Secretarial Staff Research Articles

Em que atributos deve melhorar o nível de serviço? As concepções de gestores e alunos de uma IES privada

Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa com os alunos do curso de Administração de uma IES privada com atuação no Rio Grande do Norte. Três questões norteiam o estudo: a) há distinção entre as expectativas dos discentes, matriculados em campus diferentes, sobre os serviços oferecidos? b) As percepções dos gestores sobre as expectativas dos alunos estão em consonância com as reais prioridades do corpo discente? c) Em quais atributos do serviço os gestores de cada campus devem aperfeiçoar com urgência? Para isto, foram entrevistados 69 discentes e os dois coordenadores de curso, tomando como base um conjunto de 22 atributos. Os achados apontam que há uma semelhança moderada entre os padrões de expectativas dos alunos de Administração matriculados em unidades distintas. Certificou-se ainda que, independente do campus, os coordenadores de curso pouco conhecem as prioridades dos estudantes. Os inexpressivos coeficientes de Spearman confirmam essa evidência. Os dois campus devem melhorar, de imediato, os níveis de serviço nos atributos: teoria e prática; atenção individualizada ofertada aos discentes; a compreensão de suas necessidades específicas e o atendimento dos funcionários da secretaria.

Tranparansi dan Akuntabilitas Pelaporan Keuangan Masjid Agung Al-Akbar Surabaya

This study is conducted to understand the meaning of transparency and accountability financialreport of Surabaya Al Akbar national Mosque. This study is a descriptive qualitative studywhile the study approach is phenomenological transcendental by taking site and location atSurabaya Al Akbar National Mosque. Data is gained by interview to 12 (twelve) informant keysas communities, donor, administrative section head, treasury, secretary, and mosque staff. Datavalidity testing is taken by triangulation technique and analysis method is taken by intentionalanalysis, epoche, and eidetic reduction steps. The result of the study concludes that Surabaya AlAkbar National Mosque in applying accountancy uses the basic standard PSAK nu. 45 year2011 about nonprofit organization including financial position report, activities report, moneysupply report, and notes for financial report. Applying this practice is guaranteed by good faithquality values as amanah, istiqomah, uswah, mas’uliah, and liljami’il-ummah as behaviororientation for the mosque organizer, skillfully human resources in organization structure, community role, and the acknowledgment by quality management system ISO 9001:2008. Accountability principal is part of worship by vertical and horizontal responsibility pattern. The verticalpattern to supervisor agency, East Java Government, and Allah SWT to get His blessing. Thehorizontal pattern is tended to mosque donor and society. Transparency principal is done byproviding clear information about the procedures, costs, and responsibility of the mosque organizer agency and giving ease access to financial report information, complaint mechanism arrangement, and improving information through cooperation with public medium. However, financial report has not checked yet by independent auditor so, it is lessening the value of accountability and transparency financial report itself.Keyword:accountability, Allah’s blessing, informant, interview, phenomenological, transparency.

Symbolic Interaction in the Assistant Secretary's Staff Meeting

Political scientists recognize that the personalities and group interactions of top government executives influence their policy decisions and timing, but they are frustrated when they try to analyze the executive level(in Washington,Cabinet secretaries,assistant secretaries and bureau directors).Unlike Congress it is closed, unlike the White House it receives little press coverage, and unlike the career bureaucracy opportunities for interviews and actual experience are rare. Participant observation by political scientists occupying positions at this level is nearly the only method. Erving Goffinan's theory of dramaturgy provides a structure for analysis and ties to theories of symbolic interaction.

Impact of Computer-Based Information Technology on Job Performance of Secretarial Staff in Nigerian

Impact of Computer-Based Information Technology on Job Performance of Secretarial Staff in Nigerian

The Development of a Concept Map for Understanding Spiritual Integration in Evangelically Based Social Service Organizations

The role that spirituality and religion play in the delivery of social services in faith-based organizations is a relative unknown. Specifically, what remain missing are well-defined operational indicators that cover the continuum of spiritual integration. This article describes results from a study using concept mapping to create a conceptual model of spiritual integration for The Salvation Army in Chicago. Eleven brainstorming sessions were convened with counselors, case managers, program directors, pastors, secretarial staff, church parishioners, and other Salvation Army affiliates (N = 112), and a list of 117 spiritual integration indicators was generated. Using Concept Systems software, 15 of the original panelists sorted the 117 items and a total of 105 study participants rated them along the dimension of importance for the concept of spiritual integration. Using hierarchical cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling, a conceptual map with 9 clusters was produced. Clusters with the highest importance ratings were Living Your Faith, Treatment of Others, and Evangelism. This research presents a conceptualization of spiritual integration and identifies the constituent domains. Findings may help focus programmatic and research efforts, leading to the development of measures that open the field for further research and theory generation.

Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies Turns Forty! Reflections from Former Editors

Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies Turns Forty!Reflections from Former Editors Kathi George (bio), Alanna Preussner (bio), Elizabeth Jameson (bio), Louise Lamphere (bio), Jane Slaughter (bio), Sue Armitage (bio), Patricia Hart (bio), Karen Weathermon (bio), Susan E. Gray (bio), and Gayle Gullett (bio) Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. To help us commemorate this impressive achievement, we invited former editors of Frontiers to share their experiences in creating and reinventing the journal. We asked about their favorite memories as well as their views of how the field of women’s studies has evolved over the past forty years. Every movement for social change needs some expendable people. People willing to give up financial gain and/or professional advancement for the cause. As a founding member of the Frontiers Editorial Collective, I was expendable because the University of Colorado, our first home, had no way to punish me for my actions. In the spring of 1974, I was not a graduate student, a faculty member, an adjunct faculty member, a tenure-track professor, a staff secretary, or a faculty wife at cu. Of all the members of the Frontiers founding editorial board, I was the only one with nothing to lose: an independent, self-supporting feminist willing to work for free for thirteen years. Along with a total lack of respect for authority, this nothing-to-lose status and a sense of “situational ethics” served me well as one of the first Frontiers editors and as her first publisher. Lyin’, cheatin’, and stealin’—these are among my favorite memories during the early years at Frontiers. With a touch of humor and a wave at country-western song lyrics, I write from the perspective of forty years about the risks I was willing to take and the lengths I was willing to go to in order to help launch a journal with a unique purpose—to try to bridge the gap between academia and the real world. [End Page 194] I was the only member of the founding committee for the Women Studies Program and Frontiers who had been a staff secretary at cu. As such, I knew how the University’s financial system functioned from the inside. I knew what a Code 3 account was and how to open one, so I did that for Frontiers. A Code 3 account was an independent, self-funded account that operated outside the supervision of the dean or the chancellor or the budget office. Our self-funding at the journal was to come from subscriptions, ads, and/or grants. If you had a Code 3 account at cu, you were not allowed to have an outside business account at a commercial bank in Boulder. I cheerfully opened one of those, too, using my own social security number this time. Technically, this was “illegal.” Frontiers never had any money. Our subscriptions barely paid for printing and postage for three issues a year. And since we were not an official part of the Women Studies Program, we got no funding from them. Eventually, the Code 3 account slipped into the red. This went on undetected for quite a while. Years. The deficit was small, but still … The cheatin’ continued. To save money on postage, we used a special library rate that was restricted to use by nonprofit libraries to send books back and forth to each other. My friend Robbie in the vast cu Mail Services Room winked at me as he processed trays of outgoing issues of Frontiers. I had a rubber stamp made (“library rate”) and used the correct postage. As long as the trays arrived in zip-coded order, Robbie sent the issues out and on their way to individual subscribers. So that leaves stealin’—my personal favorite. In the beginning, Women Studies and Frontiers were friends. The two entities were founded almost simultaneously and by many of the same women. Faculty in Women Studies served on the editorial board of Frontiers, including the first two chairwomen. But when they left, a cabal of women sociologists took control of the Program. Carpetbaggers, these women were not feminists and had been no help during the establishment of the...

Perioperative dexamethasone administration in tonsillectomy patients: A three-cycle audit showing improvement using printed theatre lists.

Dexamethasone administration prior to tonsillectomy has been shown to reduce morbidity and is part of SIGN guideline 117. We conducted a three-cycle audit of 149 patients to ascertain how well guidelines were being met and introduce a sustainable method to improve compliance. A 3-month audit was conducted to ascertain how many tonsillectomy patients didn’t receive pre-operative dexamethasone. ENT secretaries were requested to add ‘Dex Please’ to tonsillectomy theatre lists. A 3-month re-audit was conducted; the intervention was only implemented in half of cases and so a reminding tool for the secretarial staff was administered before a third cycle. Initially, there was 73% compliance to SIGN guidelines, this improved to 87% in the second cycle. After the second intervention, all tonsillectomy theatre lists had the ‘Dex Please’ note and compliance to SIGN guidelines was 100%. There were five readmissions in the first cycle, three in the second and two in the third cycle. All readmissions were underdosed according to guidelines. Understanding there are regular staff rotations throughout many U.K. hospitals, we implemented a reliable method to increase compliance to guidelines which helped reduce post-operative readmission after tonsillectomy. This can be easily introduced to other institutions and for other perioperative requirements.

ICSSP’13 chairman’s preface

On behalf of the Patron-in-Chief, Prof. Mujahid Kamran, VC Punjab University and the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Solid State Physics 2013 (ICSSP’13), it is my pleasure to present this special issue of the Journal of Sol–Gel Science and Technology comprising selected papers from ICSSP’13. These papers have been peer reviewed according to the journal’s standards. ICSSP’13 was held December 01–06, 2013 at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. The Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics organized ICSSP’13 after a long journey of holding national level conferences. In summary, ICSSP’13 was successful due to the dedication of the various committees and sub-committees. The conference could not have achieved its goals without the help of the Advisory Committee, Organizing Committee and Technical Committee members including the secretarial staff. The publication of selected papers in JSST would not have been possible without the sincere help of Prof. Michel Aegerter, Editor-in-Chief, along with the relevant editorial staff. I thank them all, and hope that they will work with the same vigor and zeal for holding ICSSP’15.

Supervision for trauma-informed practice.

To become trauma-informed, a system of care must demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of trauma and recognition of it as both interpersonal and sociopolitical. Although awareness of the need to enhance systems of care to become trauma-informed has been growing in recent years, even when trauma is not the main focus of service, training of all professional, administrative, and secretarial staff is essential to transform an agency to become trauma-informed. One vehicle for training the professional staff is supervision designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners who provide services to clients who have experience trauma. This article discusses how the principles and strategies of supervision can be adapted and applied to foster the professional and personal growth of practitioners and enhance their mastery of trauma-informed care. Supervision of trauma-informed care shares with other types of supervision the major components of educational, support, and administrative guidance and oversight. However, because constant interaction with traumatized clients may have negative effects on practitioners, some elements of trauma-informed practice supervision require special attention. The article has 3 parts. First, we discuss the goals, nature, and educational, supportive, and administrative functions of supervision in the healing professions. We then review basic assumptions of trauma-informed practice, specifically, safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. Third, we identify personal and agency-related challenges and risks to practitioners in learning and executing trauma work and analyze the protective function of supervision in addressing these challenges. We present principles for effective supervision that enhance the ability of practitioners to provide trauma-informed services and decrease their risks for vicarious traumatization (i.e., trauma reactions caused by interaction with those directly exposed to traumatic events). Finally, we describe an illustrative case example and suggest directions for future research.

ICSSP'13 Chairman's Preface

On behalf of the Patron-in-Chief, Prof. Mujahid Kamran, VC Punjab University and the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Solid State Physics 2013 (ICSSP’13), it is my pleasure to present this special issue of the Journal of Sol–Gel Science and Technology comprising selected papers from ICSSP’13. These papers have been peer reviewed according to the journal’s standards. ICSSP’13 was held December 01–06, 2013 at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. The Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics organized ICSSP’13 after a long journey of holding national level conferences. In summary, ICSSP’13 was successful due to the dedication of the various committees and sub-committees. The conference could not have achieved its goals without the help of the Advisory Committee, Organizing Committee and Technical Committee members including the secretarial staff. The publication of selected papers in JSST would not have been possible without the sincere help of Prof. Michel Aegerter, Editor-in-Chief, along with the relevant editorial staff. I thank them all, and hope that they will work with the same vigor and zeal for holding ICSSP’15.

Dishwasher-related injuries: survey and literature review

Domestic injuries are quite common among children aged 0–4 years old. Hazards lurking in the kitchen area can cause serious injuries in children. Through this study, we aim to raise public awareness of the potential and underreported risk of injuries related to dishwashers. Anonymous questionnaires consisting of 12 questions were distributed to adult females with children under 5 years old, including nurses, secretarial staff and outpatients. Commonly used dishwashers were surveyed by visiting high-street stores, and each brand's user manual was studied. A literature search using Medline and Pubmed was conducted for examining reported dishwasher-related sharp injuries. Forty households filled out survey questionnaires. Their responses indicated that 10% and 12.5% of children participate in unloading or loading dishwashers, respectively. Results showed that the incidence of related injuries was 12.5% among adults and 5% among children, and young children are at risk of sharp injuries in households with dishwashers. The dangerous loading and unloading of sharp objects and the direct involvement of toddlers should be discouraged, with the help of manufacturers.

Harnessing the power of technology through secretarial profession

Earlier, the role of a Secretary was limited to taking note from their bosses, typing, etc. However, with the advent of companies and offices, these duties have extended to things that were meant for the managerial staff. The position of the office professional has greatly developed as technology continues to be relied upon in most offices throughout the country. A wide range of duties that were once given to managerial and professional staff are now delegated to secretaries due to office automation and organizational restructuring. Currently several secretaries train and inform new staff, perform internet research and troubleshoot the latest technologies in offices. In spite of these recent changes, their usual and fundamental responsibilities have stayed constant conducting and organizing an officeadministrative duties and events, as well as receiving and handling information for dissemination to staff and clients. Secretaries' responsibilities include various administrative and clerical duties needed to run an organization efficiently and smoothly. In recent years, the secretarial responsibilities have undergone a vast change technologically. Due to this reason, many people are opting for a career as a secretary. The article presents a study on the changing work environment of a secretarial staff through Information Communication Technology (ICT). It mentions the impact of computer technology on the growth of the global economy and its opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Managerial strategies and professional knowledge in the management and administration of contemporary office

This paper is an empirical study with the primary thrust of examining the ability of the secretaries/office managers to strategically apply their professional knowledge of management and administration in a contemporary office. In order to assess the strategies of office manager's ability to apply managerial and professional knowledge in all fields of work, Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi was used as a case study. The population for the study comprises 59 secretarial staff of the Polytechnic, both senior and junior and the whole of it was studied. The instrument used was a structured 15-item questionnaire validated by some lecturers in the Department of Office Technology and Management. The researchers used mean scores obtained from data collected using 5-point Likert-type rating scale to analyze questions from which findings were made, and results discussed. It is concluded that acquiring and applying these professional strategies would create value of recognition for secretary/office manager and his/her organization. It is recommended among others that organizations should allow secretaries/ office managers espouse their proficient strategies as it would aid immensely in the management and administration of any contemporary office.

Editorial: Celebrating 50 years

This issue of the Journal of Information Science celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the founding at the University of Sheffield of what was then called the Postgraduate School of Librarianship. The first member of staff, Professor Wilf Saunders, was appointed in April 1963, since when the School has changed its name on three occasions: to the Postgraduate School of Librarianship and Information Science in 1967; then to the Department of Information Studies in 1981; and most recently to the Information School in 2011. These changes in name have been accompanied by substantial changes in the size and the composition of the School. By the late 1960s, it had seven academic staff (both full-time and part-time) teaching an annual cohort of around 35 postgraduate students on diploma programmes in Information Science and in Librarianship. Two decades later, when the School celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary, it had 13 academic staff teaching an annual cohort of around 100 postgraduate students on master’s programmes in Information Management, Information Studies and Librarianship. The School has grown considerably in the succeeding quartercentury and in the current academic year (2011–2012) comprises 33 academic, administrative, secretarial and technical staff, and around 350 taught-course and 70 research students. There are approximately equal numbers of undergraduate and postgraduate students on a total of three undergraduate and eight postgraduate programmes, several of which are delivered in collaboration with other parts of the University of Sheffield (specifically the Department of Computer Science, the Management School, the School for Health and Related Research, and the School of Languages and Cultures). The most recent change of name, to the Information School, coincided with Sheffield becoming the first UK iSchool in 2010. The iSchool organization was founded in 2005 by a group of information schools, at that time all in the USA, that shared an interest in the relationships between information, people and technology, and that were dedicated to the advancement of the field. The iSchools have drawn on both new and established academic programmes in information technology, library science, informatics and information science, and there are now (mid-2012) 38 iSchools, covering not just North America but also Australia, Asia and Europe. There are no formal criteria attached to being an iSchool, but they are all characterized by a strong commitment to the information field in general and to research in information in particular, as demonstrated by substantial research-funding and research-training programmes [1, 2]. These iSchool characteristics certainly apply to Sheffield, where research has always played a key role in the School’s activities. A 1964 article by Saunders detailed his vision for the School [3]. While some of Saunders’s comments are now of historical interest only (most obviously those relating to the ready availability of research funding and to favourable staff–student ratios), those relating to research have proved to be of great importance to the School. He recognized the need for the new School to develop a range of research activities, a novel idea at a time when there was little academic research in the UK in library and information science (LIS). Within a few years, the School had a well-established research portfolio covering work in information retrieval, library management, and information-seeking behaviour, as summarized in a subsequent article by Saunders that was published to celebrate the School’s twenty-fifth anniversary [4]. This strong research focus was further strengthened by Tom Wilson, who became the School’s next head of department in 1982 and who held the position with great distinction until 1997. In addition to his international reputation for work on information-seeking behaviour, he pioneered our teaching and research in information management and was the cofounder of what is now the International Journal of Information Management. The School’s current research portfolio is

A Diagnostic Electronic Reporting Framework Proposal Using Preassigned Automated Coded Phrases

Radiologists daily diagnose a large number of Chest X-rays and it is crucial that these reports are appropriately recorded, meaningfully indexed, carefully stored, easily retrieved, shared and printed. The absence of organized reports’ storage does not permit their direct and easy retrieval, while after almost a year the report is perished and not even readable (handwritten or typed). The scope of this paper is to evaluate and propose the use of preassigned automated-coded phrases for the chest X-ray electronic reporting in a Radiology Department. The research included 9,252 typed reports, using the proposed method and 949 hand written reports (later typed or not), which were used to compare between the time being spent in reporting with either method. The results proved that even if the method could not be applied fully, there was a 90% reduction of the time being spent by the radiologists and secretarial staff in a Radiology Department, thereby facilitating the typing and management of the electronic archives. In addition, it was found that the reprinting due to addendums/discrepancies, when the proposed method was used, was reduced fourfold, when compared to the previously used methods. In conclusion, the consistent application of preassigned automated-coded reporting can be time saving, cost effective and environmentally friendly saving paper and ink.

Knowledge of Computer Ergonomics among Secretarial Staff in a Nigerian University Community

Knowledge of Computer Ergonomics among Secretarial Staff in a Nigerian University Community

P282 An Integrated IT System For COPD Between Primary, Secondary and Community Care Using SystmOne

Southend Hospital and South Essex PCT have been developing an integrated COPD service for over a decade. Information sharing between providers remained a barrier to improved services. SystmOne is a...

Optics of Surfaces and Interfaces

The ninth conference on Optics of Surfaces and Interfaces OSI9 was held in Akumal, Mexico on September 18-23, 2011. A location with the Caribbean Sea as a background and a rich Mayan heritage. OSI9 was built on the success of the previous OSI international meetings in Rome (Italy, 1995), Âalesund (Norway, 1997), Sainte-Maxime (France, 1999), Bad Honnef (Germany, 2001), León (México, 2003), Aalborg (Denmark, 2005), Grand Targhee (USA, 2007), and Ischia (Italy, 2009). Since the beginning, these conferences have provided a dynamic and pleasant forum for the presentation and discussion of fundamental and technological developments of new results, emerging trends, and perspectives of the optics of surfaces and interfaces. The scientific program of OSI9 included 17 invited talks, 30 contributed talks and 36 posters representing universities and research centers from 16 countries. The diversity of topics ranging from computational methods, nonlinear optics, metamaterials, plasmonics, to optical chirality show a vibrant community at the forefront of current scientific developments in surfaces and interfaces. OSI9 also marks the sad departure of our friend and colleague Professor Rodolfo Del Sole (1944 - 2011) to whom we dedicate this issue. Rodolfo was a great pioneer and ambassador in the theory of optical properties of materials, with seminal contributions in excitonic effects, many-body perturbation theory and combinations with time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). Professor Del Sole inspired many generations of theoreticians and experimentalists many of whom attended OSI9. He was a distinguished member and co-founder of the OSI meetings. He chaired the OSI 1 and 8 meetings in Rome and Ischia in 1995 and 2009, respectively. Farewell Rodolfo, we are all in debt for your friendship and enlightenment! This OSI9 meeting was organized by an enthusiastic group of colleagues and students of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) with the help of Centro de Investigaciones en óptica (CIO) and the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. We are grateful to all the members of the International Advisory Committee for their help in the selection of the invited talks. We also thank the members of the Local Organizing Committee for their contribution in the organization. The success of the meeting could not have been possible without the Secretarial and Technical Staff who had to carry the burden of local logistics and accounting. We want to thank all for their time and invaluable contributions. The quality of the papers submitted to this special issue shows that, once again, OSI achieved its goal of enhancing scientific exchange and personal relations among participants in a pleasant setting. Finally, we want to acknowledge the financial support from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT-México), Coordinación de la Investigación Científica and Instituto de Física of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Centro de Investigaciones en óptica (CIO), Red Temática de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología (CONACyT), Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, División de Nanociencia y Nanotecnología de la Sociedad Mexicana de Física and Academia Mexicana de óptica. The publication of this special issue is possible thanks to the financial support from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (USAF) under the SOARD project FA9550-12-1-0013. Cecilia Noguez Bernardo Mendoza Raul Esquivel Sirvent Guest Editors

Digital dictation and voice transcription software enhances outpatient clinic letter production: a crossover study

BackgroundDigital voice transcription has been introduced widely in the National Health Service (NHS), though primarily in radiology departments. There has been a long-standing problem with recruitment of medical secretaries within...

Press Secretaries, Journalists, and Editors: Shaping Local Congressional News Coverage

The news media plays a key role in American democracy, often serving as the primary means by which voters learn about their elected representatives. However, the news media varies in its coverage of representatives, presenting voters with more frequent and favorable information about some House members than others, which may in turn influence voters' decisions at the polls. Although many scholars have examined the determinants of congressional news coverage, few have focused on the role of the actors who perhaps exert the most direct effect on such coverage: congressional press secretaries, journalists, and editors. In this study, I explore the influence of these actors on the tone and frequency of local congressional news coverage. I rely on data from two sources: (a) a content analysis of newspaper coverage of 100 representatives during the month prior to the 2006 election and (b) in-depth interviews with 51 congressional press secretaries and 22 journalists. These sets of data illustrate the important roles of both newspaper staff and congressional press secretaries in shaping the coverage House members receive. I conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for U.S. representatives and their constituents.