SECRETARY AND EFFECT OF NEW OFFICE TECHNOLOGIES ON RECORD KEEPING MANAGEMENT

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SECRETARY AND EFFECT OF NEW OFFICE TECHNOLOGIES ON RECORD KEEPING MANAGEMENT

A CASE STUDY OF RAMAT POLYTECHNIC MAIDUGURI

ABSTRACT

This study examined the secretary and effect of new office technologies on record keeping and management. This research work is made up of five chapters with chapter one covering introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, significance of the study, limitation of the study and definition of terms. Chapter two deals with review of related literature, importance of the modern communication equipment, what is modern communication and general problem in the maintenance of modern communication equipment. Chapter three is concerned with research design and methodology, population of the study, sample size and sample procedure, description of instrument, method of data collection analysis. Chapter four covers data presentation, analysis and discussion of findings, the final chapter which is chapter five gives the summary and conclusion to the entire research work and makes possible recommendations on the contributions of modern communication equipment to job efficiency of the secretary.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0       INTRODUCTION

It is the view of many people all over the world, especially workers in an     organisation that a good secretary or office manager enhances workers’ productivity in an organisation. The study of secretary and effect of new office technology on record keeping and management has always been an important feature enhancing excellent managerial performances. New office technology such as information and communication technology is the life blood of every phase of business organisation. New office technology is the fusion of information processing techniques and the means by which the information is distributed. In other words, new office technology has to do with the acquisition, storage, processing and distribution of information usually through the use of radio, television, telephone, computers etc (Falaki 2002).

With sophisticated in technology, there is no doubt that we are not static. Our society today comprises much organisation both large and small in the private and public sectors of the economy with various objectives to achieve. The achievement of these objectives involves planning, decision-making etc. However, without information the organisation can neither plan nor take accurate decision on any issue.

According to Falaki (2002) the impact of information and communication technology has played a great role in changing workers attitude to work, in establishing efficiency and communication, increasing profits, create new job and effective mass education, business organisation would have been more complicated without having tools of information and communication Technology. Hence the need for information and communication products likes electronic mail, facsimile transfer, cable television, telex-text, electronic telephone and satellite communications or data transmission by means of laser technology. Through information Technology, one is able to watch on happenings thousands of kilometres away from one’s home or to transmit messages to distance quite far away within a seconds through satellite and internets. These technologies advancement, unmatched in the history of scientific invention and innovation have simply tuned the world into a huge global village.

Furthermore, Information is the heart and soul of any organisation and a very important asset to an Office Managers, so Information  and Communication Technology to any organisation is an easy access to determine whether the Office Manager is ready for the future or not. Conducting normal office work may be practically impossible for any standard office without the service of a well-trained Office Manager to ensure good administration and management.

The ability of any office managers to keep and preserve its organizational records properly determines the success of that organization. According to Harding (1990) record keeping entails the processing, arranging and storing of records so that they can be located when required. Records are very important to the organization; there-by the adherence to the strict rules governing the keeping of it by the officer or staff in charge in an organization is important. According to Reinhold and Carl (2013) the secret behind a successful organization is record keeping.

Secretary in this era of technological advancement needs new office technologies to help in record management in an organization as most organizational managers depend on records, whether in Private or Government offices where invoice, teller, memorandum, report, cheques, vouchers, and so many other things are found and used for decision making and other managerial responsibilities. These records are stored under different heading and kept for further usage. Thus the need to examined the secretary and effects of new office technologies on record keeping management in an organization with particular reference to Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri.

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri was established as Government Technical College in January, 1973 by the defunct North-Eastern State Government. The Technical College was upgraded and renamed Ramat College of Technology in April, 1978 by the then Borno State Government to immortalize the name of the late Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Muhammad.

In August 1979, it was again upgraded to the status of a Polytechnic in conformity with the Federal Government initiative to upgrade all Colleges of Technology in the country to Polytechnics.

The Polytechnic which is fully recognized by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) has six Schools which consist of thirty five (35) Academic Departments. The School system was introduced in 1982/1983 Academic Session with the following: School of Agriculture, School of Engineering, School of Environmental Studies, School of Management, School of Vocation and Technical Education and School of General Studies.

The Polytechnic offers full and part-time courses of instruction and training leading to National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE Tech and Bus) and other Certificates of distinctions in Scientific, Technological, Management and Engineering courses for the intermediate level  manpower requirements of the State and the nation in general. In addition, Remedial Programmes are run in Sciences and science-related courses for a year in the Department of Remedial Studies in order to prepare students for National Diploma courses.

The Polytechnic commenced Post Graduate Diploma through the Consultancy Unit in Management, Finance, Agronomy and Farm Management, Health Education and Hygiene and Education since 2003. All the programmes are affiliated to the University of Maiduguri.

Ramat Polytechnic, which started by admitting only 300 students in 1978, so far, about 70,000 students have graduated from the institution with National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), Post Graduate Diploma (PGD), Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE Technical and Business), and Polytechnic Diplomas, Certificates and Assistant Executive Officer (AEO) Accounts.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The shift from the manual to computerized forms of processing information has no doubt increased some problems that need to be stated. Some secretaries are still using the manual forms of information communication technologies and this has put them behind compared to others that use computer based facilities. This may be as a result of poor financial background or modified products that are being pushed into the market at a rate that they render three (3) months old software and hardware outdated. Secretaries would like to be complete in order to get his / her modern office technologies requirement without hitch, they will spend more money maintaining its system which may have adverse challenges on the performance of the business organisation. The competence of the secretarial staff of the Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri have continuously been questionable in the recent past.This has remained a source of worry both for the management and the secretarial staff themselves.Reasons for this have been associated with the ineffective operation of the secretaries. The situation arouse the curiosity of the researcher hence the desire to study the secretary and effect of new office technologies on record keeping management in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri.

1.3       PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to examine the secretary and effect of new office technologies on record keeping management.

The specific objectives or purpose of the study include:

1. Identify the new office technologies available to secretary in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri
2. To examine the effect of new office technologies on recording keeping and management in the study area.
3. To ascertain the challenges faced in the use of new office technology by secretaries in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri.

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the new office technologies available to secretary in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri?
2. What are the effects of new office technologies on record keeping and management in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri?
3. What are the challenges faced in the use of new office technology by secretaries in Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri?

1.5       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The findings of this study on be of great significance to the following stakeholders:

1. Office Secretaries / Managers:New office technologies helps an Office Manager to facilitate his/her worker; it also allowed Office Managers to communicate with the external bodies, processes information speedily. It saves times that an office manager can print and reprint document from the previous work.
2. An Organisation:To an organization such as Ramat Polytechnic Maidugurinew office technologies helps in keeping files, reducing the load on servers and networks. It also motivates staff to their job. Most importantly it reduces cost of material or stationeries wastages.
3. Educational institution:The use new office technologies such as Information Communication Technology in higher institution such as Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri is used in checking student result, admission, and payment of school fees and online, thus enhancing record keeping and management
4. The Society:New office technologies has greatly impacted enhanced global socialisation and interactions. In fact, Information technology has taken over nearly every aspect of our daily lives from commerce (buying and selling) to leisure and even culture. Today, mobile phones, desktop computers, hand held devices, emails and the use of internet has become a central part of our culture and society. These technologies play a vital role in our day to day operations.

New office technologies has made global social and cultural interaction very easy. We now live in an interdependent global society, where people can interact and communicate swiftly and efficiently. News and information can now be transmitted in minutes. Individuals can easily stay in contact with members of their families who reside in other countries or make new friends across the world.

Examples of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools used for these purpose are; emails, instant messaging (IM), chat rooms and social networking websites, such as face book, Twitter, Skype, phones, cellular phones and similar applications.

ICT made a major contribution towards the elimination of language barriers; people speaking different languages can connect and socialize or trade in real time via the internet. This is made possible with the use of language translators.

1.6       LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

In the process of carrying out the study a number of limitations were experienced. These includes

Firstly, I faced in the course of this research is the nonchalant attitude of some respondents, this hampered the process and smoothness of data collection.

My effort to get full opinions on some of the interview. Some feel very much at ease to reserve their comments on some vital issues, information of which could have added more colour and weight to the findings of the study.

Some were afraid that it might incriminate them by answering some of the interview questions in spite of the fact that the purpose of the research was clearly made known to them by the researcher.

Another limiting factor was financial problem this also takes its toll on the need to travel out wide to other institution.

1.7       DEFINITION OF TERMS

SECRETARY: any personnel who is trained in the communication, shorthand and typewriting, storage and retrieval of information. A secretary is also seen as an assistant who possesses the mastering of files, skills on how to manipulate these new office machines in her place of work.

RECORDS: Writing information down for reference purposes or in other ways like on a disc, magnetic tape, etc.

TECHNOLOGY: Technology in this case means the modern way or technique for making and doing things. It is those activities directed to satisfy human needs which produce alternative as in the material world.

SKILL: Ability to do something expertly and well.

COMPUTER: is a device that works under the control of stored program automatically accepting, storing and processing data to produce information

OFFICE: this is any place where clerical and administrative duties like receiving information, sorting out information, acted upon records, execute, re-arranged, retrieved and kept for future reference.

ORGANIZATION: this is the arrangement of work with division of activities and with the allocation of duties, authority and responsibilities.

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THE ROLE OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND THE SECURITY CHALLENGES

THE ROLE OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT AND THE SECURITY CHALLENGES

The major function of an office is information handling and information processing in spite of the wide spread use of the telephone. Office is associated with paper pushers as a result of its nature in dealing with clerical activities. Hence office technology management is the scientific way of doing office work for human convenience. Therefore, instead of the use of manual machine, cabinet and file in handling information, the information is managed with an integrated user machine system for providing information, in order to support operation, management and decision making functions in an organization. This system utilizes computer hardware, software, people-ware, manual making, a database and a model based (Otuka et al 2010). Information is data that has been processed into a form that is meaningful to the recipient and is of real perceived value in current or prospective actions or decisions.

The advance of computer technology and communication technology (IT) has brought about “electronic” offices which are terms used to describe the way in which the modern office is developing. Computer technology has developed to the point where an office might have a computer terminal (keyboard and screen) on every desk with data processed and transmitted by terminals linked up to a computer rather than by means of papers and internal mails.

ROLES OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY

The development of the electronic office has made office workers to do their jobs in a different way. Technology change has brought about job changes in organization structure. These in turn affect the way the office workers, communicate with each other and the “social” life of office workers and the behavior of office workers as a group (Spencer 2001).

Office technology management includes the use of computers and telecommunication technology for internal and external use. Internally, it deals with:

v Document and text production (word processing, computer graphics);

v Document distribution and filing (data bases, document image processing and e-mail);

v Person to person communication (e-mail, computer conferencing and bulletin boards); while externally, it deals with:

v Inter-Organization document transfers, and payment which enables organization to pay workers salaries without a messenger to withdraw money for payment of workers‟ salaries.

v Public database and information services enable an organization to know at any given time, the amount of stock available (Adegbeymi et al 2007).

Document and text production; the old fashioned‟ office in which correspondence is been typed, is today been superseded by more modern methods of preparing or transmitting letters and other correspondences (Obadaiki 2001). With word processing and desktop publishing, the artwork of a text for publishing can be produced within an office environment that covers;

v The use of dictating machine: This dictating machine saves management time by allowing managers to dictate letters, rather than write them in manuscript and without the need for shorthand secretaries. It also helps in spreading the work to typist, who can type from dictating machine tapes at a convenient time to suit their busy and quiet periods (Adegbeyeni et al 2007).

v The processing of text information in word processing software may be used for the production of standard letters and for the drafting or redrafting of document. Word processing makes simple the task of editing and production of typed letters, documents, including the addition of stored text. However, with the office technologies, managers of offices could prepare text by checking the input visually on the VDU screen as it is being keyed in and to correct errors immediately (some spelling checks can be built into the word processing software as a sort of validation check (CTA 1999:4).

Managers are equally enabled to check printed text and correct errors easily and neatly, so that instead of having to erase typing mistakes with tippex or similar eraser, the user can quickly key in the corrections and print a fresh corrected version of the text. It is easy for managers to make amends even to text under discussion. If the contents of the text are discussed and as a result of these discussions changes are agreed, the changes can be made quickly and simple for example contracts under negotiation can be amended in this way. In addition, text can be held on file and subsequently updated for example, a company might hold its rules and procedure books or its price list on a WP file and update them just before they are to be reprinted. It has helped in the editing/creation of document filed by specifying the originator, the destination and date and as well simplified the functions of deletions, correction, insertion that used to be done by hand and in updating or re-organizing printed material all available on screen with the word processor. In fact it has contributed enormously in the ability to produce personalized letters of a standard type, the ability to amend, correct or update text on screen easily without the need to retype the whole document. A low error rate in the text, speed of keying in text, and corrections, lower text production costs as a result of a low error rate, easy formatting of text, improved quality and enhanced security. Authority use of computer is the production of information in the form of pictures, diagrams, or graphs (Lucas 2007).

Office managers are enabled to use office computers to implement computerized typesetting and composition systems, though desktop publishing software packages varies in complexity hence some are suitable for the general macro user producing an occasional document while others are appropriate for full-time DTP departments, producing brochures, company reports and advertisements with sophisticated photography and artwork for output on professional typesetting printers (Balit 2000).

Telephone is the most important method of communication in the office either through mobile communications (e.g. cellular radio, teleprint; or office switchboards PABX. By the introduction of integrated systems Digital Network in 1990, it has made the entire telephone network, digital which therefore makes it possible to send text, data and fax from a single desktop computer over the telecommunication links. That means that computer networks can be extended to small branch offices or a number of services can be sent over the link at one time.

Telex is a service which enables office managers transmit and receive printed messages over a telephone line. Users have to be telex subscribers with their own telex equipment and code number in order to send or receive messages (Bie-stein 1996).

Teletex was established in 1980 and it was intended to replace telex and compares favourably with telex because it transmits data with speed of 40 to 45 times faster than telex. It has a full set of characters which can be used in messages though telex lacks this facility.

Electronic mail (e-mail) has helped the office managers in sending data or messages electronically via the telephone network or other data network and via a central computer without the need to post letters.