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THE EFFECT OF JOB DESIGN ON SECRETARIES PERFORMANCE (A CASE STUDY OF ETHIOPE WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL)

CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

A well-defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is increased performance and productivity. If a job fails to appear compelling or interesting and leads to employee dissatisfaction, it means the job has to be redesigned based upon the feedback from the employees’ Some advantages of job enlargement are a variety of skills, improves earning capacity, and wide range of activities. Variety of skills-Job enlargement helps the organization to improve and increase the skills of the employee due to organization as well as the individual benefit. Improves earning capacity-with all the new activities a person learns from job enlargement, they are able to try to get a better salary when they apply for a new job. Wide range of activities-Employees are able to learn more activities which can help a company save money by reducing the number of employees they have. However results have shown that this process can see its effects diminish after a period of time, as even the enlarged job role become the mundane, this in turn can lead to similar levels of demotivation and job dissatisfaction at the expense of increased training levels and costs. The continual enlargement of a job over time is also known as 'job creep,' which can lead to an unmanageable workload. 

Business organization exist because they have goals to attain. It is through people that organizational goals are achieved. In fact people are the most important assets of any organization. Their performance determined the success or failure of an organization. It is the concern of management that workers carry out their task effectively. Therefore the human factor must be managed properly for positive impact on productivity by provision of a goal. Job design is the way job are structured, designed or tailored towards achievement of organizational goals. Organizations needs job designed that will enhance their performance and help them achieve their self-esteem. Job design is important to an organization because the way job are structured designed or coordinated has direct and significant impact on the performance of the organization. Job design concerns the content functions and relationships of jobs that are directed towards the accomplishment of organizational purpose and satisfaction of the personal needs of the individual’s job holders. This also showed that a secretary needs a good job design that will help her to enhance her potentials as well as help in accomplishing organizational goals.

According to Onasanya (1990), stated that the secretary is an important officer in any establishment. The contributions and effectiveness of a secretary can either enhance or diminish the efficiency of an organization. He also stated that the title secretary may either refer to a chief administrator of an organization or to a person who performs the functions of organizing and recording the proceedings of a meeting. The duties of a secretary could be likened to that of the executive because the secretary is aware of nearly every action of the executive, many organizations attach little or no importance to the qualities of a secretary not to talk of giving them a benefiting job design. Stanwell and Shaw (1978) defined secretary as a staff who is concerning with the preparation, preservation and transmission of all types of communication as well as the conventional secretarial duties of confidential nature at various levels. Eni (1989) also defined the secretary as a member of clerical staff whose fundamental function are concerned with the preparation of correspondence or communication in all form with and outside the organization. From the above definitions, it can be seen that secretary is an indispensable management personnel in an organization and outside environment. Considering the job of a secretary in an organization they deserve a job design that is motivating. Also, Durcker (1978), stated and asserted that an organization needs the best performance a man is capable of and a man needs more than a job he can perform. He need a job that will provide the greatest scope of his abilities and talent the best opportunity for growth and for superior performance.

The secretary position varies widely depending on the size of the organization the number of workers employed, the nature of the business as well as personal qualities. Today the secretary’s job has also been hanged due to computerization their job became more challenging than ever because of the current technological design. A research on job design will not be complete without making mention of motivation. Motivation is a way of stimulating people into action. Therefore, the redesigning of a secretary job will not only focus on the key job characteristics, dimensions of contents function and relationships, but also considering the important of individual differences in relation to job design consequences. Birdchall (1975) stated that an understanding of human motivation is essential to the job designer. The job which he creates may be technical depending upon the cooperation and involvement of the job holder. Therefore, he must be aware of the important role of work in a man’s life in order that he is better able to engineer a fit between human needs and technical requirement of the work.

Work is an aspect of life which gives man his status and binds him to the society. Discontent may result from individual failure to find satisfaction in his job not meeting his psychological and social needs. The feeling that his contribution to the organization is not being adequately compensated rewarded or recognized by the organization. The high level of job specialization promoted by scientific management approach created a number of problems centering on the individual workers moral and behavior example low satisfaction, high absenteeism and low turnover were partially attributed to the boredom and monotony created by highly specialized routine nature of individual employee’s work. The introduction of an effective job design in the job of a secretary will show improvement in the secretarial job performance. These changes come through job content function, relationship and feedback of jobs. 

1.2  STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS            

These are the problems which the researcher intended to find out the solution at the end of the study. Most secretaries cannot perform better due to the kind of job design structure given to them. Sometimes job design given to them create a feeling to them that their contribution are not adequately compensated, recognized or needed in the organization. They feel demoralized when they see their job as the one that have no definite sequence or procedure for doing it. Because they feel demoralized or humiliated by their broiling managers they feel they cannot satisfy their psychological and social needs These problems and so many others are what the researcher intend to find out the solution to in this study. 

1.3  PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 

The following are the purpose of this study

To find out the effects of improper job design on secretarial performance

To examine some of the job design strategies that exists in most organization.

To investigate if a secretary’s work is that have a definite job design

To find out if secretaries satisfy their psychological and social needs.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS 

The research questions used in this project work is: 

1. Does job design have any effect on secretarial performance of proper job? 

2. Does job design has strategies that exists in various organization? 

3. Does a secretary’s work have a definite job design? 

4. Does secretaries satisfy their psychological and social needs? 

1.5  RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis

i  Hi: There is no significance relationship between job design and secretarial proper job performance proper job

Ho:  There is a significance relationship between job design and secretarial proper job performance proper job  

1.6  SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

This simply means the geographical and subject area of the study. The scope of the study is delimited to the effect of job design on a secretarial performance in Ethiope West Local Government Council. 

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. 

This study will help managers to understand fully how an effective job design will enhance performance of their secretaries. It will also help organizations to identify those factors inherent in the secretarial job design that will affect the performance of the secretary and  Finally it will help the students and lecturers in the future as a reference material in the      library. 

1.8    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 

The short period of time given for the work of this nature is rather too sort and      another limitation faced was the problem of collecting data suitable for this research work. The research of this nature requires large amount of money, due to the economic    situation and given d fact that as a student who depends of the goodwill of others to source       financial support. The finance require for this project was not readily available to the tone it requires, hence the research did all she could to get the best result to be little or limited resource available.

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