Fill in the blanks in this passage, using the words from the list below.

 

Executive Directors

 

A modern ___________ enterprise is often a complex system ____________ a lot of capital, which is provided by the __________ when they buy _________ in the company. Since they have provided the __________, it is appropriate that they choose the people who are to run the company for them, namely the ___________. Many of the directors also have _________ responsibilities. Thus, a marketing director might be a full director in the board, appointed by the _________ at the _________ general meeting like the other directors. Yet he might also be _________ for the day-to-day management of the _________ department. Most of his time will be spent on administrative ___________, organising marketing research, ___________ with advertising and generally ensuring that the company’s sales are maximised. But he will __________ as a director when the _________ of directors meets. The post of managing _________ also combines the roles of chief _________ with membership of the board and this allows him to act as a vital link between the board of directors and their appointed management ________. The managing director is often also the _________ of the board of directors.

Executive directors have the advantage that they are actively involved with the ________ affairs. If the board of directors wish to ________ in a certain direction the executive _________ will know whether such a course of ________ is practicable. For __________, the board might wish to sell their products in a particular overseas__________. The market would be __________ for the company, but the marketing director knows that his team of __________ lack the experience to take the _________ of the situation. Or perhaps the board would like to increase the advertising __________ during the coming year but the financial director knows that the company will have to __________ some heavy commitments during the coming months and it would be better to delay the _________.

Perhaps the best board is one which contains a mixture of executive and __________ directors. In this way the board has the benefit of some directors who know the practical problems faced by the business, while others will bring their own brand of expertise to the boardroom discussions.

 

marketing shares company’s market chairman board of directors

director directors business shareholders salespeople dealing executive executive

matters action team meet function public

profitable expenditure capital non-executive advantage move

campaign responsible requiring example board annual

Translate into English.

1. Направление движения бизнеса подобно стратегии на войне.

2. В совет могут избираться директора, также работающие (по совместительству) в других фирмах.

3. Решения могут быть стратегическими и тактическими.

4. Заседания совета директоров проводятся не очень часто, один раз в неделю.

5. Обычно на ежегодном собрании акционеров председатель совета директоров делает отчет о проделанной работе.

6. Акционеры назначают совет директоров, а те, в свою очередь, назначают управляющих, которым они передают полномочия по управлению бизнесом.

7. Стратегические решения определяют области, в которых будут использоваться ресурсы компании.

8. Исполнительные директора имеют преимущество: они знают внутренние дела компании.

9. Возможно, наилучший совет директоров тот, в котором присутствуют как исполнительные, так и неисполнительные директора.

10. Стратегические решения связаны с размещением ресурсов.

11. Финансовый директор может быть полноправным членом совета директоров и одновременно возглавлять отдел финансов.

12. Известно, что рабочей группе не хватает опыта, чтобы извлечь выгоду из ситуации.

13. Неисполнительный директор – это обычно «человек со стороны», не имеющий какого-либо отдела в своем подчинении.

14. Он приносит в компанию ценные знания и опыт в определенной отрасли промышленности.

15. Человек, занимающий эту должность, не имеет властных полномочий.

16. Все работники в такой организации знают, кто их непосредственный начальник, какие решения они могут принимать, за что они отвечают и кто находится у них в подчинении.

17. Менеджер на предприятии, работающем в рыночных условиях, всегда является ответственным за персонал, и чем меньше предприятие, тем выше его ответственность.

Translate into English.

Руководитель – это человек, наделенный полномочиями принимать решения: что делать, как делать. Он несет за это ответственность. Руководитель обладает реальной властью, непосредственно воздействует на персонал управления, а через него – на характер и результаты функционирования всей компании. Умелый руководитель четко формулирует задачи коллектива, ясно понимает свою роль в их решении, способен задействовать внутренние стимулы к самостоятельным действиям и предвидеть возможные трудности, предупреждать неудачи и находить наилучшие решения в каждой конкретной ситуации.

На руководителей возлагаются разнообразные задачи, диктуемые конкретными условиями производственной деятельности, уровнем их подготовки. Однако всем им приходится выполнять некоторые общие функции, свойственные статусу руководителя, к которым относятся административные, организационные, профессиональные, воспитательные и общественные обязанности.

UNIT 3

Study the following.

People working for a company are referred to as its workforce, employees, staff, or personnel and are on its payroll.

In some contexts, especially more conservative ones, employees and workforce refer to those working on the shopfloor of a factory actually making things. Similarly, staff is sometimes used to refer only to managers and office-based workers.

This traditional division is also found in the expressions white-collar and blue-collar.

White-collar workers often work in offices, banks etc., they work in management or administration.

Blue-collar workers often work with their hands, for example on the production line in a factory.

Another traditional division is that between management and labour.

Language notes: Shopfloorandworkforce are also spelled with hyphens and as two words. White-collarandblue-collar are also spelled as two words. In American English they may be spelled as one word. Labour is spelled labor in American English.

Organisational structure

The need for a solid structure within all business entities is absolutely fundamental. Organisational structure concerns who reports to whom in the company and how different elements are grouped together. A new company cannot go forward without this and established companies must ensure their structure reflects their target markets, goals and available technology.

Depending on their size and needs there are several organisational structures companies can choose from. In the constantly evolving business environment, many firms are opting for a kind of hybrid of all of them.

In most organisations there is a clear line or chain of command running down the pyramid. This is called a hierarchical or pyramidal structure. All the people in the organisation know what decisions they are able to make, who their superior is and who their immediate subordinates are. The main benefit of this system is clear lines of communication from top to bottom but it is generally accepted that it can also be a bureaucratic set up which does not favour speedy decision-making.

Some people have assistants to help them. For example, an Assistant to the Sales Manager. This is a staff position. Its holder has no line authority and is not integrated into the chain of command, unlike, for example, the Assistant Sales Manager, who is number two in the Sales Department.

But the activities of many companies are too complicated to be organised in a single hierarchy. Today most large manufacturing organisations have a functional structure including production, finance, marketing and sales, personnel, and other departments. This means that the production and sales departments can not take financial decisions without consulting the finance department. Functional organisation is efficient but people are usually more concerned with the success of their department than that of the company, so there are permanent battles between departments which have incompatible goals. Also, separating functions is unlikely to encourage innovation.

More and more companies are organising themselves along product lines where companies have separate divisions according to the product that is being worked on.

An inherent problem of hierarchies is that people at lower levels are unable to make important decisions, but have to pass on responsibility to their boss. One solution to this is matrix management in which people report to more than one superior. For example, a product manager with an idea might be able to deal directly with managers responsible for a certain market segment and the managers responsible for finance, sales and production. Essentially the matrix structure organises a business into project teams, led by project leaders, to carry out certain objectives. Training is vitally important here in order to avoid conflicts between the various members of the teams. This is one way of keeping authority at lower levels but it is not necessarily a very efficient one. A further possibility is to have wholly autonomous, temporary teams that are responsible for the entire project and split up as soon as it is successfully completed. But teams are not very good for decision-making and they still require a definite leader, on whom their success probably depends.