Unit 5

Role of Secretary

Q1) What do you mean by Personal Secretary?

A1) Personal Secretary' is an individual appointed by the busy persons to do their personal work.

A Private/ Personal Secretary is a person who is employed to assist an executive in carrying out his duties efficiently, to whom the executive can delegate most of his routine duties and whom he can trust and entrust confidential matters. The main purpose of employing a private/ personal secretary is to save the executive from as many details as possible to keep his day smooth and to give him time to concentrate on more important work. Today, private/ personal secretaries are appointed to assist executives in all the organizations. They work for the Chairpersons, Managing Directors, General Managers, Departmental Heads, Professionals, Politicians etc. and perform duties which range from conducting correspondence, writing reports etc. to acting as Public Relations Officer of the employer.

Q2) What are the duties and responsibility of a personal secretary?

A2) What duties will be performed by a private/ personal secretary - It will depend upon the size and nature of the organization where the secretary is working, the status and position of the executive for whom s/he is working, the ability and intelligence of the secretary and the executive’s willingness to delegate work. In a small organization, private secretaries have to perform wide range of duties whereas in large organizations, there are various other categories of office workers to perform many of the routine duties. A secretary, when working for a junior executive may be required to work as a receptionist, stenographer etc. whereas secretary to a top executive may be required to perform duties which require higher secretarial skills such as collecting information on different topics, drafting reports and speeches, writing down the proceedings of the meetings/seminars and advise the executive on different matters. Though, it is difficult to describe the duties of a secretary, his/her duties may broadly be classified as under:

A) Routine office duties such as typing and stencil cutting, taking dictation and transcribing the same on computer, handling inward and outward mail, filing of routine papers, handling confidential matters and documents, maintaining records of incoming and outgoing files, operation of office machines and their maintenance etc.

B) Receptionists’ duties such as placing and receiving telephone calls, mobile messages, fixing appointments for the executive, maintaining appointment diary, memory aids, etc., receiving visitors and dealing with them

C. Duties in relation to meetings such as preparation and issue of Notice and agenda, making seating and other arrangements, keeping ready all the papers required at the meeting, providing assistance to the Chairman in conducting the meeting, taking notes of the proceedings of the meeting, drafting of the minutes, communicating the decision taken at the meeting to the concerned persons.

D. Other duties such as arranging and planning tour programme of the executive (Departure/ arrival), preparing his T.A. Bills, filing his Income tax return, locating information from various parties, luncheons, dinners, sending formal messages of condolences, congratulations, greetings etc

Q3) What are the qualifications for appointment as personal secretary?

A3) He/she must have sound education. He must have post-graduate qualifications in Econom­ics or Commerce, preferably with a degree in Law.

2. He should have a high standard of general knowledge and be well-informed on current affairs.

3. He should have a thorough knowledge of trade or profession.

4. He must have good knowledge of English— both written and spoken. He has to make corre­spondence, write reports, minutes etc. in English.

5. He must have good communication skills. The secretary has to explain a lot to other persons.

6. He must have a dynamic personality and pleasing behaviour.

7. He should have a sharp memory and must be hard-working.

8. He should have knowledge of office organi­sation, procedures and rules.

9. He should have knowledge of shorthand and typing, fax and computers, e-mails and intranet as also internet.

10. He should have knowledge of accounts.

Q4) Write a short note on E-mail.

A4) Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant only physical mail (hence e- + mail). Email later became a ubiquitous (very widely used) communication medium, to the point that in current use, an e-mail address is often treated as a basic and necessary part of many processes in business, commerce, government, education, entertainment, and other spheres of daily life in most countries. Email is the medium, and each message sent therewith is called an email (mass/count distinction).

Email's earliest development began in the 1960s, but at first users could send e-mail only to other users of the same computer. Some systems also supported a form of instant messaging, where sender and receiver needed to be online simultaneously. The history of modern Internet email services reaches back to the early ARPANET, with standards for encoding email messages published as early as 1973 (RFC 561). An email message sent in the early 1970s is similar to a basic email sent today. Ray Tomlinson is credited as the inventor of networked email; in 1971, he developed the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts across the ARPANET, using the @ sign to link the user’s name with a destination server. By the mid-1970s, this was the form recognized as email. At the time, though, email, like most computing, was mostly just for "computer geeks" in certain environments, such as engineering and the sciences. During the 1980s and 1990s, use of email became common in the worlds of business management, government, universities, and defence/military industries, but much of the public did not use it yet. Starting with the advent of web browsers in the mid-1990s, use of email began to extend to the rest of the public, no longer something only for geeks in certain professions or industries. By the 2010s, webmail (the web-era form of email) had gained its ubiquitous status.

Q5) What is Voicemail?

A5) A voicemail is an electronically stored voice message that is left by a caller to be retrieved later by the intended recipient. The recipient can retrieve the stored message through phone, desktop, email and other communications devices, depending on the business phone system the recipient's company uses.

Q6) Write a short note on Internet.

A6) The internet is the wider network that allows computer networks around the world run by companies, governments, universities and other organisations to talk to one another. The result is a mass of cables, computers, data centres, routers, servers, repeaters, satellites and Wi-Fi towers that allows digital information to travel around the world.

It is that infrastructure that lets you order the weekly shop, share your life on Facebook, stream Outcast on Netflix, email your aunt in Wollongong and search the web for the world’s tiniest cat.

Internet, a system architecture that has revolutionized communications and methods of commerce by allowing various computer networks around the world to interconnect. Sometimes referred to as a “network of networks,” the Internet emerged in the United States in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general public until the early 1990s. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion people, or more than half of the world’s population, were estimated to have access to the Internet.

The Internet provides a capability so powerful and general that it can be used for almost any purpose that depends on information, and it is accessible by every individual who connects to one of its constituent networks. It supports human communication via social media, electronic mail (e-mail), “chat rooms,” newsgroups, and audio and video transmission and allows people to work collaboratively at many different locations. It supports access to digital information by many applications, including the World Wide Web. The Internet has proved to be a spawning ground for a large and growing number of “e-businesses” that carry out most of their sales and services over the Internet.

Q7) Write a short note on Multimedia.

A7) The word multi and media are combined to form the word multimedia. The word “multi” signifies “many.” Multimedia is a type of medium that allows information to be easily transferred from one location to another. 
Multimedia is the presentation of text, pictures, audio, and video with links and tools that allow the user to navigate, engage, create, and communicate using a computer.

Multimedia refers to the computer-assisted integration of text, drawings, still and moving images(videos) graphics, audio, animation, and any other media in which any type of information can be expressed, stored, communicated, and processed digitally.

To begin, a computer must be present to coordinate what you see and hear, as well as to interact with. Second, there must be interconnections between the various pieces of information. Third, you’ll need navigational tools to get around the web of interconnected data. 

Multimedia is being employed in a variety of disciplines, including education, training, and business.

Q8) Write a short note on Video conferencing.

A8) Video conferencing is a live video-based meeting between two or more people in different locations using video-enabled devices. Video conferencing allows multiple people to meet and collaborate face to face long distance by transmitting audio, video, text and presentations in real time through the internet.

Video conferencing meetings can change the way employees work when they're remote or working from home. Face-to-face communication is important, even if you can't meet in-person. With a video conferencing solution, your teams can work together or with customers and clients effectively, no matter where they're located.

Since video conferencing performs 30% better than audio-only setups for communication, it's worth investing in a great video conferencing setup for your team. Luckily, there are many great, free options for video conferencing software that can be paired with reasonably priced audio-visual products like video conferencing cameras. A simple but high-quality web camera is a must-have to be inclusive to remote teammates and provide a collaborative atmosphere between employees in multiple locations.

Q9) What are Agenda?

A9) Agendas are used to organize meetings, keep track of old and new content, gives a time frame for what items are to be discussed and provides a clear understanding of a common end goal for the participants. Agendas hold important dates and content, plus they provide guidance and preparations for the following meetings.

What is a meeting Agenda?

• A meeting Agenda is a list of components and goals that participants are to discuss and hope to accomplish during a meeting

What is the purpose of an Agenda?

• To outline the main ideas of any events, responsibilities and deadlines that must be further discussed and determined.

Q10) Write a short note on Drafting.

A10) Drafting, otherwise known as technical drawing, is the creation of accurate representations of objects, buildings, or houses for technical, architectural, or engineering purposes. Someone who is skilled in drafting is called a draftsman or draftsperson.

In drafting, objects are drawn to scale, and usually comprise a top view, a main view and a side view of the object or building. They are usually very detailed and are often used as blueprints for the construction or assembly of the object. While they are sometimes used for engineering plans, they are more common in architecture.

Someone who works as a drafter is known as a draftsperson, draftsman, building designer, building drafter, or drafting officer.

If you’re looking to renovate, remodel, build a custom home or expand on your home, a draftsperson can create the technical house plans you’ll need to have ready for your building contractor. Even if you have an engineer and existing design, a draftsman is needed to create a blueprint for the construction team to follow.

Q11) Write a few ways for you to add clarity and structure to your diary management?

A11) Here are a few ways for you to add clarity and structure to your diary management-

All day events

By selecting ‘all day event’ the entry will appear across the top of your calendar on the chosen day or can be extended to cover as many days as you choose.  Schedule meetings, conferences, bank holidays, school holidays and even birthdays or special occasions as all day events.

You can use this feature to keep track of meetings that your boss does not necessarily need to attend, although he does need to know the meeting is scheduled to take place.  By adding them as an ‘all day event’ they have easy access to see for themselves any meetings that have been confirmed without needing to ask ‘have you organised X meeting?  It’s a great communication tool and gives all the background details including who/where/when/what etc.

Colour code

This has the functional purpose of having a screen easier to read.  Assigning colours to appointments means you can see at a glance what sort of day your boss has, whether anything needs to be re-arranged, whether you need to prepare an itinerary or travel arrangements for an offsite or whether you have a nice quiet day ahead.

Start off by thinking about the types of meetings/diary entries you will have and then using the ‘categories’ tab set up a new ‘category’ (i.e., colour) for each type of entry.  These could be:

Apologies given/not attending

Hold/keep free for possible meeting – awaiting confirmation

Information re managers (e.g., on leave)

Reminders

External meeting (meeting off site or with external person)

To be moved

Committee

Travelling

Internal meeting – flexible

Internal meeting – cannot be moved

Personal

Using this system, you will know just by looking at the diary and without even reading details of appointments, what you have to do in preparation.

Recurring meetings

If there is a weekly, fortnightly or monthly meeting, or a yearly occurrence, Outlook will automatically update this for you without you having to go in an enter each individual appointment.  Simply use the recurrence button from within the appointment.  This is perfect if you want to make a note that at a certain time each year you need to raise an invoice, arrange an event etc and for weekly meetings/catch-ups.

Being able to delete items without having to cross them out is ideal for when you have several possible dates for a meeting.  It is not uncommon for someone to send a group of a list of five or six dates for a meeting trying to work out which one is the most suitable.  You check the diary, reply saying which one your boss can do and then need to record the times in the diary so that you don’t use the time for something else.  Outlook is ideal for this as you can enter all possible dates into the diary and then when the date is confirmed you can delete all that are no longer required.  As Outlook allows other users to view your free and busy time through the ‘scheduling assistant’, blocking out the times the meeting may take place prevents others trying to book another meeting.

Think about what is either side of the meeting as no one can be in two places at once.  Although this is a standard thing to consider whatever diary management system you use, Outlook makes this easier.  Don’t just look for gaps in the diary to see when to schedule a meeting, but think about what is happening either side of that meeting.  Has your boss already had two late evenings that week?  Have you already arranged a meeting away from the office in the middle of the day?  If so, will your boss want to come back to the office afterwards or go straight home.

Schedule travel time

By scheduling ‘travel time’ into the diary your boss will always know where he is supposed to be and how he is going to get there.  If the meeting is taking place thirty minutes away from the office, allow for this travelling time by scheduling it into your diary.  Similarly, if flights or trains have been booked, all the timing and supporting confirmations can be added directly to the calendar entry.

Block time out for work

It is very easy for diaries to become crammed with meetings, not leaving your boss any time in the office working on things he has to do.  If you know that your boss has a lot on, try and identify some times in his diary that you can keep clear for him to work on these.  You can block them out in the diary so that the time doesn’t get taken up with more meetings.

If possible, try to keep the diary as yours, with only you putting in meetings and events as it will be much easier for you to stay on top of, rather than letting your boss put things in too.

Q12) Who can appoint a Personal Secretary?

A12) A personal or private secretary can be appointed to any of the Ministers of the State or Parliament. The President is responsible for the regulation of the rules of recruitment for the post of a personal secretary.

Q13) What are the features of Voice mail?

A13) Voicemail comes with features like a user interface to enable selecting, playing, and managing of messages. There are delivery features for the sender of the voicemail to either play or deliver the message. There are also notification features that notify voicemail recipients of waiting messages.

Q14) What are the advantages of Voicemail?

A14) The advantages of Voice mail are-

1) 24/7 Accessibility

Voicemail ensures that your business and employees are always reachable. While voicemail is often less desirable than reaching someone live, it's a better experience than not being able to reach a person at all. This is especially useful for roles where employees are typically away from the phone, like traveling salespeople or service people, or even just when average employees are unable to answer their phones while they attend meetings. 

2) Eliminate On-Hold Calls

Being put on hold is a frustrating experience for most people. With voicemail, a client or customer gets to communicate their concerns promptly without feeling that their time has been wasted by being put on hold. Then, the recipient can return their call as soon as they're available, which reduces on-hold wait time for the caller. 
 

3) Many Clients Prefer Voicemails

Voicemails enable clients and customers express their concerns efficiently without being interrupted. A client or customer gets to focus on their main concerns without diverging into irrelevant information. 

4) Cost-Effective

Voicemail may reduce staff expenses while still maintaining certain levels of customer satisfaction. With voicemail, a business may not need as much customer service staff. A business can also cut down on overtime pay in customer service staff by allowing voicemail to answer calls during certain times of day. 

5) Call Screening

Voicemail enables your staff to screen incoming calls. The high priority calls to get immediate attention and non-urgent matters may be sent to voicemail to be acted upon at a later time.

Q15) Write a short note on Scanner.

A15) Scanner, also called optical scanner, computer input device that uses a light beam to scan codes, text, or graphic images directly into a computer or computer system. Bar-code scanners are used widely at point-of-sale terminals in retail stores. A handheld scanner or bar-code pen is moved across the code, or the code itself is moved by hand across a scanner built into a checkout counter or other surface, and the computer stores or immediately processes the data in the bar code. After identifying the product through its bar code, the computer determines its price and feeds that information into the cash register. Optical scanners are also used in fax machines and to input graphic material directly into personal computers. Flatbed scanners have a top that lifts up, and the operator has to change manually the materials being scanned. Sheetfed scanners can be loaded with multiple loose pages, which are passed over the scanner by rollers.

Q16) Write a short note on Webcasting.

A16) Webcasting is a form of media presentation that is dispensed over the internet. It is done by using streaming media platforms in order to distribute one form of content to more than one listener or viewer at the same time. It is simply the process of broadcasting audio or video live over the internet in real-time, which facilitates active and live conversations between the webcaster and their listeners or viewers. It’s worth noting that these conversations and interactions do not happen during the webcast itself. Rather, webcast software may provide a comments section or other form of communication that can accompany a webcast.

A webcast can be presented live as well as on-demand. Some popular forms of webcasting come from radio stations and television channels that simulcast their respective output through online audio streaming and online television streaming. Webcasting is usually not interactive and is produced and broadcasted in linear streams.

Webcasting is a popular medium for business presentations (particularly investor relations), online education, digitizing news and television segments, entertainment, weddings, live streams and other forms of communication.

Webcasting is often thought to be synonymous with web conferencing, but the two terms define separate things. Web conferencing involves live interaction and conversation between multiple parties in a video-based “meeting” setting. It is not possible for webcasting to provide the possibility of such an interaction.

Webcasting can also be synonymous with live streaming. The latter term has become more popular in social use and is often used on social media websites such as Instagram and Facebook.

Q17) Write a short note on Minutes of meeting.

A17) Minutes of meeting is an official record of the proceedings of a meeting. Minutes help in understanding the deliberations and decisions taken at the Meeting. There is no restriction format or language for recording Minutes of meeting.

Minutes kept in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act can serve as evidence in Court of Law. For example, the only way to prove that a Board Resolution was passed at the Board Meeting of the company is by producing the Minutes Book in which the particular Resolution was recorded before the Court.

Minutes of Meeting Format

Minutes of meeting should state the serial number and type of the Meeting, name of the company, day, date, venue and time of commencement of the Meeting. In addition, a minute of meeting must also specify the following:

Details of Participants

In case of minutes of meeting of a company, the name(s) of Directors present and their mode of attendance must be mentioned. If all Directors are present physically, the Minutes need not specially record the mode of attendance. However, the Minutes should record the mode of attendance if any Director is participating through video conference or other electronic method along with the location from which he/she is participating from.

In case a Company Secretary is participating, then the details of Company Secretary must be mentioned. The minutes must record details of any other person who is in attendance and invitees. Finally, the minutes of meeting must record the names of Directors who sought and were granted leave of absence.

Election & Quorum

The minutes of meeting must contain a record of election of the Chairman of the Meeting, if applicable. Further, it should also contain details of presence of Quorum. If at the commencement of the Meeting, Quorum is present, but subsequently any Director leaves before the close of the Meeting due to which the Quorum requirement is not met for businesses taken up thereafter, then the Meeting should be adjourned and a statement to that effect should be recorded in the Minutes.

Details of Resolution Passed

The minutes of meeting should contain the text of the Resolution(s) passed by circulation since the last Meeting, including dissent or abstention, if any. If any Director on the Board dissents or abstains from voting on any of the Resolution passed by circulation, then such dissent or abstention should be recorded in the Minutes of Meeting.

Details of Dissent & Views of Independent Directors

The views of a Director or an Independent Director must be mentioned in the minutes of meeting, especially if insisted upon by a Director or any other person in the meeting.

Further, the fact of dissent and the name of the Director who dissented from the Resolution or abstained from voting on a resolution must be mentioned in the minutes of meeting.

Related Party Transactions

In case of a private limited company, the Minutes of Meeting should record the fact that an interested Director after disclosure of his interest participated in the discussion and voted.

If a director did not participate in the discussions and did not vote on item of business in which he was interested and in case of related party transaction, then such information must also be recorded in the minutes.

Miscellaneous Items

Consideration of any item other than those included in the agenda with the consent of majority of the Directors present at the Meeting and ratification of the decision taken in respect of such item by a majority of Directors of the company Minutes should be mentioned in the minutes.

Thanks & Closing of the Meeting

If any thanks are to be mentioned, it can be provided before the closing. Finally, the time of commencement and conclusion of the Meeting should be recorded in the minutes.

Q18) Write a short note on Fax messages.

A18) A fax (short for facsimile and sometimes called telecopying) is the telephonic transmission of scanned-in printed material (text or images), usually to a telephone number associated with a printer or other output device. The receiving fax machine reconverts the coded image and prints a paper copy of the document.

How do you draft a fax?

The letterhead should include the company or individual's name, address, telephone number, fax number and email address. List the date a couple of lines down from the letterhead. Write “Company Name,” followed by a colon. Write in the name of the company where you are sending the fax.

Q19) Discuss E-mail since 1960.

A19) Email's earliest development began in the 1960s, but at first users could send e-mail only to other users of the same computer. Some systems also supported a form of instant messaging, where sender and receiver needed to be online simultaneously. The history of modern Internet email services reaches back to the early ARPANET, with standards for encoding email messages published as early as 1973 (RFC 561). An email message sent in the early 1970s is similar to a basic email sent today. Ray Tomlinson is credited as the inventor of networked email; in 1971, he developed the first system able to send mail between users on different hosts across the ARPANET, using the @ sign to link the user’s name with a destination server. By the mid-1970s, this was the form recognized as email. At the time, though, email, like most computing, was mostly just for "computer geeks" in certain environments, such as engineering and the sciences. During the 1980s and 1990s, use of email became common in the worlds of business management, government, universities, and defence/military industries, but much of the public did not use it yet. Starting with the advent of web browsers in the mid-1990s, use of email began to extend to the rest of the public, no longer something only for geeks in certain professions or industries. By the 2010s, webmail (the web-era form of email) had gained its ubiquitous status.

Q20) What do you mean by All day events?

A20) By selecting ‘all day event’ the entry will appear across the top of your calendar on the chosen day or can be extended to cover as many days as you choose.  Schedule meetings, conferences, bank holidays, school holidays and even birthdays or special occasions as all day events.

You can use this feature to keep track of meetings that your boss does not necessarily need to attend, although he does need to know the meeting is scheduled to take place.  By adding them as an ‘all day event’ they have easy access to see for themselves any meetings that have been confirmed without needing to ask ‘have you organised X meeting?  It’s a great communication tool and gives all the background details including who/where/when/what etc.