A.

SCIENCE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND ARCHITECTS

Management has been defined by Harold D. Kootz as the art of getting things done through and with people
in formally organized groups. This definition is aptly suitable to the architect, a Master Manager, who has
to achieve his objectives by coordinating the operations by himself.
 The architect’s profession is both a business and technology; business as it involves proper planning of
spending client’s money and technology as it deals in planning ahead of the time, controlling and
coordinating the activities.
 Thus, all business management principles will apply with equal force to the profession of architect too.
An efficient administrative organization can lighten the work load of technical staff.

The factors responsible for the mismanagement of an architect’s office will be:
1. No proper setting of the objectives and no proper programming to achieve the same.
2. No proper organization, staffing and directions.
3. No proper control.

These will result in the architect not being able to:

1. Coordinate the work of the group.
2. Keep up scheduled time limit and cost planning is shattered.
3. Produce clear drawings, working drawings, depicting halfhearted labour.
4. Give decision in time and if decision are given, the same are not clear but ambiguous.

If an architect desires to run his office on modern lines, he will have to apply principles of management
keeping the following objectives in view:
 To set up the ultimate goal.
 Analyze and identify the problems and hence plan out the work.
 Organize the staff for implementation and direct the execution.
 Check the performance of work as well as staff during execution.
 Review Final completion, Research and Audit including financial outcomes.
 Record the Fees received per man hour put in and Staff salary as percentage of gross receipts.

B. OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
Office administration and management can be divided into four sections:
(a) Project Administration
(b) General Administration
(c) Finance Management
(d) Human Resource Management

1. PROJECT ADMINISTRATION:
The Principal Architect is usually the director-in-charge of Administration and he himself selects the
individual or a team to handle a project as soon as the client approaches the architect, depending on the size
of the office and that of the project.
Small Offices:
In small offices, the architect himself takes all the decisions right from the analysis and design stage to
execution and completion stage.

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Medium Offices:
In Medium and Large Offices, a team comprising of a senior and a junior member are assigned the work;
who have direct access to client and are in charge of the day to day progress involving coordination of
design, programming, execution drawings, structural and services aspects and site supervision.

Large Offices:
In very large offices, separate departments are formed to deal with various aspects of the project or office:
(a) Administration Department
(b) Architectural Programming Department
(c) Design and Concept Development Department
(d) Business Development Department
(e) Model Making Department
(f) Execution Department
(g) Project Management Department
(h) Engineering Services Department
(i) Site Department
(j) IT Department
(k) Legal Department
(l) Documentation Department

(a) Administration Department: It takes care of the day-to-day activities of the office related to financial
planning, billing and recordkeeping, personnel, and physical distribution and logistics, within the
organization. The person that undertakes these activities called an office manager.
(a) Architectural Programming Department: The design problem is thoroughly analyzed – Functional,
Structural, Climatic, Site Characteristics etc. are studied and optimized. This analysis is then sent to the
Design Department for the development of a concept and hence the design.
(b) Design and Concept Development Section: Design Concepts are derived and spatial analysis leads to
development of forms. Plans and Elevations emerge, alternatives are prepared and evaluated and the
final scheme is projected as a set of presentation drawings. They also maintain the record of meetings
with clients and the review of work according to his comments.
(c) Business Development Department: it takes care of a number of tasks and processes generally aiming
at developing and promoting the growth of the architect’s business and services and creating a long-
term value for the organization from clients, markets, and relationships. They are responsible for
designing and preparing promotional material likes brochures, pamphlets, videos etc.
(d) Model Making Department: this department converts the architect’s design from 2D graphics and
drawings into physical 3D models at suitable scales, depending on the client’s demand; to make the
design process interesting and effective.
(e) Execution Department: Detailed Working Drawings are prepared for clarity, ready for execution with
specifications and quantities as provided by estimation department. At this stage structural design inputs
and service consultants (electrical, plumbing, HVAC etc.) are either prepared within office or obtained
from outside depending on the size of project and time available. Tender preparation and selection of
contractor also occur at this stage.
(f) Project Management Department: it consists various project managers and coordinators who are
responsible for the planning, scheduling, controlling execution, coordination, and closing of any
project; taking directions from the architect as well as clients.

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(g) Engineering Services Department: this department takes care of all the engineering services of the
building including structural design through civil engineering services, electrical design and
mechanical design etc.
(h) Site Department: Later, the site architects and related personnel coordinate between the contractor’s
work and office work to ensure work progress according to finalized design. This coordination is
recorded in specially prepared site manuals.
(i) IT Department: It takes care of electronic communications of all kinds. The people involved are experts
in understanding and analyzing the forms of electronic data, visual, and audio communication available
and then evaluate which services and vendors can provide the best equipment and service support for
the company.
(j) Legal Department: this department has the responsibility of preparation and management of all kinds
of legal documents like contracts and tenders, various certificates and approval documents. They also
become more active in case of legal procedures like arbitration and litigation.
(k) Documentation Department: After the completion of the project, it is documented right from the
concept stage to the completion stage in the form of drawings, photographs, filed site reports and
professional documents etc. for future reference or records. These are stored in the form of sheet rolls
with tags bearing the name of the project and files bearing all the important related documents in
respective storage cabinets.

2. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION:
It deals with the day to day running of office:
(a) Issue of general communication memos within the office and with outside parties like, clients, official
agencies, and suppliers etc.
(b) Issue of professional certificates like that for Income Tax Department or Labour Department;
(c) Maintaining attendance and leaves register.
(d) Filing of records related to office correspondence etc. and record of drawings.
Duties include communicating official directions from the Principal and maintaining a record of the same
as per standard office procedures.

Scheduling and Time Management:

In order to manage time efficiently:
 One must prepare a work schedule giving priority to urgent tasks, relegating the non-critical tasks to
second place. Use of visual calendars help monitor critical tasks better.
 Duties and works must be distributed among the personnel involved in the project according to their
capabilities and they should be instructed to produce work atleast a day before the scheduled time.
 Meetings need to be tightly structured and presentations well-rehearsed. Number of participants need
to be restricted to absolute minimum and they should not be made to wait.

Management of Paperwork:
Excessive paper work should be eliminated. All papers should be classified according to urgency and
assistants should be asked to make a summary of lengthy reports to reduce time and efforts involved in
referring to them.

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3. FINANCE MANAGEMENT:
It essentially deals with efforts made to increase income and control expenditure thereby earning as
reasonable profit. It is managed by one or more chartered accountants or an accounts department as a whole
depending on the size of the office. However, An Architect is required to learn basic features of accounting
in order to manage his finances.
(a) For every expense made there must be a cash memo, a voucher or a stamped receipt.
(b) An Architect is required to maintain a separate account of the money he receives as deposits from his
clients, contractors or other agencies. For every payment received whether by way of professional fees,
reimbursement of traveling, or others, a proper record of receipts issued is essential.
(c) All the bills prepared for any service need to be properly numbered.
(d) At the end of every financial year (which is fixed by Central Board of Direct Taxes as 1st April to 31st
March of next year) the Income and Expenditure Account, Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet
should be prepared and written down in cash book and ledger.

Office Expenditure
(a) Regular Expenditure Includes: Employee’s Salaries and Bonuses; Office Stationary Consumables,
Postage, Printing and Xerox of Documents; Water, Electricity, Internet and Telephone Bills; Income
Tax, Professional Tax, Sales Tax etc.
(b) Additional Expenditure Incudes: Gifts to employees and clients, expenses on annual office parties and
on entertaining clients.

Office Accounting and Bills

1. Balance Sheet: It is a sheet of balance which shows a true and fair view of the state of affairs of a
business. It has got two columns:
(a) Fixed Assets (Tangible Assets): Land, Building, Plants and Machineries, Furnitures and Fittings and
Vehicles etc.
(b) Liabilities: It shows the obligations of an enterprise to various parties including the owners who have
financed the project. The obligations may be: actual or potentials, compulsory or voluntary, foreseen
or unforeseen.
2. Profit and Loss Account: It shows the result of operations of an enterprise at the end of every financial
year. It has also two column viz. Debit and Credit:
 Debit is what comes in and Credit is what goes out.
 Debit the receiver and Credit the giver.
 Debit is all expenses and losses and credit is all incomes and gains.
3. Petty Cash Book: Record of cash transactions of small value. The account clerk is usually given a small
sum of Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per month and he will spend as same as directed on petty purchases. E.g.
binding charges of a book, money paid to mazdoor, cost of stamps etc.
4. Cash Book: It records all transactions of income as well as expenses.
5. Ledger: It contains a summary of all the items of cash book and other book if any.

4. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

Growth and Well-being of a firm depends on its employees’ support and output. Human Resource
Management deals with hiring the right type of employees, motivating them by providing them the right
working environment to get the best out of them. Value is raised on their skills to raise the quality and
output of the office.

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Basic HRM Practices:
The HRM department is responsible for conducting interviews for employees and trainees, encouraging
workers to obtain extra skills and carrying out the basic HRM Practices that include:
(a) Competitive Salary Structure with yearly or half-yearly Increments.
(b) Incentives like Commission in Project that is handled or Bonus for early completion of project.
(c) Greater freedom in Decisions making and Design.
(d) Restrict working hours to about 40 hours a week divided in 5 full or 5.5 working days.
(e) Paid Leaves and Office Parties/Picnics for greater Bonding.
(f) Gratuity Funds, House Rent and Vehicle Tax Allowance.
(g) Corporate Culture Facilities like designer uniforms, identity cards, personal computers, flexible office
timings, personalized entry systems etc.

Architects Statuary Duties as an Employer under Different Acts

The architect owes some statuary duties to his employees:
(a) 20 or More Employs: The Payment Of Bonus Act, 1965:
 To pay minimum bonus @ 8.33% of salary and maximum of 20 %.
 Persons excluded are those drawing salary or wages exceeding Rs. 1600 /- per month.
 If the salary exceeds Rs.1600/- per month bonus percentage is to be calculated as if the salary is
Rs. 1600/- per month.
(b) 10 or More Employs: The Payment Of Gratuity Act, 1972.
 Gratuity shall be payable to an employee on termination if he is employed for more than 5 years.
 Rate of gratuity will be 15 days wages last drawn for every completed year of service.
(c) Less than 10 Employs: The Indian Income Tax Act, 1961 (To deduct income tax from salaries)
 Tax Deducted at Source: For computation of taxable income, relevant deduction is to be allowed
and tax is to be charged at the prescribed rate as laid down in the Act.
 After complying with the first duty of deducting tax at source, the employer has got another duty
of paying the same to the credit of the Central government by remitting it to the reserve bank of
India or any other banks conducting government business.
 Certificate is to be issued to the employee about the total income chargeable under the head
‘Salaries’ and particulars of tax deducted.
 Submissions:
(i) To submit monthly return to income tax officer concerned, about the employees, their
salaries, tax deducted at their source with date, date on which payment is made to the credit
of Central Government.
(ii) To submit annual return of the deductions of tax at source from the salaries to the concerned
Income tax Officers.

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C. MAINTENANCE OF OFFICE RECORDS AND DATA
For the efficient working and management of architectural offices, it is important to file and maintain a
detailed and proper record of all official documents including copies of architectural drawings, legal
documents like contracts and tenders, financial and accounting documents etc. The various office records
that need to duly filed and maintained, include:
(a) Physical Database of the Project.
(b) Digital Database if the Project.
(c) Record of Office Accounting and Bills.

1. Filing of Physical Records and Storage of Project Database: physical records of various drawings
related to a project, official correspondence documents, research material and confidential documents
is essential in any architectural office:

Record of Architectural Drawings:

In any architectural office, record and storage of architectural drawings is the most important. Apart from
the drawings pertaining to current projects there is need to store drawings of old or completed Projects,
which are often required for future reference. The methods for recording/storing drawings are:
(a) Storage in Chest of Drawers: drawings can be stored in a chest of drawers in the desirable order which
can allow them to be stored flat. Each set of sheets can be topped with another sheet bearing the name
of the project and the type of drawings included. In this method, it is easier to locate a particular drawing
and to put it back after use. Thus sheets which are required frequently for reference must be stored like
this. But a chest of drawers occupies precious horizontal space, which is relatively expensive.
(b) Storage as Rolls: sheets can also be stored in the form of rolls which could be kept vertical or horizontal.
These rolls are wrapped in a base sheet bearing the project details. While such storage requires less
space it is cumbersome for retrieval as every time one has to straighten out the roll to locate a drawing
and carefully put it back. Thus, drawings of older completed projects which are less frequently required
for retrieval must be stored in such a format.
(c) Storage as Folded Sheets: drawings can also be stored in the folded form in designated file folders
bearing the name of the project and type of sheets (architectural/structural etc.) on the cover. Usually
drawings from the various consultants are classified and stored in this format. However, once folded,
the drawings bear a visible folding crease due to which they cannot be fully flatted.

Records of Official Correspondence:

 An Architect is required to handle a large volume of correspondence during the course of his practice
in the form of letters to clients, contractors, public officials, suppliers etc. A record needs to be kept of
every letter, plan or article which goes out of office and a record of every letter, plan or article that is
received by the office.
 It is necessary to evolve a system of maintaining a record of such correspondence for its proper storage
and easy retrieval when required. Usually architects classify these correspondence documents project-
wise and date-wise or sometimes according to urgency and requirements, and file them in different files
bearing the name of the project. A copy if the same also recorded in computers in designated folders.

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Record of Confidential Documents:
The Architect is required to store important, valuable and confidential documents like conveyance deeds,
property plans, contract documents etc. under lock and key as these are sent by clients under an
‘Accountable Receipt’ which means that the receiver is responsible for the return of such documents. Thus
they must be kept safely in designated file boxes.

Record of Research Material

 Every office maintains a large data base for research in the form of a library with a collection of books,
journals, reports and documents from Council of Architecture, Indian Institute of Architects and other
architectural institutions. These books and journals are properly arranged on shelves, either
alphabetically or according to topics and various fields of architecture.
 Offices also maintain a record of company catalogues and pamphlets of materials and their samples for
reference during design for greater creative expression. All samples ate catalogued and filed in order
of importance for easy access.

2. Filing and Maintaining the Digital Database/Records of Projects: Apart from the physical records
of drawings and documents in drawers, shelves and storage cabinets, a digital database of the project
files is maintained on the computer or other electronic devices. A copy of all the official documents
and all the drawings related to a project, whether completed or in progress; is stored on computers in
the form of scans, images, photographs or in various software formats used for their reproduction and
retrieval. These files are arranged sequentially, in a pre-determined hierarchy in various folders and
sub-folders classified according to the type of drawings and documents, type of files or dates of
conception or completion as shown in the following flowchart:

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 Usually, a folder in the name of the project is made on the date of its virtual conception and two main
subfolders namely ‘drawings’ and ‘documents’ are introduced:
(a) The ‘documents’ folder consists of the copies of all the official and correspondence documents
related to the project like project brief and area analysis, tender documents, contract documents,
site reports and various certificates, site photographs etc. that may need time-to-toke retrieval in
the course of the project.
(b) The ‘drawings’ folder is sub-divided into various other folders which separately contain – research
and conceptual drawings, presentation drawings and 3D views of the project, Tender Drawings and
detailed working drawings. The working drawings folder is further subdivided into two other
folders – one that contains the in-house working drawings including, detailed plans, elevations and
sections, staircase layouts, door window schedules, special construction details, wall sections
flooring patterns and ceiling layouts; and the other containing drawings from the various
consultants including structural, electrical, HVAC, plumbing and landscaping drawings.
 A copy of the entire set of the drawings and documents of a project is also stored in external drives like
hard drive or pen drives as a safe copy. Regular backup of all the office work is also take on a fixed
date, usually once in a week, so that in case of any mis-happening, all records will be readily available
for retrieval on the computer.

3. Record of Office Accounting and Bills: it is important to also regularly maintain files bearing all the
bills and accounting details of the project, as mentioned:

Balance Sheet: It is a sheet of balance which shows a true and fair view of the state of affairs of a business.
It has got two columns:
(a) Fixed Assets: Land, Building, Plants and Machineries, Furnitures and Fittings and Vehicles etc.
(b) Liabilities: It shows the obligations of an enterprise to various parties including the owners who have
financed the project. The obligations may be: actual or potentials, compulsory or voluntary, foreseen
or unforeseen.

Profit and Loss Account: It shows the result of operations of an enterprise at the end of every financial
year. It has also two column viz. Debit and Credit:
 Debit is what comes in and Credit is what goes out.
 Debit the receiver and Credit the giver.
 Debit is all expenses and losses and credit is all incomes and gains.

Petty Cash Book: Record of cash transactions of small value. The account clerk is usually given a small
sum of Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per month and he will spend as same as directed on petty purchases. E.g. binding
charges of a book, money paid to mazdoor, cost of stamps etc.

Cash Book: It records all transactions of income as well as expenses.

Ledger: It contains a summary of all the items of cash book and other book if any.
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