BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
According to Hornby (1984), the word "secretary" is derived from the latin word "secretaries," which means anything known exclusively to one or few people and kept secret or concealed from public view.
According to Amaefula (1986), a secretary is an office worker who combines the primary skills of shorthand and typewriting with the secondary skills of filling, reprography, and telephone technique in the execution of her tasks.
According to Hanna, Pophan, and Tilton (1974), a secretary is an executive assistant who masters office skills without direct supervision, exercises initiative and judgment, and makes decisions within the limits of delegated power. He also noted that, given the importance of the secretary's role in corporate organizations, every effort should be taken to address the issues she faces in order to boost productivity.
A secretary is a person in an office who handles mail, manages records, and makes arrangements and appointments for a specific member of staff or the boss. According to the definition above, the secretary has a noble career and performs an important function in an organization. The issue of inefficient performance of secretaries has been a major source of worry for modern commercial organizations in recent years.
According to Riggs 1981, productivity is the characteristic that reflects how successfully labor, capital, material, and energy are utilized; it is the output coming from a certain set of resources - input at a given time. It is the notion that directs the administration of a manufacturing system and then measures its success. Mcbeth (1974) emphasized that it is a measure of production efficiency, a ratio of input to output, where input is typically limited to labor input.
When applied to employees in selected modern corporate organizations, low productivity measures the degree of quantitative and qualitative shortcomings in worker output. It might be seen as insufficient productivity. According to Riggs (1981), poor productivity is a method through which productivity might fall short of meeting high criteria. When flaws in the working environment are not detected, the outcome is low productivity.
Given the foregoing characteristics, one could wonder why the secretary is characterized by low productivity. According to Agbese (1987), the low production rate combined with the substandard quality of secretaries' jobs is a continual cause of distress for the government and the entities that employ them. He emphasized that the need for high productivity levels in any organizational setting, whether private or public, cannot be overstated because high productive potential in both organizational manpower utilization and output levels help to cope with exigences. According to him, the center of any organization is the office, which is managed by the secretary, who plans, budgets, organizes, controls, and supervises subordinates to achieve efficiency.
A well-motivated, well-trained, and well-paid secretary is capable of increasing her productivity via experience and understanding of technology innovation (Edum & Ajetunbok, 1986).
This study aims to identify the issues causing poor productivity among secretaries in a sample of modern corporate enterprises, as well as to propose solutions for increasing secretaries' productivity.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Secretaries in modern commercial companies, particularly skilled ones, do their duties with the goal of providing high-quality work with acceptable speed and precision. However, some secretaries did not take use of the chances presented to them. As a result, most CEOs and their secretaries have developed a schism. The majority of secretaries claim that fringe perks, insufficient contemporary machinery, environmental factors, a lack of training, and their relationships with colleagues all have an impact on their productivity. Another discomfort or difficulty is the incapacity of employers in modern company organizations to appropriately remunerate and motivate their secretaries in line with exportations of the current changing work environments. This has resulted in low morale, a low level of life, tardiness, and absenteeism on the secretary's side.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
the following are the objective of this study:
1. To determine the problems affecting secretaries productivity in some secreted business organizations.
2. To examine the types of equipment use by secretaries
3. to identity whether or not secretaries have the required skills
4. to determine the specific duties of secretaries
1.4 SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY
The study will benefit the secretaries in modern business organization in Enugu metropolis, managers, lecturers and students as it will take care of the factors problems that lead to low productivity.
It will also widen and increase the knowledge of the researcher and act as a source of reference material to those intending members of secretarial studies.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION
This study will answered the following research questions:
1. What are the problems affecting secretaries productivity in moder business organization?
2. Do the secretaries have the required skills to perform their functions?
3. What are the functions of secretary in business organization?
4. what are the office equipments needed by secretaries in an organization?
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is meant to cover only the secretaries in first Bank Plc, Union Bank: Agric Bank, ACB Transport, Anammco Nigerian Ltd, Department of petroleum Resource (DPR) all in Enugu state.
The study will therefore be based on the data and facts collected from the secretaries in the above listed business organizations.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
In the context of this research the following words have these meanings.
1. Secretary :- employee in the office who deals with correspondence, keed records, makes arrangement of a particular member of staff.
2. Office - A place where the administrative work are done.
3. modern – something currently in use i.e latest one
4. productivity – This is the ratio between out put and all the resources used in production.
5. problem – Facts or circumstance that aids one to bring about a result
6. boss / manager – One who controls a business and gives order to workers.
7. input – Refers to all the resources used in production
8. output – the product realized out of the utilization of input
9. technology – systematical application of knowledge to practical task in industry.
10. sophisticated
11. metropolis – larse improtemt city coften the capital city of a country or region
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