CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

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 individuals 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.

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 show (1978) defined secretary as an 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.

Durcker (1978) 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 THE PROBLEM

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

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

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

3.  To investigate if secretary’s work is the work that have no definite job design.

4.  To examine if the work of a secretary is not recognized on given their due entitlement.

5.  To find out if secretaries cannot satisfy their psychological social needs.

1.4       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 FRCN Enugu.

1.5       SIGNIFCANCE 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.

1.6       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Attention will be given to the following questions;

1.  What type of job design structure does the secretaries need?

2.  What type of job design does managers adopt mostly to the secretaries?

3.  Does these job designs enhance the performance of the secretary?

4.  What are the guide line for drawing up a job design?

5.  What are the effect of job design on secretaries performance?