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IN-SERVICE TRAINING NEEDS OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES IN PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS IN KADUNA STATE

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1-5 chapters |



ABSTRACT

The study is focused on in-service training needs of Executive Secretaries in public establishments. This survey study was conducted in Kaduna State aimed at assessing the in-service training needs of Executive Secretaries in public establishments. Data  were  collected  with  the  use  of  structured  questionnaire containing 55 items.   Descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation and t-test statistical tool were used for analyzing data. No sample was taken. The population consisted  of  161  respondents  (Executive  Secretaries).  The  instrument  was subjected to face validation by three experts; it was further pilot tested on 20 respondents who were used to establish the internal consistency of the instrument. The reliability co-efficient was calculated to be 0.98, 0.94, 0.98, 0.90 and 0.89 respectively for each section of the instrument and 0.99 as the overall co-efficient. Based on data analyzed, it was found out that Information and Communication Technology skills are needed for in-service training of executive secretaries in public establishments. Also, human relations skills, administrative/managerial skills are needed for in-service training of executive secretaries in public establishments. Consequently, it was recommended among others that the management  or  administrators  in  public  establishments  should  endeavour  to afford their Executive Secretaries in-service training opportunities through which they could be retrained in emergent innovations and techniques in the world of work, that the administrators should properly organize and coordinate the in- service training programme for their staff especially the Executive Secretaries in their various establishments. That the government that owned those establishments should be ready to sponsor the staff (Executive Secretaries) when the need arises for their retraining through in-service training programme and the government should establish secretarial staff training schools, well furnished with adequate modern machines and equipment with qualified personnel for the retraining of the Executive Secretaries in both private and pubic establishments.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria has posed a serious challenge to all facets of the Nigerian economy. This has necessitated executive secretaries to keep abreast of the current technology as it affects office procedures and operations. For executive secretaries to contribute effectively and  efficiently  to  the  achievement of  goals  and  objectives of  the organization they have to be retrained and be given a learning environment on continuous basis in order to acquaint themselves with new challenges in the office. Notwithstanding, there is no doubt that advancement in technology has reshaped and transformed the way executive secretaries discharge their duties.   The competent  and  effective  executive  secretaryship  can  be  obtained  through  in- service training programmes. For in-service training programme to be adequate and sound it should consist of three phases, namely: pre-service training phase, on- the-job experience training phase, and in-service training phase (Diraso, 1992).

In-service training is a long life process in which an employee is constantly learning and adapting to new challenges of his job. This he does through reading of books, journals and magazines in his area of specialization, through discussion with  colleagues  and  supervisors  on  matters  concerning  his  profession  and attending courses and conferences relating to his profession. The aims of in-

service training include: to update the employees and revamp their professional

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knowledge, skills, and competencies and to broaden their knowledge of the core areas  of  specialization (Itotoh,  1996).  Itotoh  maintained that  such  areas  may include: writing, editing, production and distribution of correspondence (publications), maintains all corporate books and accounts, receives and disburses fund  (finance), assists in  recruiting new  members by  responding promptly to telephone and e-mail enquires, maintains all membership, maintain all records and files all forms (regulatory) and fluent in Hyper-Text Markup Language (computer literacy).

According to Osuala and Okeke (2006), training involves providing employees with directed experience that enables them to be more effective in performing the various tasks that constitute their jobs. If effective, the training experiences result in changes in employee’s attitudes, work habits, and performance. From the above definitions, one can now say that in-service training is a means of building up skills through reading professional materials, attending conferences and workshops in order to perform excellently and to bring about high productivity in the work place.   Aminu and Ibeneme (2005), defined in-service training as a calculated attempt towards improving quality of an employee in terms of skills, knowledge and attitude with a view to obtaining qualitative and quantitative output from him. In-service training needs arise when workers or employees cannot cope with new techniques and innovations in their professional areas. They maintained that in-service training is a well planned and organized

efforts to change the  behaviour and  to improve on the skills acquired by an employee as to perform to acceptable standard on the job.

In-service training is a vital aspect of organizational management. This is because it is an investment in people and its essence is to enable the staff acquire more knowledge and better techniques by way of improved standard and quality of work as well as help create job satisfaction for the staff. It should be noted that in a fast changing technological age, the need for employees in-service training cannot be overemphasized, hence, it should be encouraged, organized and be a continuous exercise (Ofordile, 2007).

Several authors such as (Onah 2003), Mahapatra (2002) among others have emphasized the importance of in-service training as it increases both quality and quantity of output, engenders self-confidence and good judgement, develops positive orientation towards work, is very crucial in organizations especially in the changing environment in which executive secretaries work.

Mahapatra  (2002)  opined  that  in-service training  is  essential  in  public establishments to improve and maintain the service quality and standard of staff and the organization itself. Therefore, the executive secretaries require adequate training so that they can handle confidently more diverse and demanding assignments. He maintain that the goals and objectives of the organization will be achieved by the motivation, dedication, quality of work and skills that would be exhibited by the training staff in their work environment. He strongly posited that

in-service training plays a vital role in ensuring that the organization staff are prepared to take on their responsibilities.

Bryson (1990) maintained that every organization has the basic purpose of achieving a set of roles with respect to the management of its human resources. This is done by improving the performance of members of the organization to achieve  a  set  goal  or  objective  for  the  organization.  This  is  because  the productivity or success of any given organization depends to a large extent on the calibre of the people who work for it. Thus, this can be achieved when human potentials that  serve as  the  backbone of  the  organization are  developed, and properly managed. If the staff are effectively developed, their knowledge, skills and competence can lead to enviable social and economic heights of the organization in its goals accomplishment.

Collins  (1994)  opined  that  there  should  be  some  constant  retraining exercises for executive secretaries in order to be well equipped and up-to-date in their knowledge, attitude and skills. He went further to state that such retraining should be in all areas of secretarial development which include Information and Communication Technology Skills, Human relation skills, stenographic, Communication, Administrative and managerial skills, reprographic, micrographic and  electronic record keeping skills.  Retraining and  developing the  executive secretaries in  the  above areas  will  enable them to  discharge their  duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently and with higher degree of performance.

Agbo (2006), described an executive secretary as an employee who can cope with all the stress and demands of the office in a manner that will ensure her overall control of the crises that may emanate from managing records, communication, information, people  and  other  resources  that  are  intrinsically involved in making office the nerve center of any business organization. Executive secretary is seen as an administrative assistant who is able to cope with the stress involves in his work and who is able to carry out his assigned responsibilities with less or no supervision. Public establishments according to Oldroyd (1994) are government owned, financed, controlled and managed organizations. Therefore, an effective and efficient public establishment is one that has workers who exhibit high levels of job quality performance, high productivity and organizational commitments. According to Cole (1996), training is an activity designed to improve key areas of skills and knowledge. He maintained that development is broader than training because development is centred on increase in knowledge and skills acquisition.

Training and development is designed to ensure that the organization has a competent and skilled workforce to meet present needs and taking steps to ensure that fresh skills and knowledge are being developed to meet future needs. These in-service training programme could be achieved through attendance at University, attendance  at  relevant  conferences, seminars,  symposia  and  workshops.  Also, through study leave, self tuition, use of on-line packages, undertaking new responsibilities (Ade, 2007).

Statement of the Problem

Technological advancement has been extended to all spheres of human endeavours. Offices are daily modernized through the use of latest equipment and procedures.  These  affect  the  executive  secretary  and  his  profession.  The challenges of new techniques and innovations demand from executive secretaries much greater responsibilities and improved performances on their jobs.

The essence of providing in-service training for executive secretaries is to enable them develop professionally, keep abreast on new knowledge and technology in their office procedures and operations. However, Oldroyd (1994) and Mahapatra (2002), have observed that  public establishments pay only lip service to in-service training of their employees and this automatically accounts for staff inadequacies such as poor job performance. It is in this Gbosi (1999) maintains that  where  in-service training exists,  it  is  haphazardly coordinated, poorly monitored and organized. Ofordile (2007) observes that in-service training programmes have continued to experience the constraints of inadequate funds. This is because employees’ retraining in public establishment is considered expensive in terms of time and maintenance of staff during the programme. He maintains that lack of willingness by the employees to be retrained and some staff with long experience may not show interest in in-service training programmes that do not have any weight for purpose of assessment and they hardly take retraining seriously as a means of changing behaviour of the organization.

There is also the management inability to recognize the in-service training needs of their employees.   The  work force  is  generally under-tapped, under- utilized and therefore falls short of its anticipated contributions to the realization of organizational goals.

Therefore, these above inadequacies, if not properly addressed will result in poor performance, difficulty in attaining organizational goals and objectives, and lack of individual development and so on. These anomalies should urgently be corrected for the benefit of both the organizations and their staff members. It is therefore very significant to find out the in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

Purpose of the Study

The major purpose of this study was to assess the in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State. Specifically, the study sought:

1.      To assess the Information and Communication Technology skills for in- service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

2.      To  assess  the  human  relations  skills  for  in-service  training  needs  of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

3.      To assess the Administrative/managerial skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

4.      To assess the reprographic technology skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in Public establishments in Kaduna State.

5.      To assess the micrographic technology skills for in-service training needs of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

Significance of the Study

It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of immense benefit to administrators, secretarial staff, researchers, secretarial education students. Administrators (management): There is no single organization that can do without training and developing its staff. As such this study will provide adequate information to the management that will go through it to get a foreknowledge of the types of in-service training needs of their staff and the importance of in-service training and the condition that determine that. They could adopt the findings to plan and organize in-service training programmes for their staff.

Secretarial staff: The executive secretaries will be made to realize that adequate in-service training programmes enable them to  possess  the  level  of intellectuals skills  with  which  they  can  perfectly  and  proficiently handle  the demands of their daily routines and to understand that adequate training will help to ensure job satisfaction. The results of the study will hopefully stimulate further research on the in-service training needs of other cadres of the secretarial staff by opening the frontiers of information on  more in-service training programmes. Finally, secretarial education students would benefit from the  findings of  the

study. They would understand better concepts being taught and be able to express their views about concepts encountered in classroom interactions.

Research Questions

The following research questions have been formulated to guide the study:

1.  What are the Information and Communication Technology skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

2.  What are the human relations skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

3.  What are the administrative/managerial skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

4.  What are the reprographic technology skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

5.  What are the micrographic technology skills needed for in-service training of the executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State?

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses have been formulated for this study and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

H01: There is no significant difference (p<0.05) between the mean responses of

Chief Executive Secretaries and Deputy Chief Executive Secretaries on

Information and Communication Technology skills needed for in-service training of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

H02: There is no significant difference (p<0.05) in the mean responses of Chief Executive Secretaries and Deputy Chief Executive secretaries on human relations skills needed for in-service training of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

H03: There is no significant difference (p<0.05) between the responses of Chief Executive                     Secretaries   and   Deputy   Chief   Executive   Secretaries   on administrative/managerial skills needed for in-service training of executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State.

Delimitation of the Study

This  study  was  restricted  to  in-service  training  needs  of  executive secretaries in public establishments in Kaduna State. This study was delimited to public establishments in Kaduna State. The study did not assess other employees of   public   establishments   in   Kaduna   State.   The   ministries   represent   the geographical spread of public establishments in the state.


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IN-SERVICE TRAINING NEEDS OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARIES IN PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS IN KADUNA STATE

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