4.2.
Mineralogy Laboratory Department
This Department is in charge of:
- reception, mechanical preparation and sample packaging;
- designing of thin blades rocks and polished mineralogy ore
sections;
- mineralogy.
5. Survey and Water
Drilling Administration
This administration is in charge of researches, giving pieces
of advice on matters relating to hydrogeology, water drillings and mining
surveys. It includes the Research and water drilling and the mining survey
department.
5.1.
Research and Water Drilling Department
This department is responsible for:
- the research and advice relating to water drillings;
- the setting up and follow up water drilling data;
- the technical assembly of tender documents;
- the work planning and cost follow up of the company's
performance;
- the follow up of the execution and rehabilitation of water
drillings.
Water drilling consists of collecting underground water. This
department carries up a follow up on a customer who fills a request for
drilling estimates.
After achievement and a drilling equipment, one carries out
the development which consists to put the air under pressure to purify water
and a pumping test. The pumping test is a test of discharge which allows to
determine the depth that we can put the pump. A drilling can be positive or
negative.
A drilling is positive when its flow is superior or equal to
700 litres/ hour and negative when it is inferior or equal to 700 litres/hour
or 0,700m3 litres/hour. But a flow of 400 to 500 litres/hour can be
considered a positive drilling in the difficult regions.
5.2.
Mining Survey Department
This department carries out works of mining and geotechnical
surveys. The mining survey is a hole from 35 to 50 mms in diameter
dug in the group by a drilling machine. The surveys can be destructive
(samples of rocks in bulk) or cored (samples in cylindrical form).
The survey is a method of investigation which makes it
possible for geologists to determine the depth, the thickness, the volume and
the content of an ore layer deposit.
Drilling makes it possible for the geotechnicians to know the
nature of the unclaimed ground in order to calculate the elements of stability
of the works to be done.
6. The BUMIGEB Regional Office
in Bobo Dioulasso
The BUMIGEB Regional Office in Bobo Dioulasso is a
representation of BUMIGEB in the western part of Burkina Faso. It executes the
same missions like BUMIGEB.
N.B.: Taking into account certain circumstances in
particular the geographical location of this office, we could not go there.
C. BUMIGEB
RESOURCES
In order to carry out its missions properly, BUMIGEB is well
equipped with human, material and financial resources.
1. Human
resources
From December 15th, 2006, BUMIGEB had 205 staff
members in various categories divided up as follows:
- 28 senior executive members;
- 25 junior members;
- 152 field members.
2. Material
resources
BUMIGEB material resources are made up of the following:
- a car park for approximately sixty (60) heavy and light
vehicles;
- survey and drilling workshops;
- power generating units;
- compressors;
- office furniture (tables, chairs, cupboards);
- computers;
- geological, geophysics and laboratory equipments;
- various accessories.
3. Financial
resources
BUMIGEB financial resources come from State subventions
obtained within the framework of the execution of the contract plan and various
receipts generated through commercial services.
During the training course, we worked in the secretariat of
the various BUMIGEG departments to have knowledge on working procedures.
A scheduled programme was drawn for this purpose. (See
Appendix III)
The objective of the training course is to familiarize
ourselves with the profession practical aspects. We spent one month with DSIME
administration and then we were transferred.
However, we will describe first and more largely DSIME,
secondly the other secretariats.
CHAPTER I. THE INDUSTRIAL
SAFETY, MINING AND
ENVIRONMENTAL SECRETARIAT
I. WORKING POST
DESCRIPTION
A working post is a place where a series of work is carried
out, a centre of activities including everything that is necessary for the
execution of a definite work.
The secretariat of DSIME comprises the following material:
the office furniture:
- a table (1) with drawers;
- two (2) wooden cupboards with shelves;
- one (1) cupboard with valves;
- one(1) swivel chair with armrest;
- three (3) visitors chairs;
- three (3) vats for pending filing documents.
the office equipment:
- one (1) computer PENTIUM II;
- one (1) printer LASER JET 6P;
- one (1) electronic typewriter OLYMPIA;
- one (1) telephone set MATRACOM 36.
the office supplies:
- registers, envelopes, flat files, folders, superior's
signature book;
- a stapler, a staple remover, paper clips, pins;
- sorters, box files, arch lever files;
- a pair of scissors, an eraser, glue, cellotape;
- a box of pens, staples, a calculator, memo pads,
turnstile;
- a desk calendar, a telephone directory, a dictionary, a
message pad, printed forms (letter heads);
- reams of papers.
II. PERFORMED
DUTIES
At DSIME secretariat, we performed several duties such as:
- mail handling;
- customers reception;
- filing;
- documents typing; etc.
A. MAIL HANDLING
Mail is the whole correspondences sent and received by
BUMIGEB.
There are the «Incoming" mail and the "Outgoing»
mail.
1. " Incoming"
mail
It's consists of all received documents. We have the physical
mail which can be internal or external and the electronic mail.
Generally the mail received by DSIME consists of requests for
gauging, test or retest, installations visits, settings under pressure of tanks
or pipes.
When mail arrives, the secretary of the DSIME checks the
numbers corresponding to the documents before signing the transmission book.
Then she proceeds with recording mail in the `'incoming'' mail
register.
The object and the date are thus written on the register,
using a date-stamp for the date, followed by DSIME sequence number and a
`'slash DSIME''.
The secretary puts the whole in a strap folder and hands it
over to the director for examination and processing. When the director
finishes, she classify the mail by departments in arch lever files where the
initials of departments are written for signatures.
For the mail distribution, the secretary uses transmission
register where the mail is registered.
2. Outgoing
mail
The outgoing mail consists of all documents sent by DSIME. It
can be internal or external.
The external mail concerns gauging certificates, official
reports, letters, and test certificates of tanks or pipes.
The internal mail concerns mission orders, memorandum, and
reports.
The secretary types the handwritten document and gives it to
the initiator for correction, then she prints out the document with BUMIGEB
headed paper, introduces it to the concerned head of department and finally to
the director for verification and signature.
The superior's signature book containing the document is
transmitted to the secretary of the director. If the document is a
correspondence, the secretary of DSIME joins an envelope with the address of
the recipient.
The document once transmitted to the Head Office, is
introduced to the General Manager into a director verification folder.
After verification and signature, the General Manager's
secretary carries out the last handling which consists to:
- making the necessary copies (example: invoices in three (3)
copies);
- dating the document using a date-stamp;
- numbering the letters;
- affixing the seal of the General Manager.
N.B.: The secretary of the General Manager has an
outgoing mail register where she records all the outgoing mail.
Example of handling outgoing mail: the gauging
certificate.
(See Appendix IV)
3. Electronic
mail
The electronic mail consists of all mail sent or received by
INTERNET. At BUMIGEB, this type of mail is sent or received by all the
secretaries. For this reason a monthly reception planning and sending was set
up to ensure a better execution of this task. (See Appendix
V)
When the secretary in charge during the week prints the
«incoming» mail, she gives it to the secretary of the General Manager
for recording. This mail is recorded like any other mail but in an e-mail
incoming register.
Any mail to be sent by e-mail is transmitted to the secretary
in charge of that week for sending after the signature of the General Manager
which means that he agrees for the mail sending.
B. CUSTOMERS'
RECEPTION
Reception constitutes an element of marketing. A bad reception
has a negative impression of the public image on the company and the secretary
has an important role to play.
The DSIME secretary owing to the various administration duties
of her administration (petrol tankers gauging, tests, tanks retest, precious
metal controls etc.), she receives many customers. These customers generally
come to withdraw their documents (various invoices, certificates, official
reports) or to request information. They are thus welcome in a pleasant
atmosphere.
C. FILING
Filing is a fundamental activity in managing various
documents. So, the storage space of the support documents must be organized in
order to reduce as much as possible time used to access these documents
especially if they are media papers (the most cumbersome).
In the secretariat of DSIME, the secretary receives many
documents and also produces documents.
In order to keep traces of all documents and especially to
facilitate their research, she files all the documents in arch lever files.
These arch lever files are arranged on shelves in cupboards, where they are
classified vertically or upright, with the backs facing the user.
There are three (3) methods of filing, which are:
- chronological filing: it is a method which consists of
classifying each document according to its arrival date.
The secretary uses this method to file letters, circulars
etc;
- ideological filing: it is a method which consists of
classifying the documents according to ideas. The secretary uses this process
for official reports of petroleum companies, the EDII, gas distribution
companies;
- numerical filing: where a sequence number is attributed to
each document. This method is currently used at DSIME secretary's office for
invoices, certificates (gauging, tanks, pipes test) and notes.
The secretary frequently uses another type of filing: the
electronic filing which consists of classifying the files in the computer hard
disk, a floppy disk or Cd-Rom.
The gauging certificates, tanks test etc. which are classified
in the arch lever files are also classified electronically.
D. DOCUMENTS
TYPING
This task is very important in the DSIME secretariat owing to
the number and diversity of documents that the Secretary brings up.
All these documents are typed on BUMIGEB headed paper. The
document handling that the secretary is responsible is made up official
reports, gauging certificates, tests, conformity, invoices and dispatch notes.
- Official reports
After official site visits, stations commissioning, tanks and
pipes fitting, the Staff who carried out the assignments writes an official
report which is typed by the secretary and signed by the initiators and the
General Manager.
- Gauging certificates, test of tanks or pipes
After each gauging, a gauging certificate is issued
(see Appendix VI) valid for three years to the benefit of the
customer.
This certificate comprises the results of gauging which make
it possible for the owner to know the real capacity of compartments and the
entire tank.
- Test or retest
The test or retest of tanks makes it possible to know the tank
capacity, thickness of sheets and its resistance. It has ten years validity
period. The pipes test permits to know its length, resistance, watertightness
and diameter.
- Gauging attestation
They are issued provisory to truck tankers which have not
registered and allow the Ministry of Transport to register them and establish a
final certificate.
- Invoices
Every staff member who carried out a mission must established
an invoice (see Appendix VII) corresponding to the cost of the
service.
- Dispatch notes
They are generally established to transmit official reports or
lands applications files to the Mining Ministry, the Department of Lands or
BUMIGEB-BOBO regional administration.
The secretary has registers for the recording all these
documents.
CHAPTER II. OTHER
SECRETARIATS
During our training course, we noticed in the six
administrations that the classic duties of the secretariat are carried out in
the same manner. The differences reside in the fact that each secretary has
specific duties assigned to her office.
The General Manager's secretary is in charge of handling all
incoming documents and certain outgoing documents, allotting the numbers to the
documents such as assignment orders, letters, memoranda, dispatch notes, fax,
etc.
We learnt how to send and receive a facsimile message.
The fax is a mean of communication which makes it possible to
send and receive written information. The trademark of the facsimile machine at
BUMIGEB is Panasonic KX-F1010 BX. It comprises a receiver, a small rectangular
screen, a digital keyboard and function keys.
A document is received in an automatically either in the
presence or absence of the correspondent. We just connect the machine and put
in sufficient paper for the printing of the message.
A fax sending requires the following procedure:
- preparing the document to be transmitted;
- inserting the document into the machine with the letter head
upside down;
- dialing the fax number of the correspondence;
- pressing on key "START" after the facsimile tone of the
machine which
means that the facsimile machine of the correspondence
is ready.
The document is gently introduced into the machine and comes
out at the bottom.
At the end of the transmission, the machine indicates, "OK",
or "NO RESPONSE" and the process must be repeated again. As soon as the
document is transmitted, the original falls and we can read on the screen (Copy
sent OK).
Each secretary has the necessary materials and office
furniture for the execution of her duties. BUMIGEB's secretaries maintain very
good working relationship.
After moving round the different Secretariats, we realized
that the role of the secretary is indispensable in the company. The secretary
is the one who commits herself by giving her best. Professional satisfaction
requires a spirit of initiative and creativity.
An Executive Secretary no longer performs only duties of
"classic secretariat", but also assists a Head in an institution and works with
several staff members of the same office in relation with the company
customers.
Indeed, in decision making process, the Executive Secretary
must necessarily be well informed and must excel in the art of communication
because she puts her director in relation with internal and external
collaborators.
Is it possible to tackle all these responsibilities without
understanding? Certainly no.
Yet, the secretary must be able to manage both situations. She
is therefore stressed.
Although secretarial work is painted as a noble job, the
secretary encounters sometimes some difficulties.
To better analyse this topic, first of all we will try to
define the word "Secretary". Then, we will show how this job is noble and
finally, we will study some stressful cases that the secretary encounters.
I. DEFINITION
The term "Secretary" comes from a latin word "secretarium".
It is derived from "secretus", a word which is used to designate a confident
who was attached to a person of high rank to write, to transcribe letters and
to manage relationship.
Nowadays, it can be defined as a person whose role is to treat
mail, file documents, manage appointments, receive phone calls, visits, etc.
for her boss. In sum, she is the information manager.
The secretary therefore plays an important role because she is
the memory of the company which employs her.
II. THE SECRETARIAL WORK
NOBILITY
In company's life, it often requires certain qualities that a
secretary no matter her rank must have.
These qualities are of four types:
1. Physical qualities
The physical aspect of the
Secretary is very important for her work.
- Good health and physical
resistance: she must be able to work under pressure.
In addition, a good sight can
prevent her making lot of mistakes when she
writes or types documents.
- Clothing: the secretary must be
well dressed to gain other people respect. The secretary must be very elegant
and discreet.
2. Human
qualities
The secretary must acquire these qualities if she wants to
carry out her work very well.
We can cite the following human qualities:
- sociability: the secretary must
have a good mood, a good comprehension and have sympathy for others;
- courtesy: it is a golden rule to
be very successful in receiving visitors;
- a smile: it erases a prejudgment
to whoever receives it. A smile gives rest to the tired person and gives
courage to the most discouraged person;
- helpfulness: this is a quality
which permits the secretary to resolve all the problems requested by her
collaborators;
- self-control: it is a quality
which permits the secretary to be calm;
- integrity: this quality requires
self respect and respect for others;
- love of well done work: the
secretary must work with passion and by
constraint.
3. Morals
qualities
There are:
- discretion: the secretary must be
careful because it is this quality which allows her to gain confidence from
others;
- availability: is a quality which
allows the secretary to be responsible in front of her superiors;
- professional consciousness: the
secretary must have the desire to work for the company development;
- honesty: the secretary must be
genuine, open, trustworthy and faithful.
4. Professional
qualities
A good training level, a good expression and writing will
allow the secretary to be competent and execute very well her work.
In addition, there are other qualities that allow the
secretary to handle difficult situations.
These are:
- professional lie: it is an easy
way to prevent people disturbing the boss during a maintenance, a meeting or a
deliberation. The professional lie with the boss consent is a means of
getting rid of "undesirable" visitors;
- knowing the boss habit: the
secretary must know her/his boss' temperaments to be able to anticipate his
needs and provide the necessary assistance at the right time;
- general knowledge: the secretary
must be able to give good information constantly. For
this reason he/she must be well informed of current issues in the media.
All these professional and
personal qualities permit the secretary to control all the company information
through discretion.
III. CONSTRAINTS IN SECRETARIAL WORK
A. CONSTRAINTS WITHIN THE
OFFICE
1. Constraints with
colleagues
The Secretary is often a victim of frustration because his/her
colleagues underestimate his/her work or even see her as a barrier between them
and the boss, because she manages his visits and communication.
She is thus obliged to manage the situation while being in
harmony with the other workers.
2. Constraints with
visitors
The secret of good contacts lies in the consideration given to
others. Visitors screening often cause dissatisfaction.
The management of moods is a delicate task because all depends
on the visitors understanding.
Confronted with a dissatisfied visitor for one reason or
another, the secretary must keep cool, and sympathize with him/her. To face
anger she will oppose calm, listening, understanding. She looks at him with
consideration while he/she is speaking, lets him speak without interrupting
him, listening with rapt attention until the end and gives him a positive
reaction.
She lets him/her know that his complaints are not due to the
company practices.
If it is possible that the boss or another qualified person
meets him/her, she will guide him/her towards this latter; she reassures
him/her that she will send her complaints to the appropriate service and that
he will be contacted for the subject outcome.
In face with an arrogant interlocutor who often refuses to
declare his identity for various reasons (his/her friend, brother, sister or it
is me who called a few minutes ago) whereas the boss insists on knowing the
person, the task then becomes difficult.
The secretary has the duty to make a valid communication
(identity and the call object) without upsetting this interlocutor.
In attempt of making an effective communication, the secretary
finds herself misunderstood by the interlocutors.
It could also happen that the boss does not want to
communicate with certain people and refuses to take the call. Therefore the
correspondent who called many times without satisfaction blames the secretary.
In this condition, the secretary must always be polite and
seek to cool down situations.
3. Constraints with the
director
- The management of the boss's moods
Like any person, theboss has moods. But since the secretary is
his direct collaborator, she must learn how to know him and cooperate with him
whatever is his temperament. She must know which type of Boss she is working
with.
- Boss/secretary collaboration
v It should be recognized that many bosses rather treat their
secretaries as slaves than as assistants, always ready to assist them, to take
notes at any moment, saving all kinds of nuisance to them, prepare coffee and
sometimes running errands for them.
This kind of boss considers her "as a good secretary" only if
she performs her duties successfully and without complaining.
v Also in daily collaboration boss-secretary, more often both
have other types of relations that we can describe as "extra professional
relations" or sexual harassment.
In such situation, the secretary must kindly resist to the
boss's advances to preserve a good professional atmosphere.
But often a refusal can cause secretary's dismissal, her
contempt or a career blockage.
B. EXTRA HOURS
One of the most frequent constraints is how to manage extra
hours. Most of the time, the secretary is forced to remain in the office beyond
normal working hours for the execution of a certain number of tasks. Often, she
is called during the weekend and sometimes late hours to come and perform
certain urgent duties.
It is not always easy to manage and very often profanes give
her a different image.
She must come in time and often stay in her office after
working hours.
I. THE TRAINING COURSE
ASSESSMENT
The two (2) months training course at BUMIGEB has been benefic
because we have got a foretaste of a professional life. Indeed initiative is
imperative as regards to the executive secretary`s duties.
Competences in organizing and managing priorities and
adaptation capacities have become imperative in performing the job of
secretary.
During this period, we performed the following duties:
- mail handling;
- customers' reception and management;
- telephone calls management;
- documents typing;
- documents photocopying;
- fax sending and reception;
- filling.
No human work is perfect but every human work can be
perfected. It is in this view that at the end of our training course, we
allowed ourselves to make some observations and suggestions towards IBAM and
towards BUMIGEB.
II. OBSERVATIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS
TOWARDS IBAM
- IBAM has to do something for students because they have
difficulties to find training courses in companies.
In an environment where it is hard to find a job,
it is very important that IBAM adopts a training policy by signing agreements
with some companies, so that to help students finding
trainings.
- When students finish their examinations and find training
courses in companies, they are forsaken because there is no follow-up by
teachers during the training.
We think it is necessary to affect professors to
follow students during the progress of their training at the end of
cycle.
TOWARDS BUMIGEB
- In certain secretariats, such as the General Manager's
secretariat, visitors and even staff member enter his office through the second
door without the secretary's knowledge.
We suggest that rules should be made and respected
to inform visitors to necessarily pass through the secretary's office for any
information and appointments. This is also important for the boss's
security.
- The distances of certain administrations, more precisely the
Administrations of Laboratories, Geological and Mining Research especially do
not facilitate the secretary's tasks especially for documents photocopying.
We suggest putting a messenger for the
transmitting of documents and simple photocopiers (Format A4, A3) to reduce
time wasting.
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