Minutes
of the __________________ of managers held in the managing
______________ office at 10 am ______________ Tuesday 15th
December 1992.
Present:
Mr. F. McLean, Managing director (in _____________ chair)
Ms. Sheila Baker,
Sales manager
Mr. P. Hall, Head
of accounts
Mr. H. Spencer,
Personal manager Minutes
of last meeting. The minutes of the last meeting
______________ approved. Redecorating
the building. Mr. McLean said the building was being
redecorated _________ January and February. He said it was going
______ take about a week to decorate each floor. They _________
going to start with the ground _________ in the second week of
January. Enlarging
the office space. The managers talked about enlarging the
office. Mr. Hall said it was too expensive. Ms. Baker ___________ it
was not necessary to enlarge __________ office immediately. The
managers agreed not to ___________ the office. Expanding
the business and Exporting to Italy. The
managers agreed to expand the business. Ms. Baker said there was a
new market ________ Italy. She said Lorenzo Magnani would be
__________ charge. (Her report __________ attached to these
minutes.) Closing
the Middlesex branch and Hiring more staff.
Mr. McLean said they were _______ the Middlesex ______. He said it
______ losing money. Mr. Spencer said BOS needed more _________ at
their Harlow main office. Mr. McLean said they would offer jobs at
Harlow to the Middlesex staff. There
was no further business. The
meeting closed __________ 11.45 am.
Brighter office supplies limited
13 Mill Street, Harlow, Essex, cm20 2jr
Exercise 70
Read the answer phone message below. It was left by Polina Czerny, head of the Polish subsidiary of a multinational company, for her personal assistant Dominic Brown.
Then do the following tasks to prepare the agenda:
Note down the title, date, time and venue of the meeting.
Decide on a suitable order for the items to be discussed.
Think about a suitable wording for each item.
Finally, write the agenda for the meeting.
Domonic, just to let you know I’m flying to Prague after lunch. There are problems at the factory and they want me to help sort things out.
About the agenda for the management meeting on 16 June: I’d like you to prepare it for me please and circulate it as soon as possible. We’ll hold the meeting in room 18, next to the boardroom, starting at – let’s see … 11 am it must end at 1 pm as I’ve got to give a talk at the Chamber of Commerce, starting at 2.
There are two important items for the agenda. We must discuss the problem of our agent in Hungary. I’d like to cancel their contract. Not everyone will agree, I know. Michel and Helena are against the idea, so discussion will be lively. I’ll need at least 30 minutes for that item. The other big one is reviewing our product range. I’m sure that will take a long time, maybe 45 minutes or even more. Pieter and Ewa want us to reduce our product range, I hear.
Oh yes, we must select two junior executives for the training course at Insead in Paris. Say 10-15 minutes for that. And I’d like to present the proposed designs for our new logo. They’re excellent. I don’t want to discuss them, just show them to everyone. Fifteen minutes should be enough for that one.
We’ve got to approve the budget cuts soon, but that could take ages. No one likes cuts, do they? Maybe we should leave this for our next meeting. What do you think? Can we fit it in?
What else? Don’t forget “Any other business” and of course we’ll have to fix the time and date of the next meeting. It may take some time because everyone’s busy at the moment.
Right, over to you then. Give me a call if you have any problems.
Exercise 71.
Read the extracts from a meeting attended by the people below. Then write the action minutes for the meeting using these headings:
agenda item
action agreed
who will do it
when and how they will report back
Present:
Polina Czerny (chair) Pieter Koch
Michel Dembrowsky Susan Lau
Dominic Brown Lois Marshall
Polina:
Dominic:
Polina:
Pieter:
Polina:
Lois: Polina:
|
Right, that didn’t take long, I’m pleased to say. We’ve agreed that Oscar and Rosemarie will attend the Insead seminar. Dominic, I’d like you to call them and tell them the good news. OK? Fine. I’m sure they’ll be delighted. …
Well, it’s obvious we can’t agree what to do about our Hungarian agent. But we do want to review his performance. Pieter, I know you’re busy, but could you go over the figures, call him and hear his side of the story? Then send me a short report on his performance by, say, the end of the month? Can you do that? Certainly. It shouldn’t take too long. I’m sure I can manage that. …
I knew this wouldn’t be an easy one. We mustn’t do things in too much of a hurry. We all agree, I think, that we’ll carry out a study of all our products and identify which ones are unprofitable or not worth spending any money on. Lois, could you do this please? But of course, you’ll get plenty of help from marketing. Right. How do you want me to report back? I don’t think we need anything written at this stage. Just report back at our next meeting – that’ll do for the moment. … |
Polina: |
I’m very disappointed that you don’t like any of the designs for the logos. I just didn’t expect you to object so strongly. I suppose we’re going to have to start again. It’ll be expensive, but OK, we’ll ask another firm of design consultants to come up with some ideas for us. Susan, will you prepare a list of, oh, three firms that I could contact? I’d like that on my desk by the end of this week. Goodness me, it’s 1.15. We’ll have to end here, I’ve got to give a talk at the Chamber of Commerce at 2. Looks as if I’ll miss lunch. Well, thank very much everyone. A very lively meeting! |
Exercise 72
The minutes of the boarding meeting.
Minutes on board meeting on
Monday 11th March 19XX in the Managing Director's office
at 9 am
Present: Mr Allan Virge,
Managing Director, in the chair
Mr Robert Limberg, Production
Manager
Mr Peter Silver, Sales Manager
Mr Hannes Summer,
Bank Manager
Mr Mark Link, production engineer The
meeting was opened at 9.15 by Mr Virge.
1. The chairman read out
apologies from those unable to come.
2. Minutes of the previous /
last meeting were read out, confirmed and signed. 3.
The chairman then invited discussion of the first item on the
agenda.
Mr Virge introduced the idea
of exporting our new quality slats abroad.
Mr R. Limberg, Production
Manager, gave a detailed description of the new technology applied
in the production of slats. The quality of timber has also improved,
especially for decorative slats which are made of maple, ash and
beech.
Mr
P. Silver, Sales Manager, complained of the bad quality of the
varnish and glue. He apologised for being ignorant of the technology
but, he said, the slats gave off a very specific smell which would
reduce the price and wouldn't sell on foreign markets.
Mr
R. Limberg said in near future he hoped to contact a Canadian firm
(Chemotech)
who
were ready to sell harmless, odourless and colourless varnish that
would bring out the beauty of the grain of wood.
Mr A. Virge advised the sales
department in collaboration with the production department to
make feasibility studies on exporting slats.
Mr H. Summer, Bank Manager,
said that if the company intended to go to a foreign market, it had
to expand definitely, which meant that it needed to hire more staff,
it needed more production space and warehouses where to store the
production. It was not so easy, it would cost them a lot / a pretty
penny.
Mr A. Virge agreed that there
were some extra costs involved but they could be built into the
price of new top-quality slats and this way they could survive, and
in the long run get some noteworthy profit.
Mr H. Summer was worried
about the financial problems, he was sure the firm couldn't find
anybody to subsidize them. This problem was heatedly discussed.
Finally the motion to find a market overseas was proposed and
seconded and the chairman asked for the vote: three in favour, one
abstention and one against; thus the motion was carried.
There were no other items on
the agenda, so the chairman asked if there was any other business.
As there was none, the chairman closed the meeting at 10.30.
Chairman Secretary
Notes to the text:
a slat – рейка
timber – древесина
a maple – клен
an ash – ясень
a beech – бук
6. a vanish – лак
glue – клей
to be ignorant of – быть несведущим в чем-либо
harmless – безвредный
odourless – без запаха
a grain of wood – структура древесины
production space – производственная площадь
extra costs – дополнительные затраты
to build into the price – включить в цену (стоимость)
in the long run – в конце концов, со временем
noteworthy profit – значительная прибыль
in favour – проголосовать «за»
the motion was carried – предложение было принято
Look at the list of the participants at the meeting and then express your opinion:
Who voted for expanding export?
Who opposed the plan?
Who abstained from voting?
Exercise 73 Who said it?
I would like you to make some marketing investigations.
The vanish and the glue we use are of bad quality.
How about taking our slats to foreign market?
You need more staff and more production space.
We have never sold anything abroad.
We could add the extra costs to the price of the goods.
You can’t find any subsidizers at the moment.
Of course, the minutes of the meeting will be typed out by 4 o’clock this afternoon.
The quality of timber has improved.
I hope to contact the Canadian firm Chemotech soon.
Exercise 74
Are these statements true or false? In either case comment, please.
Mark Link introduced the idea of exporting abroad.
Before the meeting Peter Silver wanted to have a word with Allan Virge.
Robert Limberg spoke about the new technology applied in the firm.
Allan Virge wanted to tackle the problems at once.
Peter Silver was afraid of transport and customs problems.
Chemotech was a Swedish firm.
Hannes Summer was all for the idea of exporting abroad.
Allan Virge wanted Robert Limberg to take the minutes.
Exercise 75
Work in pairs. Read the following notice and then write down the minutes of the meeting.
Notice: the meeting of the Board of Managers in Woodex had been summoned a week ago. The agenda had been circulated to all members. It looked like this: