American International Journal of Nursing Education and Practice

E-ISSN- 2694-3697; Vol. 1, No. 1; 2020

Published by American Center of Science and Education, USA

Office Automation and Secretarial Productivity in Rivers State

University

Onoja Barine Lesi

Department of Business Education
Faculty of Education, Rivers State University
Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
E-mail:anebari2002@yahoo.com

Abstract
This study investigated Office Automation and Secretarial Productivity in Rivers State. The objective was to
examine the extent to which office automation affects the productivity of secretaries. Forty-five secretaries were
selected from thirty-eight departments and seven faculties in the Rivers State University. The study adopted four
research questions and four null hypotheses. Copies of the Questionnaire were administered to the secretaries. Mean
and Standard Deviation were used to analyze the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Coefficient was
used to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that office automation equipment has positive and significant effects
on the productivity of secretaries in the university. From the correlation coefficient, the study concluded that office
automation affects productivity to a great extent. It, therefore, recommended that the office environment should be
redefined to fit modern office technologies for effective secretarial functions, and there should be policies in the
organization for secretarial training for better performance of the secretaries in the university. Secretaries should not
entertain fear that automated devices will displace them but rather see it as something which has come to assist them
to do their jobs in order to improve their efficiency and productivity.

Keywords: Office Automation, Secretarial Productivity, Computer, Word Processing, Data Processing,
Telecommunication

1. Introduction
Prior to the emergence of information technology, secretarial duties were manually performed such as manual
minute book keeping, storing of minutes books in book shelves, writing and taking records of discussion in meetings
and other clerical functions perform by a secretary. However, the emergence of information technology has
drastically repositioned secretarial duties with the application of the various information technology equipment such
as the computer, the electronic information transfer, electronic minute book that have facilitated the functions of the
secretary in the office (Kontos, 2015). Secretaries and administrative assistants perform a variety of administrative
and clerical duties necessary to run an organization efficiently. They serve as information and communication
managers for the office and plan as well as schedule meetings and appointments, organize and maintain documents
and electronic files, manage projects, conduct research and disseminate information by using the telephone, mail
services, web sites, and e-mail.
Office automation is an aid to the secretary who makes constant use of the machines, hence the machines
can carry out routine work or clerical jobs quickly, accurately and automatically more than the ordinary human
being can do, thereby freeing the secretary in working out payroll, and other numerous letters and calculations which
need an expert and excellent touch to be done correctly. Some of these machines have large storage facilities and
can store information in their memory unit. Office automation has created new job opportunities especially for the
secretarial assistant. Office automation refers to utilizing personal computers such as word processors and electronic
intercom mail plus other technologies used to upgrade workers’ productivity and efficiency, it is the technique of
making a processor system automatic in the office (Atakpa, 2012).
As the reliance on technology continues to expand in offices, the role of the office professional has greatly
evolved. Office automation and organizational restructuring have led secretaries and administrative assistants to
increasingly assume responsibilities once reserved for managerial and professional staff (Horby, 2015). Despite
these changes however, the core responsibilities for secretaries and administrative assistants have remained much
the same: performing and coordinating an office’s administrative activities and storing, retrieving, and integrating
information for dissemination to staff and clients.

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www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijnep American International Journal of Nursing Education and Practice Vol. 1, No. 1; 2020

Secretaries and administrative assistants use a variety of office equipment, such as fax machines,
photocopiers, scanners, and video-conferencing and telephone systems. In addition, secretaries and administrative
assistants often use computers to do tasks previously handled by managers and professionals; they create
spreadsheets, compose correspondence, manage databases, and create presentations, reports, and documents using
desktop publishing software and digital graphics. They may also negotiate with vendors, maintain and examine
leased equipment, purchase supplies, manage areas such as stockrooms or corporate libraries, and retrieve data from
various sources. At the same time, managers and professionals have assumed many tasks traditionally assigned to
secretaries and administrative assistants, such as keyboarding and answering the telephone. Because secretaries and
administrative assistants do less dictation and word processing, they now have time to support more members of the
executive staff. In a number of organizations, secretaries and administrative assistants work in teams to work
flexibly and share their expertise. It is therefore imperative to examine the relationship between office automation
and secretarial productivity.

2. Literature Review
Concept of Office Automation
Office automation refers to all processes that integrate computer and communication technology with the traditional
manual processes. According to Kontos (2015) office automation is a conglomerate of all the separate office
information processing technologies which include: word processing, data processing, micrographics, reprographics
and telecommunications. It also refers to the various automated electronic methods by which information is
gathered, processed, reproduced, communicated, stored or protected and retrieved. This includes not only the
methods through which office information is processed by the resources applied to capture, process, deliver and or
store office information. Abang (2009) reported that secretaries have vital roles to play in enhancing the attainment
of organizational goals. Though secretaries of nowadays would not necessarily be expected to understand as much
about the business in hand as their executives, they are increasingly being expected to have some understanding of
the significance and effective management of the correspondence, reports and instructions which normally pass
through their desks. The trained secretaries with state of the art materials and equipment are expected to be gainfully
employed in the labour markets or even create jobs and become self-reliant despite the present hardship in the
Nigerian economy.
Office automation is a mechanism which aims to improve organization efficiency and productivity through
use of effective and efficient management by utilizing electronic flow of correspondence in organization level , easy
searching stored data, quick and timely response to client, removal of paper from administrative correspondence
cycle, proper control over users, maintaining and recording data efficiently and improve communications within
organization (Rahimian, 1998), increase non-productive activities like physical archiving of documents ,
maintaining records of operation in less volume, high safety and easy access, producing necessary report with
different diagrams, decrease duties of office managers, typists and secretaries, possibility to telephone supervising
on tasks and activities in any time, control over classified data, precision in doing operation and recording all affairs,
removal of paper completely in performing work process, facility and speed in operation flow, high security in
maintaining documents and possibility to rapid accessing them (Starifar, 1998).
According to Esene (2012) the modern offices of today lay due emphasis on paperless office as a way of
facilitating the process of correspondence handling and operations. For instance, Ekula (2008) stated that in offices
computer, database management and other accessories are increasingly being used to organize and control records.
Secretaries are now being required to be able to operate computer using Dbase, Excel, Corel Draw and Word
Processing packages such as Word Perfect, MS word, Power Point, Adobe Page Maker and in particular the
dexterity to use most of the application packages contained in Windows 2000 to 2007 respectively.
Esene (2012) further stressed that; computer internet is now being used to send and retrieve information
from any part of the world with relative ease. Office automation has taken over the entire activities of very many
organizations with various electronic equipment such as computers, electronic typewriters, photocopiers, tele-
printers, fax recorders, telephones with cellular, GSM/Mobile attachments, electronic switch boards, laminating
machines, scanners, Dictaphones, magnetic and non-magnetic tapes. All these equipment, as a matter of fact are
used to speed up the processing of correspondence, but not to replace the secretarial function of the secretaries
(Ekula, 2010).

Office Automation and the Secretarial Functions

Information technology is the combination of computing, telecommunication and video techniques for the purpose
of acquiring, processing, storing, and disseminating vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information. However,
Computer technology has undergone series of changes which reflect big size to miniature size of computers with

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www.acseusa.org/journal/index.php/aijnep American International Journal of Nursing Education and Practice Vol. 1, No. 1; 2020

their increasingly high processing speed of data into information for decision making (Nicholas, et al. 2009).
Information technology according to Oliver, Chapman and French (1990) is a technology which supports activities
involving the creation, storage, manipulation and communication of information (principally computing, electronics
and electronic communications) together with their related methods, management and applications. It has also
created countless opportunities and challenges for millions of individuals. In particular, the challenges of managers’
responsible for introducing this technology have been exceptionally high in information and knowledge -based
society. Management must attempt to capture the advantages offered by information technology, yet they must also
avoid the pitfalls along the way toward increasing automation. As information has altered the way many people do
their jobs and has changed the nature of work in industrialized nations, the practice of management has been greatly
affected. The management of many firms and their managers must therefore understand the implications of this new
information technology revolution which require substantial future readjustment and quickly learn how to benefit
from it (Frenzel, 1992). The explosion in electronic commerce is just one example of the many ways information
technology is influencing how people do business and how they account for business financial and economic events
(Moscove, Simkin & Bagranoff, 2013).
The blending of internet technologies and traditional business concerns is impacting all industries and is
really the latest phase in the ongoing evolution of business infrastructure and change the way to respond more
immediately to customer needs (Grant, Hurley & Hartley 2000).
The audit objective which is to render an opinion on the “true and fair view” of a client’s financial
statement still holds, however, the technical expertise that the auditor must possess to evaluate computer-based
accounting systems has undergone considerable changes and the change will ever continue to be more radical and
rapid (Ofurum & Ogbonna, 2008). Information and communication technology is seen as a way to promote
educational change, improve the skills of secretaries and prepare them for the global economy and information
society. Information and communication technology is used to improve delivery of and access to effective and
efficient management of office and the organization as a whole. Information and communication technology when
focused on secretaries tends to improve the understanding of the secretarial practice and functions, increase quality
of secretaries’ work attitude thereby increase the impact of secretaries on the management of the office. While
basically information and communication technology based innovations can enhance in secretarial functions, their
linkage to office management is essential to achieve intended outcomes of an organization.

The Computer
Ohakwe (2012) described the computer as a complex electronic machine used for all sorts of information
processing. The information may be data, graphics, picture or audio. Computers are marked by accuracy of results,
speed in operation and versatility in application. The use of computer system has brought about a lot of
improvement and efficiency over the previous manual operations. Data processing skills will enable secretaries meet
established performance criteria, maintain/update stored data base, and enable the secretary to interpret computer
print outs.

Word Processing
According to Nwosu, Anaka and Eleoba (2013), word processing is an electronically processing of alphabetic and
alpha numeric information. A word processor consists of keyboard, electronic memory, a display unit and printer.
Because word processors are versatile, they can be useful to any person who wants to produce documents such as
advertising copy, novels, letters, term papers, scientific papers, legal briefs and any other type of word based
document. They went further to list the functions of word processor as follows: storing, editing information and
retrieving text, insertion and deletion of text, underlining using various types of fonts, moving text page numbering
and saving, storing or retrieving texts. However, the capability of a word processor is dependent upon the special
features of the application software. Word processing skills have made the work of secretaries more interesting.
Even the status and work environment of secretaries have witnessed tremendous changes. Today’s secretaries
require the knowledge, skills, attitude and aptitude of word processing to obtain good output in office operations.
Word processing is beneficial to secretaries in the following ways: the success or failure, status or lack of status of a
manager/boss will no longer determine the secretary’s position. It relieves secretaries of the burden of repetitive
typing thus making the production of documents less tedious. It enables secretaries to make additional and
meaningful contributions to office tasks.

Data Processing
Kontos (2015) described data processing as the manipulation or computation of numeric data (numbers) to achieve
desired result. He noted that business data processing functions include arranging, filing and sorting, editing,

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