Text 2. Business structure and responsibility

The managing Director (sometimes called the Chief Execu­tive, or President in the USA) is the head of the company.

The company is run by a Board of Directors; each Director is in charge of a department. However, the Chairman of the Board is in overall control and may not be the head of any one department.

Most companies have Finance, Sales, Marketing (some­times part of Sales), Production, Research and Development (R & D) and Personnel Departments. These are the most com­mon departments, but some companies have others as well.

Most departments have a Manager, who is in charge of its day-to-day running, and who reports to the Director; the Direc­tor is responsible for strategic planning and for making decisions.

Various personnel in each department report to the Man­ager. One example, present in almost all companies, is the Sales Representative, who reports to the Sales Manager.

Exercise 1

Below is a diagram showing the structure of a 'mixed' type of multinational company based in the US: some activities are organized into domestic, regional and international divisions, others into worldwide product divisions.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Now write questions and answers using responsible for/comes under.

Example Who's responsible for Business Systems in the Pacific? That comes under the Pacific Division.

a) Corporate Planning_________________________________

b) Defence Systems in Africa____________________________

c) Telecommunications in USA___________________

d) Business Systems in Europe___________________________

e) Telecommunications in SE Asia________________________

Exercise 2 Below is part of the structure of your company. It is a medium-sized subsidiary of a UK parent company.

			Board of Directors
			Chairman
			Managing Director
Research and Development	Marketing	Sales	Production	Legal	Accounts	Personnel
Transport	Maintenance	Factory Departments	Purchasing	Financial Accounts	Management Accounts	Data Processing

Members of the Group Internal Audit team are visiting your firm. You will hear a series of questions, and you must help the auditors by answering their questions.

You hear:	You reply:
I have a question about the company's sales budget.	You'll have to see the sales people about that.
Could help me? It's about last year's development costs.
I'd like to know exactly when you delivered these goods.
Our Computer Audit team wants to visit you soon. Who should I ask about it?
Do you have purchase contracts with all your suppliers?
I'd like to discuss these cash-flow forecasts. Who do you think could help me?

Exercise 3 Who's the boss?

The above diagram is called an organization chart (or family tree). It shows the chain of command in an organization. We can say that the Vice-President, Corporate Development is responsible to/reports to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Can you make similar statements about the chain of command, by completing the following sentences?

a) The Vice-President, Finance___________________________

b) The President, Automotive Operations___________________

c) The President and Chief Executive Officer________________

d) The Senior Vice-President, Corporate Staffs_______________

e) The Chairman of the Board____________________________

Exercise 4. After carefully reading the information provided and the Organization Chart say what people are responsible for and what they are doing.

Responsibility

> ... is responsible for the day to day running of...

> ... is in charge of the Accounts Department.

> ... runs the agency in Paris.

Job	Position
> ... deals with new customers.	> Over him there are...
> ... looks after the machinery.	> There are ... under her.
> ... takes care of special accounts.	> He reports to ...
> ... sees to repairs.	> She is responsible to ...

Exercise 5. Complete the sentences by choosing the words below each sentence to fill the gaps. The first has been done for you.

1. The employees responsible for carrying out gener­al office duties, filling in forms and keeping statistics are __a__.

(a) clerks (b) accountants (c) supervisors

2. The employees who sell a company's products are the sales ally known as________

(a) vendors (b) renters (c) reps

3. The employees who decide what to purchase, and who make the purchases of finished goods or components to be made into goods, are the_______

(a) choosers (b) procurers (c) buyers

4. The employees who are responsible for seeing that the finished goods are well made are the______

(a) packers (b) quality controllers (c) financial staff

5. The clerical workers who use typewriters or word proces­sors who produce letters, memos or other documents, are______

(a) secretaries (b) editors (c) copywriters

6. The employees who check a company's financial affairs are the______

(a) statisticians (b) accountants (c) counters

7. The employees who are responsible for preparing checks, pay packets and payslips are the _______

(a) wages clerks (b) filing clerks (c) paying clerks

8. The workers who process data, under the control of man­agers and supervisors, are the computer _______

(a) hackers (b) operators (c) screeners

9. The person who greets a visitor and tells him or her how to get to the right office is the _______

(a) manager (b) president (c) receptionist

10. The employees who deal with a company's telephone calls are the ________

(a) VDU operators (b) telex operators (c)switchboard opera­tors