PROFESSIONAL SECRETARY (2)

PROFESSIONAL SECRETARY

As a secretary, you are tasked with providing clerical and administrative support in an office environment. Secretaries play a vital role in business. Not only are you responsible for handling phone calls and other correspondence, but secretaries often have to draft memos and reports that are integral to daily operations.

Typical Workload

Some secretaries are assigned to a specific duty such as answering and directing phone calls, while others have a much broader job description that could entail basic IT work, assisting with payroll, and maintaining large databases and filing systems.

Some perform as a secretary include:

1.    Using software such as Microsoft Office to produce written communications within the company.

2.    Maintaining office equipment (such as replacing toner cartridges).

3.    Creating and maintaining a schedule

4.    Using content management systems

5.    Booking conference rooms and facilities for staff meetings and presentations with clients.

Skills & Tools

Your role as a secretary requires that you understand how to use computers effectively. you need to understand how to use standard office software such as Microsoft Office. You will be writing a lot of emails as well.

PowerPoint is also used extensively in a business setting. These presentations need to work well and be visually attractive. 

Communication is an important skill that you must also master as a secretary.

Job description

A secretary provides both clerical and administrative support to professionals. Common tasks for the majority of secretaries/administrators include word processing, audio and copy typing, letter writing, dealing with telephone and email enquiries, creating and maintaining filing systems, keeping diaries, arranging meetings and appointments and organising travel for staff.

Typical work activities

·         using a variety of software packages, such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, Excel, Access, etc., to produce correspondence and documents and maintain presentations, records, spreadsheets and databases;

·         devising and maintaining office systems;

·         booking rooms and conference facilities;

·         using content management systems to maintain and update websites and internal databases;

·         attending meetings, taking minutes and keeping notes;

·         managing and maintaining budgets, as well as invoicing;

·         liaising with staff in other departments and with external contacts;

·         ordering and maintaining stationery and equipment;

·         sorting and distributing incoming post and organising and sending outgoing post;

·         liaising with colleagues and external contacts to book travel and accommodation;

·         organising and storing paperwork, documents and computer-based information;

·         photocopying and printing various documents, sometimes on behalf of other colleagues.

Other duties may include:

·         recruiting, training and supervising junior staff and delegating work as required;

·         manipulating statistical data;

·         arranging both in-house and external events.

Job Description

Clerical secretaries perform many administrative tasks in an office setting. Their job includes planning meetings, updating databases and managing information flow to staff and clients. Secretaries store, retrieve and disperse electronic and paper information, including memos, e-mails and other documents. A secretary's duties may include drafting correspondence, reports and other documents.

 It is the secretary that manages the basic office resources. He manages both tangible and intangible, human and non-human resources, such as personnel, machines, materials, money, time, information and methods.

MODERN OFFICE EQUIPMENT, FACILITIES AND THEIR FUNCTIONS

The computer

Everybody knows what a computer is. I simply define it as an accurate electronic device that performs calculations and processes information at great speed. Computers come in different sizes, shapes, capacities, etc. We have desktops, laptops, and palmtops. The computer is used in medicine, engineering, architecture, education, banking, etc.

Telephones – mobile and land

The land line is the most basic office communications tool used by secretaries. The most popular mobile phone used in Nigeria is the GSM Global Systems for Mobile Communication.

Fax Machine

Just like the telephones, the fax machine transmits information, but in text or document format.

Internet (www, e-mail, search engine, etc.)

This is an intangible facility on the computer. WWW stands for worldwide web and it is a collection of information in multimedia form on the internet. This information is stored at locations, called websites, in the form of web pages. Websites are an effective way of distributing information, such as advertisements, technical information, comments, ideas, etc. Other applications on the internet are chatting for simultaneous communication between people and the use of a web camera for seeing while chatting.

Search engines like Google, yahoo, msn, etc. are used to find information on the internet – looking through millions of sources all over the world. For example, when you want to read Nigerian newspapers while living in the U.S., you would be helped through the use of Google.

Teleconferencing

This facility, usually embedded in the telephone technology, allows more than two people to communicate via phone at the same time. This makes it possible for people in different cities to hold meetings together.

Video Conferencing

This facility usually makes use of the internet with or without the telephone and allows visual and speech communication among several people at the same time. Like teleconferencing, it enhances remote communication. For example, your colleague in America can remotely participate in a meeting held in Nigeria whereby he sees and hears everybody who attends the meeting in Nigeria as he makes his own contributions.

Scanner

This machine is used to convert hard copy documents into soft copies to later be transmitted from one place to the other via the internet. This format can include colours, unlike the typical fax machine.

Printers and Photocopiers

Printers are used to convert our documents from soft copy formats to hard copies and photocopiers are used to make additional copies of such documents.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is concerned with managing and processing information. This is made possible through the use of electronic computers and computer software to manage information. The study revealed that the use of computer, telecommunication and video techniques

positively and significantly affected productivity of public sector secretaries. the skills needed by secretaries to manage information on the internet are

keyboarding skills, grammatical and communication skills, computer fluency, operating the telephone and

surfing the web. The rest are browsing the net offline and online and downloading and uploading the software. information technology

provides significant facilities such as word processing, filing and data management facilities. In recent times, modern secretaries are exposed to high technology such as the internet which simplifies

duties and enhance knowledge accessibility (Edwin, 2008). These technologies make it easier to send messages

by fax, telex and electronic mails. There are other office equipment that are available to the modern secretary

namely duplicating machines, dictating machines, printers and photocopy machines to mention a few. These

technological advanced office equipment enhance proficiency and productivity

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). Secretaries now have many technologically advanced office gadgets to ease their jobs and enhance proficiency and productivity leading to improved access to goods and ser334

Afr. J. Bus. Manage. vices globally (Akpomi, 2003; Anyakoha, 2002; Wofersohn, 2001).

There are wide range of office machines and equipment which now enable secretaries to improve their performances. Such new machines take the form of electronic typewriters that have replaced the manual ones. Word processors with milt-purpose facilities, computers and other sophisticated office machines and equipment are now provided by employers. Some of the physical equipment used by secretaries includes computer communication equipment and electronic pocket organizers (Lucas, 1997). New technological equipment that has altered the procedures and technique for office functions include the computers, electronic mail/

commerce, voice mail, and the Internet. A secretary is an office-staff who combines the mastery

of secretarial skills of typewriting and shorthand with office routine functions. Automation is an innovation and a consequence of the industrial revolution. It is a collection of methods for controlling machinery and production processes by mechanical method, usually with electronic

equipment. Spencer (1981) defined automation as the process of replacing human work with work done by machines or system designed to perform a specific combination of action automatically or repeatedly. Mayer (1977) defines a secretary as an executive assistant, who possesses a mastery of office skills, demonstrates the ability to assume responsibility with or

without supervision, exercises initiatives and judgment and makes decision within the scope of assigned authority. It means that a qualified secretary should have a wide knowledge of business acumen, versatile knowledge in accounting, personnel, office practice, communication

and inside knowledge of the operation of all departments within the organization where he works, unlike a half-baked secretary who possesses only knowledge of shorthand, typewriting and basic office practices. The advent of the word processor has helped to make the secretarial career path cleaner. For a secretary to be employable in an automated office, Merony (1983) believed that such a secretary must be well versed in the following specific automated office

equipment training: i.) The concept and theory of specific automated office equipment.

ii.) Knowledge of the categories of equipment and their intended uses and differences.

iii.) The skill to use resource or reference materials properly.

iv.) Hands-on equipment training, etc.

The success of the newly introduced equipment depends on people, procedure and equipment (PPE). Automation can only be successful if a careful study is carried out to assure the need of the equipment and the financial resources available for the purpose. It is important

to note however, that technology is not static, therefore it is essential that while planning to equip the office with modern technology, great care should be taken of the changing nature of technology. As such finance should not be invested into technology that is likely to become obsolete in a short time. It is believed that for a new equipment to be installed in

any organization, it has to win the good will of the staff, since they are the ones to use it. By getting the good will of the user staff, the introduction and procedures will be accepted and effective. An automated office, undoubtedly, offers new roles and responsibilities for the secretary. Such new roles presuppose that additional training and qualifications are required from the secretaries. The relevance of automation in business was identified by Aromolaran (2003) as follows

i.) Creating a distinct career path for the se cretary.

ii.) Automation creates a prominent place for the secretary on the organisation chart.

iii.) It creates routine and assigned roles for the secretary.

iv.) With automation the secretary now spends less time

in correcting, revising, proof-reading and reproducing documents.

Silver and Silver (1981) asserted that based on the reorganisation of the office and the introduction of the automated office equipment, the manager’s work is produced faster with  professional touch. The manager is also able to concentrate on a more creative task with the

presence of an experienced secretary assisting him. Spencer (1981) opined that automation remains a prominent factor that has contributed immensely and positively to the complete information processing revolution. In recent times, the secretary’s routine has reached an

advanced stage due to the invention of automated office equipment. Most of the traditional and routine tasks are performed by automated office equipment such as computers, telephone, etc. In a nutshell, automation has improved general and secretarial education, thus, enabling secretaries to become better prepared for automated office tasks.