SECRETARY AS THE IMAGE – MAKER OF A BUSINESS ORGANIZATION
(A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC
ONITSHA AND OUR LADY’S INDUSTRIES NKPOR-AGU ANAMBRA STATE
TABLE
OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL
PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE
OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.2
STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
1.3
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
1.5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.6
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1
WHO IS A SECRETARY
2.2
THE QUALIFIED SECRETARY
2.3
TYPIST V SECRETARY
2.4
IMAGE MAKING FUNCTION
2.5
BUSINESS ATTRIBUTES
2.6
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
2.7
SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1
AREA OF STUDY
3.2
POPULATION AND SAMPLE SIZE
DETERMINATION
3.3
METHOD OF COLLECTING DATA
3.4
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND ADMINISTRATION
3.5
METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 SUMMARY OF
FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
5.2
RECOMMENDATION
5.3
CONCLUSION
5.4
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
5.5
SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
This
study investigated the role of the secretary in the image making of a business
organization with particular reference to Nigeria Breweries Plc Onitsha and our
Lady’s Industries Nkpor-Agu Anambra State. In pursuance of this objective, the
researcher presented and administered questionnaires to the secretaries of the
above named organizations.
The theoretical frame work of the
study was provided by review of related and relevant literature. Both
questionnaires and library books were used in data collections.
Data collected through the
questionnaire were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages.
Form the data collected through questionnaire administered to the secretaries,
the researcher found out the following:
Firstly, most secretaries at the above
named organizations possess the standard speed of 100wpm in shorthand and that
means that they are first class secretaries, while most of then also have the
speed of 50 and 60wpm in typewriting.
Secondly, the secretaries confirmed
that a better conclusive office will enhance their performance, that they
should be provided with conducive offices, which will enhance their performance
and promote the image of the company.
Thirdly, most secretaries in the above
named organization agreed that the possession of personal and business
attributes is very important to a secretary in the discharging of her
responsibilities and functions.
It was also found out that the
secretary is really the image maker of the organization, a living dairy for his
/ her boss and as such it cannot be as over statement to say that the
efficiency of a an organization is judged through the performance of the
secretary.
Finally, recommendations were made.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Secretary-ship is an important hub
around which modern office and management revolves. Like the heart which is
involved in the manufacturing, pumping and distribution of blood to various
organs of the body, secretary-ship provides the bridge the body, secretary-ship
provides the bridge which links the functions of different arm of an
organization, creates a whole out of disjointed branches of activity.
The
history of the secretarial profession could be terraced back to the industrial
revolutions of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries which gave birth to record
keeping and the invention of the art of manuscripts. When it because imperative
that these two innovations could not provide a complete answer to smoother
take-off of business and full office operations, further inventions were made
and these were the art of typing and printing, with the resultant training of
the first batch of officers in the allied trades.
Because
of the free use of the word “secretary” by all and semidry, only a few people
have taken time to analyzed the important and concept of this essential
vocation. In modern terms, secretary has become an omnibus terminology
associated with a wide range of practitioners who have varying framework of
correspondence and record keeping. For instance, no reasonable employer can go
to the employment agency or put up an advert in the press today merely stating
secretary wanted, unless he specifies the type and peculiar qualification or
breed, the result is most likely to be negative. This confirms the age-long
omission of appropriate nomenclature for many classes of paper workers now
conglomerated under the tag secretary.
This
background now leaves us with the question. Who is a secretary? Secretary-ship
is a career, a vocation that has by its wide application and tendency
accommodate many breeds of seemingly related but differing groups of
correspondence workers almost lost its original identity. It has gradually
assumed the posture of a No man’s line.
Form
the professional term secretary-ship come the technical name secretary meaning,
the practitioner or operator of the secretarial careers. Secretary is not an
accidental appellation given merely to satisfy philological need. It is a
technical expression denoting job relativity and pointing to job motive.
The
word secretary is derived from the latin word secretaries menacing “a person
entrusted with secretes. According to Advanced English Learners Dictionary,
secret means (to be) kept form knowledge or view of others, to conceal. The
same Dictionary defined “secretary” as an employee in the office who deals with
correspondence, keeps records, make arrangement and appointments for a
particular member of the staff.
If
the secretary by derivation means “the keeper of secretes” (wide secret is a
fitting synonym for confidentiality) and the functions borders on handling of
correspondence and keeping of records, it follows therefore that while other
classes or species of record keepers and correspondence handlers may borrow the
title “secretary” for appropriate descriptive nomenclature. The fit and proper
class entitled to the appellation “secretary”, is that class which by training,
education and grooming in the art of record keeping, is secret or
confidentiality-oriented. It is that species which in actual work situation is
more seen than heard. In other words, secretary refers most appropriately to
that class of correspondence or records worker whom by training and orientation
assumes the posture of a repository of confidence.
Interestingly,
the traditional maltreatment and belief of people have deteriorated with time.
This is because training for the profession is not only emphasized but
sophisticated methods and materials, modern techniques and facilities have been
introduced and obviously this has evidently facilities the turn out of good and
qualified secretaries.
A
secretary is much more important nowadays than in the past. She is an
administrative officer of the company. As regards matters concerning
administration the secretary has ostensible authorities to sign contracts on
behalf of the company. The secretary within the capacity of the office portrays
a positive image of the employees in the organization. It is also observed that
the secretary, in the course of her daily business, associate with those above
her level and those on her level.
In
his book “the effective secretary” Onasanya stated that a secretary should be
able to dine with kings and mix with the commons.
Migini
(1982), while apprising the dynamic and tasking position of a secretary in the
office posited that the secretarial work is a career indeed. In the business
world and in the professional field, the not bother him with petty problems
that she can solve with little thoughts or research. These are the basic
ingredients to find out the whether the secretary is really the image-maker of
a business organization.
1.2
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It has been observed that despite
all the duties performed by the secretary, business organization and
individuals have continued to under-rate the secretaries and do not the
organization. They see the profession as one for unintelligent people their
right positions. They believe that anybody who uses the typewriter and takes
dictations is a secretary, hence secretaries are paid very poorly.
This
study is aimed at investigating whether the secretary is really the image maker
of a business organization. It will
under take to examine the roles of a secretary to see if these are enough to
describe her s the image maker of an organization.
In
solving this problem, the researcher would investigate the following areas:
1)
Her ability to compose and initiate
correspondence
2)
How she answers telephone calls and
receives visitors
3)
Whether a good image of the company is
portrayed through his / her activities
4)
Whether the environment where he /she
work is conducive enough for the performance of his / her duties
5)
Whether the secretary possess these
attributes: punctuality, neatness, Tactfulness, confidentiality, courtesy,
Royalty, politeness, orderliness, reliability, Honesty etc.
6)
Whether these attributes help him / her
to carry out his / her function efficiently and effectively
1.3
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The researcher effort on the
project is geared towards the accomplishment of the following goals:
1)
To find out who a secretary is
2)
To find out whether the
secretaries in the Nigerian Breweries Plc Onitsha and the secretaries at our
Lady’s Industries Nkpor-Agu are doing their work effectively and efficiently.
3)
To find out whether secretaries
are really the image-makers in a business organization; using NB Plc Onitsha
and sour case study Lay’s Industries as a case study
4)
To find out whether these
secretaries have peculiar attributes in the discharge of their duties.
5)
To find out whether the
secretaries are provided with expected materials and conducive offices in the
discharge of their duties
6)
And finally to suggest possible
solution to any perceived shortcoming.
Secretary
is an essential link in the diversified daily activities of the organization. The
pivot on which organizational activities rotate, the contract between the
organization and the outside world. The smooth and efficient running of the
organization depend solely upon the secretary’s ability and she has more to do
with the practical running of the organization then any other officer does.
To those who regard on office clerk or typist
to be the qualified secretary, the national secretaries association of the
united states of America, defined a secretary “as an Executive assistant, who possesses
a mastery of office skills, who demonstrates the ability to assume
responsibility without direct supervision, who makes decision within the scope
of an assigned authority.
The
secretary is employed initially because he / she possesses at least one office
skill which the company needs and from that point, it is up to her to grow in
knowledge and skill in order to aid in the systematization of her office.
The
position of a secretary in an organization is neither below nor on top of the
organization. Her office is used to build up staff requirements and staff
classification. By virtue of her work, she knows practically everything
relating to her organization. She is the first to come to work and the last to
go.
The
secretary is a public relations experts, a staff assistant, the boss’s office
memory. She must be able to carry out her duties without supervision and
direction. She represented the company and her employer and generates good
human relationship in working with all employee in the organization.
She
is almost the one who posses desirable qualities that promotes her professional
competence, accuracy, highly efficient, great and sound in judging when to use
her initiative and when to consult her employer about handling a job.
She
adjusts to the changing roles and situations, she can recognize and meet a
deadline. She informs her employer about developments that may effect office
efficiency but she does.
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1)
The Nigerian Breweries Plc Onitsha and
our Lady’s Industries Nkpor-Agu Anambra State will benefit from this study as
they will learn of the important roles their secretaries play to their image
making.
2)
The secretaries will as well realize
their importance to the image making of the organization and will be prepared
to do their job better.
3)
The study will be beneficial to
students of secretarial studies and other researchers as the study will add to
the pool of knowledge in the field of secretarial profession.
4)
Similarly, the study will be very handy
for different business organization that over took the secretary under their
employment took the secretary under their employment as the image-maker of the
organization and then devise means of making effective utilization of their
services.
1.5
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This
study will be limited to the secretaries that work in the Nigeria Breweries Plc
Onitsha and our Lady’s Industries Ltd Nkpor-Agu Anambra State.
1.6
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In other to achieve a more
purposeful and significant result form this study, the researcher though it necessary
to ask the following questions.
1)
Do secretaries require special
training?
2)
To what extent does secretary
create an image for a firm?
3)
What are the duties of a
secretary?
4)
Are secretaries’ office
conducive for the performance of their duties?
5)
To what extent do the
secretaries’ attribute help them in discharging the duties creditably?