3. Complete the gaps with headings:

1. Government Influence

2. Work Supply

3. Organizational Change

4. Planning for Organizational Reasons

5. Work Demand

4. Match synonyms.

staff	impetus
relationship	usage
integration	blueprint
plan	benefit
deployment	blending
reward	liaison
motivation	instruction
training	human resources

5. Fill in the gaps with prepositions consulting the text and make your own sentences with the phrases.

1. to derive competitive advantage __ its resources

2. to be unique __ the organization

3. to regain control __ operating units

4. to be integrated __ the process of management

5. to make links __ strategy, structure and people

6. __ a nutshell

7. to be related __ manpower and skills inventory

8. to obtain adherence __ plans

6. Paraphrase with synonyms:

a route to competitive advantage	a crucial element
to play a proactive part	to be a necessary evil
sustainable growth	turbulent economic environment

7. Define the terms in English:

competitive advantage	replacement
HR practice	compensation
human resource routine	promotion
work demand	resignation
work supply	redundancy
organizational change	transfer
recruitment	motivation

Case Study 1

Critically assess and discuss the recruitment and selection procedure of a firm and elaborate recommendations for any changes to its recruitment and selection process. Consider the following issues³⁸:

1. Is the method of advertising for new positions appropriate?

2. Is the method of sifting through the applications and shortlisting efficient and effective?

3. How far would you say that the firm's process meets employment legislation in terms of equal opportunities?

4. What lessons might be learned about the selection process from what happened in the scenario?

5. What implications might there be on motivation, training and development from the way the eventual appointment was made?

6. Is the method of providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates appropriate?

A medium sized business was seeking to recruit a product development manager in its research and development (R&D) section. The new person would be responsible for overseeing the process by which the new products the business was developing were prepared for launch onto the market.

The recruitment process involved placing adverts in trade magazines and the national press and the adverts resulted in over 60 applications. There were 5 people involved in the short listing process: the direct line manager; the head of the HR division; the assistant head of that division; and two members of the new product development department - one from R&D and one from the launch team.

A short list of 7 candidates was drawn up. However, the assistant head of HR heard that a former trainee of the firm wanted to apply but could not get the application in by the deadline - she would be a strong candidate and the firm knew of her qualities. The head of HR agreed to let the application come in three days late and she was duly added to the shortlist.

On the day of the selection, each candidate had to do a presentation on the extent to which they matched the job description and person specification and what they felt they could bring to the job to further the company's objectives. This was followed by an interview. The candidate who had put in the late application did not turn up and the head of HR phoned her up. She said that she had not received a letter inviting her for interview and was not therefore aware that she was wanted. She agreed to come in and was allowed to miss doing the presentation although would be questioned on it in the same way that other candidates were.

At the end of the process, two clear candidates emerged, one of which was the late applicant. It was decided that she would be offered the position and after receiving the phone call from the assistant manager of the HR department, she duly accepted. The rest of the selection team took the responsibility of contacting the other candidates to tell them they were unsuccessful and to give them some feedback about their performance and why they were unsuccessful.

Later that evening, the head of HR received a phone call from the successful candidate telling her that she had gone back to her company where she had been working part time and told them of her success. They had responded by offering her a full time position and increasing her salary and she had decided to stay with them and thus did not want the position.

This meant that the candidate who was second had to be contacted and have the position explained to him. Fortunately for the firm, he understood and was happy to accept the position. Had he not, it could have involved the business in another round of selection which is an expensive process.

Grammar

Modals (suggestion, rules and advice, possibility)

1. Complete the sentences with should/shouldn’t/ought/must+ infinitive, should/ shouldn’t + perfect infinitive. Change the form of a main verb if it is necessary. The first sentence has been done for you.

1. Their firm should rely more heavily on local raw materials.

2. If she doesn’t want to lose the job, she __ accept their offer; there is no other alternative.

3. Before they agreed, they __ study the contract in more detail.

4. Our MD works too much and has no social life, in my view, he __ to get out more.

5. If you want to get your holiday pay, you really __sign this application forms in the accounts department.

6. Well, it is a good idea we__ to lease rather than buy.

7. In our company employees __ wear a uniform, the only rule is no sportswear and only neat clothes.

8. Unemployment rates are increasing, the government __ to do something about this problem.

9. I __ buy a ticket in advance, as summer is a busy season and all convenient flights are already booked.

10. Their conversation was private, nobody __ listen to it but now they know about the deal.

2. Complete the sentences with must/may/might/could/couldn’t/can’t + a main verb in the correct form. The first sentence has been done for you.

1. She has shares in one of the most successful American companies. She must be (be) a millionaire.

2. He __ (meet) Mrs. White at the conference as she was in Tokyo at the time.

3. When he was young he was very charismatic I strongly believe that he __ (be) a team leader.

4. Mike is good at persuading people. If he presents a new product we probably __ sign the contract.

5. The Financial Director looks exhausted. Ye definitely __ (work) all night long.

6. The Marketing team __ (do enough research) because a new project launch was a failure.

7. The company lost a lot of money, its management team is to blame, it __ (take bad decisions) and as a result the company went through a difficult period.

8. Jane is not at the meeting, nobody knows where she is, she __ (be stuck) in a traffic jam.

9. I’m sure that due to technological advances, now many companies __ (have difficult time) adjusting to changes in IT market.

10. Denise __ (be) an expert in project management, even a management student knows how to organize the control process and evaluate performance.

3. Rewrite these sentences using one of these modal verbs: can, can’t, might, might not, must, should, shouldn’t + a main verb in the correct form. The first sentence has been done for you.

1. I advise you to rehearse the presentation in the office before giving it to foreign partners. You should rehearse the presentation in the office before giving it to foreign partners.

2. I’m sure MD is exhausted after such tense negotiations. MD__.

3. It’s a good idea to invite outside consultants to solve the problem of low performance at their factory. You__.

4. From what I know about our data interchange system, it’s not a problem. It__.

5. They are likely to expand into Europe in three years. They__.

6. Perhaps they will go bankrupt if they don’t pay debts. It__.

7. I suppose they are making their sales targets this year. They__.

8. It was a bad idea to borrow money for the mortgage on a new office under any circumstances. We__.

9. It is impossible that they will drop the price by the end of the month. They__.

10. It is essential to invest into an advertising campaign if you want to develop your business. You__.

Case Study

Apple's Game Plan: Avoiding Culture Shock

Read the case and discuss the following questions in groups:

1. What did Steve Jobs do as a top manager in term of HR management?

2. Which of Jobs’ activities ensured Apple’s success?

3. Why is Steve Jobs recognized as the most talented manager of the world? Give examples and prove your opinion.

The day after Steve Jobs’ death, Apple Inc.'s stock price barely budged. It was an outcome nearly a decade in the making. Since at least 2004, Mr. Jobs and Apple's board of directors have been putting into place a plan to maintain the legacy of his management style and his decision-making, according to former Apple employees.

Among Mr. Jobs and the board's moves there is slowing the flow of departing executives to build a bench of talent and installing programs ranging from annual retreats for the company's "top 100" managers to an in-house "university" that codified Mr. Jobs’ work over the years into case studies.

By the time Mr. Jobs died on Wednesday, much of the infrastructure and institutional knowledge was in place for Apple to continue on - despite fears that a company that depended so acutely on its co-founder's vision and personality would immediately flail without him.

The corporate culture that Mr. Jobs worked to instill, and now leaves behind, encourages creativity within a formal structure of product development and launches, according to former Apple employees. That is in contrast to the start-up free-for-all feeling of a younger company like Google Inc. Apple's secretive culture is top down, driven by the demands of senior executives and defined by a belief that what people are working on is important.

Apple "is an army . . . everyone has a role," said Andy Miller, who sold the wireless advertising company he co-founded, Quattro Wireless, to Apple in 2010 and recently left Apple to join venture-capital firm Highland Capital Partners. "The rare thing [Apple] had on their side was time," said David Larcker, director of the Corporate Governance Research Program at Stanford University. Since Mr. Jobs' health unraveled over nearly a decade, Apple's board had years to evaluate and groom executives, such as current Chief Executive Tim Cook, and develop ways to convey the company's culture and business lessons to new executives, he said.

Much of the planning for Mr. Jobs’ legacy happened without explicit discussion, said former Apple executives. Avie Tevanian, Apple's chief software technology officer who left in 2006, said Mr. Jobs did not talk about succession regularly but believed that talent would remain that as long as Apple maintained the right culture.

Mr. Jobs’ thinking was "let's provide a really good place to work and be successful and you will always have a deep bench of people," said Mr. Tevanian, now a managing director at private equity firm Elevation Partners. Mr. Jobs worked at keeping people around, he added, especially key executives who were often heavily recruited.

In the years following Mr. Jobs' return to Apple in 1997, turnover at the top was high, especially with executives who did not meld with the co-founder's notorious temper. However, following Mr. Jobs' first health-related leave of absence in 2004 for pancreatic cancer, Apple's management team stabilized. Executives had an unspoken desire to build a team that had a long-term track record, according to a people familiar with Apple's thinking.

Chief among Mr. Jobs’ talent picks was Mr. Cook, 50, who joined Apple in 1998 to help make its manufacturing more efficient. He temporarily ran Apple in 2004 when Mr. Jobs was on his first medical leave.

A year later, Mr. Jobs appointed Mr. Cook as chief operating officer, signaling to other employees that he was priming a successor. Later that same year, Mr. Jobs allowed Mr. Cook to join Nike Inc.'s board, a move that other executives said they took as a sign that Mr. Jobs was grooming top talent. Each of the three times that Mr. Jobs took a medical leave from Apple; Mr. Cook took on more responsibility, said people familiar with his leadership. Even when Mr. Jobs was holding the CEO title, he left many day-to-day details about running the company to Mr. Cook, preferring to focus on the bigger picture, according to former Apple employees.

Like many other tech companies, Apple attracts and keeps top talent with stock programs that reward people for the success of their performance. However, it does not necessarily rely on benchmarking salaries with the rest of the tech industry, said Aaron Boyd of compensation-research firm Equilar Inc.

After appointing Mr. Cook CEO in August, for instance, Apple's board gave him a compensation package that makes it hard for him to walk away, with 1 million restricted stock units, half of which vest in 2016, and the other half in 2021.

According to an Equilar analysis, the award is the second-richest equity award in Silicon Valley in the last 11 years, after Mr. Jobs’ package in 2000. Mr. Jobs built Apple's culture to idolize product development and a sense of perpetual improvement, according to current and former employees. Regular product post-mortems, where employees examine the successes and failures of new gadgets a few months after launch, embodied this spirit, said former employees.

Mr. Jobs also began rallying executives at the top of the company by assembling executives at an off-site meeting held annually or so called the "Top 100," according to people familiar with the sessions.

The group included a core group of Apple's senior leaders and dozens of others invited because they were working on high-priority products. Together they would discuss topics like Apple's retail strategy and hold internal product unveilings. Participants were told that they were cultural keepers of Apple, and were responsible for propagating that culture to other employees, according to people familiar with the meetings.

Starting in 2008, Mr. Jobs also launched an effort to codify the culture and business intelligence he built into its own in-house MBA program. Apple hired Joel Podolny to serve as dean of a secretive program it calls Apple University. In that role, Mr. Podolny has interviewed top-level executives and crafted case studies on key Apple business decisions, said people familiar with the program. Those classes have been optional, according to one former employee. "You feel like a kid coming out of "Rocky" ready to do battle," Mr. Miller said of Apple University, which he and the managers at Quattro participated in after the company was acquired.

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