-
Survey Into The Degree Of Usefulness Of Shorthand To Modern Secretaries
[A CASE STUDY OF UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC ENUGU]
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
-
-
Commenting on the related issue of the controlling influence of work
environment over education, Fusselman, (1982) remarked that “we should
not forget that things outside the school matter even more than the
things inside the school and govern things inside,†hence, the need to
ascertain the degree to which shorthand is used in work places become
relevant.
Expressing the fear that the frequency of use of shorthand
by secretaries in the office work might not be proportionate with the
efforts students make in the study of shorthand, Greg (1971) regretted
that in spite of work efficiency that can accumulate from the use of
shorthand in the office work, secretaries make little or no use of
shorthand skill in their work. He maintains that: Millions of
secretaries learnt shorthand but very few use it everyday. There are
secretaries in business offices, courtrooms, government offices,
committee meetings etc, where it is desirable to have record of the
spoken words, yet less of them make use of shorthand.
It is therefore
relevant to ask whether the degree to which shorthand is being used in
the offices really justifies the efforts being made in the acquisition
of the skill. It is comprehendible that the essence of training is
realized by what it can be used to achieve afterwards. Guided by
Skinner’s (1959) “Principle of learning should be made known to the
learners _ is it not paradoxical that some secretaries< in the course
of study of shorthand do not have the faintest knowledge of their
destination in terms of the level of intensity of using this skill may
be subjected to< by the employers. This lack of knowledge creates
psychological block in the student’s enthusiasm to make all the
necessary efforts to attain the necessary speed level.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
A
lot of emphasis has been put on the study of shorthand in schools,
colleges and universities as a core subject for secretarial training.
Students often record a lot of failures on this course. Teachers and
student of secretarial studies agree that shorthand is one of the most
difficult subjects in the curriculum of secretarial training programme.
De-young
(1977) underlines the difficulties associated with the learning and
teaching of shorthand in his assertion that educators are constantly
looking for ways to improve teaching competence in the secretarial
subjects and students on the other hand are also faced with the problem
of which learning procedure to adopt in order to conquer the problems
posed by shorthand. Presently, little research has been conducted to
determine the meeting point between what teachers teach and what the
employers want in terms of the degree of proficiency required for office
work and how frequently secretaries make use of shorthand in their
day-to-day office duties, and the right answers have not yet surfaced.
This write up therefore aims to find out how relevant shorthand is to
present-day employer. Should shorthand be completely eliminated from the
secretarial studies curriculum? Or should it be de-emphasized or left
as it is. How often is the skill required in today’s modern office with
computers and other communication gadgets available? These and other
questions are what this research aims to solve.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 3]
Page 2 of 3
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The degree to which shorthand is used in offices has been of serious concern both to students and tutors in secretarial studies. This study investigated the extent to which secretaries make use of shorthand in their day-to-day office work, whether the extent of usage is proportionate to the effort put in learning the skill and whether employers who want secretaries regard shorthand skill as job requirements.In order to arrive at a c conclusive decision on the above objectives, the researcher car ... Continue reading---
