Secretary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Secretary (disambiguation).

A secretary is  an administrative support position. The title refers to a person who performs routine, administrative, or  personal tasks for a superior. These office employees perform duties such as typing, computer processing, and  scheduling for an  executive. They usually work at desks in offices.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Modern usage 3 Character of work 4 Private secretary 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Origin

Since the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and  the activities of the mighty had assumed the title of secretary (or in other cases, "clerk"), which contains the word "secret" to indicate the confidential, hence potentially influential, nature of such work.

With time, like many titles, it  got applied to more  and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work better, like general secretary, financial secretary or  Secretary of state. Just "secretary" remained in use either as an  abbreviation when clear in the context or  for relatively modest positions such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or  as member of secretariat. As such less  influential posts became more  feminine and  common with the multiplication of bureaucracies in the public and  private sectors, new words were also coined to describe them, such as personal assistant.

[edit] Modern usage

In the 1880s, with the invention of the typewriter, more  women began to enter the field, and  since World War I, the role of secretary has been primarily associated with women. By the 1930s, fewer men were entering the field of secretaries.

In an  effort to promote professionalism amongst United States secretaries, the National Secretaries Association was created in 1942. Today, this organization is  known as the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) The organization developed the first standardized test for office workers called the Certified Professional Secretaries Examination (CPS). it  was first administered in 1951.

In 1952, Mary Barrett, president of the National Secretaries Association, C. King Woodbridge, president of Dictaphone Corporation, and  American businessman Harry F. Klemfuss created a special Secretary's Day holiday, to recognize the hard work of the staff in the office. The holiday caught on, and  during the fourth week of April is  now celebrated in offices all over the world. it  has been renamed "Administrative Professional's Week" to highlight the increased responsibility of today's secretary and  other administrative workers, and  to avoid embarrassment to those who believe "secretary" refers only to women or  to unskilled workers.

[edit] Character of work

At the administrative level many job descriptions blur into each other; a secretary in one company might be called an  administrative assistant in another. However, while Administrative Assistant is  a truly generic term, not necessarily implying directly working for a superior, Secretary tends to be biased towards typing-based activities directed by a superior. Other titles describing jobs similar to or  overlapping those of the traditional secretary are  Office Coordinator, Executive Assistant, Office Manager and  Administrative Professional.

Secretarial jobs are  popular as they require few formal qualifications and  yet can be skilled jobs:

• At the most basic end of the spectrum a secretary may need only a good command of the prevailing office language and  the ability to type, and  may spend a large part of her time filing and  fetching papers (or the equivalent files and  databases online) or  answering phones.

• At the other end of the spectrum they may be required to take dictation by writing in shorthand at spoken-language rates, type at high speeds using technical or  foreign languages, organise diaries, itineraries and  meetings and  carry out administrative duties which may include accountancy. In a more  elevated secretarial position, she or  he may also control access to the manager whom she / he is  assigned to, and  thus becomes an  influential person, and  trusted aide.

Interaction with the general public varies from none to extensive, though in the modern US those whose work entails customer service requests are  often called "customer service representatives". They are  distinct from those called "secretaries" because the scope of their work is  smaller. A large urban supermarket, for instance, will have  office staff working in enclosed offices in addition to checkout staff, with the latter usually only handling their own receipts for that day's sales while the professional staff must reconcile all accounts daily.

Employment agencies for temporary employment often fill secretarial jobs.

[edit] Private secretary

In the United Kingdom government, a Parliamentary Private Secretary is  the chief assistant to a Secretary of State or  Minister of the Crown. Senior civil servants may also have  a Private Secretary. Depending upon the seniority of their principal, a Private Secretary may him or  herself be regarded as an  important official in their own right. The Private Secretary to the Sovereign and  the Private Secretary to the Prime Minister are  the most important.

A Private Secretary can be assisted by one or  more Assistant - and  or Deputy Secretaries, or  even head a whole office in which those may be section chiefs.

In several continental European states, similar positions (to a head of state or  executive minister) are  given names meaning chief of the 'cabinet' (e.g. kabinetschef in Dutch, Chef de cabinet in French) in the sense of personal advisory and  administrative staff, indeed like a Chief of Staff heading a bureau that may in fact include one or  more functions styled Secretary, e.g. Press Secretary, Social Secretary.

The same function may exist under another name without the — rather confusing — word Private, and  to a gubernotorial dignitary, e.g. Secretary to the Governor General as in Canada.

Other cultural traditions have  one or  more specific terms for a similar position, e.g.:

• in the former kingdom of Afghanistan, Shaghasi-i-Huzuri (from Shaghasi Chamberlain & huzur 'presence') meant Private Secretary to the King.

[edit] See also

• Clerk
• General secretary
• Principal Private Secretary
• Private Secretary to the Sovereign
• Secretary (a 2002 romantic black comedy movie)

[edit] References

• Canada- OSGG
• RoyalArk- see various nations