A Study of Effects of Poor Office Environment on the Secretary’s Job Performance
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
This study is meant to investigate the following:
– The effects of a depressing and unstimulating nature of the office environment on the secretary’s job performance.
– The effect of small floor space and congested office surroundings on the secretary’s job performance vis-à-vis her attitudes to work.
– The effect of absence of some basic amenities such as air conditioners, fan, executives seats and tables on the moral of a secretary and her general attitude to work.
– Other problems in the office environment militating against effective job performance of secretaries.
– Recommend how best to improve the office environment for the smooth operation of secretaries if it has any serious effects on their job performance.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual Review of Office Environment
The environment could be seen as all the surrounding things, conditions and influences affecting the growth or development of living things. It is the surrounding in which living things live. The environment of any office goes a long way to determine the general level at which an organization operates. Part of the impression customers and other visitors have of an organization is influenced by the type of office environment in the organization. Bamigboye and Ijewere (2015) see office environment as a series of factor or conditions that are external to the business, but which have influence on the operations of the business enterprise. The surrounding environment in which a person lives influences his growth, development and productivity. Likewise, the surrounding in which workers perform their duties has great impact on the productivity of such workers. The success or failure of an organization depends largely on the surrounding conditions of such organization. Oyesode (2018) defines an office environment as the total surroundings in which work is performed. This he says include the following factors: Location of an office building, Arrangement of departments, Office landscaping, Lighting, Physical conditions, Office furniture. He adds that an office can either aid or mar the degree of performance and the productivity of the employee in the office. The office environment can be described as physical outlook or appearance of employee’s (Secretary) office, which must be in good condition. It must be equipped in such a way that will enable an office worker to work for a long period of time without distractions or getting tired easily so that work can be carried out efficiently and effectively
Requirement for Office Environment
A Secretary spends the better part of a workday in the office. If such Secretary is to be productive, it is very important that the physical environment of her office should be endearing to her and conducive for her operations. Therefore, the requirement for office environment includes:
- Cleanliness An office environment should be kept clean regularly because cleanliness is next to Godliness. A clean office environment attracts customers and makes them comfortable. It increases the morale and prestige of the employees of the organization. The environment of an office must be devoid of any dirt or contamination; it should be free from offensive odour that could make working difficult for staff. A dirty environment is unpleasant to work and it affects workers’ health negatively, while a clean/tidy office affects positively the neatness and accuracy of a Secretary’s work as well as her health. Average human beings have the tendency to react to their working environment especially the office. According to Mill and Staginford (2014), office cleaners should be adequately supervised and provided with the proper equipment for his work. They added that it is of little use or meaningless obtaining an ideal office accommodation and fitting without the best air circulating system without keeping the environment clean and tidy.
- Ventilation: There should be adequate ventilation in the office, the window and door spaces should be within normal specifications to allow in fresh air, the ceiling must be above a stretched-arm reach and fans should be securely positioned or fixed to provide air when necessary. Good ventilation helps in calculating air and filter out unpleasant odour in the office. Poor ventilation affects workers’ health thereby causing workers to suffocate and leading to poor productivity. It is therefore, important to allow constant flow of clean fresh air in the office to lessen fatigue.
- Temperature: The general temperature within an office must be such that would be conducive to the secretary. The office should not be too hot especially on sunny days. It should also not be too cold to render workers active. Temperatures of about 65O to 68O are about the best for a busy office.
- Lighting: This is very necessary to allow for easy vision and adequate flow of the activities in the office. Light should be of right quantity and the right quality and in the right positions, fluorescent tubes are preferred to the ordinary globe. Illumination of the office should be such that workers doing reading and drawing works may see clearly without straining their eyes. Good lighting is needed in office with the nature of work of the secretary perhaps the most important of the physical condition in the office is good lighting as office activities such as reading documents, typing filing etc. call for provision for the best light.
Influence of Physical Environment on the Performance of a Secretary
An office or business environment has a great influence on the performance of the Secretaries in an organization. The physical environment also contributes a lot to the morale of secretary and this can also be a means of increasing business efficiency. For any organization to be successful, Secretaries must be given better and conducive environment because they will be more productive if they work in pleasant and conducive environments. The environment of an office refers to the physical fixtures and fittings in the office. The environment of any office consists of the office building, furniture and layout as well as the physical conditions in the office. A good office environment should be well ventilated with enough windows and doors. There should be adequate heating and lighting to ensure comfort and convenience of the office personnel. The environment of any office goes a long way to determine the general level at which an organization operates. Part of the impression customers and other visitors have in organization is influenced by the type of office environment in that organization.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried to examine a study of effects of poor office environment on the secretary job performance. University of Uyo forms the population of the study.
SAMPLE SIZE DETERMINATION
A study sample is simply a systematic selected part of a population that infers its result on the population. In essence, it is that part of a whole that represents the whole and its members share characteristics in like similitude (Udoyen, 2019). In this study, the researcher adopted the convenient sampling method to determine the sample size.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain study of effects of poor office environment on the secretary job performance. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of poor office environment on the secretary job performance
Summary
This study was on study of effects of poor office environment on the secretary job performance. Five objectives were raised which included; The effects of a depressing and unstimulating nature of the office environment on the secretary’s job performance, the effect of small floor space and congested office surroundings on the secretary’s job performance vis-à-vis her attitudes to work, the effect of absence of some basic amenities such as air conditioners, fan, executives seats and tables on the moral of a secretary and her general attitude to work, Other problems in the office environment militating against effective job performance of secretaries and recommend how best to improve the office environment for the smooth operation of secretaries if it has any serious effects on their job performance.. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from selected in University of Uyo. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
From the above analysis it was concluded that working environment in organization affects the Secretary’s performance. Adequate lighting encourages high performance, proper arrangement and availability of furniture enhance the productivity of Secretaries, good ventilation encourages Secretaries’ job performance and good office layout boosts the morale of Secretaries From the findings, it was discovered that by developing a conducive environment the level of Secretaries’ performance will increase tremendously
Recommendation
Based on the findings made and conclusion drawn from the study, the following recommendations were made:
- Employers should make the office devoid of stress, tiredness, pains, boredom and unhappiness.
- Management must provide the office with proper and adequate natural and artificial light so that Secretaries will not find it difficult to complete and concentrate on their work.
- Management must make provision for office convenience such as good furniture, fans, air conditioners, refrigerator to make the Secretaries comfortable.
- Management should supply the office with modern machines and equipment for the use of Secretaries to make them more effective and efficient on the job.
- Secretaries without new skills in the use of modern office technological gadgets should be retrained to fit into the trends of current advancement
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