Secretary — Secretarial Practice STD 11 Commerce / Arts — Question

(i) Expert advice and guidance: A secretary provides advice and guidance to his boss on important matters. He advises the management in taking important policy decisions. Sometimes his decisions are more appropriate than his boss and such decisions may result in the growth of the business.

(ii) Administrator: A secretary acts as an administrator. He has to administer the functions like planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities. Routine issues like attending and answering the calls, emails, appointments, drafting letters, reports, speeches, etc. are well administered by the secretary. By doing this he enables the head of the organization to concentrate only on important matters.

(iii) Custodian of Secret Information: A secretary is a custodian of the secret, confidential and important information of his organization. Since he is closely connected with the top management, he participates in the decision-making, policy framing, planning, etc. As the secretary is entrusted with all such secret matters of his organization, he has to keep it confidential and does not leak or disclose to outsiders.

(iv) Correspondent: As a secretary is a person who deals with the writing work, he has to deal with the correspondence of the organization. He has to write different types of letters to different people as well as organizations. Therefore, he should write letters skillfully so that he is able to create and maintain the goodwill of the organization.

(v) Legal compliance office: A secretary is responsible for compliance with legal requirements on behalf of his organization. Maintenance of statutory books and records, filing of returns and statements to concerned authorities, completion of work within the time limit laid down by the law are the responsibilities of a secretary. Therefore, he is called the ‘legal executive’ of his organization.

(vi) Conduct Meeting: Meetings play an important part in different organizations as it is the best means to communicate with each other and take decisions. In the case of a joint-stock company, there are meetings of the shareholders, creditors, Board of Directors, etc. So the secretary of a joint-stock company has to organize, conduct different meetings and has to play a very important role before, during as well as after the meetings.

On the other hand, he is also called the brain, as he suggests and advises the boss, eyes as he watches everything on behalf of his boss, ears because he listens to everybody and hands of his boss as he executes all the decisions and policies of his boss and the organization.

(vii) Link between Management and Staff: A secretary occupies the nucleus (central) position, around which the whole office machinery rotates. He occupies a key position in the administrative setup of the organization. He is a link between the top, middle and lower management. He is also a link between his organization and outsiders like customers, clients, other organizations, government bodies, etc.

(viii) Fulfillment of Secretarial Standards and Secretarial Audit: Secretary keeps a check on whether the company is following all the legal and procedural requirements. This keeps the company free from legal consequences.

Conclusion: A secretary is, therefore, an indispensable officer, office executive, confident, trustworthy, and legal executive of his organization.