What is Centralisation in Office Management

Office services needed by the functional departments may be pooled and administered by a ‘central office’. Thus, centralisation of office activities implies pooling of common services at a central place with a qualified and experienced office manager in charge. The functional departments are left free to attend to their own specialised operations. Even when business activity is confined to a single location, it is possible to centralise the, bulk of clerical work under a capable office manager having overall responsibility.

Merits: The following are the major benefits of centralisation:

1. Relief to functional heads: The heads of departments are relieved of the supervising office work and thus they can concentrate on the technical work of the departments.
2. Specialisation: Office employees can develop specialised skills and become more efficient being engaged in performing tasks most suited to their capability.
3. Flexibility: Centralisation ‘of office work provides the flexibility of operations. If at any time there is extra work, it can be handled conveniently by the existing staff. This also ensures maximum utilisation of the capacity of office machinery.
4. Minimum cost: Investment in machines and the cost of their maintenance are considerably reduced. Centralisation enables standardisation of office procedures which further bring down costs.
5. Equitable distribution of work load: When office activities are performed in each department, there may be heavy work load in some departments, and not enough work in certain departments, for the clerical staff. In a centralised organisation, the total work involved can be equally distributed among different categories of staff.

Demerits: Centralisation of office service has also certain limitations which are outlined below:

1. Delay in the performance of work: Office work may not be performed according to the urgency or importance of departmental needs. This is because work in the Central Office’ is generally performed in the order in which papers are received rather than in the order of their importance.
2. Secrecy may not be maintained: Secrecy of documents and other confidential records cannot be ensured with centralised office services