Impact of Filing, Indexing and Record Keeping on the Attainment of Organizational Goals
Chapter One
Objectives of the study
- To investigate the relevance of effective records management in the organization.
- To identify problems associated with records and information management in the organization.
- To examine the effect of proper records management on the performance of the organization.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED AND RELEVANT LITERATURE
Introduction
Sparling Allan E. (1970) opined that the correspondence and records of a business are essential to its successful operation, and every important paper must be filed so that it can be found at a moment’s notice. He stipulates that a good filing system is the best place to keep important papers, but it is also one of the worst places to lose them. The misfiling of even one important letter may cause serious inconvenience to an executive, financial loss to the business, and considerable embarrassment to the person who misfiled the letter. To ensure “perfect filing” of papers, “perfect filing” is necessary. According to John Harrison (1979), a large part of the efficiency of an office depends not only on the existence of a reliable filing system, but also on the competence of staff in the art of methodical filing and indexing. Filing is carried out for two primary reasons: i. To preserve correspondence and other documents, i.e. to keep them tidy and clean. ii. To have the information contained in the papers available for quick and easy reference. He stipulates that correspondence must be filed accurately so that it can be referred to quickly. A document filed incorrectly can be the cause of a delay in a business transactions and even the cancellation of a valuable order. Only when the filing system is efficient can the office function properly, as a delay in locating a paper will interfere with and delay the order sections of the business. a) Technology; Computerized Filing Systems COMPUTER systems can store vast amounts of data. But, as with records kept on paper, merely putting something into a file cabinet is not enough. There must be some way to retrieve the information again when it is needed. That is increasingly falling to special computer programmes called data base management systems. Like any good file clerk, a data base management sets up the electronic data bank files with necessary crossreferences, stores the data and retrieves it when requested. In addition to increased speed of retrieval over paper storage, an electronic data base makes it easier to keep information up to date. With paper storage, a company might have the same information in several places. A customer’s address might be on a master mailing list and on the billing department’s list of overdue accounts. If the customer moves, the address must be charged in several places. With electronic storage systems, a customer’s address can be stored once and shared by everyone. The data management system must see to it that people retrieve only the data they are allowed to see. Such systems, soled for several years by computer companies and independent software companies, are growing in popularity. Robert N. Goldman, Senior Vice President of Cullinane Database Systems Inc., which sells data management programmes to run on I.B.M. Computers remarked “When we started offering data base systems in 1974 and 1975, we had to justify why customers wanted them”. He said “Today people accept that they need them.” Once used only on the largest computers, such systems are also being sold to run on minicomputers and even desk-top microcomputers. Data base management are also expected to be a central feature of the automated office of the future. An important use of the computer terminals that are landing on more and more desks is to allow office workers who need data to get it directly from the computer rather than ask a programmer to write a programme to get it. A marketing analyst for instance, might request sales totals for different cities.
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 to examine the impact of filing, indexing and record keeping on the attainment of organizational goals.
SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source and 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 to examine the impact of filing, indexing and record keeping on the attainment of organizational goals. A total of two hundred (200) respondents were 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 reiterate that the objective of this study was to examine the impact of filing, indexing and record keeping on the attainment of organizational goals.
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 veritable methods for effective record keeping, filing and indexing.
Summary
The study was introduced in the chapter one with a background to record keeping, filing and the need for these concepts. The literature review was undertaken to examine what other authors and reserachers have done on the topic. The methodology was described in the third chapter where it was stated that the descriptive method of data analysis was adopted. The data was presented and analyze statistically using the SPSS and the result of the findings were discussed.
Conclusion
The importance of a good filing system should not be under-rated since it promotes efficiency and effectiveness of office activities and operations. The efficiency and effectiveness of every office work basically depend on the systems of filing and indexing that have been put in place. This is particularly so where there is a large amount of manual work. Even if automation (computerization) is adopted on a very large scale, filing and indexing are equally important. A reliable filing and indexing systems supported by competent staff that is well-versed in the art of filing and indexing are great asset to the Office Management and Administration. It is, therefore, incumbent on every Office Manager in consonance with modern ways of filing to en sure that a good and efficient system of filing and indexing is being adopted and used in the various offices. Sparling Allan E. (1970) opined that correspondence and records of a business are essential to its successful operation, and every important paper must be filed so that it can be found at a moment’s notice. He stipulates that a good filing system is the best place to keep important papers, but it is also one of the worse places to lose them. The misfiling of even one important letter may cause serious inconvenience to an executive, financial loss to the business, and considerable embarrassment to the person who misfiled the letter. A poor filing system may lead to loss or misplacement of records and documents. It may also lead to a hold up of some of the activities to be carried out in the office. A poor filing system can lead to waste of precious time used to search for documents and records. It is also an indication of office mismanagement and maladministration. When there is poor filing in an office, it can bring about malfunctioning of other departments, sections or units. A good filing system is, therefore, a facilitator to quick references and retrieval of documents and records. To ensure “perfect filing” of papers, “perfect filing” is necessary.
Recommendation
The following recommendations are proffered;
- Preservation of Records and Documents: Preservation of records and documents is a very vital activity which every office cherishes. In the absence of a good filing system of preservation of records and documents, organizations can hardly achieve their objectives. Occasionally, it becomes necessary out of emergencies, to make references to certain documents and records such as payroll, receipts, invoices and other statistical data. When these are not properly stored or preserved, they cannot be referred to immediately and will create a lot of inconveniences and hamper office activities. The frustrating experience of searching for a customer’s or student’s records for hours an end before a service can be rendered is a nightmare that can easily destroy the corporate image of the organization. When records and documents are properly preserved, retrieval becomes easy. This promotes fasters processing of office information and other activities. On the bases of the above, an Organization will be paying dearly for neglecting the importance of good filing system in the areas, of preservation and retrieval of documents and records.
REFERENCES
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