| THE CHANGING BOSS-SECRETARY | | | | for spelling, correct grammar and punctuation and |
| RELATIONSHIP: Imagine a partnership at work. | | | | types it up accurately and neatly to present a |
| One member is outlining the agenda for the annual | | | | professional and appropriate image. He or she |
| stockholders' meeting, the other is managing the | | | | must also make sure of details such as |
| logistics. The last decade has brought many | | | | researching to whom the letter should be directed |
| changes to the traditional boss/secretary | | | | for maximum effect and assuring its timeliness. |
| relationship. We now see powers and | | | | Boss and secretary are responsible for different |
| responsibilities delegated to "executive assistants" | | | | parts of the same project--a team effort, a |
| that only ten years ago would have been the sole | | | | partnership. In this case, the boss initiates the |
| province of the boss. And there has been a | | | | action and the secretary follows it through--both |
| corresponding rise in the prestige and influence of | | | | acts are essential to success. |
| those secretaries chosen to fill such positions. The | | | | BOSS-SECRETARY RELATIONSHIP: In a true |
| fact is that fewer women are willing to be career | | | | working partnership, both individuals feel confident |
| secretaries. | | | | of the talents contributed, and both feel |
| QUALIFIED SECRETARIES: Qualified secretaries | | | | respected and appreciated. It is a given that the |
| are hard to find and even harder to keep satisfied | | | | secretary views the boss this way or at least |
| for any appreciable period of time. The most | | | | acts in a way that implies it. To reap the potential |
| talented and enterprising are voicing the same | | | | benefits of a boss-secretary partnership, it is |
| concerns as a burgeoning number of their fellow | | | | becoming more important that the boss cultivate |
| employees: "What are the opportunities for | | | | ways of showing the secretary that the road |
| growth and advancement?" That has become a | | | | travels both ways. Higher wages, of course, are |
| popular question. Women who were secretaries in | | | | the most immediate incentive in attracting and |
| the 1960's are now managers and vice presidents | | | | motivating a skilled secretary, but it is not by any |
| who function as role models for the current group | | | | means the only factor. In the case of clerical |
| of secretaries. On the other hand, some | | | | work, some relief from routine may be as great |
| corporations continue notoriously resistant to | | | | an incentive as a pay increase. For example, more |
| employee advancement from clerical positions, | | | | interesting and decision-oriented types of work |
| leading to frustration and lowered incentive for | | | | could be delegated to those secretaries who have |
| people in these posts. | | | | shown themselves capable of handling it. Many |
| VALUING THE SECRETARY: Ideally, the | | | | employees are interested in the acknowledgment |
| secretary should be acknowledged as an integral | | | | of their contributions and visible enhancement of |
| part of the management team. When the boss | | | | their prestige in the corporate structure. |
| drafts a letter, it is the secretary who checks it | | | | |