Leader or chief officer of an organisation
This article is about secretaries as leaders in organizations. For the common meaning as an office support worker, which can also be a title, see
Secretary
. For the most senior official in an Australian governmental department, see
Department secretary
.
Secretary
is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of
authority
,
power
, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived from the Latin word
secernere
, "to distinguish" or "to set apart", the passive participle (
secretum
) meaning "having been set apart", with the eventual connotation of something private or confidential, as with the English word
secret.
A
secretarius
was a person, therefore, overseeing business confidentially, usually for a powerful individual (a king, pope, etc.).
The official title of the
leader
of most
communist
and
socialist
political parties is the "
General Secretary of the Central Committee
" or "
First Secretary of the Central Committee
". When a communist party is in power, the
general secretary
is usually the country's
de facto
leader (though sometimes this leader also holds state-level positions to monopolize power, such as a
presidency
or
premiership
in order to constitute
de jure
leadership of the state), such as
China
,
North Korea
,
Vietnam
,
Laos
and
Cuba
.
[1]
In England, the term
secretarius
was used "from the beginning of the thirteenth century in the varying meanings of a confidential clerk, an ambassador, or a member of the king's council".
[2]
In the fourteenth century, the title became strongly associated with the keeper of the king's
signet
.
[2]
From the
Renaissance
to the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the powerful assumed the title of secretary. With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify the authority associated with its use, like general secretary or
financial secretary
.
In some countries, such as the United States, the term
secretary
is used to indicate the holder of a
cabinet
-level post. There are a number of popular variations of the title used to indicate that the secretary in question has a high degree of authority, such as
general secretary
(or, following usage in the
Norman language
,
secretary-general
),
first secretary
, and
executive secretary
.
In a
club
or
society
, the secretary is also considered to be, in most cases, the third person in charge of the organization, after the president/chairman and vice president/vice chairman.
[3]
In smaller organizations, the secretary typically takes
meeting minutes
, notifies members of meetings, contacts various persons in relation to the society, administers the day-to-day activities of the organization, and creates the order of business. The secretary of a
non-governmental organization
or
international non-governmental organization
can combine the function with that of vice president/vice chairman.
[3]
General secretary
[
edit
]
General secretary
occurs as the title of a
ministerial
position of authority found in various organizations, such as
trade unions
,
communist
and
socialist parties
, and
international non-governmental organizations
. Examples include:
Communist Party
[
edit
]
General secretary
or
first secretary
is the official title of leaders of most
Communist political parties
. When a Communist party is the ruling party in a Communist-led
one-party state
, the general secretary is typically the country's
de facto
leader. Examples include:
Dravidian Party
[
edit
]
General secretary
is the official title of leaders of most
Dravidian political parties
, that are politically influential in
Tamil Nadu
of Southern
India
. Examples include:
Secretary-general
[
edit
]
Examples include:
International intergovernmental organizations
[
edit
]
First secretary
[
edit
]
First secretary
is the title of the chief officer or leader in many organizations, and is also a modern
diplomatic rank
. Examples include:
Executive secretary
[
edit
]
Examples include:
Secretary-treasurer
[
edit
]
Within many organizations, the title of secretary is combined with that of
treasurer
.
[5]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Xi's here to stay: China leader tipped to outstay term"
.
Yahoo! News
. August 9, 2016.
"A lot of analysts now see it as a given" that Xi will seek to stay
Party
General Secretary
, the
country
's most powerful
post
, said Christopher K. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and now China specialist at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- ^
a
b
J. Otway-Ruthven,
The King's Secretary and the Signet Office in the XV Century
(1939), p. 60.
- ^
a
b
Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised
, 4th edition, Scott, Foresman and Company, Chicago, 1915, pp. 244?247.
- ^
"Interportpolice"
. Archived from
the original
on March 16, 2018
. Retrieved
March 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Secretary and Treasurer definition"
.