Tasks and training exercises

Lecture №1

GOOD MANNERS

PLAN

1. The importance of understanding the culture of your business partners.

2. Examples of behaviour of your foreign business friends.(British, German, Japanese, American)

3. American customs and explanations for them.

4. Business relationships in Japan.

 

GOOD MANNERS

Business relationships are characterised by certain rules of behaviour and are based on social activities which strengthen ties between the partners. Face to face contact is essential in conducting business. It is more effective to initiate contact through a personal visit (set up by an introduction through an intermediary) than through correspondence.

Initial contacts are usually formal meetings between top executives; more detailed negotiations may be carried out later by those who will be directly involved. During the first meeting, you get acquainted and communicate your broad interests; you size each other up and make decisions on whether ongoing discussions are worthwhile.

As traveling to all corners of the world gets easier and easier, businessmen of different nationalities and cultures have to communicate in order to do business. You know that customs vary with culture and people living in varied cultures handle many small daily things differently. What s dull world it would be if this were not true!

Some differences are minor, and one soon becomes accustomed to them.

Some businessmen still find it difficult to accept the formal rules of behaviour though they are a great part of the deal. To be successful a businessman should know how not to behave badly abroad.

Meeting new business partners remember that the first few seconds of a first meeting are the most important, so it is vital to create the right impression.

- Dress appropriately (it is better to be conservative).

- Check your appearance just before you meet.

- Greet your partners in a warm and friendly manner.

- Introduce everyone who is present, or have them introduce themselves.

- Speak clearly, especially when giving important information.

- Remember that foreign names are often difficult to catch.

- Show interest in the other person by making eye contact when they are speaking.

- Try to relax-taking a slow deep breath can help.

TASKS and TRAINING EXERCISES

 

Comprehension check

 

Recall information using the copies of your lecture and answer the questions:

1. Which nationalities are the most and the least punctual?

2. Why did the British think that everyone understood their customs?

3. Which nationalities do not like to eat and do business at the same time?

4. What or who do you normally have to feed and water?

5. Which nationalities have rules of behaviour about hands? What are the rules?

6. Why is it not a good idea to…

… say that you absolutely love your Egyptian friend’s vase.

… go to Russia if you don’t drink alcohol.

… say ‘Hi! See you later!’ when you are introduce to someone in Afghanistan.

… discuss politics with your American friend in a McDonald’s.

7. Why do Americans ask too many personal questions?

8. What are business relationships in Japan characterised by?

 

Discussion

 

1. Do you agree with the saying ‘ When in Rome, do as the Romans do?’ Do we have a similar saying in our language?

 

2. An American friend of yours is going to work in Japan. Give some advice about how he/she should and shouldn’t behave.

 

3. Imagine you are at a party in (a) England (b) America. How could you begin a conversation with a stranger? Continue the conversations with your partner.

 

4. What are the ‘rules’ about greeting people in our country? When do we shake hands? When do we kiss? What about when we say goodbye?

 

5. Think of one or two examples of bad manners. For example, in Britain it is considered impolite to ask people how much they earn.

 

6. What advice would you give somebody coming to live and work in your country?

 

Exercises

 

 

Greetings and introductions

Useful responses

Topics for small talk

Many people say that the worst part of a business meeting is lunch! When you don’t know your business partner very well, it can be difficult to find ‘safe’ non-business topics.

A telephone quiz

Lecture №2

MANAGEMENT

PLAN

1 A pattern for industrial work set by Frederick W. Taylor.

2 The main positions to Taylor’s new way to management.

3 The results produced by Taylor’s approach.

4 The strength and the weakness of F.Taylor’s approach.

5 Quality of Working Life movement (QWL) and its basic idea.

6 How it all began.

7 Important finding of QWL movement.

 

 

MANAGEMENT

 

Frederick W. Taylor made a lasting contribution to management thinking. He put forward the theory of Scientific Management, set a pattern for industrial work which many others have followed. Although his approach to management has been criticised because it focused on the system of work rather than on the worker, his ideas are still of practical importance.

His main insight, that work can be systematically studied in order to improve working methods and productivity, was revolutionary. Also he correctly emphasised that detailed planning of jobs was necessary.

Over the last thirty five years, a new approach to management has been developing. Those favouring it say that the way to increase workers’ productivity is to improve their job satisfaction and motivation. These people follow the Quality of Working Life movement (QWL). They have been trying out various methods of making work more interesting. These include job enlargement, job enrichment and new forms of group work.

It is said that Elton Mayo founded the Human Relations school whose offspring is the Quality of Working Life movement (QWL). He directed and publicised the Hawthorne experiments which have been so influential to this day. The conclusions of the study challenged the theory of Scientific Management put forward by Frederic W. Taylor. Both men, however, changed the course of management thinking.

Comprehension check

 

Recall information using the copies of your lecture and answer the questions:

1 Why was Taylor’s method revolutionary?

2 Why did companies which adopted the new approach to management benefit?

3 Why was Scientific Management a good thing for workers?

4 What kind of experiment did Taylor do at Bethlehem Steel?

5 What was the result of the new working procedures?

6 What are the advantages of Taylor’s approach?

7 Why was a reaction set in against the ideas of Frederick W. Taylor?

8 What are managers believing in QWL experimenting with?

9 How can a manager enlarge the job of his employees?

10 How can a manager enrich the job of the employees?

11 Why is the Kolmar plant in Sweden efficient?

12 What does the QWL approach make managers more aware of?

 

EXERCISES

Or of.

1 Janice is very good at dealing ___ problems in the workplace.

2 The manager needs to take control ___ the situation immediately.

3 If management aren’t careful, staff will go ___ strike.

4 A friend of mine recently asked me to go ___ business with him.

5 Today’s management session will focus ___ marketing strategies.

6 Managers need to make company information more accessible ___ the staff.

7 I don’t think a good leader is someone who rules ___ terror.

8 A good leader should be open ___ new ideas.

9 What do you think is needed to succeed ___ business?

10 I’d say your way of managing staff is similar ___ mine.

 

Go anywhere you want to go.

Flight Centre Limited is one of the world’s largest independent travel retailers, employing more than 5,500 people worldwide. They believe in giving a lot of responsibility from day one-but that doesn’t mean throwing people in at the deep end. One of the major priorities is to make sure the employees get the training and support they need to gain the skills which will allow them to succeed personally and professionally.

The training starts as soon as the employees join – and it never stops. The initial programme is based partly at their office and partly in the dedicated Learning Center. For the first twelve months, the employees will have a regular programme of training covering topics as diverse as Advanced Sales, Goal Setting and Time Management, as well as Airfares and Packages.

After that, the employees can develop in any direction they choose by attending a range of courses and events in four key development areas: Sales and Service, Product and Airfares, Systems, and Personal Development. All this is provided at no cost – which is exactly the way it should be. Flight Centre Limited has a consistent record of promoting from within; currently about 90% of their Team Leaders have come through the ranks, and the company wants to keep it that way.

The company is also keen to train the leaders of the future with the Leadership Development programme. It’s an intensive set of training courses backed by the specialist project work. Here, the best people of the company develop as far as they like, as fast as they like. And it’s a measure of the success of the company’s philosophy on cultivating personal and career development, as well as promoting from within. That programme earned Flight Centre Limited award for excellence, in the latest Sunday Times ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ 2004 survey.

Like Flight Centre Limited.

Discuss the following.

 

· Companies should pay for training to do the job, but staff should pay for training which gives them qualifications.

· Training should be done in employees’ free time.

· If a company trains you, you should agree to work for that company for a number of years afterwards.

· All staff need continuous training- not just new recruits.

· It doesn’t matter what you study. The important thing is to get degree.

 

The Secret of Teamwork

 

In offices around the world managers are constantly reminded that the team is the thing. But despite their enthusiasm for teams, until recently the way companies understood what made successful teamwork remained rooted in the 1960s. For 35 years, the ideas of Professor Meredith Belbin have ruled. Generations of managers have grown up with his theories.

Professor Belbin’s theories date back to research in 1967, when an initiative at Henley Management College presented him a rare opportunity to study teamwork in a controlled environment. Henley introduced a computer- based business game into one of its courses. The game pitted (сводить как соперников) teams against each other, and offered Professor Belbin, then at the Industrial Training Research Unit at University College, London, his own laboratory of teamwork. It remains a benchmark (показательный) study.

Team members conducted a series of personality and psychometric tests. From his observations, Professor Belbin discovered that certain combinations of personality types performed more successfully than others. He identified the nine archetypal roles required to make up an ideal team: the Plant- provides the team with imagination and ideas; the Co-ordinator- clarifies goals and promotes decision-making; the Shaper- is dynamic and finds ways around obstacles; the Teamworker- provides the social lubrication for the team, and so on.

 

10. Read the text and choose the correct options a-c.

 

The research revealed that

a groups of musicians were the most stable teams.

b teams were constructed differently and for different reasons.

c the needs of teams changes over time.

 

Tough at the top

Choosing a leader

As is known, the role of a leader is to inspire and motivate staff and to develop talent within organisation. The management style of leaders varies: some prefer to delegate responsibility to subordinates whereas others prefer to use their authority to control operations directly.

So, are companies worse than they used to be at choosing good leaders? Certainly, considering the importance of the top job, companies sometimes appear to select their leaders in unsatisfactory ways. They rarely advertise for a boss or select anyone from another country (apart from in Britain, where 32 of the chief executives of 100 firms are not British).

Moreover, they rarely appoint anyone who has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of another large public company. Of course, successfully picking a leader has always been tricky because the job requires at least two quite different skills. Like the fox, a CEO must know a lot of little things and must manage the key day-to day aspects of the business. But like the hedgehog, he must also know one big thing: every three or four years, he will have to take a substantial (значимый) strategic decision, which may fatally damage the business if he gets it wrong. Plenty of giants, such as Cable & Wireless and AT &T, have had leaders who passed the fox test but failed the hedgehog one.

 

 

Answer keys

Lecture №1

GOOD MANNERS.

1. 1-g 2-c 3-e 4-h 5-a 6-b 7-f 8-d

2. 1-c,d 2-c,d 3-a,e 4-b 5-b,f,e 6-a,e

5. A-3

A-2

A-1

B-2

B-3

B-1

7. 1 B and C are normal if the call has been routed through a switchboard; D would be appropriate if you are a receptionist, for example. A is just unhelpful because the caller doesn’t know if he or she has reached the right person or company.

2 All three are possible.

3 B

4 C

5 A and C are both correct, but B is not.

6 A is quite formal, B is informal and C is neither correct nor polite.

7 C is formal, A is informal and B sounds rude.

8 A and B are both correct, although you would only use A with someone

you know well.

9 A and B are both correct.

10 B and C are both correct, depending on what information you are looking

for.

 

Lecture №2

MANAGEMENT.

 

1 1- clear 2 -complex3-effective4-conflicting 5- jealous 6- crucial

 

2 1-with 2- of 3- on 4- into 5- on 6- to 7- by/with 8-to 9- in 10- to

 

3 1-balance 2-events 3- example 4- problem 5- a risk 6- company

 

4 1-resolve 2- take 3- give 4-Don’t set 5- make 6- Develop 7- Don’t lose 8- Avoid 9- Create 10- Don’t dominate

 

5 1- a,a 2- a 3- a,a 4-__ 5-__,__ 6- __ 7- the,the 8- __,__ 9- the,the 10- the,the

Lecture №1

GOOD MANNERS

PLAN

1. The importance of understanding the culture of your business partners.

2. Examples of behaviour of your foreign business friends.(British, German, Japanese, American)

3. American customs and explanations for them.

4. Business relationships in Japan.

 

GOOD MANNERS

Business relationships are characterised by certain rules of behaviour and are based on social activities which strengthen ties between the partners. Face to face contact is essential in conducting business. It is more effective to initiate contact through a personal visit (set up by an introduction through an intermediary) than through correspondence.

Initial contacts are usually formal meetings between top executives; more detailed negotiations may be carried out later by those who will be directly involved. During the first meeting, you get acquainted and communicate your broad interests; you size each other up and make decisions on whether ongoing discussions are worthwhile.

As traveling to all corners of the world gets easier and easier, businessmen of different nationalities and cultures have to communicate in order to do business. You know that customs vary with culture and people living in varied cultures handle many small daily things differently. What s dull world it would be if this were not true!

Some differences are minor, and one soon becomes accustomed to them.

Some businessmen still find it difficult to accept the formal rules of behaviour though they are a great part of the deal. To be successful a businessman should know how not to behave badly abroad.

Meeting new business partners remember that the first few seconds of a first meeting are the most important, so it is vital to create the right impression.

- Dress appropriately (it is better to be conservative).

- Check your appearance just before you meet.

- Greet your partners in a warm and friendly manner.

- Introduce everyone who is present, or have them introduce themselves.

- Speak clearly, especially when giving important information.

- Remember that foreign names are often difficult to catch.

- Show interest in the other person by making eye contact when they are speaking.

- Try to relax-taking a slow deep breath can help.

TASKS and TRAINING EXERCISES

 

Comprehension check

 

Recall information using the copies of your lecture and answer the questions:

1. Which nationalities are the most and the least punctual?

2. Why did the British think that everyone understood their customs?

3. Which nationalities do not like to eat and do business at the same time?

4. What or who do you normally have to feed and water?

5. Which nationalities have rules of behaviour about hands? What are the rules?

6. Why is it not a good idea to…

… say that you absolutely love your Egyptian friend’s vase.

… go to Russia if you don’t drink alcohol.

… say ‘Hi! See you later!’ when you are introduce to someone in Afghanistan.

… discuss politics with your American friend in a McDonald’s.

7. Why do Americans ask too many personal questions?

8. What are business relationships in Japan characterised by?

 

Discussion

 

1. Do you agree with the saying ‘ When in Rome, do as the Romans do?’ Do we have a similar saying in our language?

 

2. An American friend of yours is going to work in Japan. Give some advice about how he/she should and shouldn’t behave.

 

3. Imagine you are at a party in (a) England (b) America. How could you begin a conversation with a stranger? Continue the conversations with your partner.

 

4. What are the ‘rules’ about greeting people in our country? When do we shake hands? When do we kiss? What about when we say goodbye?

 

5. Think of one or two examples of bad manners. For example, in Britain it is considered impolite to ask people how much they earn.

 

6. What advice would you give somebody coming to live and work in your country?

 

Exercises

 

 

Greetings and introductions