CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The job of a secretary in the organization is a very important one. According to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary of English 1974, a secretary is defined as employee in an office who deals with correspondence, keeps, makes arrangement and appointment for a particular member of staff. Agrew et al in secretarial office practice define a secretary as the executive assistance or the junior partner of the executive. They went further to say that a secretary does not only transcribe rapidly a well panned dictation. In addition to routine work, the secretary also makes minutes of a meeting with no difficulty and takes telephone messages with accuracy and ease. She is also expected to compose letters, carry out research for and prepare materials for reports a well as act as a representative of the executive in attending to the public and the business colleagues in his absence. From the foregoing definition, one can see that the secretary is the life wire of any organization as a junior partner of the executive or the executive assistant, she or he is placed in a special position of trust and responsibility thus she can handle the minor details that flood the office daily with little or no consultation with the employer hence the executive free decision. The secretary is always in constant contact with the public either by the telephone or by personal callers consequently, the secretary is more or less responsible for setting in tone of the office that is friendly and efficiently.
Secretarial position varies widely depending on the size of the organization, the number of workers employed, the nature of the business as well as the personal qualities. The position involves a widely variety of duties and responsibilities. In order to achieve the smooth and effective running of the office, the secretary must possess certain basic qualifications, undergo basic secretarial training as well as acquire some special personal qualities peculiar to secretaries. The secretarial job is not any job, for one to function effectively and efficiently are needs to possess certain basic qualifications and undergo basic secretarial studies either OND, HND, or ND, B.SC and other nice recognized certificates in the field. In addition to that, the secretary must develop the knowledge and understanding of the work involved as well as the proper planning of the day’s work.
Another important aspect is the enrichment of the secretarial job. The war manpower commission (1944), said that the word “job” has many connotations which for the sake of clarity and exactness require careful definition. However, in order to arrive at a precise definition, certain additional terms must be defined formally.
A task exist whenever human effort must be exerted for a specific purpose. When sufficient tasks accumulate to justify them employment or A, a position has been created.
Thus, a position is an aggregate of duties, tasks and responsibilities requiring the service of one individual Consequently, the number of individuals employed by the organization.
The job of the secretary is a task, which she had to carry out. And because this job is a very lucrative work, it has to be enriched in order for it to work out effectively and efficiently. It was said that a good enrichment leads to better productivity, so the secretary needs a good environment like having modern types of machines and typewriters to work with it, nice office, well – equipped with it, nice office, well – equipped with nice pay and making her to know that she is somebody very important in the organization, than neglecting her, this will make her develop her more. The secretary herself, as the first to see in the organization (departments) must possess certain attitudes which make her different from others. Neatly dressed, always in a good mood to receive the company’s customers gently and courteous. Without all these attribute, a secretary cannot perform her job very well no matter the qualification she possesses.
The secretary position in the company needs to be recognized and enriched for the effective running of an organization.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In spite of the increasing demand by organization on employers of labour to reassess traditional view as they effect human resources, its management, acquisition and development, some employers of labour are yet to believe that so long as the staff can be used to get money no need providing her with some necessary materials that will make the job of the employee enriched. In fact to them the enrichment of job is a waste of time and financial resources.
This belief has made some organization not to provide job enrichment schemes opportunities, which have resulted in some staff performing below expectation. The study examined development of job enrichment scheme for secretaries with a view to ascertaining whether or not there exists adequate job enrichment programme or schemes for secretarial staff in Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.