WORD PROCESSING: THE PIVOT POINT

[Music] comprehend that people are working on the city make life a little bit better for typing our fans and those letters and words you know we've got it by secretary call my name people and machine [Music] people [Music] word-processing a new concept in business communication reorganizing and redirecting sacred but antique office procedures and methods and turning waste into profit word processing can be a whopping success or a disaster and a great deal of its success or its failure depends on middle management management is the pivotal point and that means you people who are watching this film you and management are the crucial group in making this thing work and in making it work you're on the cutting edge of the newest form of business communication where it's at and where it's going word processing is a way to transform ideas into written communications quickly and accurately through the use of automated equipment operated by skilled people using revised office procedures if you think of it in these terms that word processing today is two words what data processing has become to numbers you can put it in perspective now I know it's hard to approach new things and anybody who says it isn't just doesn't know human nature but you in management working with your peers and your staff people are crucial first I'd like to have you meet some of your colleagues and management who've helped word processing work to their benefit they're alive and well and ready to speak their piece you know I wasn't too keen on word processing when I first heard about it after all you'd have to learn how to dictate and I was afraid I wouldn't get my work back in time and I thought how can I give the special instructions for some of these nutty projects around here but you know what this word processing thing really is pretty much what it's cracked up to be anytime I need something I lift up the phone this is Bill Scott and I like to dictate a report would you please see me for special instructions before you type this project I will now begin on the text budget meetings are scheduled before I sometimes had to wait days before our division secretary got around to me and usually I'd wind up writing it long which took a tremendous amount of time but now if it's typing I get my things back from the center in just a few hours that's pretty much the way management feels about word processing but they're on the firing line management has always been the pivotal point it's from them that the real bulk of business information pours they generate the most paperwork to accomplish this to accomplish their mission all management has to have continuing support and dependable service I have to admit if you are a traditional secretary to a particular man in his group that man comes first in the group comes second so these people were getting their work and they were getting it done well but they were getting it after the boss when the secretary had time now all they have to do is pick up the telephone dictate into it and they can have their project back the same day and it also eliminates a lot of who's do i do first who's do i do second is the higher level is he my boss or isn't he there seems to be a fear today with word processing centralizing it the people can act get confidential or personalized material as you can see standing here in our storage room we have close to 500 different types of personalized letterhead memos different types of forms so that that isn't really true you can get confidential work and you can get personalized work so word processing means that your needs are better met secretarial personnel are better utilized costs are usually lower and best of all for management everyone gets good office assistance with not one but two teams of professional office help the secretaries in administrative support and the word processing specialists both of them trained for their specific jobs in many setups the administrative support secretaries take care of the phones and mail filing even some administrative tasks like compiling statistic research data gathering information for budgets they can even dictate some of the routine correspondence for this department oh and I just stopped by to say thanks a million for getting all those statistics out on distribution and because you did I think maybe it looks as though we get the job neato huh now listen here is something I wonder if you'd handle for me these here's Barney who has written us a note about a gal that I think sounds as though she really has talent maybe we could get a resume from her so why'd you write her letter and ask tell her we're interested in one and B and the other team the word processing operators can concentrate on getting the typing out fast because that's their special task so the functional activities of the management people are greatly improved which is all work very well and that's terrific but it isn't always as we said before that easy the move to word processing requires some basic changes in thinking and it requires the restructuring of existing office functions and longstanding habits of Management and professional people I think that you have to look at the entire psychology of change people are afraid of change they resist it because it represents the unknown it takes them out of the comfortable day-to-day patterns that they've been used to they're going into something entirely new they're going to be seeing new equipment new procedures it's going to remove one of the big personal status symbols that they have the personal secretary she's going into a team instead of that individual one-to-one relationship the problem of change within business is management's problem it's a problem which is a difficult one the threatening one because change means that some of the things you've been doing some of the things you're used to some of the ways you want to do things are no longer possible so you have to change and this is a difficulty this is a challenge and yet in many ways it is more of a challenge not a difficulty because without change in business and industry there's no growth and with no growth there's no opportunity for you to advance and to show how good a manager you can be and therefore I think that though this is the stuff of which your life is made as a manager this is the paradox on which you're hung up you have to deal with it you have to be able to accept change and adapt to it however much you might in fantasy wish that you didn't have to change of course one of the biggest problems that the biggest hang-up says has been mentioned is the secretary as a status symbol even if management people had a group secretary before they would refer to my secretary or my gal I'd hear young fellows that talk to a party's saying my secretary and I think oh come on you're only six months out of college you really don't have a private secretary the days of the quote my girl unquote syndrome are really gone I've had many executives tell me that they prefer beauty to brains all that really tells me is that they can see better than they think we've seen demonstrably intellectually that word processing is a good thing for everybody now let's admit it in our heart of hearts we may not exactly be crazy about changing over to it but probably the best course of action is to learn how to use it anyway there are some direct benefits to those and management who learn to use word processing wisely first of all its success is a tribute to their flexibility and adaptability and their ability to see the overall good of the company secondly it's a way to get into top management because with this kind of space-age administrative support the manager demonstrates his organizational ability and gains more time and the freedom to get involved in other important things community service for instance this can't help but increase his profile making him a more valuable member of the company so just in terms of enlightened self-interest word-processing becomes a particular advantage to the person who wants to move up so let's review some of the advantages of word processing to you managers and professionals one good secretarial support often for the first time to specialized support skills 3 the ability to get workout faster and better for high quality of work clean attractive documents 5 errorless service and 6 more time to advance interests and career several recent studies on the psychology of management have indicated that the best managers are the more flexible ones and that when they are confronted with change change may be that they themselves didn't want or will they nevertheless adapt to it quickly and this is certainly one of the primary qualities looked for by top management furthermore in addition to the practical benefits we've already discussed fast turnaround at lower cost per letter and higher quality this system has a profound personal benefit for middle management in that it involves growth and that means whether you want to grow within the company or are interested in some kind of lateral transfer or whatever it is still to your benefit since it furthers the process of growth from which you can derive growth well we're processing to me means that when I get an idea I can get it on paper and get it moving along I'm not tied to someone else's availability it means I can plan my day more efficiently and more effectively I have more time to think about doing things properly rather than diddling with the mechanics of it the administrative group in our office takes care of the mechanics very nicely and I get back up I don't have to take so much work home at night I have more time with my family and at the same time my pay increases and that's motive enough for me how about you [Music]