Description
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUNDOF THE STUDY In every profession, there is lot of challenges facing the staff depending on their professional fields. To every profession, there is lot of challenges facing them from one department to another. In higher institutions or in universities, the challenges facing them both male and female workers are the workers or lectures feel cheated, when they are talking about the hierarch, people that are controlling them feel they are higher than they are by either profession or qualifications. In the banks, there are a lot of challenges facing the workers, some managers feel that those who are under their care have no good profession, and they feel the other workers are not qualified to work with them. In a lay main language, a secretary is one who assists the boss in taking down the minutes of the meeting, writing letters, filling incoming and outgoing correspondences of an organization. A secretary should relate the functions of the office to the whole organization. She should appropriate action independently when accurate records of proceedings and relieves executive of various administrative details, co-ordinates and maintains effective office procedure set by employer, establishes and maintain harmonious working relationship with superiors, co-workers subordinates, customers and clients and suppliers. (Ohakwe 2004). According to( Njoku 2006) a secretary?s effort alone cannot help to improve your relationship with your boss. As a secretary, he or she should show concern to the staff of the organization, a secretary must show the typewriting and this new inventory competencies required of secretaries. According to (Ezinwa and agumo 2000) a secretarial staff in an office with the professional qualifications of secretaries and equipped practice, mainly shorthand and typewriting that is the reason why a good secretary is an officer whose work is under women with the work of every other person in the organization (Ani 2001). According to him in the business world and essential link in the diversified duty activities of an organization, the pivot around which organizational activities rotate, the contact between the various aims are or variable goods and services to customers. This challenges encountered by female secretaries staff in their work places varies from one business organization to another or even the employer?s policy toward employment, promotion, training and advancement discriminate to customers. In some business organizations, promotion policy of private and other business organization, and other minatory affects them because some employers believes that women are efficient without effective because of one biological problem or another. Some of them experience sexual harassment from their supervisor to avoid dint on their married status and reputation may lead them to quit their job where as it is obliged those secretarial staff must cordially relate to their supervisor to maintain their jobs in movement of the official duties. Despite this, some employers abuse this honor and expose the staff to problems. A secretary who works with her boss dismisses late from her work because her special duty in business organization. This can affect the female married secretaries though the attitude or the reaction of the boss and junior staff or their executives. This can be because of official duty, which might lead to travel outside the state, but through the condition of their married status and the biological career, they could not be chanced range of ways in which gender discrimination is manifest in the world within the departments. Therefore, this study reveals the challenges that face female secretarial staff in Nigeria bottling company which serves as the case study of the research work. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Modern office machine and equipment: Automation is always a threat to most Secretaries especially the female one these days. A secretary who was trained with manual typewriting is face with the word processor and the computer in a modern office. This is the greatest challenge a beginning secretary will face if she is to understand and co-operate with the boss. The female married secretary should cope with the office procedure or else she will lose her job. The female married secretarial staffs think they get frustrated when they set back to ask question to the junior staff. The problems that face female secretaries are stated as follow. a. Sexual harassment from the boss b. Combination of the office management or responsibilities and that of the home management. c. Intimidation by the male counterparts etc. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The following questions will help in solving the research problems: 1. Which secretarial functions posed challenges to female secretaries in selected business in Nigeria bottling company? 2. How the human relation competencies do posed challenges to married female secretaries in selected business organization in Nigeria bottling company? 3. Does marital status of female secretaries affect occupational decision and performance? 4. Do female secretaries have equal chance of advancement with their male counterpart in Nigeria bottling company? 5. Does the secretarial work affect the private lives of both the married and unmarried secretaries at the Nigerian bottling company? 1.4 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the challenges and problem faced by female secretaries in selected business organization in Nigeria bottling company specifically, the study will find out: 1. Whether the secretarial function of female secretarial staff in Nigerian bottling company pose a problem to them. 2. To know whether the unmarried female secretaries in (Nigerian bottling company) have more chances of advancement on the job than their married counterpart. 3. Determine whether their human relation competencies are affected by marital obligation in Nigeria bottling company. 4. Determine the factors responsible for these challenges. 5. To proffer solutions to the problems facing female secretarial in selected business especially the married ones. 1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will serve as an indicator to employer?s as to know how to treat their female secretaries, know the working environment that will be best for them and to improve the organizational performance and give more chance for women empowerment. This study is significant in its attempt in bringing out the challenges of female secretaries and additional information that extent the frontiers of knowledge in the secretarial profession as well as Education. It will reveal to the married secretaries how their irregularities affect their performance and the organization as a whole. It will go on a long way in helping the female secretaries in the case study know how they perform their human relations functions. This study will also reveal the cause of poor performance in secretarial functions of married female secretaries in the case study. 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY It is designed to study the Nigerian bottling company and its environments on the challenges and problems facing the female secretaries in the discharge of their duties. Moreover it would reveal why men are scared of following their wives to remain secretaries or proposing marriage to the unmarried. The researcher will investigate the challenge facing the female secretaries and to proffer suggestion.