CSEC Office Administration Paper 3 May/June 2014 - Free CXC Past Paper with Answers

Read the CASE and answer the EIGHT questions which follow.

The Economic Plunge

Marci and Marci Company Ltd, a large clothing company, has been operating in Georgetown, Guyana, for the past fifteen years. Recently, the company experienced a significant drop in sales. This contributed to the low profit returns of 45–60 per cent for the last two years.

After a review of Marci and Marci’s financial report for the period 2012–2013, the majority of the board members, at the last Annual General Meeting, voted on the following three major changes to the company’s operations:

Downsizing the company to a small business
Diversification of the company’s product – stop manufacturing clothing, and instead retail cellphones and computer accessories which seem to be in high demand
Change from the traditional to a modern office system

Following the decision made by the board of Marci and Marci, the company’s mission, vision and objectives have to be changed to reflect its new perspective.

List THREE important points that should be considered in revising the company’s Mission Statement to reflect its new perspective.

Suggest THREE actions that Marci and Marci Company Ltd should take to effectively downsize the company to a small business.

A number of persons involved with the business are still uncertain about the decision of downsizing from a large to a small business. As the senior clerk of the company, suggest to those persons THREE advantages a small business may have compared to a large business.

On 12 May 2014, Mr Perry Jackson, office manage, sent out the following note.

12 May 2014

Office Equipment

Ms Ramesh please note:

Most of the traditional office equipment used in the general office are obsolete and not properly maintained.

Suitable and efficient equipment will be required for use in the modern office

Kindly make recommendations on the furniture and equipment you would want to have in the new office

Perry Jackson, Office Manage

Assume you are Ms Alice Ramesh, senior clerk of Marci and Marci Company Ltd. Write a memo, on the form provided on page 5, to the office manager recommending THREE pieces of modern equipment you would like ordered for the newly designed office. Suggest how the THREE pieces of modern equipment recommended may be used in the newly designed office to enhance sales.

For the past five years you have worked as a junior clerk in a traditional office structure at Marci and Marci Company Ltd. Soon, you will have to adapt to the modern office system. To keep abreast with the changes, you decided to do some research on the modern office system.

Give FOUR reasons why the modern office system would be better for Marci and Marci Company Ltd to adapt in order to maintain efficiency in its new line of operation

Marci and Marci Company Ltd is considering changing its structure from a traditional to a modern office

Based on the principles of ergonomics, suggest FOUR factors that Marci and Marci should consider when designing its new office

Considering that the company is diversifying its product line in order to meet customer demand, suggest THREE activities that Marci and Marci Company Ltd could centralize in order to be more efficient in its operations

The management of Marci and Marci Company Ltd has asked the office administrator for an updated review of the duties of its junior office clerks

In the space provided on page 9, draft a Job Description outlining FOUR duties of a Level 1 Junior Office Clerk, who is presently receiving a salary of $1,200 monthly.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title:

Grade:

Department:

Responsible to:

Salary:

Job summary:

Duties and responsibilities: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Due to the downsizing of Marci and Marci Company Ltd, some of the office clerks will be made redundant. In order to gain a fair opportunity for re-employment at the company, the board has asked the human resource officer to advertise the position of 'office clerks' internally.

Draft an internal advertisement to be posted on the notice board. The advertisement should include:

Two attributes of office worker
Two skills that office workers should possess

Four employees have applied for the office clerk position. Two of the employees were shortlisted and interviewed. At the interview, the HR officer asked one of the interviewees to suggest ways in which good human relationships can contribute to fulfilling the company's mission.

For EACH of the roles shown below, suggest ONE way in which a good relationship among staff can improve productivity at Marci and Marci Company Ltd.

Supervisor:

Colleagues:

External customers:

CSEC Office Administration Paper 3 May/June 2014 Questions

Question 1 (3 marks)

The Economic Plunge

Question 2 (3 marks)

Question 3 (3 marks)

Question 4 (8 marks)

Office Equipment

Question 5 (8 marks)

Question 6 (3 marks)

Question 7 (8 marks)

JOB DESCRIPTION

Question 8 (14 marks)

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