INFLUENCE OF INTERNET APPLICATION ON THE JOB PERFORMANCE OF THE SECRETARY IN AN ORGANISATION

The study examined the influence of internet application on the job performance of the secretary in an organisation. To facilitate the conduct of the study, three purposes of the study were postulated from which three research questions were raised. The study used the descriptive survey research design, the population for the study consisted of 59 secretarial staff of the Industrial Training Fund Headquarters, Jos. The entire study population was adopted in view of the manageable size of the population. In essence the census was adopted. Data for the study were collected by means of the questionnaire and analysed using the mean rating on a four point Likert scale. The result of the study revealed that the internet applications influences secretarial performance in the organisation through improved secretarial operations, enabling remote working, cost management, development of new procedures and methods of executing office functions, reducing the risk of security breaches, innovation and creativity, enabling collaboration, optimizing operations, enhancing speed and accuracy, improved decision-making and corporate planning, and improved efficiency and effectiveness of the secretary. The study concluded that the design of an effective office environments and embedding internet technologies is critical. This can serve as catalysts for secretaries to experiment new things, explore creative alternatives and reflect on their own practices. This implies that secretaries must on their part strive to acquire the relevant internet technology skills aimed at improving the quality of their performance in the office. The study recommended among others that organization should systematic re-training of secretaries to cope with the trend of internet applications. Individual secretaries should also make efforts towards self-analysis for personal skill development in the use of internet technologies. This can be done through job related re-skilling and up-skilling programmes, so as to help secretaries acquire the necessary internet technology skills