TECHNICAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT OF OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT GRADUATES FOR CONTEMPORARY OFFICE FUNCTIONS IN POLYTECHNICS IN TARABA STATE

Abstract

This paper examined impact of technical skills development of Office Technology and Management (OTM) graduates for contemporary office functions within polytechnics in Taraba state. The study adopts descriptive survey design. Two research questions guided this work. The population for the study comprised of 30 OTM graduates from Federal Polytechnic, Bali, and 30 OTM graduates from Taraba State Polytechnic, Suntai, in Taraba State, making the total number of 60 OTM graduates (secretaries) as the population. All OTM graduates from both polytechnics were used for the study, hence there was no sampling technique adopted for the study. The instrument was face-validated by three experts while reliability was established using Cronbach Alpha reliability techniques which yielded a coefficient of 0.89. Mean and Standard Deviation were used for analyzing data from the research questions. The finding revealed the relevance of social media and technical writing skills of OTM graduates for contemporary offices. It was concluded that contemporary offices today in which OTM graduates works cannot function effectively without the combination of social media and technical writing skill. It was recommended, among others, that good communication and proofreading skills are tools that sustain contemporary offices, hence OTM graduates should made deliberate effort to improve in that aspect as they are seen as the image makers of any organizations.