ABSTRACT

The major purpose of this study was to determine the marital status and occupation performance of female secretaries in selected ministries in imo state. The population of the study consisted of  40 Female Secretarial Staff from the selected Organizations. The entire population was used for the study. The research question were posed to guide the study A-30 items structured questionnaire was developed and validated percentage was used to answer the research questions.

The major facts of the secretaries were Confidential and personal secretaries were only the type of secretary in the selected Business Organizations who were married female secretaries. The married female secretary’s staff has ignored to put in practice their duties, responsibilities and qualities of a good secretary and this posed to affects them in their work places.

Family problems have reflected to the challenges that confronted them in their work places, which makes them not working as expected.

It was recommended that secretaries should reaffirm their duties, responsibilities and qualification should not be overlooked in their tenor.

Finally, employers should device a means of training their secretaries in all areas, giving adequate motivation to them and ensuring genuine human relation respectively. keyword: Marital Status, Occupation Performance, married female secretaries in selected, business organization in owerri metropolis, Female Secretaries, Ministries In Imo State, female secretaries in selected business

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF 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 the 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, they feel the other workers are not qualified to work with them.

In a lay main language, a secretary is one who assist 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 married 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 thee 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 Owerri, 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, it is against this background that this study was undertaken to determine the challenges that face married female secretarial staff in Owerri municipal local government area.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Modern office machine and equipment: Automation is always a threat to most secretaries 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 loose her job.

The female married secretarial staff think they get frustrated when they set back to ask question to the junior staff.

1.3     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions will help in solving the research problems:

• Which secretarial functions posed challenges to married female secretaries in selected business in Owerri metropolis?
• How the human relation competencies do posed challenges to married female secretaries in selected business organization in Owerri metropolis?
• Does marital status of female secretaries affect occupational decision and performance?

1.4         PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the challenges and problem faced by married female secretaries in selected business organization in Owerri metropolis specifically, the study will find out:

• Whether the secretarial function of married female secretarial staff in selected business in Owerri metropolis pose a problem to them.
• Determine whether their human relation competencies are affected by marital obligation in selected business in Owerri metropolis.
• Determine the factors responsible for these challenges.
• To proffer solutions to the problems facing married female secretarial in selected business.

1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant in its attempt in bringing out the challenges of married 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 married female secretaries in selected business organization in Owerri metropolis know how the perform their human relations functions.

This study will also reveal the cause of poor performance in secretarial functions of married female secretaries in selected business organization in Owerri metropolis.


1.6  SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this research borders around the challenges facing the married female secretaries in discharging the important duties of a secretary. 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 married female secretaries and to proffer suggestion.