Assistance: the work practices of human administrative assistants and their implications for it and organizations

Assistance – work carried out by one entity in support of another – is a concept of long-standing interest, both as a type of human work common in organizations and as a model of how computational systems might interact with humans. Surprisingly, the perhaps most paradigmatic form of assistance – the work of administrative assistants or secretaries – has received almost no attention. This paper reports on a study of assistants, and their principals and managers, laying out a model of their work, the skills and competencies they need to function effectively, and reflects on implications for the design of systems and organizations. Author Keywords Administrative assistant, secretary, personal assistant, assistant, intelligent assistant, articulation work ACM Classification Keywords H.5.3 [Group and Organization Interfaces]: Computersupported cooperative work, Organizational design, Theory and models; H.4.1 [Office Automation]: Time management

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: CSCW
• Authors: Thomas Erickson, Catalina M. Danis, Wendy A. Kellogg, Mary E. Helander
• Keywords: Administrative Assistant, Articulation Work Acm, CSCW 2008, Keywords Administrative Assistant, Social Sciences