Business Fundamentals: Company Structure and Office Management

1. The Company

1.1 Concept

A company is an organization which combines material and human resources in order to achieve a goal.

• Examples of material resources: Buildings, machinery, tools, etc.

Elements of a Company

• Entrepreneur: The person responsible for the activity.
• Employee: A person giving the fruit of their work to another in exchange for wages.

General elements of a company: Land, capital, and labor.

1.2 Types

The company may be classified by considering:

• Size: Small, medium, and large.
• Economic sector: Primary, secondary, and tertiary.

1.3 Objective

• Private: Those pursuing the maximization of profits.
• Public: Those focused on providing social services.

1.4 Organization

Organization is the right distribution of all its resources, in particular human resources. The graphical representation of this organization is the organization chart. The organization is formed by rectangles joined together by straight lines representing the level of dependency.

2. The Office

The office is the place of work for a company's administrative tasks. The locality should be as pleasant as possible, taking into account lighting, temperature, ergonomic furniture, and noise levels.

2.3 Equipment and Materials

Office equipment is used to facilitate, complete, and agilize work. Materials may be classified as expendable and non-expendable.

2.4 Departments

• Department of Directorate: Responsible for managing the company, defining goals, and making important decisions.
• Department of Finance: Responsible for obtaining and managing money, fees, and payments.
• Human Resources Department: Responsible for identifying jobs, recruitment, training, development, and payroll.
• Department of Management: Assumes control of documentation, files, records, accounting, taxes, and relationships with other companies or bodies.

Vocabulary

• Dependency: Subordination to an authority or jurisdiction.
• Consumables: Items that are consumed with use.
• Action: The means that makes you get what is intended to be, and if needed, one resorts to it.
• Organization: Diagrams of the organization of an entity, business, or activity.

Activities of the Different Sectors

1. Primary Sector: Agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and mining.
2. Secondary Sector: Energy industry, core, equipment, use and consumption, and construction.
3. Tertiary Sector: Transport, trade, tourism, education, and health.