected of them
  • If targets are not set the organisation may have little idea whether or not it is achieving success
  • Targets are monitored at regular intervals so that any deviations can be corrected before it is too late
  • Increased productivity within the workforce
  • Increased motivation within the workforce in trying to achieve/or achieving targets
• Characteristics of a good target

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Agreed
  • Realistic
  • Timed
• Priorities List

  A document used to detail a number of small tasks and rank by importance
• Action Plan

  A document used to plan a long term/larger project with tasks noted in the order they have to be done with an estimated time for each task to be completed in
• Diary

  An electronic or paper-based method used to record work and deadlines
• Gantt Char

  Used by managers to show comparison between work planned and work accomplished in relation to time schedules
• Personal Development Plan

  A formal document designed to record areas of strength and the development needs of an individual, used to target improvement/development for next year that will be met by training
• Features of a Personal Development Plan

  • It is used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee
  • It is used to identify the training needs of an employee
  • It can be used to set targets for employees to work on
  • It looks at broad-long term development for an employee
  • The development does not need to be related to work tasks
  • It should be written in a structured way
  • It looks at the development of the individual employee
• Advantages of a Personal Development Plan

  • This will ultimately lead to an increase in the employee's morale and motivation which will further impact positively on the effectiveness of the workplace
  • It acts as a strong communication to senior management in how well the employee is progressing and applying him/herself
• Disadvantages of a Personal Development Plan

  • If the employee is demonstrating significant signs of inefficiency then responsibilities may be taken away – in effect a demotion
• Methods of monitoring and evaluating targets

  • Buddy system
  • Mentoring system
  • Line Manager
  • Internal Audits
  • Gantt Charts
• How to manage and adapt changing priorities

  • Work schedules should have some degree of flexibility built in
  • A mixture of tasks would enable low or medium priority work to be tackled another day, whilst hopefully, leaving some time to deal with the high priority tasks
  • Tasks should not be left to the last minute
  • The administrative assistant should remain calm and, if necessary, reschedule work or delegate tasks
• Time management

  Not about how much time is being spent, but how it is being spent
• Benefits of good time management

  • Time wasting activities are minimised therefore deadlines are met
  • Employees are likely to be less stressed in the workplace
  • Employees are more efficient in their work which will lead to greater productivity
  • Employees will produce better quality work
  • It will prevent/ reduce customer dissatisfaction and complaints
  • Employees will gain better promotion prospects
  • More time becomes available for the more important tasks
  • Increased competitiveness in the marketplace
• Problems that can arise from poor time management

  • Activity panic
  • Reaction not action
  • Work overload
• Benefits of effective time management

  • Deadlines are met
  • Employees are less stressed
  • Employees are more efficient and productive
  • Employees produce better quality work
  • Prevents/reduces customer dissatisfaction and complaints
  • Employees gain better promotion prospects
  • More time available for important tasks
  • Increased competitiveness in the marketplace
• Problems caused by poor time management

  • Activity panic
  • Reaction not action
  • Work overload
  • Stress
• Time stealers

  • Lack of forward planning
  • Interruptions by telephone
  • Unexpected visits from colleagues
  • Taking on too much work
  • Taking work home
  • Not assessing priorities correctly
  • Lack of self-discipline or shuffling papers
  • Communication problems
  • Making unnecessary journeys
  • Searching for lost papers
  • Darting about from one task to another
  • Lack of delegation
• Suggestions for improving time stealers

  1. Make better use of Priority Lists and Action Plans

  2. Learn to control telephone conversations

  3. Be polite but firm with unexpected visitors

  4. Be assertive and learn to say no

  5. Approach line manager about workload

  6. Assess priorities at start and end of day

  7. Tackle uninteresting tasks, don't procrastinate

  8. Communicate clearly, recap instructions

  9. Group jobs to minimise journeys

  10. Set up efficient filing systems

  11. Prioritise and stick to task list

  12. Learn to delegate
• Time management techniques

  • Compile a to-do-list for next day with priorities and time estimates
  • Prioritise tasks and ask for help if needed
  • Clear desk at end of day for a fresh start
  • Handle papers/tasks only once
  • Avoid interruptions, control time
  • Don't take on too much work, learn to delegate
  • Set time limits for meetings
  • Use diary to set reminders and monitor progress
• Impact of poor time management: work left incomplete, deadlines missed, time wasted on displacement activities
• Skills for effective task management

  • Organisation
  • Prioritisation
  • Delegation
  • Control
  • Assertiveness
  • Negotiation
  • Resource management
  • Evaluation
• Strategies for effective task management

  • Minimise time wasting activities
  • Do difficult tasks in prime time
  • Use planning aids like priorities lists and action plans
  • Delegate work to appropriate staff
  • Prioritise by importance
  • Reflect on work to identify and minimise problems
  • Ensure necessary resources are available and utilised
  • Set achievable targets
  • Be assertive and say no when needed
  • Conquer procrastination by breaking down tasks
  • Use planning aids like diaries, priorities lists, action plans
• Consequences of poor task management: poor productivity, poor communication, high stress, increased absence, poor customer service
• Importance of delegation

  • Develops staff
  • Improves motivation
  • Saves organisational time
  • Frees manager for more important tasks
• Reasons managers fail to delegate

  • Think they can do job better
  • Standards too high
  • Fear losing control
  • Fear impact if something goes wrong
  • Job insecurity
  • Lack knowledge of team strengths
  • Unable to trust subordinates
  • Fear loss of status
• Implications of failing to delegate: managers do inappropriate tasks, lack of staff development, managers become stressed, employees become demotivated
• Team

  A group specially formed for a particular purpose and to achieve a particular aim
• Characteristics of a team

  • Shared purpose or goal
  • Sense of belonging (team identity)
  • Dependence/reliance on each other
• Belbin's team roles

  • Ideas person
  • Motivator
  • Organiser
  • Implementer
  • Checker
  • Finisher
  • Go-getter
  • Team worker
  • Specialist
• Features of an effective team

  • Small size (4-6 people)
  • Longer time together increases effectiveness
  • Challenging and structured task
  • Good leader with effective skills
  • Strong and open communication
  • Correct team composition
  • Shared knowledge
  • Support each other
  • Shared goal
  • Clear individual goals
  • Balanced strengths and weaknesses
  • Good training support
• Causes of team conflict

  • Conflicting goals
  • Personal disputes
  • Lack of resources
  • Unclear responsibilities/unfair workloads
  • Changed deadlines/targets
  • Loyalty issues
• Benefits of effective team working for individuals

  • Increased risk taking and idea sharing
  • Increased skills from shared knowledge
  • Greater sense of involvement and belonging
  • Increased motivation and morale
  • Better chance of promotion
  • Increased support