Table of Contents
According to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Office Technology and Management programme is designed to equip students with secretarial and office skills for employment in various fields of endeavour. Students are equally equipped with effective work competencies which are very essential in everyday interactions with others. Office technology is the application of scientific knowledge, device and system to facilitate and enhance information process. This makes student of secretarial studies competent, skillful and employable in the world of work (Akpomi and Ordu, 2009). In 2004, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the body in charge of technical education came up with a new nomenclature of “Office Technology and Management” to replace “Secretarial Programme”, thus giving a Secretary a new name of “Office Technology and Management”.
NBTE asserts that in addition to the acquisition of vocational skills in Office Technology and Management, the students are equipped with effective work competencies because Office Managers oversee the overall activities of the office. The functions and effectiveness of the Office Managers in every business organization depends on the availability of office technologies as well as the skills and competencies of the Office Managers. One of the ways to develop and practice professionalism in OTM is to maintain effective work habits prioritize, plan and manage your assignments, projects and affirms that office managers make use of various office resources for their job effectiveness and efficiency on the daily basis. The ability of the Office Manager to use these facilities enhances the organizational performance.
For decades now, fast changes have been taking place in all facets of human life including the office environment. This is as a result of technological advancement. In today’s business environment, organizations require facts and accurate information for quick decisions making. The office worker, including the secretary, expects certain support from the organization into which he/she is employed. As a result of changes in technology, the role of Office Manager in business has changed tremendously from that of typewriting and shorthand dictation, answering of telephone calls and processing of mails. Today’s secretaries are exposed to office technology including the internet that make work much easier and knowledge more accessible (Edwin, 2008). It is now easier to send messages by electronic mails (e-mails), and telephones.
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Other office gadgets available to the Office Manager are photocopy machines, duplicating machines, dictating machines, printers, among others. Most popular types of computer software programs are word processing, which help the user to type and edit memos, letters and reports, data management programs or databases, which help office manager to use long lists of data and spreadsheet programs (Dulek and Fielden, 2009). With this, Office Manager has many technologically advanced office gadgets that enhance their jobs and proficiency and productivity. In addition, there are wide range of office machines and equipment which enable Office Manager to improve on their job performances. Such new machines take the form of electronic typewriters that have replaced the manual ones.
Today, most offices have been computerized and it is the secretary that manipulates these equipments in the course of discharging their duties effectively. Also modern secretaries without computer literate find it difficult to cope or perform their duties well in a modern office. It is obvious that office managers of nowadays has been introduced with different courses that make them supersede ordinary secretary. Examples of the courses are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Publisher, Webpage Design. Lucas (2007) states that computers and other sophisticated office machines and equipment are now provided by employers. Some of the physical equipment used by Office Manager includes computer communication equipment and electronic pocket organizers. In some quarters, organizations do not provide these facilities to their office managers, the unavailability of these facilities makes them redundant and incompetent. According to Nwaokwa and Okoli (2012), the introduction of ICT has changed the roles of secretaries. They opined that ICT has influenced the performance of secretaries in delivery of information, accuracy and effectiveness at the work place.
New technological equipment that has altered the procedures and technique for office functions include the computers, electronic mail/ commerce, voice mail, and the Internet. However, these new developments brought by technological challenges require even more knowledge and skills beyond being a professional. For the Office Manager to be side by side with the changing times, face the challenges and overcome the old ways of doing things he or she needs training requirements in recent times to meet organizational objectives. Information technology has affected many professions in recent times. The roles of Office Technology and Management Programme have been turned around by technology. It has provided the tools that shift the role of Office Manager from that of information recorders to business strategists (Appah and Emeh, 2011). Several other authors are of the view that the Office Manager has to be well equipped with more technology equipment to meet the present challenges of a modern office such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, Desktop Publishing, and Advance web Design.
Statement of Problem
The Office Technology and Management profession is one of the oldest professions in the world. The role of the Office Manager is so vital to the development of an organization. There is hardly any organization where there is no need for the OTM staff. The job of an Office Manager is of massive importance and relevance to the survival of any organization. It is against this environment that the efficiency and effectiveness of the OTM staff of any organization and is of paramount interest, hence the need to plough into professionalism in the secretarial profession.
Purpose of the Study
- The aim of this study is to examine professionalism in office technology and management. The specific objectives of this research are to:
- Ascertain the extent of professionalism in OTM.
- Determine the critical issues in the learning of OTM.
- Identify measures that can modernize these challenges.
Research Questions
The following research questions were raised for the study.
- What is the view of OTM professional on what constitute professionalism?
- What are the factors that could hinder professionalism?
- What are the measures which can be adopted to improve professionalism in OTM?
- What is the level of professionalism of OTM professional in government tertiary institutions and the viability of the OTM professional bodies among OTM professionals?
Significance of the Study
This research work is a build-up of additional information that will serve as an extension of knowledge to Office Manager in their profession. This study will also help Lecturers of OTM to develop new teaching techniques based on adoption of the new technology and as the name incline “Office Technology and management” because the need of technology in this course of study cannot be over emphasized. However if technology is bought and placed in an office, it will not necessarily help the organization to improve this performance.
Limitation of the Study
There are many factors that act as constraint or limiting factors to the effort of the researcher in the course of writing this project. Most prominent of the factors are:
Time: the research work has a big task and as much requires time and energy which is great challenge to the researcher’s side
Finance: this is another limiting factor due to limited financial resources available, the researcher cannot procure all the needed material for this project
Inadequate academic resources – textbooks and academic journals which are relevant to this study will be difficult to come by given the scarcity of academic resources in our libraries.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Modern Office: This refers as the process of using advance technology for the processing of the day to day business activities in an organization.
Office Manager: An office manager is responsible for the smooth operation of the day-to-day business of the company. A good office manager makes it possible for other people in the organization to function efficiently.
Office Technology: This refers as the wide range of subjects related to careers in the modern office of today. This program provides the training necessary in office administration.
Training: Training is the teaching or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies.
Work Environment: this is described as the surrounding, conditions in which an employee operates.
Conceptual Review of the Study
Harvey (2009) described a profession as a group of people in a learned occupation, the members of which agree to abide by specified rules of conduct when practicing the profession. The definition has not covered some that’s why (Buseni 2013) define profession as The professions that are based on their own fundamental studies, such professions being engineering, chemistry, accounting, the natural and social sciences; the semi-professions replace theoretical study with acquisition of technical skill, such semi-professions being nursing, pharmacy, optometry, and social work; the professions require neither theoretical study nor the acquisition of technical skill, but a familiarity with modern practices in business-administration and current conventions; such occupations are hospital managers, sales managers, and work managers.
Concept of Profession
Collins Dictionary – A profession is a type of job that requires advance education on training, you can use profession to refer to all the people who have the same profession.
Profession is an occupation founded upon specialized educational training. The purpose of which is to supply disinterested objective counsel and service to others.
Example of profession are doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, lawyers and accountants in large Professional Service Firms (PSFs) and sometimes in international and commercial organizations; pharmacists in national (retailing) companies; and engineers; journalists, performing artists, the armed forces and police find occupational control of their work and discretionary decision – making increasingly difficult to sustain (Brante 2010, Champy 2011).
Concept of Professionalism
For a long time, Professionalism as a special means of organizing work and controlling workers and contrast to the hierarchical, bureaucratic and managerial controls of industrial and commercial organizations. Change is a constant feature of professional work but the speed and prominence of change is growing as increasingly professionals.
Definition of Professionalism
VirginiaTech (2019) defines professionalism as the conduct, behaviour and attitude of someone in a work or business environment. A person doesn’t have to work in a specific profession to demonstrate the important qualities and characteristics of a professional.
Professionalism can be defined as the skills, competence and the conduct displayed by an individual of a certain profession. It is also expected that such a person cultivate a polite performance when dealing with clients and fellow professionals.
Professionalism encompasses a variety of dimensions. It is not only polite behavior or else academic competence; on the contrary, it is a mixture of a number of qualities that contribute to professionalism. A professional needs to have specialized knowledge in his particular field.
Ways to Develop and Practice Professionalism in OTM
- Be productive
- Develop a professional image
- Manage your time efficiently
- Be a problem solver
- Communicate effectively
- Build relationship.
History of the Office Manager’s Profession
The word ‘secretary’ comes from the Latin word ‘secretarius’ meaning a person entrusted with secrets. A “secretary” is capable of performing all the duties of a senior stenographer (a person whose job is to transcribe speech in shorthand) and can also relieve the boss of some of the routine work. A “private secretary” works closely with an executive and confidentiality a key trait. A survey administered in the United States by Professional Secretaries International (PSI) in 1997 revealed that fewer than half (41%) now carry the word “secretary,” “executive secretary,” and “administrative secretary” in their job titles. Job titles have changed because advancing technology has changed the image and the responsibilities of today’s office workers.
Professional Secretaries International defines “a secretary as an executive assistant, who possess a mastery of office skills, demonstrates the ability to assume responsibility without direct supervision, exercises initiative and judgement and makes decisions within the scope of assigned authority.” It should be noted that nowhere in this definition does it narrow the profession to females only. For the past several years, Professional Secretaries International has tried to find a more appropriate name to replace the title “secretary.” An appropriate name change cannot be agreed upon by the 400,000 members, so a tag line has been added to all written correspondence.The Association for Office Professionals. New titles have been created to encompass the additional duties. Title such as “secretary”, “stenographer”, “clerk typist”, etc. are being replaced with Office Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Executive Assistant and Information Specialist, etc.
In the early part of the 20th century, the National Office Management Association (NAOMA) wanted the business world to know that “secretary” is a job classification and that it should not be confused with “typist,” “junior stenographer,” or “stenographer.” A “typist” was someone that knows how to touch type but does not know shorthand. A “junior stenographer” knows shorthand as well as typing and can take and transcribe dictation.
