HARNESSING THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY THROUGH

SECRETARIAL PROFESSION

BY
M. A. IDRIS (KAIAMA)
07037728515 / 08076781896
amirkaiama@gmail.com

REGISTRY DEPARTMENT
FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC NASARAWA,
NASARAWA STATE

OCTOBER, 2013
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 HARNESSING THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY THROUGH SECRETARIAL
PROFESSION

ABSTRACT

The secretarial profession, a long standing career, often relegated to the background by
many, including the practitioners, has revolutionaries through the advent of globalised
technology. As network and web applications become more and more significant, the
importance of relational database management systems also increases. Selecting the right
one (technology) for the needs is essential to ensure the quality and proper performance in a
profession. It is obvious Microsoft SQL is one option that many secretarial professionals
might select. It also looked at the need to harness the power of technology through
secretarial profession in an administrative support activities for directing services regarding
records, management, secretarial support, telephone service, cell phone service, pager
service, mail, front desk reception and messenger service as well as printing and copying
which are secretaries duties. It highlights the change which technology has brought to the
profession and encourages non-practitioners to join the profession. It enjoins those already
practicing it to strive and embrace the new revolution in technology so as to remain relevant.
The paper urges government to provide adequate technological infrastructure and enabling
environment that would make secretarial job efficient in order to boost productivity on the
part of the practitioners.

KEY WORDS –Word processor, Secretarial support, Pager service, Front desk reception,
Mail

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1.0 Introduction
Technology has led to an interconnected and interdependent world. The scenario has
influenced the developed secretaries without borders, thus enabling globalization of
secretaries and secretarial services. Hence, at the mere press of a button, one can have
instantaneous access to global information for various purposes. It is indeed a golden
opportunity for secretaries and particularly secretarial profession to draw from the
ocean of global administrative support information for nation building and at the same
time contribute to Global Secretarial Profession.

The accelerated adoption and use of technology has resulted in the globalization of
information and knowledge resources of the secretarial profession. “Bibliographic
databases, full-text documents, and digital library collections are now available to
users” (Chisenga, 2004)

Harnessing the power of Technology through Secretarial Profession is therefore a

necessity that do not require argument, due to the fact that secretarial profession is
charged with Administrative Support activities, responsible for directing services
regarding Records Management, Secretarial Support, Telephone Service, Cell phone
Service, Pager Services, Mail, Front Desk Reception and Messenger Service as well
as Printing and Copying. The Records Management program provides for records
retention schedules, microfilming, maintaining a records centre, and reviewing the
office filling systems. These operations are the responsibilities of professional
secretarial staff. Without proper adoption and harnessing the capabilities of
technology, the secretarial profession will not yield an effective/desirous performance
in any organisation.

The task of managing any organization effectively, be it public or private, profit or

non-profit making is arduous and depends, to a large extent, on the knowledge of the
manager. But the bulk of the blame often stops at the secretary’s table, because the
Secretary is one of the major tools through which an organisation can be managed
effectively. Hence, for any organisation to function well there is need for the
Secretary to be physically and mentally capable to harness the power of modern
technologies through career development in secretarial profession.

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 Since each organisation nowadays depends on technology and the role of the secretary
as being integral for its effective management, the secretary’s importance in an
organisation is real. Therefore, this calls for the adaptation of technology in order to
meet up with modern technological revolution and the Transformation Agenda.
Transformation of the Secretarial Profession entails embracing new changes, new
shift in technology and also removing the barriers that encumber the progress of
secretaries at work places.

Surely, the advent of technology has tremendously improved the job of a secretary.
The impact is great as there has been significant shift from the old methods of
processing documents to the modern types where documents are processed with ease
using sophisticated machines.

1.1 An Over View of the Secretarial Profession

The Secretarial Profession is one under which Secretaries are trained. Like other
professions: Accounting, Public Administrators, Law, Medics, etc, it is governed by
some set of rules, ethics, qualifications, technologies and methodology which guides
Secretarial practices and training.

The profession began humbly and improving to modernity. It started from the
application of functions which were secretarial in nature such as Tea-boy,
Stenographing, Office attendant etc. with less concern for proficiency. Some of such
people went back to school and therefore specialised in the art of shorthand writing,
typewriting, and improved on their written and spoken language. Thus, this led them
to parity with others in the office. Soon they became versed in the specialized aspect
of the office. They began taking minutes of meetings, taking records of events,
receiving visitors and reminding the boss of events that could have been forgotten.
With this, came planning, coordination and organizing the duties of the boss. At this
space, proficiency in the use of modern machines such as the electric typewriter,
computer and many others gradually came in slowly to distinguish from typist and
stenographers.

Stenographer is “one who takes dictation, write in shorthand and transcribes with a
typewriter; and a typist is a worker who works with the typewriter to produce a

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 document in the form of copying out what he/she had been given to do depending on
instructions before embarking on any job”. (Whitehead, G. 1979)

Some Views about the Secretary

According to Albert, (1974) “A Secretary is a person with greater ability to make
judgments and exercises initiative”. He may relieve the boss of routine and
administrative duties.

Hanna, (1993), defines a Secretary as “an employee of an organisation who possesses

the skills of typewriting and shorthand and is knowledgeable, capable of managerial
organizational techniques”.

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines Secretary as “an employee in an

office dealing with letters, typing, filling, etc. and making appointments and
arrangements for another person”.

Webster (1979), defines Secretary as “an office employee who performs routine
administrative or personal tasks for a superior. Those tasks include typing, computer
operation, keeping of records, etc”.

The Secretary, apart from being capable of using his/her initiative must also be
capable of using office machineries/equipments.

1.2 Conceptualizing Technology

In the emerging Electronics complex, Technologies form part of a constellation of
Secretarial Profession, it consist of various sub-groups such as Computers,
Components, Telecommunications, Consumer electronics and other Office devices.
Expectedly, the developments in the electronics composite have had pervasive impact
on the rate and direction of technological change, not only in this Profession, but
across virtually all other Professional areas. In the process, it has brought about
pervasive techno-economic and social changes in Secretarial institution. The growing
applications of robotics, media electronics, optical fibres and digital networks, are
generic radical technological innovations. The nature of response and the challenges
of these technologies are equally fundamental, because generic technical innovations
alter the fundamental nature of professionalism and teaching. In trying to assess the

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power of Technology in the Secretarial Profession, a clear distinction is necessary
between the block of history broadly classified as past and present.
During the past 10 to 15 years in Nigeria, “rapid technological innovation fuelled
unprecedented advances in digital computing capability in the fields of semi-
conductor technology (foundation on which the information industry is built),
Recording technology and Telecommunication capability” (Frenzel, 1996).
Electronics, being the enabling technology in the information economy, has opened-
up a vast range of new forms and concepts of handling information. Electronics has,
thus, become one of the fastest growing industries worldwide.
In societies that have higher levels of income, technologies are used to reduce or cut-
down on increasingly costly human imputes. They are also used to forge links
between information resources and increases economic growth. Mansell, (1998)
suggests that “the challenge would be to develop and exploit these emerging
opportunities”.
According to www.wordiq.com, technology has many definitions. Technology is “the
development and application of tools, machines, materials and processes that help to
solve human problems”. Therefore, technology can be described as a means whereby
complex issues can be simplified.

Okwara, (2001) posit that “the complexity of technology can be linked to range of
information needs of individuals, business, government or organisation”. She is of
the view that human brain can fail when faced with several tasks such as having good
memory, ability to organise the office and be plan-conscious. In this regard, a
memory aid to help the Secretary to Plan work, carry out assignments, enhance
effectiveness and efficiency is desired. Hence, the need to Harness the Power of
Technology through Secretarial Profession.

Again, with the evolution of Information Technology, the office has experienced a
radical change from the stressful one that is full of challenges to a less stress, time
saving, leading to efficiency and mastery of the technological equipment and all the
benefits that come along with it.

Technology enables the Secretary to use new trends in Communication Technology

with authority, therefore, problems associated with mailing in the past, have been
eliminated by the electronic mail (e-mail). All forms of letters, memos and reports

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 can now be relayed through the internet to those outside the office domain or through
the use of network.

Network and Web applications become more and more significant, the importance of
relational database management systems also increases. Selecting the right one for
your needs is essential to ensure the quality and proper performance of your
application. Microsoft SQL (structured query language) is one option that many
Secretaries may select. This technology is about Oracle SQL, a computer language
that is designed to manage data stored in RDBMS databases. (Relational Database
Management Systems). The merits of Microsoft SQL server is Excellent Data
Recovery support in the sense that: Corrupt data is always a concern when power loss
or improper shutdowns occur. Microsoft SQL server has a number of features that
promote data restoration and recovery. Though, because individual tables can’t be
backed up or restored, complete database restoration options are available. Through
the use of log files, caching, and backups, Microsoft’s allows you to feel confident
that disaster recovery options are plentiful.

The followings are some of the other complementary technologies:

 Software technologies for distributed information processing;

 Information technology components and subsystems such as semi-conductors,
micro-systems peripherals;
 Web browsers and servers
 Multimedia systems (integrated personal systems)
 Others include open-processor systems, high performance computing and
networking (HPCN) technologies for business process, photonic technologies;
digital multimedia services etc.
According to Okore, (2005) “these technologies have the potential of ensuring the
dissemination of precise information which is capable of responding to people
concerns the world over and making them aware of current trends in all fields of
innovation and transformation. It also facilitates establishment of effective links
worldwide between different categories of institutions”.

1.3 Secretarial Profession and Technology

Change has been acclaimed to be the only thing that remains permanent forever. As
transformation continuous, everything about Secretarial Profession including
Practices, Principles, Ethics, Morals, Technologies etc. changes alongside with it. Just
like other profession are also been evolving compatible with the changing world.

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 The Secretarial Profession is not an exception in this regard. In the last decade, the
profession is also passing through its transformation. Information technology has
contributed so much to this revolution. The launching of transformation agenda has
repositioned the secretarial responsibility particularly with the advent of the mobile
phone, e-mail, SMS, MMS, facsimile; internet etc has made communication and job
easier for the secretary, thereby saving precious time, money and laborious hours. It is
now easy to store and retrieve data/information.

1.4 Role of Information Technology in Growth of Secretarial Profession

From www.new-technology-world.com, Information technology refers to “the
management and use of information using computer-based tools. It includes
acquiring, processing, storing, and distributing information”. Most commonly, IT is
a term used to refer to business applications of computer technology, rather than
scientific applications. This term is used broadly in business to refer to anything that
ties into the use of computers.

Mostly, organisations nowadays create data that can be stored and processed on
computers. In some cases the data must be input to computers using devices such as
keyboards, scanners in other cases the data might be created electronically and
automatically stored in computers.

Secretaries generally need to purchase software packages, and may need to pact with
IT businesses that provide services such as hosting, marketing websites and
maintaining networks. However, larger organisations can consider having their own
IT staffs to develop software, and otherwise handle IT needs in-house. For instance,
Federal government offices are likely to comply with requirements relating to
information accessibility.

www.articles888.com “The constant upgrade in information technology, along with

increasing global competition, has lead to introduction of new organisational
network structures that hold survival and growth in an environment of growing
complexity”.

Effective implementation of information technology would decreases liability by

reducing the cost of expected failures and increases flexibility by reducing the cost of
adjustment. The professional reaction to the technological environment remains to be

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 the vital determinant for its effectiveness. The capabilities and flexibilities of
computer-communication systems make them gradually more appropriate to the
profession by being able to respond to any specific information or communication
requirement.

Information Technology is having impact on all professional and non-professional

services. It is affecting workers at all levels of organisations, from the executives to
middle management and clerks. Information technology is increasingly becoming a
basic factor of all types of technologies such as craft, engineering, routine, and non-
routine.

The advances in information technology would result and lead to new, concentrated
organizational structures, as it enables organisations to respond to the new and urgent
competitive forces by providing effective management of interdependence.

1.5 Change Brought by Technology to Secretarial Profession

As can be deduced from the foregoing discussion, there is no doubt that the secretarial
Profession has undergone some metamorphosis in the area of automation. There has
been a radical drift from the era of manual typewriters, duplicating machines, stencil
cutting machines that were used in the past. The present day secretary uses
sophisticated machines and equipments capable of performing multiple tasks with
ease.

In furtherance, it is a known fact that every transformation comes with its challenges.
The challenges confronting the secretarial profession in the technologically dynamic
world include the following:

 Displacement of the secretary;

 High cost of procurement and installation;
 Insecurity of data; and
 Un-cooperative attitude of secretarial staff in the use of ICT.
Displacement of the Secretary- the Secretarial Profession is faced with the
displacement of its practitioners who could not fully transform and adapt or switch to
the current trends of technological innovation. Though it is true, technologies has
created new jobs but have also been accused of eliminating jobs for individuals or
organisations, thus planting the seed of social disharmony or discontent. i.e. it
displaces and renders many secretarial staff redundant and the affected organisation

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 may retrench the redundant staff. Despite the social benefits that might result from
retraining displaced secretaries for other jobs, there is every tendency that the
Secretary, whose job has been taken over by a machine, undergoes a period of
emotional stress. The secretary may also be displaced geographically, in order to
secure another job, an individual may have to relocate.

High Cost of Procurement and Installation – procurement and installation of

automated equipment is capital intensive. Beside, a higher level of maintenance is
required than with manually operated technologies.

Insecurity of data – technologies particularly computers are used to invade

Individuals, Public or National privacy. Because there is no 100 percent assurance
that those authorised to man the computers do not leak secret information stored on it
or alters the information to suit certain needs.

1.6 Adaptation to Technology: The Nigerian Experience

Acceleration of technologies is phenomena in developed countries, which are centres

of industrial and technological revolution. A survey of the situation in Nigeria is a
disappointing experience despite the loud cries of the Federal Government over the
transformation agenda for about a decade today.

Adediji, (2001) observe that “we hope rather than leap automation wise” Nigeria is
still trapped among the group of nations categorised as information poor societies.
Low-level technology, inadequate planning, poor implementation, lack of expertise,
under funding and high costs of equipment occasioned by unfavourable exchange
rates are some major factors militating against technological revolution and
development of the secretarial profession in Nigeria. Although Nigeria is not
relenting in her efforts to be part of the global village, a lot still needs to be done in
order to achieve a breakthrough in technology.

Ayodele, (2001) sheds more light on this “the developing countries including Nigeria
have been disturbed about their technological backwardness compared with the
developed nations; popularly called digital divide i.e. we have been left behind by
some ten years and in a revolution that is moving at the speed of light to say ten years
is a lot. Though, we have a vibrant knowledge thirsty citizenry whose only handicap
is lack of opportunity. Thanks to ICT the world has been made a global village.

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 Given the right learning environment and the materials to help bridge the digital
divide is at our fingertips”.

However, the federal Government saw the situation as challenge and has risen to the
occasion by putting in place policies and measures that will bridge the digital divide
and transform Nigeria into a key player in the global village for social-economic
advantage.

Going by the importance of technology as indispensable tool in national development,

the Federal Government accorded ICT development a national priority. This is
contain in the policy document tagged “National Policy for Information Technology”,
which contains national IT guideline for the country.

In the preamble, the Federal Government observes that: information technology is the
bedrock for national survival and development in a rapidly changing global
environment and challenges us to device bold and courageous initiatives to address a
host of socio-economic issues such as reliable infrastructures, skilled human resources
open government and other essential issues of capacity building. It is for this reason
that every progressive country has national IT policy and an implementation strategy
to respond to the emerging Global reality and thus avert becoming a victim of digital
divide. (FGN, 2001)

In this regard, secretarial profession would without hesitation open hands and fully
embrace the emergence of information technology if we must avert being victim of
career displaced personnel in the ongoing transformation agenda, policy and schemes.

1.7 Conclusion

There is no doubt that technology has become a growing concern which modern
business aspire to embrace, and as fast as possible. No one transacts business just on
his own. He must have either a buyer or a supplier. It is in this belief that vibrant
businesses as well as professional bodies seek to embrace modern business ethics
which revolve around technology. The Secretarial profession is also not left out in
this new change.

A secretary who is well trained in the modern way finds it easy to work with modern
equipment of information technology. This greatly contributes to the growth of the

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 organisation by saving cost, time, labour hours and stress. Invariably, profit which is
the essence of business is achieved fast. This depends on the provision of constant
power source, lack of adequate knowledge and skills to manage digital information
resources, absence of institutional policies and strategies to support and guide the use
of the technologies. It is hope before the year 2020; Secretarial Profession have
completely transformed technologically for more effective and efficient service
delivery.

1.8 Recommendations

With the advent of new office technologies, things have changed dramatically. The
following recommendations are therefore necessary for adoption in order to reposition
the Secretarial Profession so that it becomes attractive to both members and non
members of the profession, viz:

 Teachers in the secretarial profession should be sent on training so as to acquire

new technological skills to be able to impart them to the future secretaries.
Moreso, Secretarial Practitioners should strive to acquire on the job training, and
embrace the best work ethics in order to remain relevant.

 The secretaries should be involved in the planning for digitalization or automation

of administrative support systems, through the acquisition of appropriate
application software/server.

 The issue of a realistic National Information and Communication Infrastructure

Policy is one that should no longer be allowed to linger unresolved.

 Nigeria needs a goal oriented policy as well as thought-out plans and strategies to
harness the power of technology for national building.

 There is need to cross examine and overhaul the curriculum of secretarial

profession with a view to incorporating all courses relevant to ICT.

 NAPSSON should engage in sensitization on digital/application packages,

conference and seminar with ICT professionals for capacity building workshops
for professional secretarial staff.

 There is the need to change the name of the Professional Body from NAPSSON to
NAPAT (National Association of Professional Administrative Technologist) to
confirm with the new given name of its academic department Office Technology
& Management (OTM).

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  Finally, I urged that Secretaries should be involved in decision making and
motivated for better performance.

REFERENCE
A. S. Hornby (1989) Oxford Advanced learner’s Dictionary, 4th Edition, Oxford
University Press.
Adamu, S. (2010) Information Communication Technology Situation in Nigeria, A
terminal Research Report, Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa.
Ayodele, A. O. (2001) Sustainability of Library Automation Projects a Paper presented at
the Cataloguing classification indexing section of the Nigerian Library Association
Workshop, Akure
Bashiru, A. S. (2008) ICT for sustainable Development: the Nigerian Experience
Chisenga, (2004) A sustainable ICT programme, the prospect and problems
Drew, F. (2003) Information Technology in Selected Countries, Tokyo: United Nations
University Press.
FGN, (2008) National IT Policy and an Implementation strategic Plan
Hanna, R. A. (1993) Secretarial Procedures and Administration, Cincinnati, South
Western Publishing Company
Kaase, J. (2010) The Position of the Secretarial Profession in era of Technological
Spread, A Seminar paper, SBRS, Nasarawa.
Mansell, (1998) New decision, new technology a way forward, a position paper presented
at university college.
Okoh, Gabriel (2009) Lecture Notes on Secretarial Duties
Okwara, I. (2001) The internet, a new wave of Information Technology, Oweri, The
Millennium Secretaries Vol. 1, No. 2, pp 30
Shaw, J. (1987) Office Management, London: Pitman Publishers Limited
Webstar, C. (1979) New Collegiate Dictionary, Massachusetts: GDC Merian Company
Limited
Whitehead, G. (1979) Secretarial Practice Made Simple, Butler Tranner Ltd., London,
Low Priced Edition.
www.articles888.com
www.new-technology-world.com,
www.wordiq.com

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