1. The definition of western developed countries. Professional Secrets International is a multinational secretarial organization mainly in developed countries such as Europe and America. Its definition of secretary is "an assistant manager who is proficient in office work, can take the initiative and make correct decisions without being urged by his superiors within the scope of authorization."

2. The definition of the former Soviet Union. It is considered that "secretary is an ordinary profession, and its function is mainly to provide auxiliary, transactional and informative services for public institutions, which is called secretary." Here mainly refers to the secretary of the organ, because the private secretary is not the main body, it emphasizes the secretarial function of comprehensively assisting and serving the leaders. This definition is closer to China's situation.

3. Definition of Japan. Japanese scholars believe that secretaries are "staff who help and deal with all kinds of affairs"; There is also a popular saying: "The secretary is an all-around athlete". This highlights that the secretary's work scope changes with the leader's work scope, which is "endowed" and difficult to define clearly, and also emphasizes the "directness" of the secretary's service to the leader. Japanese society is characterized by the blending of East and West, and the demand for secretaries to be absolutely loyal to the leadership is particularly strong.

* * * In the above foreign definitions: (1) A secretary is a social occupation, not just an official name; (2) The secretary mainly serves the leaders. Regardless of the difference between requirements and authority, the former point is different from the current situation in China. In China, the secretary is mainly a professional title, and there is no complete social professionalism. The latter point is the * * * nature of secretaries at all times and in all countries, that is, secretaries are assistants serving leaders. Without leadership, there would be no secretary. It is the demand of leaders that leads to the emergence of secretarial work and the birth of secretaries.

Second, China's various views on the definition of secretary

Since 1980s, China has explored the definition of secretary and made some progress. There are many definitions:

1. 1979 The secretary entry in Ci Hai reads: "The secretary is one of the job titles and the assistant of the leader. Secretarial work is a confidential job. Its task is to send and receive documents and handle documents, files and matters assigned by leaders. General organs, enterprises and institutions have secretarial departments or secretarial staff. "

2. 1982 Professor Mao Hande said in Introduction to Secretarial Studies (internal edition): "A secretary is the name of a position ... a person who helps to lead the overall situation, study principles and policies, keep in close contact with all parties, handle documents, files, people's letters and other daily administrative affairs in state organs, institutions and enterprises." It is correct to put forward the research policy, but "professional title" is just an idea.

3. 1983 Zhang Jinan and Chang Chongyi thought in "Introduction to Secretarial Studies" that "a secretary is a position and should also be a professional title" and "it is the eyes and ears, assistant and staff officer of the leader." At that time, the word "information" was not popular, and "eyes and ears" actually meant this; In addition, this is the first time that the issue of "staff officers" has been explicitly raised. But the theory of "professional title" is incorrect.

4. 1986 Zhang Jiayi wrote in "secretary" magazine: "a secretary is a service person who writes and manages documents, assists in decision-making and handles daily affairs in leading institutions or attached to individuals." And "the secretary's job is also the secretary's occupation, and the secretary's occupation is also the service, so the secretary is not a job but a profession."

The "close contact" feature of the above-mentioned secretaries (that is, "being in the leading organ") was put forward by Xin Li at the end of 1985; Assistant is the essential attribute of secretary emphasized by Shanghai architecture students; Social professionalization was put forward by Chang Chongyi in "Introduction to Secretarial Studies" 65438-0983. Zhang Jiayi's summary is very good, which reflects the depth of secretarial science. However, the word "attached to the individual" is not accurate, and the statement that "a secretary is by no means a job" is too absolute.

5. 1987 Chang Chongyi thinks in the book "Modern secretarial work" that "secretary is a professional title and a social occupation. He is an assistant to the head of the leading organ, or a specific leader. The specific assistant functions of various secretaries are different, but they all serve the leaders directly, the people and socialism through assisting the leaders. "

This is an attempt to make a broad definition of public service and private secretaries, secretaries of various industries, levels and types of work, in which "specific leadership" includes the leadership of private secretaries. It is precisely because of its broadness that the text summary is not concise.

6. 1987 Liu Zusui and Wang Shoufu thought in "General Secretarial Science": "Secretary is one of the names of social posts and a public official who provides comprehensive and auxiliary services for leading centers and leaders." It is clearly pointed out here that "civil servant" is a narrow definition.

7. 1989 "official secretarial science" Dong Jichao's thought; "The so-called secretary is the person who is responsible for paperwork and directly assists the boss in handling affairs." The use of the word "so-called" here follows the method of discussing secretarial activities, emphasizing "affairs" rather than "staff", which reflects the difficulty of definition.

In addition, the famous scholars in China's secretarial field, such as Wang Gangong and Weng, have not directly discussed this definition in their works. Yuan Weiyuan's Secretarial Science 65438-0990 only mentions that secretaries are "one of a wide range of social occupations" and "an administrative position".

To sum up, various opinions involve four questions: (l) Is secretary a professional title, a social occupation or both in China? (2) Are the main functions of secretaries in China assistants, staff officers, or both? How can I express it accurately? (3) When defining a secretary, should it mainly refer to the secretary in the narrow sense, or should it include the people engaged in secretarial work in the broad sense, such as research office, letters and calls bureau, security bureau, archives bureau and other institutions independent of the office room and even parallel to the business department? (4) The situation of private secretaries varies greatly, but the number is expanding. Do you want to include them?

Three. Preliminary conclusion

The concept of secretary with broad length; "The secretary is the affairs and information assistant of the leader." The broad sense here includes public secrets and private secrets, as well as industries, grades and types of work; There are both singular and plural leaders-collective leadership; So it can only be a concise and abstract summary.

2. The concept of secretary in a narrow sense. "Secretary is a professional title and is becoming a social occupation. It refers to a work assistant who is closely related to the leader and directly provides transactional and informative auxiliary services for the leader. " Private secretaries are categorically excluded.

Broad sense and narrow sense have the same connotation, but there are differences. It mainly emphasizes that the secretary is the direct assistant of the leader and the person who directly serves the leader. This "assistant" includes intellectual assistants, which also reflects the reality that China requires the secretariat to play a "staff role" at this stage.