CHALLENGES FACING OFFICE MANAGERS IN THE AUTOMATED OFFICES

ABSTRACT
High productivity is the pursuit if every public corporation. To allow for this, it is therefore necessary that the organization should tackle all the problems that could hinder the objective, purpose, growth and target for which the organization was established. This project therefore, is undertaken to give actual background on the problems that affect secretaries on their jobs, their prospects, the need to tackle these problems and the effect of these problems on secretarial productivity. According to the study, these problems could lead to under utilization of secretaries, dissatisfaction with their jobs and lower productivity. Using observation, interview and questionnaire methods, it was found out that the secretaries were also affected with poor promotional morale, lack of adequate motivation, lack of modern equipment and poor conditions of employment compared with their counterparts. Also discussed were the prospects of secretaries in public corporations. The major findings was that there is poor promotional prospect in the secretarial profession. However, the appraisal of secretarial profession should be advocated because it will avail the organization the opportunity of proper utilization of the secretaries. The secretaries will be willing to put in their best on the job thereby enhancing productivity.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
For decades now, fast changes have been taking place in all facets of human life including the office environment. This is as a result of technological advancement. Every office in today’s business world, be it government, industry or other human endeavours, require facts and accurate information for quick decision-making.
The office worker, including the secretary, expects certain support from the organization into which he/she is employed. This support can be technological (machines and equipment) and human. In offices of past, manager’s dictated memos and letters and secretaries typed them. Most recently, business have developed word processing centers and relied on personal computers and even electronic mail in an effort to lessen the need for secretarial support and make the employee-secretary very productive (Ezoem, 1995; Osuala, 2004).
As a result of changes in technology, the role of secretaries in business has changed tremendously from that of typewriting and shorthand dictation, answering of telephone calls and processing of mails. Today’s secretaries are exposed to office technology including the internet that make work much easier and knowledge more accessible (Edwin, 2008). It is now easier to send messages by telex, electronic mails (e-mails), fax and telephones. Other office gadgets available to the secretary are photo-copy machines, duplicating machines, dictating machines, printers, among others. This is the era of computers and information technology which has become an enabler of greater convenience. 3 of the most popular types of computer software programme are word processing, which help the user to write and edit memos, letters and reports, data management programmes or databases, which help the user-secretary to use long lists of data and spreadsheet programmes, which handle tables and numbers (Dulek and Fielden, 1999).

The secretaries also known as office managers are seen in the secretarial world and business organizations today, are faced with many problems and also have some prospects.
A secretary according to Hornby (2001), “is an employee in an office who deals with correspondence, keeps records, makes arrangements and appointments for a particular member of the staff”
The American Secretarial Association defined a secretary in the most acceptable way as – “an assistant to an executive, possessing a mastery of office skills and ability to assume responsibility without direct supervision, who displays initiative, exercises judgment and makes decisions within the scope of assigned authority.”
A secretary can also be defined as a person who maintains a high standard of confidentiality and a repository of information. Infact, there are numerous definitions of the word secretary as far as there are many authors. With the above definition in mind, one can easily see that the need for a secretary in any corporation cannot be overemphasized.
A secretary is a major communicating link between the executive ad his associates, the office staff and the public. As a result of this important linking position, a secretary can play a vital role in helping to create and maintain a smooth running business office. Thus a secretary seen as the bedrock and image-image of any business organization.

For a secretary to perform her functions efficiently and effectively, she must have undergone some educational training and obtained the basic office knowledge and skills to be efficient and effective on the job. A secretary is quite different from a clerk, a typist and other office workers.
However, for one to qualify as a secretary, she must have taken courses in shorthand, typewriting, office practice, secretarial duties and must be fairly computer literate for easy adaptation in modern offices.
Shorthand and typewriting are the key working tools of a secretary and it is expected that any person who aspires to take up any secretarial post must have passed typewriting ad shorthand within the following speed range – 25-100 words per minute, 80-120 words per minute in typewriting and shorthand respectively.
It is not uncommon to see people who have only passed typewriting at any of the recognized speeds without shorthand or those that have typewriting and shorthand skills are referred to as secretaries. These categories of secretaries are not qualified secretaries.

Some of the certificates recognized in our business organizations and of course our corporation for secretaries are – Royal Society of Arts Certificate, Pitman Certificate, Federal Technical College certificates, national Diploma certificate all in Secretarial field obtained in the Polytechnics, and Colleges of Technology. Bordus Diploma of Mc Cann Erickson Advertising once said, “professional training on a good secretarial course is the basic requirement for the would-be top secretary”. It will help her perform her duties efficiently and effectively.
Today therefore, technology has become the centre point of the secretary’s performance. The role of secretaries in the highly automated industries tends to become that of monitoring, maintaining and adjusting the equipment involved in the production process. Generally, in this era, those in the secretarial profession do not actually work on the product directly, rather, they maintain and monitor the equipment and records of operations. Those in the secretarial profession have tender opportunities to interact socially since the number of people with whom interaction may occur has been reduced and replaced by machine. The availability and the use of those modern technologies have led to increase in the job interest of secretaries. There is efficiency in production also; there is maximization of profits in organizations.
This immediate point is the prospect of the secretarial profession. In view of all these facts, the problems and prospects of the secretarial profession in these selected establishments are critically investigated in this study.