Competencies in administrative office management as perceived by office managers and collegiate office management instructors, 1979

The problem of the study was to determine how the content of Administrative Office Management courses could be improved to provide more relevant instruction. The major purposes of the study were: (l) to identify competencies performed and the importance attached to them by office managers, (2) to identify the competencies included in collegiate office management instruction and the importance attached to them by instructors, (3) to compare the competencies included and the degree of importance attached to them by office managers and office management instructors, (4) to determine which demographic characteristics affected responses, and (5) to compare demographic characteristics of managers and instructors.

The national samples consisted of 143 managers who were presidents of Administrative Management Society chapters and 204 collegiate office management instructors in institutions affiliated with NABTE or AACSB. One hundred and seven office managers and 178 office management instructors responded to a questionnaire which contained 44 competency statements regarding administrative office management. They indicated the degree of importance given to the 44 competencies in job performance or instruction, using a five-point scale. If a competency was not included, a separate block was checked.

The primary source for statistical processing of the data was the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences program at The University of Tennessee Computing Center, Knoxville. Computations of frequencies, percentages, means, and modes were completed for the 44 competency statements. Tests of significant difference were computed at the .05 level. Corrected chi square was utilized to determine differences between the number of managers performing each competency and the number of instructors including that competency. The t-test was computed to determine differences between the mean importance scores of the managers and instructors for each competency. One-way analysis of variance of the 44 competencies was computed for all respondents for each of the following five demographic variables: education, experience, age, sex, and quarter hours in Office Management. One-way analysis of variance was also computed for two additional variables of managers. Chi square was computed to test for differences between five demographic characteristics of respondents.

Major conclusions, based on the findings, were:

1. Administrative Office Managers are performing 44 identifiable competencies in their jobs. They perceive competencies relating to Communicating, Decision Making, Planning, Controlling, Staffing, and Directing as being highly important in performing their jobs.

2. Instructors of collegiate Administrative Office Management courses include the 44 identifiable competencies in their instruction. 1 They place high emphasis upon the teaching of competencies related to the Office Function, Staffing, Planning, Organizing, Directing, Communicating, Decision Making, and Work Measurement.

3. Administrative Office Management instructors include 30 of 44 competencies which are performed by office managers. The instructors are including the area of Office Function more than managers are performing this area. More managers include the competency of Listening than instructors.

4. Administrative Office Managers and Administrative Office Management instructors differ on the degree of importance for 28 of the 44 competency statements. Instructors place more emphasis on competencies related to the Office Function and Work Measurement than managers are giving them in job performance. Office Managers place more importance on competencies related to Communicating, Decision Making, Directing, and Cost and Budgetary Controlling than instructors are giving them in instruction.

5. In numerous occurrences, the five demographic variables affected the way respondents rated the importance of the competencies.

6. Managers had less formal education, more years of experience, and fewer quarter hours in Office Management than instructors. There were fewer female managers than female instructors. Age was not different for the two groups.