Unit 13

Exercise 1. Match English words and expressions with their Russian

equivalents:

Exercise 2. Read and translate the text

The future organization of hotels

As new business practices are evolving as fast as our technologies, resistance to change has become a primary cause of business failure. The future success of a hotel will be driven in large part by the ability to foresee and capitalize on change. As we go through global transitions, the successful hotel will examine the key factors that will not only define success but also the ability to survive in coming years. These key organizational trends must be acknowledged by the successful hotel organization: visionary leadership, globalization, diversity, flexibility,

flat structure, customer focus, zero defects, network orientation, and being in the information fast lane. The organization must be able to respond to increasingly globalized sales, the movement to maintaining sales offices in many countries and hotel properties across the globe, and an increasingly globalized labor market. Intercontinental Hotels Group recently introduced a new organization structure to more efficiently use regional and global resources to drive higher levels of innovation, customer focus, and revenues. Diversity means the organization must respond to a workforce that is heterogeneous sexually, racially, and chronologically; innovation and conflict/communication issues; and different styles of interaction, dress, presentation, and physical appearance. Flexibility in the modern hotel organization means assuring that systems, processes, and people can respond differently to different situations; fewer detailed rules and procedures; greater autonomy and encouragement of initiative; customizing employment relationships to include telecommuting and job-sharing; and lifetime employability

rather than lifetime employment. The trend toward flatness in hotel organizations means fewer levels of management, workers empowered to make decisions, and fewer differences in responsibility. The organization’s employees need to believe in a sense of entrepreneurship that reacts proactively to market diversity. Traditional organizations that follow well-documented rules must give way to leaders who can balance a sense of discipline with one of flexibility. If the customer is king or queen in the 21st century, hotel organizaions will be best served by focusing less on their hotel assets as measures of success and more on their customers. This involves a fundamental shift from viewing the real estate asset as the wealth creator to seeing the customer as the key to building shareholder wealth. A customer focus must reflect business decisions at all levels of developing and operating a hotel organization. Pursuing such a course will inevitably impact shareholder wealth. The Japanese concept of zero defects in products and services can yield tremendous benefits for a hotel business organization. In practical terms, the hotel industry finds it extremely difficult to meet the standard of zero defects in service. Hotel services are based primarily on people, not on computers or other equipment. Twenty years ago, a business executive did not expect a consistent and predictable level of service wherever he or she traveled. Today that is the standard, not the exception, as is the expectation of sophisticated technology in hotel rooms to support business needs. With customer discrimination so acute, it is not surprising that brand loyalty is a diminishing commodity in the hotel industry. Today’s hotel organization must recognize the need for visionary leadership. The old command-and-control model of leadership is giving way to a focus on leadership in ideas, information, inspiration, vision, and teamwork. A failing hotel organization is over managed and underled. The networked hotel organization can facilitate direct communication across unit and property boundaries, ignoring the chain of command; cross-unit team structures; outsourcing and downsizing; strategic alliances with competitors and others; customization; and decentralization. Being in the information fast lane is critical. The traditional role of information technology as a back office support for accounting and bookkeeping has clearly moved to front and center stage. Information technology today influences all aspects of business from corporate strategies to organizational structure. Technology was once viewed as a way to reduce costs by replacing people. That attitude has been firmly supplanted by the idea of seeking information technology support for the creative work all organizations must pursue. Information technology must enable organizations to react more speedily to market needs and, of course, produce the fulfillment of customer demands both quickly and accurately. To do this it must operate on a decentralized basis. Information technology delivers, but it has to deliver the right

information to the right people at the right time.

Exercise 3. Answer the following questions:

1. What must be acknowledged by the successful hotel organization?

2. There is no need in the ability to foresee and capitalize on change, isn’t it?

3. Why did Intercontinental Hotels Group recently introduce a new organization structure?

4. What does Diversity mean?

5. What does Flexibility mean?

6. Who is the king or queen in the 21st century?

7. What is the The Japanese concept?

8. Why is Being in the information fast lane so critical?

9. What is Information technology aim in the hotel industry?

Exercise 4. English Grammar.

Past Progressive Passive

Type the past progressive passive form of the verb in parentheses (for example, was being written), then press "Check". If you need help, you can click on the "Hint" button to get a free letter.

The singer filed the police report because he said he _____ (stalk) by an obsessed fan.

(was being stalked)

The witness said he had not come forward earlier because he _____ (blackmail) by the defendant.

Some of the exhibits in the museum _____ (renovate) when I last visited it.

No work _____ (do) when we arrived at the site.

There were technical problems while your order _____(process).

The machine _____ (repair) when the explosion occurred.

The police said the man _____ (hold) for questioning in regard to a series of robberies in the area.

The hospital said the actor _____ (treat) for minor injuries.

They said the old church was closed because it _____ (turn) into a night club!

Major changes _____(plan) when the Minister suspended the council.