Comparison of Performances of Male and Female Secretaries in an Organization
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain the relationship between male and female secretaries in an organization
- To determine whether gender is a factor in the choice of types of employer
- To determine the gender preference for the popular secretarial career options
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
THE ROLE AND INFLUENCE OF THE SECRETARY
That the role and influence of the governing body secretary have been little researched is, perhaps, understandable. The duties of secretary may have been seen as only part of the function of a senior administrator/manager, or a lower grade role without considerable influence on the people who make up the governing body. But, when carefully combined with other management responsibilities, and exercised with diplomatic skill, the secretary can make a major contribution to the leadership of the institution. Gittleman (2004, pp.187-188) provided an example from a university in New England noting that the senior administrator, ‘knew that if he were perceived as too powerful, a raging faculty could bring down the entire structure…….He remained a force with the trustees…..but kept a low profile among students and faculty. People rarely got his title right; and they never understood the authority he had in his hands’. While the focus of the research by Bargh et al. (op cit) rested on the way in which the head of institution and chair led the work of the governing body, in one case study it was noted that senior managers had gained prominence in governance matters and often took the lead in presenting proposals to the governing body. The head of institution’s role, in this instance, was to moderate proposals and alert senior colleagues to the issues that might be raised by governors. Where a secretary holds executive responsibilities, they may be also be engaged in these forms of relationship with the governing body, either by preparing and presenting proposals, helping the head of institution consider ways in which the governing body might react or even in brokering solutions to disagreements occurring in governing body meetings. The secretary’s role therefore presents a somewhat unique balancing act, in which there is a need to create a close working relationship with, and be accountable to, the head of institution, but also be responsible to the governing body for the conduct of the business of governance. The secretary must be able to act independently of other senior managers in relation to governing body duties, even if a member of the senior management team. The secretary may be involved in the selection of both the chair and the head of institution, bringing further issues of relative influence into play. On occasion, it may also be necessary for the secretary to ensure that the head of institution acts in accordance with the wishes of the governing body. In all of these instances the secretary must effectively manage conflicting loyalties and interests. Lockwood (1996) summarised this aspect of the role as providing, ‘a legal and ethical check upon the activities of the rest of the senior management of the institution’, whilst Kogan (1999) noted that:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought comparison of performances of male and female secretaries in an organization
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information comparison of performances of male and female secretaries in an organization. 200 staff of state secretariat Oyo state, Abuja was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain comparison of performances of male and female secretaries in an organization. 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 performances of male and female secretaries in an organization
Summary
This study was on comparison of performances of male and female secretaries in an organization. Three objectives were raised which included: To ascertain the relationship male and female secretaries in an organization, to determine whether gender is a factor in the choice of types of employer, to determine the gender preference for the popular secretarial career options. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of state secretariat, Oyo state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made secretaries, administrative staff, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Conclusively, the prospects and success of any organization be it business, government, non-governmental or educational institutions depend on the leadership of the organization. A dynamic, resourceful, creative and intelligent leadership does not operate in a vacuum. He needs a superb assistant, a confidant, an organizer- who is the secretary- to make him succeed and ensure the organization progress and grow in the right direction. His level of training is the most distinguishing characteristics. It is, therefore, incumbent on the institutions of learning which train secretaries to be alive to their responsibilities. Their training cannot be left in the hand of charlatans otherwise, the office secretary’s profession will also be infiltrated by charlatans and this would impact negatively on the image of the profession. Employers’ of office secretaries male or female must recruit the right calibre (graduates) in order to ensure that they contribute maximally to their organizations’ success
Recommendation
It is, therefore, recommended that institution of higher learning should endeavour to send secretaries to more computer technology/application workshops to update their knowledge to make them relevant and IT compliant; modern office technological gadgets should be procured and made available for use by secretaries to enable them increase their productivity and move with innovation and trends in the global world and private institutions training secretaries must not only employ competent human capital to train their secretaries but must ensure that their curriculum is updated and upgraded to make their graduate more professionally inclined and competitive in the labour marke
REFERENCES
- Akpomi ME (2003). Effects of Modern Office Technology as Perceived by Secretaries. Business Education Journal 4 (1): 147-155.
- Anyakoha EU (2002). Welcome address at the 3rd National conference of HERAN held at Princess Alexandra Unity Hall, University of Nigeria Nsukka 14 – 17 September.
- Bailey, T. (1997). Changes in the nature of work: Implications for skills and assessment. In H. F. O’Neil, Jr. (Ed.), Workforce readiness: Competencies and assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Boladele, Y. (2002) Secretarial Efficiency in an Automated Office: Journal of The School Vocational and Technical Education (THE VAS JOURNAL), 7 (1), 123-134
- Broadfoot, P. (2002). Assessment for lifelong learning: Challenges and choices. Assessment in Education, 9(1). London: Carfax Publishing.
- Chukwumezie, F.U (2002) The Internet Competencies Required of Secretaries in a Technological Environment, Business Education Journal 3 (6) October, pp. 24-36
- Edwin AE (2008). Self-employment: An option for professional secretaries in Nigeria. J. Contemporary Bus. Edu. Res. (JOCBER) 1 (1): 25-30.
- Ehiametalor, E.T. (1990) Business and Economics Education: Principles and Method, Ibadan, Evans Brothers (Nigerian Publishers) Ltd.
- Jenning, L.M. (1981) Secretarial and General Office Procedures, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; Prentice-Hall inc.
