Topic 1:

Information
processing in the
business
organisation
A typical
organisational Module
environment
1
Overview

By the end of this module,

you should be
able to:
Unit 1.1: Define the term
'organisation'.
Unit 1.2: ldentify the interrelated elements that make up an organisation.

Unit 1.1: Definition of the term 'organisation'

Have you ever wondered what all
the people in your college's
offices do, and
how these people all know what to
do? When you first walked into your
college, you had no idea of what to do
or where to go. However, you
had
people showing you the different places,
introducing you to the people whom
you had to meet, and telling you what
documents to sign and what payments to
make. This process took you through various departments and
you encountered
people who can be found in your college.
Now that this process has been
completed, you probably will not see many of these people during
New word
the year, as
you have now begun to attend lectures and to proceed with your academic year. organisation: groups
of people who work
Your college can be seen as an organisation. All organisationshave a purpose, together in an organised
way for a shared purpose
as well as requirements or tasks that enable them to fulfil this purpose.

The purpose of your college is to help you, the student, to obtain a qualification.
For youto obtain this qualification, your college has to meet various requirements
or perform various tasks. Therefore, your college consists of different departments
to help ensure that these requirements are met or that the relevant tasks are
performed-and each department works in an organised way to help you to
achieve your qualification.
Think aboutit
Unit 1.2: The interrelated elements that make up Looking at your
college, can you

an organisation identify
elements
the different
or functions?

An organisation has various parts that work together for a common purpose. All
organisations have a core function (or element) that they strive to This is
fulfil.

the main reason the organisation exists. However, for an organisation to carry
New word
out its core function, it needs various support functions. line function: the
function in an organi

sation that is directly

1.2.1 The core function responsible

out the core
for carrying
business

of the organisation,
the line function)is
In the case of your college, its core function (also called e.g. teaching students,

set of skílls, or to deliver

to help you to obtain a qualification and acquire a producing goods such
as toys and providing
So, to achieve this, it has
quality education and skills development to students.
plumbing services

lecturers that teach, guide and assist you.

 are resp various courses \ess

departments,
that
may be a law teach you the that
there that you
For instance, and so on,
college.
department,
management for your qualification.
to pass
have

to all its
quality education students
is to provide
corefunction
Figure 1.1: Your college's

1.2.2 The support functions probably not come into contact with

you will called the staff functions)

other parts that functions (also
There are also support
These arethe handles all function paperwork
New words daily as a student.
the administrative
For instance, such as registers, mark
a function your college. course of the year,
staff function: of with duringthe
that
that needsto
be dealt calculated;the marketing and
inan organisation
for the students' year marks are
provides support in which and the courses it offers; and
line function
so that the line sheets and lists of your college
function can carry
out its
sales function
makes peopleaware for recruiting new lecturers, training
is responsible
core activities
the human resources function management and
being related a good relationshipbetween
well as maintaining
interrelated:
to, or connected with one lecturers, as to perform its tasks.
another functions help the line function
staff. These support
have
product:something that and the staff functions,
for sale or in the college, that is, the line function your
is offered
Each part of to help you obtain
exchange for money; a
together to achieve the college's core function:
can be a service (e.g. to work the interrelated elements
a set of skills. These all form
product
bainting a building) or an
qualification and acquire have different elements.
tem or good (e.g. a ladder)
make up an organisation. Different organisations
that
the organisation is.
depending on how big orsmall
be seen as departments. Every
The different support elements or functions can
that will support the organisation,
organisation hasvarious departments
its product. The most common
depending on the size of the organisation and
out below.
support elements or functions are set

Administration
Asindicated earlier, the administrative department is responsible for keeping t
organisation'srecords. In your college,for instance, this department keeps rec
of student registrations, assignment marks,schedules, registers,year marks, et

All this information enables the college to know who has registered, and for
courses and qualifications. It also indicates each individual's progress during
vear in each course, that is, what markshe or she obtained for assignments,t
and examinations.
 Figure 1.2: An important task of the administrative department is tecord-keeping

There are, of course, a nunmber of other administrative tasksthat this department

may be responsible for.

Accounting
The accounting department handles the bookkeeping
for an organisation. It
keeps track of monies going out and coming into the organisation. It is
all
also
responsible for all financial records and submits
documentation to the South
AfricanRevenue Service (SARS) nonthly and at the
end of the organisation's
financial year. The accounting department also
tracks accounts that need to be
paid by the organisation, so that all businesses receive
payment for the services
or products they have [Link] addition,it sends out
and followsup on
invoicesto customers that need to pay the organisation
for its service or product.
Accountants typically prepare incomnestatenments, cash flowN statementsand
balance sheets for the organisation.

oON

Figure 1.3: Keeping track of nonies coming into and going out of the
organisation is one the respo1sibilities f the accouunting departrent

Thir
Marketing and advertising
How
The marketing and advertising department of an organisation is responsible for abo
Did
making people aware of the organisation's product or [Link] people are not all t
be able to
aware of theorganisation's service or product, how willthe organisation off
therefore to make sure that the
attractcustomers? This department's main focus
is
 that the organisationis
the product
or service
and on TV
and radio, by offering
public
knows about in newspapers special events to which This
distribting,
can be
done by advertising and by organising
the organisation's product or
and pamphlets, Customers
ortry out service, at
brochures can view
invited
sothat they
Informat
Gomputers
technology
computer

WOW! tasks. It is
computer

SALE
SUPER
-50%
or servico
organisation's product
Making people aware of the department
Figure1.4: and advertising
is one of the
main tasks of the marketing

Human resources
can seen as one of the mostimportant
be 2.3
The human resources (HR) department itS people
of any organisationis
in any organisation. The
heart
departments
organisation's product or serice
to deliver and distribute the
People are needed
you would not be able to learn
In the case of your college, without
lecturers,

understand what is required of you in your course.

BENEFITS
SKILL RECRUIT MENT

HUMAN
GOALS RESOURCES TALENT

DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

Figure 1.5:The buman resources department bas to find the

right people to work in the organisation

The HR department responsible for finding the right

is
people with the requirec
skills,qualifications and experience for any
position in the organisation. It is
also responsible for
determining the salaries for different
positions, as well as t
developing the organisation's
employees by way of training.
 Information technology support
Computers are used in
technology (IT) every
organisation, big or small. The information
computer department plays a
very important role
technology in the by maintaining all
tasks. It is also organisation sothat
responsible for creating employees caan complete their
computer equipment,and programs,
providing support for purchasing and maintaniB
employees when needed.

Figure 1.6:The information technology

department is responsible for allcomputer
technology in the organisation so that enployees can perform
their work

1.2.3 Thestructure of an organisation

Every organisationhas a structure. This structure shows people the lines of
communication that they need to follow, as well as who they need to report to.
Moreover, it clearly shows the different departmentsand how the organisation is

set up. Figure 1.7 illustrates a typical organisational structure.

CEO

Research
Financial manager
Production IT manager
Marketing manager
manager
manager

Laboratory
IT technician employee
Production Accountant
Salesperson employee

structure
of anorganisational
Frgure 1.7:Example

in Figure 1. has fve departments

:
The organisation 4. IT.
1. Marketing. 5. Rescarch.
2. Production.

3 Finance.