The Secretary and The Effectives of New Office Technologies on Record Keeping Management in Institution of Management and Technology, Enugu.

The Secretary and The Effective of New Office Technologies on Record-Keeping Management in Institution of Management and Technology, Enugu.

ABSTRACT

A lot has been written by many authors about new office technologies and how they have immensely affected secretarial performance. This study was therefore conducted to find out the secretary and the effect of new office technologies on record-keeping management in the institute of management and technology, in Enugu. As a result of this, research questions were formulated as follows: –

1. Do the working environment of practicing secretaries have each of the new office equipment?
2. Are the available new office equipment being put into effective use?
3. What factors influence the availability or lack of this new office equipment?
4. How is the job performance of secretaries affected by these new office machines?

It was concluded that the acquisition of new office technologies could make secretaries more effective in the performance of their duties. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made:

1. Reasonable purchases of these machines should be made for the practicing secretaries in Enugu.
2. This establishment should be subsidized by the management to enable them to purchase more of the machines.
3. The standby generating plant should be purchased by these establishments that have power supply problems.

INTRODUCTION

Technological advancement has ushered in drastic changes in record-keeping through the introduction of new office technologies and new methods of communication. Man is an embodiment of change, his life circle is marked with different stages of metamorphosis which when it finally actualizes, adulthood is made secretarial profession, an inseparable bedfellow of management no exception.

The secretary has been defined as one entrusted with secrets or confidence of a superior, or employed to handle correspondence and manage, routine and detailed work for a superior. Also, Orisananya (1991) put it that, a secretary is a skilled and specialized type of employee in an establishment or part of it who is charged with some aspects of organizational functions in the unit including dealing with people’s correspondence and other business matters, with the above definitions, it can be deduced that the secretary is an important officer in any establishment and that the contribution and effectiveness of a secretary enhances the efficiency of an organization. This is the more reason that the secretary needs proper training to be able to carry out her functions.

The training of an efficient and effective secretary should cover not any skills in shorthand and type-writing but also in other managerial skills. These skills should be backed up by an appropriate demeanor and etiquette at all times. Evans (1980) noted that the secretary’s role will be supporting, but with the added requirement of technological knowledge will encompass data administration and information management, allowing the secretary to analyze complex situations and submit practical recommendations.

With the introduction of these new machines, people are trained to acquire new skills for operating them. It is, therefore, noted that proper record-keeping makes it easier for information to be retrieved for use with a lot of ease. This, of course, had tended to reduce the work load of a secretary. Even though a lot of changes have begun in technology, the question now is how to improve the secretary with the new office technologies for record-keeping?

REFERENCES

Anyaduba (1995) “Modern Secretarial Duties for Polytechnic”, Aba, Model Academic Publishers.
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Dejalmo, P.F (1980) The practice of management, New York: Harper and Row.
Halsey A.H. (1980) “Education Economy and Society”, New York, McGraw Hill Book Coy, Inc.
Harris, Chaster W. (1960) “Encyclopedia of Educational Research”, 3^rd Edition New York, the Macmillan Co.
Morris (1980) “Secretarial Practice and Office Management”, Ibadan University Press Limited
Onasanya (1999) “Management theory and practice”, Ibadan University Press Limited.