Vocabulary

fledgling – “неоперившийся птенец”: только что или недавно созданная компания или учреждение

ethical code of practice – этические нормы ведения бизнеса

fraud – обман

marketing ploy – маркетинговая уловка; прием маркетинга, рассчитанный на обман покупателя

sweatshop – предприятие с потогонной системой труда, игнорирующее элементарные права наемных работников

to float (a company) – организовать новую компанию и выпустить ее акции на рынок; floating (floatation) – привлечение капитала путем выпуска на рынок долговых обязательств; выпуск акций через биржу

staff turnover – текучесть кадров

to bribe – давать взятку; bribe – взятка; bribery – взяточничество; подкуп

Blow Up

It is the worst nightmare of any manager: something goes wrong with your product, and customers’ lives are threatened. Yesterday this terrible reality was confronted by Bridgestone, the Japanese tyre manufacturer, which recalled 6.5m tyres in the U.S. after they had been implicated in traffic accidents, killing 45 people. The natural instinct for any company is to wait until it can establish definitive proof that its products are at fault. The natural instinct for any company is to wait until it can establish definitive proof that its produsts are at fault. But the moral – and, increasingly, the financial – imperative must be to act as quickly and comprehensively as possible as soon as suspicion arises.

In such cases, a four-point action plan needs to be followed. First, put consumer safety above all other considerations and make clear to the public that this is your over-riding concern. In the real world, of course, this can lead to agonising decisions. Reasonable people can differ over the assessment of risk: witness the different reactions of British Airways and Air France to the Concorde crash with one airline grounding its entire Concorde fleet and the other clearing it to fly. Second, deal with disastors at the highest level. Top management must take on personal responsibility for dealing with the crisis. Third, deal sensitively with the public’s concerns, however hysterical and overblown they may initially appear to be. Fourth, make clear that you will pay compensation if fault is established.

Set against these measures, Bridgestone’s response has fallen short. The company appears to have been slow in responding to customer concerns about the safety of its tyres and did not field its very top management at yesterday’s press conference. Though comprehensive, its product recall also seems to be disturbingly slow. The critical challenge now will be to implement its plan smoothly. First and efficient action is needed to regain customer trust.

Those companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, that have responded effectively to public concerns have ended up enhancing their reputation with customers. Consumers are often prepared to pay more for branded products in the expectation that manufacturers will behave responsibly. But those companies that fail to react with sufficient vigour do great damage to their relationship of trust with the public. A graphic example was provided by Coca-Cola’s half-hearted response to a recent contamination scare in Belgium. According to Interbrand, the value of the Coca-Cola brand fell 13 per cent last year, partly as a reaction to the negative publicity. The dispute also contributed to the chief executive losing his job.

The Finacial Times

Notes

to be implicated – to be involved

to establish proof – получить доказательство; to establish fault – установить вину

to respond to public concern – реагировать на тревогу, выражаемую в обществе

to deal sensitively with the public concern – чутко отнестись к озабоченности общества

half-hearted - with little interest or enthusiasm

to set against – to compare

fell short – здесь: не достигли цели

to field – здесь: обеспечить присутствие

The Boss Feels Your Pain

There is increasing evidence suggesting that executive personality matters, that personality traits influence how the CEO manages his top management team and the rest of the organization.

By Sharon Begley

One airline CEO was a master of the personal touch, spending hours with baggage handlers and pilots, getting to know his employees and their jobs; he persuaded them to accept pay cuts in return for an ownership stake. The concessions put the company – Western Airlines – so solidly in the black that the CEO was able to sell it to Deita for $860 million. Another CEO berated underlings in front of other workers, cut one third of the work force and so embittered the survivors that his airline – Delta – lost its reputation for customer service and suffered an exodus of gifted managers. The exec admitted he had devastated the work force, and the board of directors, led by the first CEO, forced him out.

In any test of financial savvy, management principles or IQ, the two CEOs would have dueled to a draw. The difference was their ability to handle relationships, argues Daniel Goleman in his new book, Working with Emotional Intelligence. Building on his 1995 blockbuster, “Emotional Intelligence,” which settled onto best-seller lists for 78 weeks, phsychologist and former New York Times reporter Goleman now probes how EI – the ability to muster such “emotional competences” as self-control, initiative, empathy, political savvy and co-operation – relates to the world of work. As he did in his earlier book, Goleman masterfully explains the neuroscience of how a low EI thwarts people’s full intellectual potential, for instance, flooding the brain with stress hormones that impair memory, learning and thinking.

The heart of the book, though, is an analysis of data collected from more than 150 firms on what distinguishes so-so performers from superstars. The results deal a blow to anyone who worships at the shrine of IQ: conventional intelligence “takes second position to emotional intelligence in determining outstanding job performance,” Goleman finds. In jobs ranging from copier repairman to scientist, IQ accounts for no more than 25 percent of the difference between, say, a successful high-tech entrepreneur and a failed one. In another surprise, the contribution of IQ shrinks and the contribution of EI rises with the difficulty of a job and how high it ranks in an organization. Based on traits that companies say distinguish stars from also-ran, EI “carries much more weight than IQ” in determining success at the top, Goleman concludes.

Which is not to say that cognitive ability, knowledge and technical skill don’t matter.You need some benchmark cognitive ability and knowledge to become, say, an electrical engineer or chief financial officer in the first place. It’s a safe bet that one CFO with a business degree from a top school is about as smart, IQ-wise, as another. But school smarts get you only into the corne office. With everyone clustered in the same IQ range, the competitive edge comes from qualities that show more variations. And that’s emotional intelligence. Of 59 high-tech entrepreneurs, Goleman relates in a typical example, those judged highest in EI skills like seeking feedback and setting goals had the highest sales than most employees.

EI does not mean being nice. And it does not mean touchy-feely management. It is, instead, the ability to manage your own emotions and handle relationships. For instance, empathy is a form of EI that gives a supersalesman at Nortstrom his ability to serve customers. EI is not set at birth, but can be learned.

Business Week

Notes

1. emotional intelligence – эмоциональный интеллект: комплекс таких черт, как умение владеть собой, подчинять свое настроение ситуации, умение понимать чувства и настроение других, иметь позитивный настрой, умение создать творческую обстановку в коллективе

2. ownership stake – participation in a share incentive scheme (stock option plan)

3. financial savvy – смекалка в области финансов, проведение умелой политики в области финансов

4. IQ – intelligence quotient – коэффициент умственного развития

5. to worship at the shrine of IQ – придавать слишком большое значение коэффициенту умственного развития сотрудника

6. also-ran – аутсайдеры, в отличие от лидеров

7. corner office – не очень ответственный участок или должность в компании

8. touchy-feely management – непосредственное общение с подчиненными при управлении компанией (touch and feel)

Don’t just read the news, understand it

Beware the Manager with a Poisonous Personality

The toxic boss is one of the worst ills that can befall the workplace. Like a parent pressing over an unhappy home, he or she excells at making employees miserable

Adrian Furnham

The workplace, like the home, can become psychologically toxic if dysfunctional people are in charge. Studies have shown that parents in dysfunctional families have “toxic” characteristics, including moodiness, egocentricity and selfishness, that stifle a child’s development and create an unhappy atmosphere. The same can happen at work.

A dysfunctional – or toxic – manager can, often in a short period of time, create distrust and disaffection in the office. Worse, he or she may act as a model of dysfunctionality to young staff who learn to regard such behaviour as normal.To many people, especially the young, managers act in loco parentis. They can have considerable influence over the health, happiness and future of their staff. They can create an environment that allows employees to give of their best. They can stretch staff by setting achievable but challenging goals and they can offer support and guidance. But some managers create a working environment that poisons people’s lives.

Manfred Kets de Vries, professor of management and leadership at Insead school of management in Fonteinebleau, France, has observed that entire organisations can become toxic because dysfunctional senior managers have imposed their character on the company. It is as though they are spreading a disease that brings chaos in its wake.

Management consultants who have had to deal with dysfunctional managers often talk about practices that are little short of startling. Such managers create unhappiness and reduce productivity and morale, and they can also, over time, be the cause of extreme stress and even nervous breakdowns in staff.

The toxic boss, like a deliquent child, may have come from a dysfunctional home or have been socialised in a dysfunctional organisation. Antisocial people have often had a miserable upbringing that they perpetuate in the workplace and at home.

So what are the symptoms of a toxic manager? The following characteristics are typical:

• Inconsistency and unpredictability are the hallmarks of dysfunctional managers. No one can ever be sure what they will do or say next. An important function of a parent or manager is to create a sense of security in an insecure world, not the opposite. Dysfunctional managers often go beyond inconsistency, giving contradictory messages that are difficult for staff to interpret.

• Dysfunctional managers fly off the handle easily and show little emotional sensitivity. They can be moody, especially when stressed themselves, and can harbour grudges for long periods of time. Jokes will usually backfire, unless, of course, it is the manager himself who is making them.

• Hedonism and self-indulgence are common characteristics. Dysfunctional managers are often fond of a round of golf on a Friday afternoon, expensive lunches and smart office furniture. These indulgences can induce feelings of irritation or envy among staff – but if a manager’s pleasures are addictive, such as alcohol or drug misuse, they can be highly damaging to a company.

• Lack of long-term planning is common. The dysfunctional parent or manager lives every day as it comes. Not surprisingly, he or she suffers serious setbacks when unexpected things happen.

• Dysfunctional managers are often distiguished by their restlessness and short attention span. In extreme cases, they appear to seek out excitement and thrills. Some will ever look for situations that are commercially or physically dangerous for the sake of stimulation.

• Inability to learn from thei mistakes is common among toxic bosses. They also show a deep distrust of any kind of learning or self-improvement. They often feel that they know best and will brook no arguments from staff who may challenge them.

• The skill-based seminar is not for dysfunctional managers. Few show any interest in attaining new skills. They trust to experience, luck or gut feeling. They are often loath to invest in training for their staff. Worse still, they do not value staff who try to acquire extra skills.

• The typical dysfunctional manager is the exact opposite of the stereotype of a reserved and controlled Enlishman. Such people show poor emotional control, letting their feelings out in inappropriate ways. They may shout and weep, sulk and gush and show little embarassment at doing so. This tendency is more likely to be caused by a personality trait than to be the result of encouragement by new-age therapists.

• Perpetual low-grade physical illness is another sign of dysfunctional bosses. They get more coughs, colds and chills than other staff. They are not health-conscious and will often take more time off than is normal for sickness.

The cure for dysfunctional managers is often not worth the effort. Some might argue that they would benefit from councelling; their staff would probably argue that they really need cancelling.

The Times

Notes

6. (practices) that are little short of startling – едва ли не шокируют

7. morale – психологический настрой

8. to fly off the handle – сорваться, вспылить, выйти из себя

9. to harbour grudges – держать обиду на кого-либо

10. hedonism – жажда наслаждения

11. short attention span – неумение подолгу сосредоточиться на чем-либо

12. gut feeling – intuition

What Effective General Managers Really Do

A gap has existed between the conventional wisdom about how managers work and the actual behavior of effective managers. Business texbooks suggest tha tmanagers operate best when they carefully control their time and work within highly structured environments, but observations of real managers indicate that those who spend their days that way may be undermining effectiveness.

In this “Harvard Business Review Classic”, John Cotter explains that managers who limit their interactions to orderly, focused meetings actually shut themselves off from vital information and relationships. He shows how seemingly wasteful activities like chatting in hallways and having impromtu meetings are, in fact, quite efficient.

General managers face two fundamental challenges: figuring out what to do despite an enormous amount of potentially relevant information, and getting things done through a large and diverse set of people despite having little direct control over most of them. To tackle these challenges, effective general managers develop flexible agendas and broad networks of relationships.

Their agendas enable them to react opportunistically to the flow of events around them because a common framework guides their decisions about where and when to intervene. And their networks allow them to have quick and pointed conversations that give the general managers influence well beyond their formal chain of command.

Originally published in 1982, the article’s ideas about time management are all the more useful for today’s hard-pressed executives. Kotter has added a retrospective commentary highliting the article’s relevance to current concepts of leadership.

Harvard Business School Publishing

BMW: Hot Cars, Hotter Executives

Former Executives Make Their Mark at Rival Auto Makers

Frankfurt

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, long a favorite of yuppie drivers, is turning out to be pretty popular among rival auto makers, too – for producing executives. Hoping to capture a little of BMW’s stunning success the past few years, European car companies have scooped up a steady stream of talent from the Bavarian company. In their new companies, the former BMW brethren are now preaching their gospel of success: Making good cars isn’t enough these days. Everything has to focus on building brand image.

There is little secret to what makes BMW executives the darlings of personnel managers: The company they helped run seems like it can do no wrong. BMW’s sales have risen nonstop for years, and it has a knack for picking successful cars. What’s more, BMW enjoys some of the fattest margins in the business because its reputation for quality allows it to charge premium prices.

BMW’s success, most experts agree, comes from its dedication to branding. By focusing design, product selection and advertising with brand uppermost in mind, the Bavarians have created what is arguably the most clearly defined public perception in the auto industry – sporty luxury. According to a recent survey in Europe by Auto Motor & Sport magazine, more people bought BMW cars because of the name than any other auto.

But the root of BMW’s success goes beyond a straightforward formula for focusing on brand. It also has something to do with people who work there – there is a BMW “breed.” Top company executives come primarily from Bavaria, home to some of the best schools in Germany, and, typically, they have attended the prestigious Technical University of Munich. Unlike a lot of carmakers, who promote people from a variety of fields to the chairman’s seat, BMW favors engineers for that post. Once at a company, they are inculcated with the importance of branding, a legacy of Eberhard von Kuenheim who, as chairman in the early 1980s, developed the “sport luxury” vision for BMW. Now young executives are taken on retreats where they are infused with a passion for detail

“We learned about consistent brand management where sales, marketing, design and production are all taken together,” said the Wolfgang Reitzle, now head of Ford Motor Co.’s luxury-brand division, the Premier Auto Group. “Other companies have allowed themselves to get distracted.”

“Brand management will be the thing of the future for the auto industry and that’s why people coming out of the BMW school are obviously in high demand,” said Carl Peter Forster, a former BMW board member whom General Motors Corp. chose to run Adam Opel AG.

BMW puts the talent outflow down to a lean management pyramid that tends to lead young people to high-level jobs. For many executives, it is easier to work at another company than to work for someone younger than they are. “We attract the best college graduates in Germany,” said Michael Ganal, BMW’s management board member for sales and marketing. “But we have a certain kind of pyramid so you can’t give everybody their dream job.”

The International Herald Tribune

Notes

to scoop up – заполучить кого-либо (что-либо), обойдя конкурента

brethren – plural of “brother”

to preach a gospel of success – to teach others how to succees

Lessons That Still Ring True After All These Years

Laura Tyson of London Business School

In my carrer, I’ve had the benefit of observing a wide range of management successes and failures. I’ve studed them up close as an academic and dean of two business schools. I confronted them as the President’s National Economic Adviser in the Clinton White House, and as a member of three corporate boards. Yet(тем не мение/однако) some of the business world’s best lessons from management successes and failures – the ones we read about in newspapers and digest as academics – are often soon forgotten in the race to the next big idea.

One bold management pioneer, who was decades ahead of her time as a lecturer to academics and businessmen in the 1920s and 1930s, put forth lessons(ideas) that ring particularly true today. Mary Parker Follett’s (1869 – 1933) thoughts on democracy, society and management have inspired business leaders in fits and starts during the 20^th century – and they deserve to be revisited as we move forward in this century.

Most of Follett’s lessons(ideas) on teamwork, social responsibility, conflict resolution, innovation, leadership and integrity are now considered best practices. In fact, in London Business School’s own 2004 study of global business capabilities, more than 120 business leaders highlighted similar business traits and skills they look for when they hire new employees.

Follett’s early work spanned the Progressive Era (roughly 1890s to 1920s), a period in U.S. history marked by reforms in labour and fiscal policies from local, civic organisations to the upper echelons of national government. Follett was in the thick of the movement as a social worker in Boston, which allowed her to mix with some of the era’s most progressive business leaders. She saw at first hand the societal benefits awarded when organisations were well managed and workers were treated less as subordinates and more as equals to management.

Teamwork became a keystone of Follett’s (ideas) management lectures. I particularly agree with Follett on this point, as I firmly believe (that) you should not be afraid to surround yourself with the smartest people. We drill this lesson into the minds of business students as we talk about effective teamwork. It’s a topic that Follett touched on in 1926 when she said, “…authority should go with knowledge and experience, that is where obedience is due, no matter where it is, up or down the line.”

Globalisation, interdependence and the increasing links between a growing skilled and decentralised labour force are all topics she foresaw in the 1920s. “What the world needs today is a cooperative mind,” she wrote in The New State.

“The business world is never again to be directed by individual intelligences, but by intelligences interacting and ceaselessly influencing one another.” This interweaving of ideas is an efficiency that companies must aspire to.

Managing in an authoritarian way rarely brings out the best in an organisation. (She believes that) leading in more cooperative terms, however, allows leaders to mobilise their colleagues toward a collective goal successfully. Follett’s idyllic leaders are team membrs who can set priorities, focus on these, and “organise the experience of the group” to meet objectives. They also have to keep a firm grip on their vision of the future. As Follett said in 1933, “decisions have to anticipate development.”

Another point(еще одна) that rings particularly true in 2005 is Follett’s belief in the imporatant role that businesses play in society. She gave serious attention to what we now call corporate social responsibility, a topic of great interest in today’s boardrooms and business schools.

One of her keenest desires was that companies act as forces for good. Follett believed that the managers should have a good grounding in and respect for their local communities: “…what ever is good for the community is good for the business in the long run.” And they should never abuse their position: “The leader should have the spirit of adventure, but the spirit…need not mean the temperament of a gambler,” she said in 1933.

Follett had a real affinity for conflict – especially its “revealing nature”. In her 1924 book Creative Experience she wrote that controversy exposes the real issues at stake in an organisation, and offers a chance to reconcile them. Her ideal outcome to any conflict was synthesis, what we now call “win-win situations.”

Follett’s ideal solution to conflict was an integration of ideas rather than mere compromise. In her 1918 book, The New State, she wrote,”…whenever any difference is ‘settled’ by concession, that difference pops up again in some other form. Nothing will ever truly settle difference but synthesis.” We now teach business students that finding creative ways to meet each party’s short- and long-term needs and interests is ideal in conflict resolution.

But another outcome she prized was fixing the problem at hand in an innovative way. Companies that identify conflict early, and improve their operations as they solve the problem, stand to gain significant competitive advantages.

Before I joined the Clinton Administration as an economic adviser in 1993, I focused much of my research on industrial competitiveness. What makes one industry or company more competitive than another? Consider General Electric: the company was faced with a somewhat disorganised programme of scientific research at the start of the 20^th century, so the company applied management discipline and controls to research. Today, the company is consistently ranked annually among the top 10 patent recipients in the US.

Follett’s early thoughts on creative solution to industrial conflicts – especially those between capital and labour – are precursors to the topic of management innovation. London Business School is building its own Management Innovation Lab, which seeks to create a collaborative research environment in which companies and scholars can work together to invent the management practices that will define success in the 21^st century.

The most essential work of a leader is to create more leaders. This is something my colleagues and I believe in at London Business School, and something Follett advocated, too.

She challenged the idea that ”leaders are born, not made”, by saying that leaders can be taught, and should be keen on sharpening their skills as rigorously as a surgeon. In 1933, she put it plainly: managers “must realise that they, as professional[s], are assuming grave responsibilities, that they are taking part in one of the large functions of society, a part which, I believe, only trained and disciplined [business people] can… hope to take with success.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Financial Times, 2005

Notes

in fits and starts – stopping and starting again many times rather than progressing steadily (рывками, неравномерно; здесь: время от времени)

conflict resolution – разрешение споров

to be in the thick of – быть в гуще (событий)

social worker – социальный работник: добровольный или оплачиваемый сотрудник муниципального органа власти, власти штата, регионального или местного отделения Управления социального страхования, занимающийся вопросами социального обслуживания населения

civic organisation – relating to a town or city, especially its government and public activities (городской)

to see at first hand – быть непосредственным свидетелем; на личном опыте убедиться

co-operative mind – способность, умение работать в коллективе

vision of the future – видение будущего; зд. конечная цель компании

to have a good grounding (in their local communities) – to be popular, to enjoy confidence(пользоватся доверием)

synthesis – a combination of different ideas or styles that form a new idea or style

win-win situation – a situation in which everyone benefits

I cannot agree more – не могу не согласиться; полностью согласен с этим

Don’t just read the news, understand it

Unit 8

Texts for Summaries

Making a Summary

The ability to grasp the main points of a speech, or argument, a letter, a magazine or newspaper article, or a printed page in a book, is of great value to anyone. This is an art, which like many others can be acquired only by constant practice. Slogans, advertisements, telegrams, newspaper headlines, notes of a lecture, are all examples of a condensed statement.

In making a summary of a magazine or a newspaper articles, a chapter of a book, a number of letters of other documents you will be required to sift the wheat from the chaff.

One of the most necessary things to do is to concentrate upon the task in hand. It has been well said that concentration is one of the secrets of success.

In writing a precis, or a precise statement, first read over the passage or article in question to get a general idea of what it is about. The title may give you some indication. You should make absolutely certain that you have a clear idea of the whole subject.

The next step should be to read through the passage again, this time more closely, and jot down in tabulated form what seem to you to be the main points of each paragraph. The topic sentences will often be useful sign points.

This third step will be to prepare a rough draft perhaps in a certain number of words or in one third of the original. You must cut out ruthlessly all words and phrases that are not absolutely necessary, but the original meaning must not be altered or obscured. Then you should read through the original once more to make sure that nothing of importance has been omitted.

In writing up the summary, you must remember that it should be a clear and continuous narrative in good English. A precis must not consist of “notes” or abbreviations, and as a general rule, it is written in the past tense and in the third person.