Vocabulary development

1. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below using the words and phrases in the appropriate form:

• to vary according to

• to determine (to be determined to do sth)

• to occupy the position

• to take/make decisions

• to delegate authority= to empower people by giving them more control

• a subordinate

1. This week the board is due about whether

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o expand the business.

2. A good manager knows when .

3. Her mood seems the weather.

4. He has of a creative manager for the past

eight months.

5. Managers from Ukraine work very long hours and expect | their to do so.

6. Your parents’ income is used your level of £

financial help.

КУРС ДІЛОВОЇ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ для магістрів 1

2. Find in texts above words or phrases with the following meanings. „ 10

3. Decide in which phase of the organisational life cycle the following happens: 11

4. Read Aesop’s Fable and comment on its moral: A Soldier and His Horse 12

5. Read this extract from Nestle Management report and note how the information is organised. Underline the key words. 14

6. Write or search for a short management report about a Ukrainian well-known company. 14

7. Read the newspaper article about the different ways in which companies are organised and do the tasks that follow: Efficient management structures are vital for success 14

D. Match these collocations as they occur in the text and then complete each sentence below. 16

E Match the terms in the box with their definitions below. 16

8. Complete the second sentence so that it means more or less the same as the first: 19

19. Use ‘find’ with ‘it’ and a variety of adjectives from this list to ^ : express your feelings on each of the matters mentioned below. _; 23

Complex Object with the Infinitive and Participle /, r 25

Complex Subject with the Infinitive and Participle r 25

20. Translate into Ukrainian paying attention to the infinitives. 25

21. Rephrase the following sentences using Complex Object: 25

22. Rephrase the following sentences into sentences with Complex Subject. 26

23. Check whether you know the definition of the following key terms from Unit 1. Use them in the sentences of your own. 29

Questions for discussion: 35

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION SKILLS Questioning styles 35

Closed questions 35

a) Using the information in the text above make questions for these answers. 39

9. Read the text about the factors that play a major role in determining the structure of tomorrow's companies and answer the questions that follow. A matter of choice 39

Questions: 40

10. Match the key terms and their definitions: 40

11. Complete the sentences with the correct options: 41

,s 42

Signposting 43

13. Choose one of the ‘signpost’ expressions from the box above for the following situations: 43

Outline talk 46

Present main part divided into points 46

Introduce your first point 46

Giving a presentation 16. Read the following tips and till in the gaps with an appropriate word or phrase from the box: 51

17. Find in the recommendations above the words that mean: 51

22. Decide whether you agree or disagree with the following statements. Make comments. 54

23. Pair work. The questioner asks about a company using the prompts below. The presenter answers the questions using appropriate comments. 54

Verbs instead of noun phrases 25. Rewrite these sentences changing the noun phrases to verbs where possible. Make any other necessary changes. 59

The words in italic below are unnecessary. Eliminate them from your writing. 59

28. Read the suggested answer and compare it with yours: 61

VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT 1. a) What are the noun forms for these adjectives? Complete it without a dictionary, then check your answers in the dictionary. 63

b) Write three mini-dialogues using the adjectives and nouns above together. 63

2. Choose the appropriate preposition to complete the sentences: 63

5. By altering the scope of their activities 67

Mergers and acquisitions 68

Г 88

A 116

Соф. 118

A ' 134

я 181

«і 187

o 214

КУРС ДІЛОВОЇ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ мови для магістрів 298

MEMO

To: project team From: Paul Heaton Date: 24^th June Subject: meeting

Dear all

This e-mail is to r you about the meeting at 10,00 on

Friday, 28^,h June. The p of the meeting is to discuss

the next stage of the Project.

I attach an a with the main points for discussion. If

you have any other points you want to discuss, please let me

know. I also attach a list ofp , so you know

who will be at the meeting.

The chairperson will be Amanda Myers. We need someone to

take the m so there is a record of what we talked

about. Michael, can you do this, please? You will receive the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting, together with a

list of a points and responsibilities.

I look forward to seeing you all.

With best wishes Paul

CORPORATE CULTURES 4. Discuss these questions.

1. Every organization has its own distinctive culture, and this can vary enormously from company to company. To an outsider, corporate culture differences are usually reflected in external symbols or characteristics, such as advertising and design. Other characteristics of corporate culture are only observable when you get inside the company as an employee or a supplier, such as the kind of dress worn by staff or the use of first names. Try to think of some other characteristics of corporate culture based on companies that you know.

5. Think of some large supermarket groups you know. What kind of image do they project to their customers, e.g. friendly, giving best value?Read the text about the merger of two companies and their corporate cultures and do the tasks that follow.

Not to be taken for granted

By Peggy Hollinger

Asda and Wal-Mart should be the perfect merger, given that the former has deliberately set out to copy the US retailing giant's style. But Asda is keenly aware of the pitfalls.

You could not hope to find a neater fit, said the commentators when Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, agreed a £6.7bn takeover 5 deal with Asda, the UK's number three supermarket group.

It had long been known that the team which was brought in to res­cue Asda from collapse in the mid-1980s had deliberately set out to copy virtually every aspect of the giant US discount group that could be replicated in the UK.

So Asda stores have 'colleagues', not employees. They have people in the parking lots to help drivers to park. They have old-age pen­sioners wearing colourful name badges, standing at the door to say hello and ask customers if they need help. In the Leeds headquar­ters no one has an individual office, not even the chairman. Finally, store staff get actively involved in promoting individual product lines, and are rewarded when their efforts lead to tangible sales improvements.

Most of these ideas came straight from Bentonville, Arkansas, home to one of the world's most unusual retailers. For Wal-Mart's corporate culture has become a legend in retailing.

The company's employees chant the Wal-Mart cheer before store meetings. They benefit from a share ownership scheme which is one of the most widespread in the industry. Top executives share rooms when on business trips, and pay for their coffee and tea from vending machines like the lowliest sales assistant.

Given the similarities, there are few who really believe putting Asda into the Wal-Mart network will result in anything but success. But, says Asda's Chief Executive, Allan Leighton, this is no reason to be complacent. Failing to bring together corporate cultures, even those as similar as Asda's and Wal-Mart's, could lead to the downfall of the most logical mergers. 'When acquiring or merging with a business, getting the cultures to fit is fundamentally important,' he says. Half-way houses, where compromises are made, never work, he believes, and nor does imposing one culture on another. 'A company calling their colleagues colleagues and treating them like staff is not the answer,' he says.

The key to getting the deal to work culturally rests on a few fundamental issues, he believes. The first and most important is terminology, he says. 'Businesses have their own language. You have to get everyone aligned so that when someone uses a word it means the same thing to everyone.’

Middle management comes next. 'Initially, everything is done at the top of the organization,' he says. 'But most of the work is done in the middle.' If middle manage­ment is not incentivized, a deal can go horribly wrong. 'It all boils down to people in the end. And what motivates people? Unless you can demonstrate very quickly that their influence in the organization is at least the same if not better than before, then people will get concerned about it,' he says.

Third comes getting to know each other. Asda and Wal-Mart have spent the last few weeks swapping store managers and IT systems staff. 'We will go out there, look and bring back,' Leighton says. 'That way we will have ownership of the changes as opposed to having them pushed on us.'

It will always be hard to deter­mine whether a merger or takeover has failed because the cultures simply did not fit. But success is more likely to elude those who do not really believe in the cultures they are trying to cre­ate. 'This all comes from the heart,' says Leighton. 'You do not get it from textbook management or instruction. You have to create an environment where people feel comfortable in expressing them­selves in a different way. ’ FINANCIAL TIMES World business newspape

r

A Answer these questions.

1. Which company is bigger - Asda or Wal-Mart?

2. What are employees at Asda called?

3. Which two countries are Asda and Wal-Mart from?

4. Which of these statements best summarizes the corporate cultures of Asda and Wal-Mart?

1. We must keep costs as low as possible.

2. We value the contribution of every employee to the success of the company.

3. Everyone in the company is considered equal.

5. What extra financial benefit do Wal-Mart employees have?

6. Allan Leighton mentions three things needed to get the deal 'to work culturally'. What are they?

7. Choose the best explanation of the phrase 'there are few who really believe putting Asda into the Wal-Mart network will result in anything but success':

1. Most people think the combination of Asda and Wal-Mart will succeed.

2. Not many people think the merger will succeed.

8. What does Allan Leighton mean when he says ’it all boils down to people in the end':

1. The number of people in the new organization will need to be reduced.

2. People are the most important element in a merger or takeover.

В Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text. Find the part of the text that gives the correct information.

1. Asda and Wal-Mart have very similar corporate cultures.

2. Asda is the biggest supermarket group in the UK.

3. Wal-Mart is the biggest retailing group in the US.

4. Asda had financial problems in the 1980s.

5. Many of Asda's employees are over 65.

6. Allan Leighton is sure the merger of Asda with Wal-Mart will succeed.

7. Wal-Mart plans to impose its corporate culture on Asda.

8. Creating a corporate culture cannot be planned in theory only.

C Find a word or phrase in the text that has a similar meaning.

1. agreement when a company buys another (para 1)

2. when a company fails (para 2)

3. something that is copied exactly (para 2)

4. something that can be seen and proved (para 3)

5. company that is famous in its industry (para 4)

6. being unreasonably confident (para 6)

7. agreement where both sides give up some of what they want (para 6)

8. in the same position or share the same ideas (para 7)

9. exchanging people or things (para 9)

D Match these terms with their definitions. 1. virtually (para 2)	a) cause something to fail
2. parking lots (para 3)	b) people of retirement age who
3. old-age pensioners (para 3)	no longer work
4. chant (para 5)	c) almost all
5. widespread (para 5)	d) sing

6.	lead to the downfall (para 6)	e) escape
7.	incentivized (para 8)	f) a place where cars are put
8.	elude (para 10)	g) motivated through money or
		other means
		h) available to lots of people

E Match these nouns as they occur together in the text

IT	a) ownership
product	b) trip
name	c) systems
store	d) line
sales	e) management
share	f) badges
middle	g) assistant
business	h) manager

F Use an appropriate phrase from the exercise above to complete each sentence.

1 schemes for employees help to develop loyalty and

commitment.

2. Most large supermarkets sell hundreds of

3. With the increased emphasis on the customer in retailing, the role of the

is important.

4. The increased use of audio and video conferencing should reduce the number of executives need to make.

5. Large organizations need sophisticated to operate

efficiently.

6. If people didn't wear at big conferences, you wouldn't know

who anyone was.

7. Most executives never progress beyond

8. The role of a is to motivate and control the sales staff in the

shop.