AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE EFFECTS OF COMPUTER LITERACY ON MODERN SECRETARIES

ABSTRACT

The influx of modern office technology and information systems has greatly transformed secretarial administration in both public and private organizations in the 21st century. Minolta (1987) indicates that modern office technology and information systems have led to great changes in the role of confidential secretaries in office occupation. The confidential secretaries now conduct research on the internet, operate and troubleshoot new office technology and information systems, coordinate administrative activities, store, retrieve and integrate information for dissemination to staff and clients. According to the Bureau of Labour (2006), confidential secretaries serve as information and communication managers for offices, plan and schedule meetings and appointments, take minutes at meetings, organize and maintain paperwork and electronic files. They disseminate information by using telephone, mail service and e-mail. The confidential secretaries are aided in their tasks by variety of office equipment such as fax machines, digital photocopiers, scanners and electronic paper trimmers.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The country if not the whole universe is on the brink of immense technology, and this phenomenon has get in far reaching effect on almost all spheres of human endeavour.

Different people have perceptions of what impact the modern technology via the Computer is playing to address the issues of performance of the secretarial profession in the new millennium.

To be precise, many scholars have dealt on this topic but the researchers of the project work have tried to portray actually what the impact of the computer is regarding the performance of secretarial profession.

The computer according to Cerf, [1996] president of the computer society ‘is a specific collaboration of independently managed networks that allow users at disparate heterogeneous computer networks to communicate with each other across organizational and geographical boundaries. Its main function in any social system may be identified as information, education, entertainers, discussion, communication and integration. Therefore, the Computer as an information superhighway has been aroused to perform all these immeasurable impact for the rest of the world.

One cannot talk about information and access without making regular reference to the information technologies and their convergence particularly the COMPUTER.

Information and communication technology are rapidly changing the way we work and live, most especially regarding the way the office is handled. We see a world of network. That is bringing new opportunities and options to people at work, at home and on the move directly stating how our society live, work, learn, play and how our society evolves.

In the secretarial profession, information and communication are the very essence of the content and that is what the computer is all about.

CHAPTER TWO

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

2.1 DEFINITION OF COMPUTER

A computer is a general purpose device which can be programmed to carry out a finite set of arithmetic or logical operations. Since a sequence of operations can be readily changed, the computer can solve more than one kind of problem. The essential point of a computer is to implement an idea, the terms of which are satisfied by Alan Turing’s Universal Turing machine.

Conventionally, a computer consists of at least one processing element and some form of memory. The processing element carries out arithmetic and logic operations, and a sequencing and control unit that can change the order of operations based on stored information. Peripheral devices allow information to be retrieved from an external source, and the result of operations saved.

A computer’s processing unit executes a series of instructions that make it read, manipulate and then store data. Conditional instructions change the sequence of instructions as a function of the current state of the machine or its environment.

In order to interact with such a machine, programmers and engineers developed the concept of a user interface in order to accept input from humans and return results for human consumption.

2.2 THE TYPICAL NIGERIAN OFFICE SECRETARY

The typical office secretary in Nigeria does not exist because the word typical is imputed on him or her. The secretary that one is referring to here is the one that works in an educational institution. In many instances, the secretary is a female. She has certain functions, which help to facilitate the day-to-day running of the department. For example, the secretary in a College of education or in a University performs inter-alia the following functions.
1. Taking notes from the Head of department;
2. Taking Minutes of meetings;
3. Preparing the LPO;
4. Keeping accurate and up-to-date records of students;
5. Organizing current departmental information to make it easily retrievable;
6. Keeping secret departmental information;
7. Typing with accuracy;
8. Making and receiving telephone calls; and
9. Performing other duties as may be assigned by the head of the department.
Some of these functions may be delegated to her clerical staff working with the secretaries in the educational institutions. The entire efficiency and success of the department rest on the organizational ability of the secretary.

CHAPTER THREE

3.1 THE ROLE OF COMPUTER LITERACY AMONG SECRETARIES

The role of computer cannot be overestimated in educational institutions. If a great percentage of the secretaries of the educational institutions are computer literate many of the highlighted problems could have been minimized. While it is not our intention here to discuss the advent of computers in the 1950s in North America, there is need to state here that 1975 marked the beginning of microcomputers in these developed nations. The application of computers in developing nations began less than a decade ago. Suffice to say that the use of computers by secretaries can facilitate many of their problems. The computer can keep adequate records of secretarial assignments. Because of their imaginable memory capacity of computers, they can store information and be able to retrieve it within a tinkling of an eye. While the human memory is still adding two plus two and subtracting 1/3 the computer would have done it in a few seconds. Regarding the unpleasantness of retyping the same document several times, the computer (word processing) will do it faster, more neatly and more accurately.

The storage capacity of computers is another important phenomenon that is very useful to secretarial function. A 3.5 diskette can store more than 100 students’ records. In terms of space, records of 100 students put in files can occupy a whole file cabinet.

3.2 STRATEGIES FOR EXTENDING COMPUTER LITERACY TO SECRETARIES

It has become imperative for secretaries to be computer literate in the Nigerian tertiary institutions. This can be done through in-service training and by the use of computer service bureau. There are other consultancy services, which can provide computer-training services to the secretaries. The educational institutions must have to provide microcomputers that will be able to serve the needs of their secretaries.

CHAPTER FOUR

RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

4.1 RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the results and findings of the study, the following recommendations are therefore made,
i.) Private business organizations should procure as many modern office Computer as are available in the market to enable secretaries increase their productivity.
ii.) Secretaries without new skills in the use of modern office Computer should be retrained to fit into the trend of current advancement.
iii.) Secretaries should be given the opportunity and chance to perform/carry out other administrative functions.
iv) Business Education Departments in Nigerian universities should create more credit hours to organize seminars and workshops in information processing and management, using modern office technology and information systems, for secretarial instead of sending their students on attachment for SIWES. Competent resource persons in the area of information technologies should be invited to thoroughly expose the students to the practical applications of modern office technologies. This will surely provide the university secretarial graduates with the knowledge, skills and competence in modern office technology and information systems to effectively meet the 21st century challenges of ultra modern office and teaching.

4.2 CONCLUSION

Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions are drawn:-
– Computer application packages like Microsoft word, Microsoft excel, Powerpoint, Corel draw, spreadsheet, master graphics and the Internet are relevant to secretarial education programme in Nigerian universities.

– There was significant difference between the exposure of secretarial students to computer application packages and the expected exposure of secretarial in Nigerian universities. This implies that secretarial students in Nigerian universities are not adequately exposed to the practical application of computer application packages such as Microsoft word, Microsoft excel, Powerpoint, Corel draw, spreadsheet, master graphics and the Internet. The consequence of this is that the university secretarial graduates may lose their relevance and employment opportunities in office occupation to computer operators who are versatile and knowledgeable in computer application packages and other related modern office equipment. They may also not be able to impart computer knowledge, skills and competence to learners in the area of teaching.

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