Project Materials

THE IMPACT OF KEYBOARDING SKILLS ON PERFORMANCE OF SECRETARIES IN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study 

Secretaries with good motor skills may type information into a computer’s memory with little to no effort and energy expended. This is known as keyboarding.

If secretaries can reliably enter data into the computer’s memories in a short amount of time while using little energy and demonstrating a high degree of consistency and flexibility, then we may say that they are skilled keyboard users (Hames, 2000:1).

Proficiency in keyboarding is a talent that will serve you well throughout your life. Transcribing handwritten letters into text has given way to generative typing, which entails coming up with one’s own ideas while using the keyboard, (Cooper, 1983).

While technological advancements have not made information more accessible or easier to use, they have increased the demand on computer users and secretaries to hone their skills (like typing) in order to make the most of electronic communication and efficient business transactions (like using e-mail to communicate with clients).

Living in a society where computers play such a central role requires proficient keyboarding abilities for efficient and productive interaction. Typing has evolved from a simple means of transcribing handwritten notes into legible written text into an essential component of our everyday life; gone are the days when Cooper’s aptitude was seen as a guarantee of a secretarial post. At work, the typical computer user spends over two and a half hours each day on their device. According to usernomics (2007).

To write and edit documents like memos, letters, and reports, as well as data management programs like spreadsheets that deal with tables and numbers and secretarial software that uses long lists of data, the most common forms of computer hardware processing are known as keyboards (Isosoki, 2000).

Secretaries now have the tools they need to do their jobs better, which improves efficiency and output, which in turn makes goods and services more accessible. Efficient service delivery is the primary goal of modern computer systems, which are mostly controlled by keyboard input in corporate enterprises.

The whole purpose of any for-profit firm is to further some predetermined aim. Secretaries are full-fledged members of the system in any business, and they have a significant impact on supply and demand because to the information they get from outside sources like trade groups and political organisations.

This leads many to feel that secretaries are special in their own right, that they perform important jobs that call for varying degrees of expertise, and that it is critical that secretaries themselves acknowledge these distinctions.

This means that every company relies on secretaries with strong typing skills to produce error-free business documents including memos, transcripts, and letters as well as figures containing client information for documentation.

Organisational and industry success is guaranteed by proficient keyboarding abilities, which foster coercion. Therefore, it would be impossible for any company to achieve their goals if its secretary lacked proficiency in keyboarding.

Statement Of The Problem

Not only are secretaries expected to assist executives with almost a thousand different tasks, but they are also seen as an essential link in the organization’s chain (Wikdal, 2001).

Their supervisors are irritated because their secretaries can’t live up to this standard. Secretaries face difficulties in their profession due to a lack of proficiency on the keyboard, which can make even simple typing tasks extremely tedious and time-consuming.

Finding the correct keys, for instance, requires more effort and time. Misspellings and typos can be caused by clumsy keystrokes. Devoting more effort to locate and fix typos is required.

According to Johnson & Brine (2000) and McDonald & Foss (2007), secretaries’ proficiency with the keyboard impacts their capacity to finish a connected work.

Because of this, tensions have grown between secretaries and various stakeholders, including management, coworkers, clients, and the general public.

One possible explanation is that secretaries just do not possess adequate keyboarding abilities. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to investigate how proficient keying abilities affect secretaries’ productivity in commercial settings.