CHALLENGES OF SECRETARIES WORKING IN FINANCIAL HOUSES

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:
The work of secretaries in an organization is very vital and there is no way an organization can function well without their aid. The fast production of efficient work is assured since they are well trained in that line.
Whenever paper work, records and mostly written communication are needed in an organization the secretaries are likely to be involved. In as much as secretaries have been undermined by the general public in many ways, the general conception is usually that any employee who sits behind a typewriter and does other forms of secretarial jobs is a secretary; therefore regarding them as typists or mere servants. It is therefore pertinent to start by knowing exactly who a secretary is, before going to the challenges facing them.
A secretary is an employment in an office who deals with correspondence, keeps records, makes arrangement and appointments for a particular member of the staff. He/she is the one who combines or has the mastering skills of shorthand and type writing and with a sound knowledge of secretarial duties.
A secretary is defined by the National Association secretaries in United States of America “as a executive assistant who posses mastery of office skills, who demonstrates ability to assume responsibilities without direct supervisor who exercises initiatives and judgment, and who makes decision with in the scope of assigned authority”.
Office skills include typewriting, shorthand ability to operate photocopying machine, duplicating machines, cope with filings, do reception duties. Furthermore, a good secretary needs also to have accumulated enough knowledge about commercial work in general and this implications, on secretary is deemed to be genius.
A secretary in other words is a person employed in an office to care of correspondence/ records and in addition keep the day to day engagement of his/her executive in line with various demands.
Based on these factors, one can now say that a secretary is an indispensable factor in any office or organization. 
A secretary has out-standing qualities – she understands the principles of keeping secrets, being polite to customers, callers and visitors, no matter how highly or lowly the visitors may be placed.
She appreciates the aims or goals of the organization in office or business, and conscientious works towards the achievement of the goals, together with the boss and other staff.
The secretary working in an industry should know all about the place. She should know the products, how they are produced, how raw materials are obtained, how the machinery works, how and where the spare parts are obtained, know managers and their individual assignments, other management staff, and indeed, the policy of the whole organization.
A good secretary is always alert, she reads newspapers, listens to News on electronic media and even to other people as they discuss. This is because, she might get useful information with minimum delay for the smooth running of the organization. Other attributes of a good secretary include tactfulness, self-control, neatness, politeness, ability to work without grumbling memory and pleasant speaking, services of a secretary are indispensable in every establishment. But, this fact notwithstanding, secretaries complain of one form of maltreatment or another from their employers in the course of carrying out their duties.
In spite of the important roles which secretaries play in organizations. Nigeria secretaries are still faced with a lot challenges and this paper or research will address these challenges.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
The secretarial profession has become overwhelming indispensable in all spheres of life in recent times, but unfortunately the profession is higher and adequate recognition in financial houses.
Many people have this false notion that only never do wells enter the profession. Secretaries are most times misunderstood and misplaced, therefore they relegate to the background by many bosses as a result they are placed in their rightful positions.
This research work is aimed at finding out the challenges facing the secretaries and paving a way to gaining the attention for the secretarial profession by making both financial houses and secretaries to be aware of their positions as they work hand by hand.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The main purpose of this research is to identify the challenges of secretaries in model financial houses. Specifically the study seeks to:
1. Identify who the secretaries are in an organization.
2. investigate whether secretaries are sent on training to improve their skills.
3. ascertain whether secretaries are properly remunerated.
4. to find out if today’s secretaries are able to manipulate modern office machines and equipment in our model offices.
5. to determine how the secretaries relate with their bosses.

1.4 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Any study carried out must have some significance and it is strongly believed that this study when completed will be of immense benefit to all groups of people in the society.
For one thing, this study will identify the challenges of secretarial, help their employers to have a clear view of their problems and their device means of motivating their secretaries so as to enhance productivity. It will also help the manages to know what relationship that should exist between them and their secretaries.
Again, it will be beneficial to the secretaries themselves to enhance their prospects, if they adhere to the recommendations set out by this study. It will serve as an inspiration to secretaries Nigeria having known their problems and ways of averting them.
It will also have as a frame work in improving the ways, status, and working conditions of the secretaries in Nigeria.
However, this project will serve as an indicator to employers so as to know how to treat their secretaries, know the working environments that will be best for maximum efficiency and productivity of secretarial work and the entire work of the organization and improve on their business in general.
Finally, the research will provide an up-to-date data of secretarial challenges for future researchers to look at in their studies.

1.5 SCOPE/LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on the challenges facing secretaries in model financial houses first Bank Plc, Enugu (main branch) is specifically used for the study.
The researcher encountered some problems that delayed the completion of the project on time. Chief among these problems was lack of materials.
Most of the resource materials at hand were quite irrelevant to the topic of research because not much has been written by people on this topic from where enough materials would have been collected to help more in writing up the literature review.
Time was also a problem to the researcher. Research work of this nature requires much time for collection of valid information and other relevant materials to make this study, due to the fact that is being conducted at a time when the researcher was preparing for her final examinations.
The researcher was also constrained by finance, which also affected the depth of coverage of the variables researched.

1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study is undertaken to provide answers to the following research questions;
(1) What role does a secretary lay in model offices?
(2) How are secretaries remunerated in model financial houses.
(3) To what extent re secretaries so on training to improve their skills.
(4) To what extent are today’s secretary able to manipulate modern office machines and equipment in model financial houses?
(5) What are the relationships between the secretary and her boss?