Vocabulary development

1. Which is the odd one out in the following lists of verbs?

1. appoint, engage, employ, hire, interview, recruit, select, take on

2. dismiss, fire, lay off, make redundant, sack, transfer

3. achieve, attain, reach, meet, set

4. appraise, assess, evaluate, instruct, measure

2. Which of the verbs does not match a noun?

an applicant	a job	an employee	an interview	a situation	a deadline
select	apply for	hire	hold	approach	set
retire	offer	fire	carry out	handle	take
reject	accept	recruit	attend	deal with	fix
screen	regulate	appoint	conduct	experience	meet
evaluate	leave	implement	make	operate	miss

3. Complete the sentences with an appropriate preposition

1. My colleague has decided to apply the position of Team

Leader.

2. Who is accountable the quality of the product?

3. When did you graduate the university?

4. We are looking for people with a degree agronomy.

5. I have been assigned this branch since Alex left.

6. He is responsible about 40 members of the staff.

7. I have sent the application form the wrong address.

8. I’ve got an interview the management job with CTB.

4. Read the text about selection practices used across cultures and get' ready to discuss the questions that follow.

Approaches to selection vary interviewed for the desired

significantly across cultures. qualities.

There are differences not only in In Anglo-Saxon cultures, what is

the priorities that are given to generally tested is how much the

technical or interpersonal individual can contribute to the

capabilities, but also in the ways tasks of the organisation. In these

that candidates are tested and cultures, assessment centres,

intelligence tests andmeasurements of competencies are the norm. In Germanic cultures, the emphasis is more on the quality of education in a specialist function. The recruitment process in Latin and Far Eastern cultures is very often characterised by ascertaining how well that person 'fits in' with the larger group. This is determined in part by the elitism of higher educational institutions, such as 'the grandes ecoles' in France or the University of Tokyo in Japan, and in part by their interpersonal style and ability to network internally. If there are tests in Latin cultures, they will tend to be more about the Anglo-Saxon notion of'intelligence¹.

Though there are few statistical comparisons of selection practices used across cultures, one recent study provides a useful example of the impact of culture. A survey conducted by Shackleton and Newell compared selection methods between France and the UK. They found that there was a striking contrast in the number of interviews used in the selection process, with France resorting to more than one interview much more frequently. They also found that in the UK there was a much greater tendency to use panel interviews than in France, where one-to-one interviews are the norm. In addition, while almost 74 per cent of companies in the UK use references from previous employers, only 11 per cent of the companies surveyed in France used them. Furthermore, French companies rely much more on personality tests and handwriting analysis than their British counterparts.

Many organisations operating across cultures have tended to decentralise selection in order to allow for local differences in testing and for language differences, while providing a set of personal qualities or characteristics they consider important for candidates.

Hewitt Associates, a US compensation and benefits consulting firm based in the Mid West, has had difficulties extending its key selection criteria outside the USA. It is known for selecting 'SWANs': people who are Smart, Willing, Able and Nice. These concepts, all perfectly understandable to other Americans, can have very different meanings in other cultures. For example, being able may mean being highly connected with colleagues, being sociable or being able to command respect from a hierarchy of subordinates, whereas the intended meaning is more about being technically competent, polite and relatively formal. Similarly, what is nice in one culture may be considered naive or immature in another. It all depends on cultural context.

Some international companies, like Shell, Toyota, and L'Oreal, have identified very specific qualities that they consider strategically important and that support their business requirements. For example, the criteria that Shell has identified as most important in supporting its strategy include mobility and language capability. These are more easily understood across cultures because people are either willing to relocate or not. There is less room for cultural misunderstandings with such qualities

.

Discussion:

What are the different methods a company can use to find new employees? Which are you most familiar with?

Which do you think are most effective?

Do you think selection methods vary from country to country?

What are the most common selection methods used by companies and organisations in our country?

LANGUAGE FOCUS

The -ing forms

When it is used in conjunction with ‘be’ to express progressive aspect (e.g. We’re waiting), the -ing form has a verbal function and is traditionally called a participle. It is a participle in commonly-used constructions like

Let’s go swimming. Come dancing with us.

It can also function as an NP, in which case it is traditionally called the gerund, as in I like swimming.

Standing here all day, I could see some very strange people, (a participle)

Standing here all day makes me very tired, (a gerund)

-ing as participle Nuclear stress on the noun	-ing as gerund Nuclear stress on the -ing form
boiling water changing circumstances the following example sliding doors a moving staircase	a changing room boiling point working clothes writing paper a bathing costume

The -ing participle as adjective

The -ing participles above are not ‘full’ adjectives, in that they cannot be modified by ‘ very ’ or ’too', nor can they be compared.

However, a number of -ing participles can be used as ‘full’ adjectives,

e.g. That is a very/more interesting exciting/amusing/entertaining, etc.) story.

When -ing is used as an adjective, it usually refers to a characteristic feature of the thing referred to by the noun and not to any specific act.

Notice the difference:

The speaker was given a standing ovation. (= the kind of applause given when all the audience is standing)

I can see several people standing. (=They are standing now.)

There could be no question of the —ing form coming before the noun in 7 can see several people standing at the back ’.

Match the equivalents. Pay attention to some phrases that have two meanings:

1	standing dish	a.	стрибок 3 місця
2	standing place	b.	постійна комісія
3	standing committee	c.	вічна загроза
4	standing jump	d.	невичерпний об'єкт для жартів
5	standing menace	e.	чергова страва
6	standing jest	f.	звичайна тема
7	standing order	g-	стояче місце (в театрі)
8	standing room	h.	місце для пасажирів, що стоять
		i.	статут; регламент
		j-	постійне платіжне доручення

The -ed participle

The past, or -ed participle can be used in

• an active verbal group (The guests have arrived), or

• a passive verbal group (Someone has been injured)

When it is passive, the -edparticiple is often used as an adjective: e.g. The injured man was taken to hospital.

‘Active’ participles are rarely used in this way: we could not use ‘arrived’ as an adjective before guests. Among the few active participles that can be used adjectivally are:

an escaped prisoner, a fadedflower, fallen leaves, a grown man.

Some more examples of passive participles used as attributive adjectives:

a broken window a closed shop a finished article

an honoured guest lost property a recorded talk

the spoken word an organized attempt

The negative prefix un- is often attached to a passive -ed participle: an unbroken record an unfinished article

Negative adjectives on this pattern are even formed when there is no corresponding positive adjective:

His conduct was uncalled for / unheard of.

The game offered untold wealth to the most talented players.

An -ed participle is often made into a compound with the help of well, badly or half:

a well-/badly-/half-finished job, a well-/badly-built house, well- behaved children.

-ed can be added to a noun when there is no corresponding verb:

A bearded man, a blue-eyed baby, a four-engined aircraft;

A ragged, wretched, aged man leaning heavily on a crooked stick, helped along by his good-tempered wife.

We must distinguish the -ed adjectives from the -ing:

This story amuses me. This story is amusing. I am amused by it.

The difference between -ed as adjective and -ed as pure passive is seen in these two examples:

I am very worried about you. (adjective)

We were worried by mosquitoes all night, (passive)

Many -ed participles which cannot be preceded by ‘very’ can be modified by other intensifiers such as very much, well, badly, completely, greatly, highly, absolutely.

e.g. The story was completely forgotten. He is a highly qualified specialist.

Concerned and involved follow the nouns they modify: e.g. I would like to see all the team members involved. Some of the farmers concerned suffer particularly from the low prices

.

A few old past participles survive as adjectives in a form different from that of the past participle: _>r

Past participle

Adjective

bent, bended

bent

drunk

lit

drunken

lighted

rotten

sunken

shaven

rotted

sunk

shaved

e.g. clean-shaven cheeks, sunken garden, a lighted candle, on bended „ knees

The past participle can be used as part of Complex object: We found the door locked. You must have your photo taken.