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 with computers in offices.

Secretary is also a designation for some mid- or high-level governmental positions, such as a Secretary of State.

1 Secretary (office)
2 Secretary (governmental)
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Secretary (office)

[edit] Origins

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, the term was 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 a 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 out of political correctness believe that "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 regarding electronic files and database information) 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, thus becoming an influential person, and trusted aide.

Interaction with the general public varies from none to extensive (especially in smaller offices, where they may also work as receptionists, 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.

The secretary is also an often-used stereotype in fiction and media, usually as a dramaturgical tool (to introduce new scenes, situations or people via a short conversation with the superior).

[edit] Secretary (governmental)

In the USA, many high-level government positions leading their section of the executive branch are called 'Secretaries', such as the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Defense.

In the United Kingdom government, a Parliamentary Private Secretary is the chief assistant of 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 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'.

In the People's Republic of China, a Party Committee Secretary (党委书记) is the most prominent regional Communist Party leadership office, usually the number-one figure in their respective regions. For example, Xi Jinping, the Communist Party Shanghai Committee Secretary, is the city's highest ranked leader, higher than the mayor.