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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The word communication is very complex and could be used in different contexts to mean to wide range of things. Communication particularly in business organizations provides a means by which power is required, exercised, shaped and sustained. Generally, communication is an act shaped by all living things. It originated from the Latin word “communies” meaning to share. Communication is the act of imparting a share of something. To emphasized on the importance of communication, Cicero (1970) said thus “If a wise man were granted a life of abundance of materials things, so that he has leisure to contemplate everything worth knowing, yet if he could not communicate with other human if he could not communicate with other human beings he could abandon life”.

According to John fists (1982) “Communication is talking to one another, it is television, it is spreading information by whatever means. It is our life style, it is literary criticism, the list is endless. Two schools of though exist on communication. The process school and the sem school. Both schools agreed on the fact that for communication to be effective, there must be a sender, a receiver, a channel and the subject matter which is being communicated on. There could also be noise which is anything that is being added to the communication signals between its transmission and reception that is not intended by sources.

Communication in a business organization encompasses more than mere oral transmission. It involves all the sensory, oral and written activities that form part of our organizational life. The actualization of communication is the equipment. This is because when instruction are communicated through the equipment,. The people working know their responsibilities and the secretary dispensers her duties appropriately. Thus, the organizational goal would be enhanced.

1.2 WHO IS A SECRETARY

The word secretary us coined from the Latin word “Secretus” which literally means “a secret”. Perhaps it is the fact that aspect if the work of a secretary involve keeping secrets that the secretaries are often regarded as a keeper of secrets. The National Secretaries Association (United stated of America) defined a secretary as “an assistant to an executive, possessing mastery of office skills and ability to assume responsibility without direct supervision, who displays initiatives, exercises judgment and takes decision within the scope of her authority. There is therefore no doubting that fact that the secretary is the wheel on which the executive activities revolve. The secretary is often refereed to as the executive alter ego.

1.3 ROLES OF A SECRETARY

The role of the secretary plays in an office is wide and varied depending on the size and type of organization in which she is working. Technological innovation in the office has increasingly made the work of the secretary more complex and sophisticated though a lot easier. However, there are some of the routine duties a secretary is expected to perform.

ARRANGING FOR MEETING

It is the duty of the secretary to arrange for meetings, take accurate minutes of the meeting and type them out neatly.

DECISION MAKING AND PROBLEMS SOLVING

H.A. Dauda (1993) The secretary should assist the executive in his decision making and problem solving role. She does this by filtering calls and callers which enables the manager to concentrate fully. She also furnishes her boss with adequate information from files and elsewhere. The secretary should seek as the ears of her boss when he is away and inform him accordingly when he is back.

COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

The secretary joins the manager in his communication processing and dissemination of information. Modern communication and information technology can enable people communicate locally and internationally at the shortest possible time. Local area networks, teleconferences and caller phones are good facilitators of both near and far distant communications. The secretary in particular plays a great role in dissemination of information. He must give adequate and timely information.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS.

Every organization is made up of different kinds of people/business associates, clients, peers and staffs of the organization. It believes on the secretary to develop a good public relations skill by which she grapes quickly the mood of views of all these people and adjust his own responses accordingly such skills include: being a good listener, making people feel at ease and being able to interpret the body movement and signals people display.

ORGANIZING THE WORKLAOD

It is the duty of the secretary to organize the method to run the daily workload of the organization. He doubles as the manager’s receptionist, prioritizes the procedure for handling the office mail, operates the various memory aids for checking work progress or those awaiting responses, looking appointments and blocking undesirable visitors and finally maintaining the manager’s diary. 

MASTERY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

Mastery of the communications equipment and the office equipment for use in doing the job is vital. Also she should be able to know the objectives of the firm whether it is profit-oriented, service oriented, operates an expansionist policy or large-scale economics.

1.4   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Our nuclear age is witnessing an everyday reduction in the number of staff required to perform units of a particular operation due to the development and injection of various communication equipment. Based on this development it becomes logical to ask if the communication equipment are bringing about changes in the communication role of the secretary. The problem now to be death with is “Can communication equipment enhance or undermine the efficiency of the secretary”.

1.5 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study us to

a. Look into the roles a secretary has to play in the m=world of modern communication

b. Identify some of the oral and written communication equipment.

c. Determine the effect of communication equipment on the secretary’s efficiency.

d. Identify the merits and demerits of the communication equipment and their influence on the secretary.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This work aims at establishing the roles of a secretary in the world if modern communication. It equally aims at clearing the mind of those who think that secretaries are never-do-well and to make it clear that there is a difference between copy typists and trained secretaries. Also of importance in this study is the knowledge of the communication equipment to secretaries. Students studying secretarial and business administration respectively are not left out. The research will also try to allay the fear in some practicing secretaries and students secretaries that advancement of communication technology will have counter-productive effect on the role of a secretary.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this study is very wide if it has to be carried out in all organizations. Therefore, this research study will be confined to secretaries of (Nigeria Breweries Public Limited Company/Ama Greenfield, 9th mile corner Enugu) NBL. The company has enough of communication equipment and secretaries that operate them. Moreover the research is centered on this technological age where the innovations seem to take the position of human communication and that id a secretary in an organization. Thus, this research could be described as a modern and computer age study.

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

It is normal in the process of every study to encounter some difficulties. As a matter of fact, the researcher encountered some which are not recorded but the following were the sticking short comings that militated against the in-debt study of the subject.

1. The researcher had not enough fund for transport.

2. Lack of efficient time for the study and the problem of procuring accurate and relevant data.

3. It is also disheartening that the research found fellow secretaries non-cooperatives even to be engaged in an interview.

By and large, a substantial number of them were cooperative.

1.9 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The questions are intended to point more on the topic and accordingly supply answers to them

1. What are the roles that a secretary plays in the world of modern communication?

2. What are the communication equipment (oral and written) to be found in a secretary’s office?

3. Are the communication equipment bringing about effect on the efficiency of the secretary?

4. Can a secretary cope with such effect/changes brought about by the communication equipment?

5. Are the communication equipment of any advantages or positive influence on the secretary?

6. DO demerits of communication equipment have influence on the secretary?

1.10   DEFINITION OF TERMS.

EXECUTIVES ALTER EGO: This means an assistant to the executive who possesses a mastery of office skills, demonstrate the ability to assume responsibilities with or without direct supervision.

TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION: These are the modern sophisticated devices that gave communication very wonderful boost.

LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN): Is the linking of devices together for sharing information with the aid of terminals.

NEVER-DO-WELL: This means unimportant and worthless. Thus, the secretary is not never-do-well but indispensable in every organization.

MEMORY AIDS: These are those things/documents which a secretary uses to record appointments viz: diary. Appointment cards, induced memory aid, telephone pad, private notebook, reminder schedule, calendar, mnemonic devices and pocket computer.

NUCLEAR AGE: This is the scientific era when weapons and innovation are in vogue.