COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF SECRETARIES IN SMALL SCALE BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS IN ENUGU STATE FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The study focused on competencies required of secretaries in small scale business organizations in Enugu state for national development. Survey research design was adopted. Two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at .05 level of significance guided the study. The population for the study was 198 secretaries of functional small scale business organizations out of 305 registered small scale business organizations in Enugu State (137 females and 61 males). The number was manageable hence, there was no sampling. Structured questionnaire containing a total of 24 items was the instrument for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Crombach Alpha reliability coefficient. A correlation of 71 was obtained. The entire 198 copies of the instrument distributed were retrieved giving 100% return rate. It was found out that all the communication and computer/ word processing competencies enumerated were highly required of
secretaries in private small scale business organizations in Enugu State for national development. Subsequently, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the female and male respondents on the communication and computer/word processing competencies required of secretaries in private small scale business organizations in Enugu State for national development. Recommendations made include: workshops and seminars should be organized by the management of private small scale business organizations in Enugu state for retraining their secretaries for possession of the required competencies; the government of Enugu state should make sure that secretaries of small scale business organizations are registered with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Development Agency of Nigeria.