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

l To identify the modern communication equipment that are of vital importance in the office and to the secretary particular.

l To Consider the effect of the modern communication equipment in a secretary’s profession.

l To evaluate the level of awareness of Nigeria secretaries on the existence and use of these facilities.

l 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 thjinking 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 th