Effect of Poor Communication Skills on the Performance of Secretaries in an Organization
Chapter One
PURPOSE OF STUDY
This research work is embarked upon for the following purposes:
- To find out how effective communication is for an organization
- To find out if poor communication affects the performance of secretaries
- To examine if the performance of secretaries affects the general productivity of the company
- To find out if the communication skills of secretaries can be improved
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literatures that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The Concept Secretary
The word secretary simply means a person who works in an office and manages the organization. Although a secretary is perceived more as a personal assistant or administrative assistant, the professional secretary is one of the most essential human resources in a business organization because he helps make the wheel of the organization to turn. Secretaries provide the unseen services which make the organizations to prosper. Secretaries according to Ahukannah and Ekelegbe (2008) are classified into four categories:
- Professional Secretary: This is the secretary by reason of training, ethics, orientation and skills. He must be an expert in shorthand writing, typewriting and use of computer and ability to deal with office routine activities. This category (in other words termed as confidential secretary) is the researcher area of concern.
- The Honorary Secretary: This is the one who is in charge of the correspondence, records and other business affairs of a society, club and other associations. He is not a professional secretary because he has not acquired the necessary skills/training.
- Private Secretary: This is an employee who deals with correspondence, keep records and files in the office.
- Corporate/Company Secretary: Companies established under the Companies Act 1990 are normally required by the statute to engage the services of a Company Secretary. He/ She takes charge of the administration of the company, as well as functions as secretary to the board of directors. Registrars of government establishment such as polytechnics, universities et cetera are the secretaries of their various institutions who take charge of general administration as well as cover the meetings of their various councils and produce the minutes.
A secretary is a person, whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of professional ethics and communication and organizational skills. Wordnet (2008) defines secretary as a person who assists a member of staff or top management level, and who undertakes a lot of administrative tasks for the smooth running of the office. This definition was confirmed by wikipedia (2008) where a secretary is seen as a person employed to write orders, letters, dispatch public or private papers, records and the like, an official scribe, one who attends to correspondence and transacts other business for an association, a public body, or an individual.
A secretary is an indispensable element in achieving organizational goals. He serves as a memory bank in his organization, scrutinizes visitors so as to give the executive enough time to do some other office activities, keep records so as to prevent embracement and the lost of important document which could consequently have a negative effect to the organization.
The Functions of a Secretary
A thorough review of the duties and roles perform by secretaries requires a classification or categorization of these functions. This classification allows a better understanding of the job the secretaries perform. For the purpose of this discussion, a number of classifications of function shall be reviewed below.
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 constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out to effect of poor communication skills on the performance of secretaries in an organization. Selected staff of Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Port Harcourt, Rivers State form the population of the study.
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 fourty (40) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only thirty two(32) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 32 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
SUMMARY
In this study, our focus was to analyse the effect of poor communication skills on the performance of secretaries in an organization, using Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The study specifically was aimed at finding out how effective communication is to an organization, finding out if poor communication affects the performance of secretaries, examining if the performance of secretaries affects the general productivity of the company and finding out if communication skills of secretaries can be improved. This study was anchored on the theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget.
The study adopted the survey research design and conveniently enrolled participants in the study. A total of 32 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent are drawn from secretaries of Nigeria Agip Oil Company, Port Harcourt, Rivers State
CONCLUSION
Based on the finding of this study, the following conclusions were made:
- Effective communication is necessary to any organization
- Ineffective communication affects the performance of secretaries
- the performance of secretaries affects the general productivity of the company communication skills of secretaries can be improved
RECOMMENDATIONS
In the light of the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are hereby proposed:
- Training on communication should be carried out periodically by the secretaries
- Effective communication should be ensured in organizations
- Communication skills should be a must for all secretaries
- organization should study and examine carefully how their method and system of communication affect the performance of their secretaries so as to either educate them or to change the system to meet up with the current standard of communication was made.
REFERENCES
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