CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Whitehead (1986) defined office as “a room or building where clerical work are carried out to start develop and control many activities of business” such services include decrial secretarial accounting and resaerch duties.
Denyer (1974) also defined office as “any room where clerical work is habitually performed. He further stressed that the provision of the facts on which the decision of management are made is one of the most important function of the office and this has very real nd essential contribution to production. He is of the opinion that the office can only make this vital contribution if there is efficient office automation and proper use of the office services by the general management.
However in my own opinion I attributed that an office can be defined as “any place under a building where management decision and over all control of people’s activities are clerically taken down by some of the employed of an establishment who may be specifically employed for the purpose”
Automation according to Terry (1966) is the arrangement where one or more machines are operated without human starter button the oxford advance learners dictionary of current Engligh by Harnby (1977) defined automation as the use of methods and machines to save human labour.
According to Croft (1971) office automation is therefore the introduction of devices in the office to save human labour. Before the advent of these devices such as computer word processor adding machines typewriter mailing equipment etc. man has been finding office work monotonous tedious which leads to inaccuracy inefficiency and consequently low productivity.
There is no doubt that primitive man used his fingers for counting ten the number of finger of both hands became the basis for familiar counting system. This served man till the stone age when pebbles were used for counting.
The advent of writing marked the beginning of the activities associated with office automation need. As the need for speed accuracy and standardization increased the symbol and tools for recording changed but the basis activities remain the same devices were conceived of and used as the years passed.
The most significant of which are the arithmetic machines telephone typewriter calculating machines mail equipment etc.
The greatest is the advent of computer which came in the years between 1812 and 1833 with the idea and efforts of Charles Babbage. As the method of performing the activities advanced more and more data were accumulated and processed certainly in an effort provide management with more timely accurate and comprehensible data for production and planning operation.
Owing to the difficulties encountered by secretarial workers in automated offices Terry (1996) stressed the necessity for manufacturing industries to develop office automation management in their various environment to enable them keep track with the technological development introduced within the office environment.
He further stressed that industries that do not evolve and well articulated office management sooner or later discover that inefficiency becomes the order of the day and the organizations objectives. Therefore office automation means the performance of office function with machines. It is also the same as office machines or office technology.
Croft (1971) in his conclusion expressed that automation is meant to upset old pattern of life. Office equipment such as computer used in increasing productivity is now available and man is finding new benefits albeit with growing pains in changing social order.