Secretarial Theory and Practice Tutorial

Author: Wang Yudai et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-07-01
Features: This book is divided into 12 chapters, with main content including: The role and types of secretaries, the qualities and professional ethics of secretaries, daily affairs of secretaries, secretarial conference management, secretarial document processing, secretarial reception work, mail handling and postal services, information work and research, secretarial coordination, etc. Each chapter includes reading materials and skill training exercises to cultivate students' practical abilities. This book can serve as a teaching material for liberal arts majors in colleges and universities, or as training materials for secretaries in various enterprises and institutions. It also provides practical guidance for secretarial professionals.
5. Adapting to Future Changes
This change refers not only to technological advancements but also to the underlying factors driving these changes. It involves understanding personal choices, planning one's career and goals, and leveraging individual technological skills to fully adapt to the challenges of overall changes in the future office environment. A survey on future expectations for secretaries revealed that approximately 1/4 of respondents expressed a strong interest in the profession that would remain unchanged; another 1/4 planned to pursue further education. About 15 respondents had no answer, while another 35 gave scattered answers, including: 5 who already possessed other skills for potential career shifts, 5 who were already ill, 7% who decided to start their own businesses, 8 who were too poor to pursue education, and another 15 who chose to remain secretaries for life, etc.
Based on these statistics from the United States, we can roughly outline some potential challenges that may arise in the professionalization of secretarial roles in China. Essentially, while the treatment and career progression of secretaries in foreign-invested enterprises are similar to those in Western companies, there are several key differences between secretaries in China and those in the West:
(1) In China, bosses often treat secretaries as subordinates or servants, whereas foreign companies tend to view them as friends. This reflects a significant disparity in status.
(2) Most secretaries in China hold college degrees or higher, with some even having higher qualifications than their supervisors. In contrast, secretaries in foreign countries are typically high school graduates who have undergone one to two years of specialized training in secretarial schools.
(3) China lacks secretarial schools, so the market demand for secretaries has not been met with formal training. In Western countries, secretaries are required to hold professional licenses or certificates to be employed.
(4) The workload of secretaries in China is often overwhelming due to unclear job classifications. In Western countries, if a secretary holds the title, they are usually personal assistants or executive secretaries, with distinct from general typists, receptionists, or document processors.
Due to these differences, career planning for secretaries in China differs slightly from that in the West. To transition from administrative routine tasks to supervisory roles, one must at least possess:
(1) Professional knowledge,
(2) Administrative skills,
(3) Political acumen.
During routine document processing, filing, information management, and travel arrangement tasks, secretaries must proactively develop and refine their knowledge of professional management, such as management courses, computer operations, software applications, and information integration. Additionally, they should specialize in one area of management—such as human resources, finance, information, or marketing—to genuinely enter the role of a professional manager. Therefore, preparation for advancement is crucial: one must first choose, learn, gain approval from supervisors, and seize opportunities to progress toward a supervisory role. Every step in this process requires personal effort.
If a career as a secretary is pursued long-term, career planning is also essential. The office environment will change with the advent of the technological era. If secretaries fail to gradually specialize and quickly acquire essential skills, they may be in competition. In this regard, China should have long since vigorously promoted a secretarial qualification system, establishing secretaries as professional roles through examinations. Only then will the profession of secretaries be more respected and recognized. Naturally, alongside the exams, more specialized secretarial schools should emerge in society. Japan, for example, has seen tremendous benefits in improving the overall image of secretaries since implementing an examination system 15 years ago. Only 83 out of 1,000 candidates passed the exam, but this has significantly boosted the profession's prestige.
(Excerpted from Shi Yongqi's On the Genius Secretary, published by Beiyue Literature and Art Press in January 2003)
### Micro Environment of Secretarial Work
Relevant Data on Work Objects and Illumination Standards
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┃Minimum Scale (d/mm)┃Low Illumination (Artificial)┃
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┃d≤0.15┃┃
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┃0.15-0.3┃┃
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┃0.3-0.6┃┃
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┃0.6-1┃┃
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┃1-2┃┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━━━━━━┫
┃d>5┃20W┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┻━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Illumination Standards for Offices, Rooms, and Other Indoor Spaces
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┃No.┃Location Name┃Artificial Illumination Standard┃
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┃1┃Design Room┃100W┃
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┃2┃Reading Room┃75W┃
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┃3┃Office, Meeting Room, Archive Room┃50W┃
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┃4┃Cafeteria┃30W┃
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┃5┃Restroom┃30W┃
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┃6┃Toilet┃20W┃
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┃7┃Corridors, Stairs┃5W┃
┗━━━━┻━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┻━━━━━━━━━┛
Indoor Noise Standards for Non-Residential Areas
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┃Location┃Standard (dB(A))┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━┫
┃Office, Shop, Small Restaurant, Meeting Room┃35┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━┫
┃Large Restaurant, Typing Office, Gymnasium┃45┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━━┫
┃Large Typing Room┃55┃
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┃Workshop (varies by use)┃45-75┃
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