The Contributions Of Modern Communication Equipment To Job Performance Of Secretaries In Selection Business Organizations

The Contributions Of Modern Communication Equipment To Job Performance Of Secretaries In Selection Business Organizations

Abstract

This study examined the contributions of the latest communication office equipment to job efficiency of the secretary in Nigeria Breweries Plc (NB) one of the branches in Enugu. In carrying out this study, 100 staff which comprise of 30 secretaries, 30 managers, 10 accountants and 10 assistant managers, were randomly selected out of 550 staff in the establishment. They were interviewed and their responses analysed. It was found among other things that introduction of these machines have helped the secretaries to perform their duties effectively. That it makes possible for the production of high quality work and above all it increases output. Recommendations were made efficient performance and some of them are Motivating the workers to increase work turnover and to reduce personnel turnover. The organization should endeavour to sponsor staff for in-service training course. The establishment should invite producers of these machines to train their secretaries and make it possible for them to operate the system effectively and efficiently. Finally, efficiency, speed and accuracy in production of goods and services is the order of the day in modern office. It is in this spirit that every business have come to grip and glue with office automation.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

The advancement of modern office equipment has taken the “electronic” Office, which is a term used to describe how modern offices are evolving, closer together. The advancement of modern office equipment has allowed employees to be more flexible throughout their careers. Furthermore, the ethnological problem has resulted in organizational structure shifts (Abdullahi 2002).

According to Anyautonhu (1987), the use of new office machinery has advanced so much in the field of business in highly developed countries that people are now evaluating its true effect on secretaries in particular and staff in general.

Office methods and services are daily getting complex and the volume of materials and information to be handled are daily increasing and the reaction or response and time expected of the secretary is now shorter than it has been in the recent past. There is therefore the need for office administrator which include the secretary, to cope with the increasing quantity and quality of services required as a result modern equipment are rapidly spreading of Nigeria industries.

Prior to the present information revolution called information age, most of the jobs performed by secretary’s in office are manually carried out. Consequent upon this, most outputs and services were of very how standard.
Moreover, a great deal of time, money, energy and materials were lost in the course of producing one unit of an output. According to Stonick (1989) the workload was enormous and the staffing for the sake of economy, was as small as possible. The clerk a sort of combination photocopier, secretary and accountant, had too much to do, and time of the work was laborious, dull and time consuming.

During the 19th century industrial revolution of Europe and that of America, many equipments were produced which possess the ability to perform most of the functions previously performed by man not only were the machines found to be capable of performing similar functions previously performed by man, they were found to be able to our-perform man quantitatively and qualitatively. Following this discovering the years a lot of improvement and innovation have been introduced to enhance and facilitate the secretary’s job. Various machines have been developed and introduced into the offices. Notable among them are: Computer, Telephone, Facsimile machines, printers, Telex machine, thought tank machines, Tape call-maker, Intercom (PABX) facilities, Internet network and servers etc.

During the industrial revolution, the secretary achieved a ‘cog’ status, in that he had to work with these machines and was in real sense, part of the machines. But with modern communication equipment the secretary has been able to liberate himself from the status. Office communications could now take place by the use of some of the modern office machines rather than the traditional methods. These new innovation brought a lot of changes to the secretary’s work in terms of memos, reports and the skill of communication, for instance giving instructions, interviewing e.t.c. Therefore it is upon this premise that this study is set to examine the contributions of modern communication equipment to job performance of secretaries in selected business organizations.

1.2 Statement of Problem

To improve efficiency in Industry, management is usually looking for ways to increase productivity, quality of goods and services and grab the best edge among her other competitors. This aim can easily be achieved through the use of high technology in the office. The overall operation of a secretary’s naturally involve a tremendous amount of paper shuffling and record keeping, accounting procedures for payrolls, financial reports, invoices etc. In most case, these secretaries are deficient in the operations due to lack of modern equipment. Either it is caused by lack of adequate training on how to operate the machines or the machines are not available although cost of purchasing the machines are exorbitantly high and cost of training is also high. This poses a great challenge to the job performance of the secretary. The modern office equipment are very indispensable and especially now that almost every office had gone technologically. In spite of the good things about these machines. It is observed that many offices have not installed the machines for their secretaries. This poised researchers to ask several question such as; What must have been the caused for this neglect? Would it be that they are not aware of the advantages of those modern equipment or that secretaries lack the technical know how or that business owners and secretaries do not deem the knowledge of the existence of the modern machines necessary. However it is against this backdrop that the study is set to examine contributions of modern communication equipment to job performance of secretaries in selected business organizations.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The focus of this study is to examine contributions of modern communication equipment to job performance of secretaries in selected business organizations. Specifically it will geared

1. To identify the modern communication equipment that are of vital importance in the office and to the secretary particular.
2. To Consider the effect of the modern communication equipment in a secretary’s profession.
3. To evaluate the level of awareness of Nigeria secretaries on the existence and use of these facilities.
4. To highlight the important and uses of the modern communication equipment and how they increases productivity.

1.4 Significance of the Study

This study will be significant to business owners secretaries and to public and private organizations. Specifically This study will open the thinking of business owners to see the need of acquiring those modern communication equipment that are not available in their establishment. To private and public establishment it will expose the need of the modern communication equipment and create better awareness of the implication of automating office function. The findings will among other thing help to dispose of the superstition belief that the modern communication equipment are “the greatest enemy of men as it displaces man from the job, deny them of initiative in his job, and makes them more machines operators and destroy old division of labour” it will encourage potential secretaries to set up efforts to undertake some training on the operation of modern communication equipment in order to improve their job efficiency. Finally the study will contribute to the general body of knowledge serving as reference material for students and researcher and at most giving opportunity for further research in this field.

1.5 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study covers the contributions of modern communication equipment to job performance of secretaries in selected business organizations. It will identify the modern communication equipment that are of vital importance in the office and to the secretary particular. It will consider the effect of the modern communication equipment in a secretary’s profession. It will evaluate the level of awareness of Nigeria secretaries on the existence and use of these facilities. It will highlight the important and uses of the modern communication equipment and how they increases productivity. Hence this study is delimited to 15 business organization in Auchi in Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State..

1.6 Research Questions

1. What are the modern communication equipment that are relevant for secretarial profession?
2. Do you think the availability of modern communication equipment improves secretaries job performance?
3. How does it help in facilitating the job performance of secretary in a business establishment?
4. Are the secretaries in your business establishment aware of these modern communication equipment?
5. Are these equipment display secretary’s efforts thereby resulting to loss of the secretarial personnel inn the establishment?

1.7 Limitation of Study

The following facto9rs poses to be a challenge during the course of this research

Financial constraint

Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint

The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 Definition of Terms

Secretary:

A secretary is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication, or organizational skills. The role can be in form of an administrative assistant or personal assistant.

Office Equipment:

Office equipment are tools required to carry out work in the office which can either be electric or manual. Some of the most common office accessories and modern equipments that are being used these days are staplers, intercom, internet, computers, printers, fax machines, photo copier, phones and folders and files etc.

Job Performance:

Job performance is defined as the overall expected value from employees’ behaviors carried out over the course of a set period of time. Job performance refers to the level to which an employee successfully fulfills the factors included in the job description

Chapter Five

Conclusion and Recommendation

5.0 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the findings in to the latest communication office equipment and their effect on secretaries profession using Nigeria Breweries Enugu State as a case study.

5.1 Summary of the Study

In this study the main focus of the study was to identify the latest communication office equipment that are of vital importance in the office and to the secretary particular.it considered the effect of the latest communication office equipment in a secretary’s profession.it evaluated the level of awareness of Nigeria secretaries on the existence and use of these facilities. It highlighted the important and uses of the latest communication office equipment and how they increases productivity. The study made use of random sampling, and 100 responses were derived from the staffs of Nigeria Breweries Enugu state. Using questionnaires and data analyzed using frequency and tables.

5.1 Conclusion

The following conclusion was drawn from the findings of this study

1. Potential secretaries require higher education and training to acquire sufficient knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences to obtain employment and perform their roles effectively in their chosen careers.
2. Organization involved in this study had acquired and installed significant quantities and varieties of technology and equipment in their offices to facilitate the performance of secretarial duties and responsibilities relevant for effective and efficient production and management of information.
3. Nigeria breweries seemingly acknowledge thatthe role of modern office technology/equipment as integral to achieving the objective of improving performance and increasing productivity towards the achievement of their predetermined short range and long term objectives.
4. The results of the study showed that the availability of modern office technology undoubtedly affects the efficiency and effectiveness of the secretary in every business organization.
5. Respondents suggest that modern technology in the office facilitates seamless transmission of information and significantly reduces time spent on performing key secretarial responsibilities such as editing, proof-reading, and reproduction of documents.
6. The results further established that if the secretary is knowledgeable in the operation of modern office technology it guarantees their optimum usage which inevitably affects the secretary’s activities and output. This suggests that optimum use of modern office technology/equipment depends on the level of knowledge and skills of the secretary who operates the facility. Knowledgeable and skillful secretaries are therefore prerequisites for deriving maximum benefit and value from office technology/equipment.
7. The performance of the secretary is enhanced since office technology ensures that timeliness are met and errors minimized, if not completely eliminated, as far as document processing and records management are concerned.
8. The study revealed further that modern office technology/equipment contributes to the rise in productivity levels of the organizations.
9. It is not farfetched to infer from the foregoing that office technology provides the secretary with additional opportunity for automatic finetuning of concrete documents or transmission of information devoid of ambiguities. Where the technology is effective, it may result in saving the secretary from fatigue that may arise from excessive exertion of physical and mental effort associated with performing secretarial duties manually. In summary, the results established that effective performance of the professional secretary depends upon the office equipment, knowledge and skills of that person.

5.3 Recommendation

Based on the results and findings of the study, the following recommendations were made:

1. Both government and private organizations should procure adequate modern office technology/equipment to enhance the productivity of their secretaries.
2. Organizations should involve the secretaries in deciding the kind of technological device they wish to procure since the latter are going to use them.
3. Secretaries who lack adequate knowledge and skill in the usage of modern office technology/equipment should be retrained to fit into the current trend of technological advancement for effective performance.
4. Organization should ensure performance monitoring of the secretatires in the use of latest communication office equipment: Performance monitoring involves an in-depth analysis of a process or project, to determine whether it is efficient and efficacious. It involves developing criteria, conducting interviews and examining documentation to determine how the process or project is conducted. Additionally, Compliance monitoring and compliance auditing aim to establish whether a process or procedure is carried out in conformance with pertinent external requisites, whether set through legislation, regulations or directions.
5. Generally secretaries should undergo regular training on the usage of new technological gadgets in order to enhance their skill and keep them abreast with the technological dynamism in the 21st century.

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