Introduction
Organizational structure can be divided into three broad categories. The first is organization based on function. The second is the divisional structure, based on products, brands or regions. Third, there is the organizational structure based on a matrix, the aim of which is to bring together the benefits of the other types.
Functional structure
The functional approach to organization starts from the premise that all business activities can be looked at in terms of functions. Functions depend in part on the type of business. Product design and production, along with research and development, feature mainly in manufacturing firms, whereas all firms need finance, human resource management, and marketing functions. The structure of an organization based on functional departments is presented in the figure below.
►Fill in the empty boxes with the main activities of Finance and HR departments and explain those of the others:
‘PUZZLE-1’ POINT
►Each of the tasks below is carried out by a canned food company. Which functional area does each belong to? Sort the statements into piles (the first is done for you):
HR |
Customer Service |
Sales & Marketing
|
R&D |
Administration & IT support |
Production & Operation
Operations |
Finance & Accounts |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interview a member of staff for promotion.
Prepare a report on daily sales figures.
Meet a sales representative from a supplier.
Order a supply of tomatoes.
Prepare a report on the health and safety policy.
Repair a faulty piece of equipment on the production line.
Test a new fast meal idea.
Pack the finished product into boxes.
Plan how many tomato cans need making next week.
Work with a trade union to solve a problem about a member of staff who is consistently late to work.
Do a survey of customers to find out their views of different products.
Pay taxes.
Order supplies of paper for the photocopier in the accounts department.
Investigate a new piece of software to monitor quality of tomato juice.
Deal with a complaint from an employee that the production areas are too cold.
Arrange the payment of the annual bonus to staff.
Strip down and clean production equipment each night.
Take the minutes of a meeting of the senior managers.
Plan a different way of producing the range of canned tropical fruit.
Discuss prices for the ‘Healthy Living’ range.
Produce leaflets and info about products, their effects on health and environment.
Deal with a complaint from a consumer about the quality of products.
Order new sets of overalls for the production workers.
Comparing budget with accounts.
Collecting and distributing mail.
Collecting information about changes in consumer demand.
Devise new mixture of canned fruits.
‘PUZZLE-2’ POINT
►Match each term from the box with its definition and translate into Russian:
delegation chain of command span of control
empowerment authority hierarchy
decentralized organization flat structure
the right to make decisions and carry out tasks
the number of people a superior is responsible for
likes when authority and control is delegated to the managers of individual centres of activity or operation
the relationship between different levels of authority in the business
shows the line management in the business and who has specific responsibilities
authority to carry out actions passed from superior to subordinate
the removal of levels of management gives this
giving responsibilities to people at all levels of the business to make decisions
‘THEORY-2’ POINT
Divisional structure
(1) When a company has grown to the extent that it has a number of successful products in different regions, it may structure the organization into business units or divisions, which may be based on product, brand, or geographical region/area, as indicated in the figure below.
(2) Known as the multidivisional structure, this has been one of the major structural innovations of modern corporations, seeking to solve the problems of how to decentralize a large company, while still maintaining overall co-ordination of the parts. In the early 1990s General Motors and the American chemical corporation Du Pont adopted the multidivisional structure. The principle is that each division is headed by a division manager who has responsibility for managing the division as a profit centre in its own right. The division itself may be a separate company, known as a subsidiary company, whose major shareholder is the parent company. The company’s executives at head office concentrate on the broader corporate aims, leaving functional departments, such as finance, for the group as a whole.
(3) The area division is a way of addressing different regional conditions. In this type of organization structure, country or region managers preside over area divisions, and are responsible for all the company’s activities in that area.
(4) The holding company may also be said to be based on divisions, in that a parent company is the owner of a diverse array of subsidiary companies. However, unlike multidivisional companies, holding company exerts little control over the separate companies and provides few general functions for the group as a whole. The companies within the group operate, in effect, as independent organizations.
►Question/Answer session:
What are the reasons for a company to turn to the divisional structure?
What are principles of the multidivisional structure?
What is the difference between a holding and a multidivisional company?
‘WWW.1’ POINT
►Go to www.dupont.com, learn about Du Pont’s present multidivisional structure comprising divisions by product/activity and fill in the empty boxes with their names. Explain in short each division’s activity. Who is Du Pont’s CEO?
►Go to www.ge.com, learn about General Electric’s present multidivisional structure comprising divisions by product/activity and fill in the empty boxes with their names. Explain in short each division’s activity. Who is GE’s CEO?
‘PROS & CONS-2’ POINT
►Fill in the table with the information you have come up with and learned so far:
Table. Advantages and disadvantages of the divisional structure
|
ADVANTAGES |
DISADVANTAGES |
Divisional structure |
|
|
‘GRAMMAR-1’ POINT
►The examples below are taken from ‘Theory-2 Point’:
The principle is that each division is headed by a division manager who has responsibility for managing the division as a profit centre in its own right.
The companies within the group operate, in effect, as independent organizations.
►Translate the examples into Russian and explain:
Is it correct to use ‘like’ instead of ‘as’ without a change in meaning? If not, why?
►Fill in the blanks with ‘like’ or ‘as’:
___ Rupert Murdoch, John Smith is getting his hands on widely acclaimed newspapers, magazines and TV channels.
They buy shares ___ an investment only.
___ a founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson has been keeping a firm control of his company for more than 30 years.
Harry Flint joined the company ___ a Finance Manager only a month ago, but he behaves ___ a Managing Director.
Incorporated businesses exist ___ legal entities in their own right, with identities quite separate from those of their owners.
ZetZ, ___ almost any Ltd aspiring to expand its operations abroad, is going to start functioning ___ a public limited company.
‘THEORY-3’ POINT
Matrix structure
(1) The matrix is a way of structuring the organization to incorporate the benefits of other types of structure, such as the functional organization, product divisions and area divisions. It involves two lines of management, as indicated in the figure below.
(2) The product manager must coordinate with the area manager for the launch of a new product in that region. In theory, this allows the company to respond to local trends, and also derive the benefits of globally coordinated product management. In practice, however, it is difficult to reconcile these different lines of authority, and the system can lead to deadlock in decision-making. Thus, although the matrix theoretically should provide flexibility, it can lead to inefficiency. Some companies adopt a compromise, using product divisions, but adding country management where it is specifically needed, for example in developing countries such as China.
(3) Another example of the matrix structure in use is a chocolate manufacturer which may be developing a new chocolate bar. Instead of development being passed from the R&D department to the production department to finance to marketing, a team with different departmental expertise could be put together. In a traditional development process, the R&D department would create a new product. The production department would then comment on whether it was technically possible to produce it. Accounts would comment on what price and sales volumes would be needed for it to be profitable. Marketing would comment on whether the new bar could be marketed effectively in the current market. Doing this in order could take time as it passes form department to department. By putting a team together, there can be almost instant feedback between those involved. Development time could be reduced greatly.
►Below is the schematic business structure of Unilever (taken from its corporate website www.unilever.com), one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) across foods, home and personal product categories. Explain how control is carried out in the company. How does Unilever benefit from different organizational structures you have learned so far?
HPC = Home and personal product categories
►In the aerospace industry (manufacture and development of airplanes and spacecraft) the government might ask for a space shuttle type aircraft to be developed and manufactured. Another government department might ask for a spacecraft to go to Mars. Obviously these craft would be very different. How could an organization set itself up to complete both projects?
‘PROS & CONS-3’ POINT
►Fill in the table with the information you have come up with and learned so far:
Table. Advantages and disadvantages of the matrix structure
|
ADVANTAGES |
DISADVANTAGES |
Matrix structure |
|
|
‘WWW.2’ POINT
For a more precise understanding of its markets and in order to establish the best possible strategy to meet – and to anticipate – its customers’ needs, the Michelin Group is organized into product lines, each one dedicated to an area of activity, with its own marketing, development, production and marketing resources.
►Go to www.michelin.com, learn about the details of Michelin organization structure and prepare a scheme-presentation of it.
‘PUZZLE-3’ POINT
When plans for future company growth go wrong and the competition is catching up fast, what should a business do? In a retailing firm, many would expect costs to be cut - involving shop closures and staff redundancies. But does this also represent an opportunity? Let's consider the following example.
►Fill in the blanks:
flatter accelerating informal feedback
chain of command hierarchy formal
decentralizing responsibility
reduced pyramid removing
In an attempt to speed up plans to turn the company around, Mr. Smith, a chief executive, is trying to make the company’s organization structure ______________. By _______________ layers from the firm's central staff, the length of their ____________ will be _____________. Cutting levels out from an organization's _____________ is a way of ____________ decision making speed.
Slimming down the company’s central team and leadership structure is one thing; getting the new message across to existing staff and keeping them motivated is quite another. The firm will need to use its _______________ channels of communication to keep staff informed. It will also need to remember that ______________ channels will be used as fears spread about where the cuts will end.
It may be possible that the company might merely be removing levels from its ____________ or the re-organization might lead to a new approach to working at its HQ. Creating project teams from existing staff and _____________ its organization, could have big benefits in terms of staff motivation, as workers often benefit from being given more ____________. But whatever happens, the company will have to be careful to listen out for and respond to ______________ from its staff.
►Question/Answer session:
Do you justify the steps Mr. Smith has taken to turn the company around?
Will Mr. Smith manage to keep the staff motivated? What would feedback from the staff be like and how would the company’s senior management respond to it?
‘CASE-1’ POINT
Restructuring at Procter & Gamble
(1) Procter & Gamble (P&G), formed by William Procter and James Gamble in Cincinnati in 1837, is one of the oldest global companies. Its brands include Ivory soap, Crest toothpaste and Ariel detergent, along with many others. For much of its history, the company has been innovative in producing new consumer products and new marketing techniques, such as the soap opera. However, despite its record of reliable profit growth, by the 1990s P&G had become weighed down by bureaucratic hierarchy. According to Richard Tomkins, ‘the company became formula-driven, risk-averse and inbred. Even the smallest decisions had to be referred to senior management. Individuality was frowned upon: employees learnt how to write memos, how to speak and how to think.’ Times became harder for the well-known brands, which were losing sales to copycat products and supermarket own brands. The big supermarket chains, such as Wal-Mart, grew more powerful, and were able to demand lower prices from manufacturers.
(2) In a restructuring in 1990, P&G’s chief executive closed 30 plants worldwide, cutting 13,000 jobs. This move brought down prices, but damaged employee morale. The need was for more innovative products, as Ivory soap had fallen behind Unilever’s Dove moisturizing soap, and Crest toothpaste had been overtaken by Colgate’s Total. In 1999, a new chief executive, Durk Jager, took radical measures to dismantle the company’s multilayered bureaucracy. Aiming to recreate entrepreneurial spirit, he took power away from country-based divisions and created global product managers, with greater control over their budgets. But the change from country-based divisions to product divisions proved very expensive, and the costs did not translate immediately into greater sales. Further, the radical changes had a disorienting effect on employees. It has been estimated that of P&G’s 200-300 top managers, only 29 per cent were left doing the same job they had done 18 months previously.
(3) Arguably, Jager did what was necessary to drag the company into the twenty-first century, and the company’s turnaround would have come over time. But shareholders expected a speedy recovery, which was not forthcoming. After only 18 months in office, in which three profit warnings had to be issued, he was forced to go.
►Translate the underlined into Russian. Make up a couple of sentences of your own for your classmates to translate from Russian into English.
►Question/Answer session:
Why was it necessary to change P&G’s organizational culture and structure?
In what ways did P&G’s organizational culture and structure need to be changed?
Did Jager try to do too much too quickly, or was shock therapy necessary in the circumstances?
‘GRAMMAR-2’ POINT
►The example below is taken from ‘Case-1 Point’:
The big supermarket chains, such as Wal-Mart, grew more powerful, and were able to demand lower prices from manufacturers.
► Is it correct to use ‘could’ instead of ‘were able to’? If not, why?
►Fill in the blanks with ‘was/were able to’ or ‘could’:
So successful was the e-order operation that by 1997 Steve Brolin ___ open his first store in Glasgow.
After a long conversation with her boss, Laura ___ get a promotion.
Since Larry has acquired a broad experience in finance, he ___ do various accounting ‘tricks’ quite easily and quickly. This is a habit that ___ sometimes turn into a fraud.
When the company was about to collapse, Mr. Schlesinger, the CEO, ___ pull it up by the boot strings and put it on the move again.
‘BATTLE’ POINT
Arguments allow you to go in different ways and look at things from different perspectives - how will you argue your case? This is an activity for you to work on in pairs. Label yourselves ‘#1’ and ‘#2’.
#1 will be given a statement, which will be read out to your partner.
#2 will then try to offer an argument against the point #1 has just given.
#1 will then respond and so on. See if you can continue your ‘argument’ for five minutes.
It might be useful to record your argument so you can listen back to what you have both said and then think about the ‘quality’ of your argument.
L
et’s
take a simple example to illustrate this:
And so on! Hopefully this and the list of useful phrases below give you some ideas to start.
If you agree you say:
You are (perfectly) right.
That’s (exactly) what I think.
I couldn’t agree more.
If you disagree you say:
I think you are mistaken/wrong.
Your point/opinion is wrong/ambiguous.
That’s not really how I see it.
If you want to interrupt, you say:
If I could just make a point here…
Could I make a suggestion?
Sorry to interrupt you, but…
If you want to check whether you are understood, you say:
Do you see what I mean?
Don’t you think so?
If you want to check whether you understood correctly what has just been said, you say:
If I understand you correctly, …
So you say that… . Is that what you mean?
If you don’t understand what has just been said and want it to be repeated, you say:
I am sorry? I did not catch what you said. Could you repeat, please?
Sorry, could you say that again?
►Now start to develop your arguments about the following statements:
A centralized organizational structure is the most effective for large and complex businesses.
The most important function in a business is human resources - without good human resource management the business would not survive.
Good communications are the most important aspect of running a large business.
‘WWW.3’ POINT
People who actually own a company are often not the ones running it on a day-to-day basis. The board of directors and executive officers are usually listed on corporate web pages for several reasons. For one thing, they put a human face and name to what otherwise would be only a corporate public image. For another, they provide information about who is actually ‘behind the wheel’ steering corporate behavior. For instance, everyone knows Bill Gates runs and owns most of Microsoft, but what about IBM?
►Explore the corporate websites of the following companies from the computer industry:
IBM
Digital
Hewlett Packard
Oracle
Microsoft
►Search each site for information on the company’s ownership and senior management. Describe the makeup of the board of directors and senior management. Summarize their character in terms of average age and gender.
►Now investigate the structure of your school. Write notes identifying the type of structure, and explaining how this affects:
communications within this organization
how well the organization is able to achieve its aims and objectives which you identify beforehand.
Construct an organizational chart of the school. Your chart should show departments and functional areas, and the different job roles within them.
‘PUZZLE-4’ POINT
►Match each job title from the box with its definition and translate it into Russian:
CEO Information Systems Director Purchasing Director
Managing Director (MD) HR Director Systems Analyst
Vice President (VP) Marketing Director Production Director Customer Service Manager Staff Development Officer
Finance Director Exports Manager
The manager responsible for buying.
The person who designs computer networks.
A British English term for a senior manager of a company.
The manager responsible for the process of creating goods or services for sale to customers.
An American English term for the top manager of a company.
The person responsible for setting up training opportunities for employees.
The person responsible for computer operations in a company.
The person responsible for managing product development, promotion, customer service, and selling.
The person responsible for markets in other countries.
The manager responsible for personnel issues.
The person responsible for relationships with customers.
The person responsible for presentation and control of profit and loss.
A senior manager in charge of a particular area.
‘CASE-2’ POINT
Pure Beauté
(1) Michèle Serrault is the managing director of Pure Beauté plc, an international business with interests in several major areas of the world. The company has its headquarters in Paris with regional offices in Vichy, Cannes and Strasbourg. Michèle heads a board of directors that includes a finance director, marketing and sales director, production manager, human resources manager, and a research and development director.
(2) Each of these directors has a responsibility for a team of people based in the four key regions the company operates in - Europe, The Americas, The Middle East and Asia. Each of these teams in turn has a structure that encompasses finance managers, sales and marketing managers, human resources and production managers.
(3) The company has three main strategic objectives:
Increasing sales growth in all key regions
Improving profit margins on its key brands
Expanding the product portfolio
(4) The products the company produces and sells are varied. The company manufactures a range of skin care products based on various fruit and vegetable essential oils produced in a factory located in Toulouse. In addition, the company has a growing market share in the production of hair care products – shampoos, lotions, hair masks, styling gels and waxes and so on which it manufactures from a site in Beijing.
(5) The company feels there are possibilities to expand into newer areas of its related market, particularly in perfumery and sun care products, but it is also looking to make an entry into the makeup market using its knowledge of making skin care products.
(6) Michèle Serrault has had to pull the company up by the boot strings - it had faced a number of years of decline through relying on products that had started to enter the decline stage. The staff have an age profile where 45% of staff are 40 years and older - many of whom have been with the company for a number of years.
(7) Because of this, promotion within the company is difficult and there have been signs of frustration, particularly amongst younger members of the company. The changes brought in by Michèle, the difficulties of reacting to the changing market place, the different cultural requirements they need to be sensitive to and the increasing competition in many of their markets by non-branded supermarket own labels has further contributed to the feeling of unrest.
►Translate the underlined into Russian. Make up a couple of sentences of your own for your classmates to translate from Russian into English.
►Case task:
Consider visually the current business organization of the company. Review, analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the organization in meeting the company’s objectives.
GRAMMAR-3’ POINT
►The example below is taken from ‘Case-2 Point’:
The staff have an age profile where 45% of staff are 40 years and older - many of whom have been with the company for a number of years.
►Translate the example into Russian and explain:
Why is a singular noun ‘staff’ followed by the verb in plural?
Is it correct to use ‘is’ instead of ‘are’ in ‘45% of staff …’? What rule should such a grammar pattern follow?
►Fill in the blanks:
45% of population ___ (claim, Present Perfect) a loyalty to Lola Loka brand in the latest ‘consumer preference’ survey.
30% of stock ___ (be issued, Past Simple) so that the company could raise more capital.
As a result of the recent redundancy scheme, 13% of workforce ___ (be laid off, Past Simple).
51% of all the shares in ZetS ___ (be bought, Present Perfect) by MGlobal.
Out of a great number of famous brands on the world market only 30% ___ (have, Present Simple) a real prospect of keeping their position for another 25 years.
At present, at least 50% of all businesses ___ (operate, Present Continuous) with an ultimate consumer satisfaction in mind.
23 % of her income ___ (go, Present Simple) in rent.
This project team ___ (be entitled, Past Simple) all to make the individual working schedule on condition that three times a week the team members would meet to discuss and put together their findings.
MAKE YOUR POINT
►Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. Support your views with examples.
Organizations should be structured in a clear hierarchy in which the people at each level, from top to bottom, are held accountable for completing a particular component of the work. Any other organizational structure goes against human nature and will ultimately prove fruitless.
Corporations and other businesses should try to eliminate the many ranks and salary grades that classify employees according to their experience and expertise. A ‘flat’ organizational structure is more likely to encourage collegiality and cooperation among employees.
All groups and organizations should function as teams in which everyone makes decisions and shares responsibilities and duties. Giving one person central authority and responsibility for a project or task is not an effective way to get work done.
To be successful, companies should trust their workers and give them as much freedom as possible. Any company that tries to control employees’ behavior through a strict system of rewards and punishments will soon find that such controls have a negative effect on employee morale and, consequently, on the company’s success.
All personnel evaluations at a company should be multi-directional — that is, people at every level of the organization should review not only those working ‘under’ them but also those working ‘over’ them.
‘SUMMARY’ POINT
►Translate the phrases below into Russian and make them stick in your mind:
the hierarchical (pyramidal) structure
the functional structure
the divisional/multidivisional structure
the matrix structure
the flat structure
to report to
to empower, empowerment
the line or level of authority
the span of control
the chain of command
the centralized or decentralized structure
the board of directors
the managing director/CEO (chief executive officer)
senior, middle, junior managers
operatives and support staff
a holding company
a subsidiary company
to exert control over
to reconcile the different lines of authority
deadlock in decision-making
fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)
to turn the company around
to slim down the company structure
to become weighed down by bureaucratic hierarchy
copycat products and supermarket own brands
one product falls behind another one
to take radical measures
to run a company on a day-to-day basis
to increase sales growth in all key regions
to improve profit margins on key brands
to expand the product portfolio
to expand into newer areas of related markets
to enter the decline stage
►Translate into English using ‘Summary Point’ and ‘Grammar Points’:
80% наших дочерних предприятий по всему миру сократили управленческую структуру.
Исполнительному директору удалось принять радикальные меры для того, чтобы увеличить рост продаж во всех ключевых регионах и размер прибыли по всем ключевым брендам.
Как большинство компаний, которые увязли в бюрократической иерархии, компания DFG настойчиво пытается изменить свою структуру.
После того, как компания LaLuna Cosmetics расширила ассортимент продукции, ей удалось улучшить (изменить в лучшую сторону) свое положение.
В этом году резко возрос спрос на продукты повседневного потребления.
‘PREPOSITION-1’ POINT
►Fill in the blanks with the correct prepositions:
In the matrix structure, the product manager must coordinate ___ the area manager for the launch of a new product in that region.
Country or regional managers preside ___ area divisions and are liable ___ all the company’s activities in that area.
Organizational structure can be divided ___ three main categories.
ABC is a multinational with a broad portfolio of many household brands such as Indulge soap, White&Shine toothpaste and Silk&Skin body care, ___ with many others.
Last year ABC company experienced a bad luck; one of its main well-known brands fell ___ its main competitive product.
The holding company exerts little control ___ the separate companies and provides few general functions for the group ___ a whole.
The choice of the type of business ownership sometimes heavily depends ___ the capital invested.
The launch of a new product has further contributed ___ the company’s stable market position.
A division manager has responsibility ___ managing the division ___ a profit center in its own right.
Although some organization structures theoretically should provide flexibility, they sometimes lead ___ inefficiency.
In today’s harsh market, many well-known brands are losing sales ___ copycat products and supermarket own brands.
In addition ___ hair care products, Skin Paradise manufactures a range ___ skin care products based ___ aroma oils.
Skin Paradise has identified a lot of possibilities to expand ___ newer areas of its related market.
At present more and more companies are shifting ___ ___ centralized structures to more flexible ones.
‘PUZZLE-5’ POINT
►Translate the verbs below into Russian avoiding the same roots:
Realize, organize, dominate, reserve, conserve, stimulate, analyze, neutralize, reconstruct, control, coordinate.
►Now translate the sentences below giving all possible Russian equivalents to the words in italics:
The new project will allow the company to realize its full potential and its ambitions to dominate the market.
The company realized a small profit on the sale of its assets.
The company has fully realized its assets.
The CEO’s worst fears were realized when the recent recession hit the company.
Roman realized enough money from his business to draw a large part of it for personal use and retain the rest in the business to buy new equipment and fund further expansion.
The COO managed to realize the target (plan) of reducing the net loss to €30,000.
Before launching the product it’s important to organize an advertising campaign.
The chairman organized an emergency meeting to discuss the recent reduction in demand.
Project teams have been organized to implement an ambitious plan of increasing a sales revenue by 25%.
It’s always better to organize business contacts before setting up your own business.
The oil industry tends to be dominated by a limited number of multinationals.
Microsoft still dominates some computer markets.
Insiders dominate the Board of Directors.
The head of HRM reserves the right to hire and fire employees.
He reserved vast amounts of capital for further expansion of his business.
Corporate social responsibility implies first and foremost the challenge of sustainable development aimed at conserving non-renewable energy resources at multiple levels.
The six-point strategic plan was launched to stimulate the growth of the company.
The recently implemented pay raise is to stimulate employees’ performance.
The launch of a slightly modified version of Nokia 3333 model is supposed to stimulate increased demand by existing customers.
Production managers analyze these data and determine if adjustments need to be made.
The aim of the project is to analyze the possible effects of organizational change.
Rising prices neutralize increased wages.
To neutralize the consequences of the economic slump is to revise existing manufacturing practices.
The immediate task of Sucaba is to reconstruct the customer loyalty lost in a series of unethical attempts to eat into the market share of its rivals.
Budgets are among the most widely used devices for controlling and coordinating the activities of an organization.
The company controls about 49% of the group’s shares.
To control the negative effects of inflation, CBC offered a pay rise to its middle managers.
The new accounting plan will assist in controlling expenditure.
Strict antitrust measures were taken by government to control the oil and gas market.
LaLuna Cosmetics strictly controls the quality of its products.
‘CASE-3’ POINT
Délice
(1) Délice is a multinational food group. It is split into three divisions, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and South America. Within each division, there is a number of subsidiary companies, which specialize in market segments such as frozen foods, ready meals, dairy products and snacks. For instance, in the European division there are 26 subsidiary companies with bases across Europe. Not all the divisions have the same range of foods represented. Délice has grown by acquiring small local producers with promising brands and building these up.
(2) The headquarters of the group is in Lyon, France, sharing the same offices with the divisional staff of the European division. The chief executive of the group keeps in daily contact with the three divisional chief executives. They in turn supervise the work of the managing directors of the individual subsidiaries in their geographical area.
(3) A new chief executive for the group was appointed in 2005. He is keen to shake up the group and change its structure. He wants to reorganize the group so that divisions are based on products rather than geographical areas. His belief is that there is currently far too little exchange of information and ideas between companies in the group making the same range of products. By bringing them together into the same division, there could be a much greater sharing of best practice in manufacturing, and a development of brands from the local to the international. The three divisional chief executives are known to be opposed to this, arguing that manufacturing techniques and brands cannot easily cross continents.
►Case task:
Draw a diagram showing the organizational structure of Délice.
Explain why the organization of Délice is an example of a hierarchical structure.
What might be the advantages and disadvantages of having a geographical structure to the group rather than a product structure?
‘TRANSLATION-2’ POINT
►Translate into English making use of the Summary Point:
(1) Существуют разные мнения насчет того, какая организационная структура является самой эффективной. Проблема заключается в том, что на самом деле ни одна из этих структур не может претендовать на звание универсальной, поскольку каждая из них имеет как преимущества, так и недостатки.
(2) Возьмем в качестве примера функциональную организационную структуру. Суть ее сводится к тому, что любая деловая активность рассматривается с точки зрения разных функциональных подразделений, которые составляют основу данной структуры. Многие считают главным недостатком функциональной структуры ее иерархическую направленность, которая в корне подрывает нормальную деятельность организации в процессе ее дальнейшего развития и роста. Например, когда компания значительно расширяет ассортимент производимой продукции и выходит на рынки других стран (осваивает рынки других стран), ее активность разрастается настолько, что прежняя функциональная структура с ее четкой иерархической («сверху-вниз») системой принятия решений оказывается крайне неэффективной.
(3) В этом случае на ее смену приходит дивизиональная (дивизионная) организационная структура, состоящая из двух или более подразделений, каждое из которых достаточно независимо и отвечает за конкретные направления деятельности, географический регион деятельности или производство конкретного вида продукции. Данная структура позволяет децентрализировать процесс принятия решений и в то же время сохранить характерную для функциональной организационной структуры возможность координировать «части целого». Главный принцип заключается в том, что во главе каждого подразделения находится менеджер, который несет полную ответственность за ежедневное управление данным подразделением. Это подразделение, в свою очередь, может выступать в роли отдельной компании, известной под именем дочерней, чьим основным акционером является материнская компания. При этом исполнительные директора в головном офисе (главном управлении), как правило, акцентируют внимание на более широких и долгосрочных корпоративных целях.
(4) Третьим видом организационной структуры является матричная структура, в которой сосуществуют функциональные службы (маркетинговые, финансовые, производственные) и подразделения, отвечающие за конкретные направления деятельности (конкретный вид продукции, территорию или проект). В такой организационной структуре у одного работника два начальника, в частности, руководитель проекта и функциональный руководитель.
(5) Сегодня большинство крупных компаний предпочитают не останавливать свой выбор только на одной из вышеупомянутых структур, а пытаются совмещать их, извлекая максимум пользы из каждой.
‘CHECK’ POINT
Explain the difference between functional, divisional, and matrix structures.
How does organizational structure of a business influence the activities and success of the business?
Explain the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations.
Assume that you are the CEO of a Russian company in paper converting industry, a company producing paper napkin and waxed (paraffinated) packaging paper for fast-food chains. The company supplies paper to such internationally recognized names as McDonald’s and PizzaHut, operating in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland, as well as to such locally recognized names as Il Патио, The Wildbean Café, Планета Суши, Му-Му, Кофе Хаус and Шоколадница. Poland has entered the customer list only half a year ago. Germany and Belarus are on their way. So business expansion is the main priority in the company’s short-term strategic planning. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of different types of corporate structure for your company as a medium-size international company.
(Revised Unit 6 from Business & English by Levon Gzokyan)
‘WARM-UP’ POINT
►Here are definitions of management and the role of managers. Choose at least two definitions that sound interesting to you and explain your choice.
Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folkways and superstition, and of cooperation for force. It means the substitution of responsibility for obedience to rank, and of authority of performance for the authority of rank. -- Peter Drucker
Management is nothing more than motivating other people. -- Lee Iacocca
Managing is like holding a dove in your hand. Squeeze too hard and you kill it, not hard enough and it flies away. -- Tommy Lasorda
Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people. -- John D. Rockefeller
Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them. -- Paul Hawken
If you want to manage somebody, manage yourself. Do that well and you’ll be ready to stop managing. And start leading. -- Source Unknown
A good manager is a man who isn’t worried about his own career but rather the careers of those who work for him. My advice: Don't worry about yourself. Take care of those who work for you and you'll float to greatness on their achievements. -- H.S.M. Burns
Effective managers live in the present but concentrate on the future. -- James L. Hayes
The greatest manager has a knack for making ballplayers think they are better than they think they are. -- Reggie Jackson
The one word that makes a good manager - decisiveness. -- Lee Iacocca
A good manager doesn’t try to eliminate conflict; he tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you're the boss and your people fight you openly when they think that you are wrong – that’s healthy. -- Robert Townsend
‘TRANSLATION-1’ POINT
►Translate into Russian:
(1) The US economy suffered its sharpest contraction in seven years between July and September as consumers cut spending and businesses reduced investment. It came during financial market turmoil that increased concerns about a potentially lengthy US recession.
(2) GDP number would have been worse except for a surge in federal government spending. The US economy shrank 0.3 percent, in contrast to the previous three-month period when GDP grew by 2.8 percent. Consumption fell at an annual rate of 3.1 percent. Disposable personal income dropped at an 8.7 percent rate in the third quarter – the steepest decline since such records were started in 1947.
(3) Consumer spending, which is a main driver of the US economy, fell for the first time in around two decades. The only good news was that many economists had predicted that the rate of contraction was going to be even worse that it was.
‘THEORY-1’ POINT
Hierarchy of needs
(1) The hierarchy of needs is an idea associated almost entirely with one man, Abraham Maslow, the most influential anthropologist ever to have worked in industry. The hierarchy of needs is a theory about the way in which people are motivated. In it Maslow postulated that human needs fall into five different categories. Needs in the lower categories have to be satisfied before needs in the higher ones can act as motivators. Thus a violinist who is starving cannot be motivated to play Mozart, and a shop worker without a lunch break is less productive in the afternoon than one with a lunch break.
(2) Whole industries exist to satisfy the needs in Maslow’s five categories.
Physiological needs. These are basic human needs for survival. They include the need for food, drink, shelter or air to breathe. If these needs aren’t satisfied, a human being might die.
Safety needs. These are the needs for security and protection against danger. People want to be protected against danger in their environment, such as fire in their homes and accidents on roads and in the workplace. There are also psychological safety needs, such as freedom fm anxiety or stress.
Social needs. People are social animals. They want to belong to families, tribes and nations. They value friendship and seek contact with other human beings. In the workplace, they want to be part of a group or team. Being part of the informal group of workers can be more important than being part of the formal organization of the workplace.
Esteem needs (also called ego needs). People need to have self-respect and sense of achievement. They want to be confident individuals who have status within their families, at work and within society. They seek recognition and enjoy titles from ‘mother’ to ‘site supervisor’ to ‘VP’ which shows their role.
Self-actualization (also called self-fulfillment) needs, famously described by Maslow as: “A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately happy. What a man can be, he must be. This need we may call self-actualization.” People want to fulfill their potential and ‘become everything that one is capable of becoming’. This involves doing things such as going to art galleries, climbing mountains and writing novels. Self-actualization is different from the other levels of need in at least one respect. It is never finished, never fully satisfied. It is, as Shakespeare put it, “as if increase of appetite grows by what it feeds on”.
(3) An individual’s position in the hierarchy is constantly shifting as his or her needs shift. Any single act may satisfy needs at different levels. Thus having a drink at a bar with a friend may be satisfying both a thirst and a need for friendship (levels one and three). Single industries can also be aimed at satisfying needs at different levels. For example, a hotel provides food to satisfy level one, a restaurant to satisfy level three and special weekend tours of interesting sites to satisfy level five.
(4) The hierarchy is not absolute. It is affected by the general environment in which the individual lives. The extent to which social needs are met in the workplace, for instance, varies according to culture. In Japan the corporate organization is an important source of a man’s sense of belonging (although not of a woman’s); in the West it is much less so.
A little bit of history
(1) Maslow was described by Peter Drucker as “the father of humanist psychology”. But Drucker took issue with the hierarchy of needs. He wrote:
What Maslow did not see is that a want changes in the act of being satisfied... as a want approaches satiety, its capacity to reward, and with it its power as an incentive, diminishes fast. But its capacity to deter, to create dissatisfaction, to act as a disincentive, rapidly increases.
(2) Maslow considered authoritarianism to be an aberration. The authoritarian characteristic, he said, “is the most important single disease afflicting man today - far more important than medical illnesses ... the most widespread of all diseases... pandemic... even in the United States, even in this classroom”. People who achieve self-actualization, he maintained, are democratic in outlook, not authoritarian.
(3) Most of Maslow’s prescriptions for business are based on democratic principles. One of his early disciples was a Californian company called NLS. In the early 1960s it dismantled its assembly line and replaced it with production teams of six or seven workers. Each team was responsible for the entire production process, and they worked in areas that they decorated according to their own taste. A host of other innovations (such as dispensing with time cards) revolutionized the company without any loss of productivity and with a considerable increase in employee morale.
(4) On occasions Maslow’s theory moved into philosophy and (almost) into religion. He once wrote:
One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense every man can be a king and must therefore be treated like a king.
Failing to use your talents is not a sin against your religion; it is a sin against yourself.
►Question/Answer session:
What are the basics of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
What are the five categories in which human needs have to be satisfied and why? Do you consider this classification full or you think there are other categories that should be added to the list?
‘The hierarchy is not absolute’. Comment on this.
Why did Peter Drucker disagree with the hierarchy of needs?
Why did Maslow consider authoritarianism an aberration?
How did NLS example reflect Maslow’s theory?
‘One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense every man can be a king and must therefore be treated like a king.’ Give an appropriate translation of the passage. Comment on it and be sure to draw upon your own personal life experience.
‘CASE-1’ POINT
Microsoft in Britain
(1) Microsoft is the one of the best companies to work for in Britain, according to a Sunday Times survey. Microsoft employs about 2,000 workers in the UK, 90 % of them based at a ‘campus’ in Berkshire. The site is spectacular, with a lake where charity rowing teams train, a forest and picnic tables. 93% of staff surveyed feel proud to work for Microsoft and say it ‘makes a positive difference to the world we live in’. 92 % are excited about where it is going and would miss it if they left. About nine in ten praise Microsoft’s positive and faith-inspiring leadership, together with its high regard for customers, and 89 % say they love working there.
(2) ‘We work long hours but it doesn’t feel like work most of the time: it is cool stuff and very upbeat’, says Laura Townsend who joined as a graduate trainee nearly two years ago. ‘One of our directors sent an email saying he doesn’t want to see us after 6pm. I’ve never heard of anything like that before.’
(3) Steve McLain, another employee, is grateful for the well-being clinic, offering everything from a mechanical massage chair to well-man clinics. There is a ‘bump’ club to help pregnant mothers before their 18 weeks’ fully paid leave, on-site nurses and doctor, and even a facility to donate bone marrow. The firm has opened a crèche with 50 places for £35 a day, has four cafes, a subsidized restaurant and game terminals for entertainment. Sports are given a boost with a £260,000 social budget and the business subsidizes outings to shows and trips abroad.
(4) Bruce Dixon, an account systems engineer, says: ‘It is like a family. I met my wife at work and when we got married the canteen even offered to bake our cake!’
(5) Although staff say the business is not the top payer in the industry, two-thirds earn more than £40,000 a year. There is free private healthcare and a four-month sabbatical (unpaid) after four years. Flexible options to be introduced this year include dental cover, childcare vouchers for staff in London and Edinburgh and for those working from home, and the chance to buy days off.
►Case task:
Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, discuss whether workers at the Berkshire site of Microsoft are likely to be highly motivated.
‘TRANSLATION-2’ POINT
►Translate into English:
(1) В третьем квартале объем валового продукта США сократился на 0,3%. Это самое резкое падение темпов экономического развития за семь лет. Если в текущем квартале ВВП снова сократится, можно будет говорить о рецессии. Впрочем, учитывая состояние экономики страны, аналитики ждали даже большего снижения показателя.
(2) С июля по сентябрь потребительские расходы американцев упали впервые за 17 лет, и сразу на 3,1% по сравнению с тем же периодом прошлого года. Располагаемые доходы (disposable income) жителей США (то, что остается в семье на личные расходы после уплаты налогов и кредитов) рухнули на 8,7%.
(3) Кризис буквально душит Америку: из-за ужесточения условий кредитования, падения цен на жилье, высокой инфляции и роста безработицы потребители не имеют возможности тратить. А между тем, внутренний спрос обеспечивает 70% ведущей экономики мира.
‘THEORY-2’ POINT
X & Y
(1) Theory X and Theory Y were devised by Douglas McGregor in his 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise. They encapsulated a fundamental distinction between management styles and have formed the basis for much subsequent writing about the subject.
(2) Theory X is the authoritarian style where the emphasis is on “productivity, on the concept of a fair day’s work, on the evils of feather-bedding and restriction of output, on rewards for performance ... [it] reflects an underlying belief that management must counteract an inherent human tendency to avoid work”. Theory X was the management style that predominated in business after the mechanistic systems of scientific management swept everything before them in the first few decades of the 20th century.
(3) Theory Y is the participative style of management which “assumes that people will exercise self-direction and self-control in the achievement of organizational objectives to the degree that they are committed to those objectives”. It is management’s main task in such a system to maximize that commitment.
(4) Theory X assumes that individuals are base, work-shy and constantly in need of a good prod. It always has a ready-made excuse for failure - the innate limitations of all human resources. Theory Y, however, assumes that individuals go to work of their own accord, because work is the only way in which they have a chance of satisfying their (high-level) need for achievement and self-respect. People will work without prodding; it has been their fate since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. Man must work to survive.
(5) Theory Y gives management no easy excuses for failure. It challenges them “to innovate, to discover new ways of organizing and directing human effort, even though we recognize that the perfect organization, like the perfect vacuum, is practically out of reach”. McGregor urged companies to adopt Theory Y. Only it, he believed, could motivate human beings to the highest levels of achievement. Theory X merely satisfied their lower-level physical needs and could not hope to be as productive. “Man is a wanting animal,” wrote McGregor, “as soon as one of his needs is satisfied, another appears in its place.”
(6) There are parallels with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and Maslow was indeed greatly influenced by McGregor. He tried to introduce Theory Y into a Californian electronics business, for example, but found that the idea in its extreme form did not work. All individuals, he concluded, however independent and mature, need some form of structure around them and some direction from others. Maslow also criticized Theory Y for its “inhumanity” to the weak, and to those who are not capable of a high level of self-motivation.
A little bit of history
(1) Douglas McGregor died at the comparatively young age of 58 in 1964. He had a fairly straightforward academic career, lecturing at Harvard University and MIT, and becoming one of the first Sloan professors. Because of his early death he did not publish much, but what he did publish has had a great impact. In 1993 he was listed as the most popular management writer, alongside Henri Fayol, a Frenchman.
(2) Many leading management figures that followed him, including Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Warren Bennis and Tom Peters, have acknowledged that much of modern management thinking goes back to McGregor, and that his writing influenced subsequent ideas about leadership.
(3) In his comic classic Up the Organization, Robert Townsend, a former president of the Avis car-hire company, wrote powerfully in support of Theory Y:
People don’t hate work. It’s as natural as rest or play. They don’t have to be forced or threatened. If they commit themselves to mutual objectives, they’ll drive themselves more effectively than you can drive them. But they’ll commit themselves only to the extent they can see ways of satisfying their ego and development needs.”
►Question/Answer session:
Define each theory and say how they correspond with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Why did Maslow criticize theory Y? Do you agree with him on the matter?
Give an appropriate translation of the passage in italics.
‘People will commit themselves only to the extent they can see ways of satisfying their ego and development needs.’ Comment on this and be sure to draw upon your own personal life experience.
SUMMARY-1 POINT
the hierarchy of needs
to fall into five different categories
to satisfy the needs
physiological needs
safety needs
social needs
esteem needs/ ego needs
self-actualization needs/ self-fulfillment needs
to create dissatisfaction
the authoritarian style
the participative style
to be committed to objectives
an excuse for failure
‘CASE-2’ POINT
(1) Didier Girardet owns a small chain of four car dealerships in the region of Bourgogne. Part of the business is selling cars, both new and second hand. The other half provides servicing and repairs for customers. When he first started the business 30 years ago, he had two employees doing repair work from a run down garage in the back streets of Dijon. Today he has over 100 employees spread across four premium sites. Each site has a manager, with a head of sales and a head of servicing and repairs underneath them.
(2) Didier relies heavily on the four site managers. They have day-to-day operational control of the business. He monitors their work and keeps a careful check on the performance of each site. Performance is checked both against previous periods and site to site. Didier is capable of making hard decisions. For example, five years ago he sacked one site manager who had been in the post for just 18 months when his site consistently underperformed the other sites in the group.
(3) This was a difficult decision, though, for Didier. He sees himself as a ‘people person’, and believes strongly in teamwork. Employees are encouraged to develop their own capabilities with a heavy emphasis on staff training and empowerment. Workers are encouraged to make decisions for themselves. Occasionally mistakes are made, but Didier believes firmly that this is an inevitable part of taking responsibility.
(4) Each week, he has a three hour meeting with the four site managers, his ‘board of directors’ as he likes to call them. Everything to do with the running of the business is discussed at these meetings. Didier expects his site managers to be frank and there can be major differences of opinion about how to develop the business. Ultimately, he has to make the key decisions but he always consults with others to hear what they have to say.
►Case task:
Explain what is meant by the term ‘teamworking’.
Explain two factors which could suggest that Didier is a democratic leader.
Analyze whether Didier Girardet would hold McGregor’s Theory X view of management or a Theory Y view.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Didier Girardet’s leadership styles of empowering his subordinates.
‘THEORY-3’ POINT
TQM
(1) Total quality management (TQM) is the idea that controlling quality is not something that is left to a ‘quality controller’, a person who stands at the end of a production line checking final output. It is (or it should be) something that permeates an organization from the moment its raw materials arrive to the moment its finished products leave.
(2) TQM is a process-oriented system built on the belief that quality is simply a matter of conforming to a customer's requirements. These requirements can be measured, and deviations from them can then be prevented by means of process improvements or redesigns.
(3) The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFOM) says that TQM strategies are characterized by the following.
The excellence of all managerial, operational and administrative processes.
A culture of continuous improvement in all aspects of the business.
An understanding that quality improvement results in cost advantages and better profit potential.
The creation of more intensive relationships with customers and suppliers.
The involvement of all personnel.
Market-oriented organizational practices.
Common failings include the following.
Insufficient executive commitment.
Unrealistic expectations.
Failure to set priorities.
Poor measurement methods.
A little bit of history
(1) The idea of total quality management was developed inside a number of Japanese firms in the 1950s and 1960s. But it was built largely on the teaching of W. Edwards Deming and J.J. Juran, two Americans, who had quietly developed the principles in the aftermath of the Second World War. With the help of books and articles, such as David Garvin's 1983 description in the Harvard Business Review of the way in which TQM, and other techniques practiced by Japanese companies, were putting them streets ahead of their foreign competitors, the idea was later reclaimed by the United States and widely adopted by American business.
(2) Europe, which at times looked as if it was being squeezed out of this game of American-Japanese ping-pong, has also made claims to be the fount of total quality. Raymond Levy, chairman of Renault, a French car company, said in the early 1990s:
Quality is representative of a culture which we Europeans have no reason to let others monopolize. The Europe of Descartes; the Europe of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment; the Europe of the industrial and technological revolution of the last two centuries holds within itself all the elements of method and exactitude conveyed by the term "total quality".
(3) In recent years, there has been some backlash against the implications of TQM, especially in the United States. Florida Power & Light, for example, the first American company to win the Deming Prize for quality management, cut its TQM program because of its employees’ complaints about the excessive amount of paperwork that it required. Douglas Aircraft, a subsidiary of McDonnell Douglas, also cut its program to next to nothing. Newsweek colorfully described the aircraft company’s action: ‘At Douglas, TQM appeared to be just one more hothouse Japanese flower never meant to grow on rocky American ground.’
►Question/Answer session:
What is essence of TQM? What are its strategies characterized by?
Is TQM applicable to any type of business? How do you see its implication in a real business setting? Is it justified? Or is it just another off-the-ground management theory?
‘THEORY-4’ POINT
MBWA
(1) This is a style of management commonly referred to as MBWA. It is variously lengthened to management by wandering about, or management by walking around, MBWA usually involves the following.
Managers consistently reserving time to walk through their departments and/or to be available for impromptu discussions. (MBWA frequently goes together with an open-door management policy.)
Individuals forming networks of acquaintances throughout their organizations.
Lots of opportunities for chatting over coffee or lunch, or in the corridors.
Managers getting away from their desks and starting to talk to individual employees. The idea is that they should learn about problems and concerns at first hand. At the same time they should teach employees new methods to manage particular problems. The communication goes both ways.
(2) As W. Edwards Deming, an American who introduced the idea quality management to the Japanese, put it:
If you wait for people to come to you, you’ll only get small problems. You must go and find them. The big problems are where people don’t realize they have one in the first place.
(3) The difficulty with MBWA is that (certainly at first) employees suspect it is an excuse for managers to spy and interfere unnecessarily. This suspicion usually falls away if the walkabouts occur regularly, and if everyone can see their benefits, MBWA has been found to be particularly helpful when an organization is under exceptional stress; for instance, after a significant corporate reorganization has been announced. It is no good practicing MBWA for the first time on such an occasion, however. It has to have been a regular practice before the stress arises.
A little bit of history
(1) In the late 1990s it did not seem extraordinary that managers should manage by walking about. But in the 1950s many white-collar managers turned their offices into ivory towers from which they rarely emerged. Edicts were sent out to the blue-collar workforce whom they rarely met face-to-face. The outside world was filtered through to them via a secretary who, traditionally, sat like a guard dog in front of their (usually closed) office door.
(2) Coming into this culture, MBWA was revolutionary. It was popularized by becoming an important part of ‘The H-P Way’, the open style of management pioneered by Bill Hewlett and Bill Packard, the two founders of the Hewlett-Packard computer company. Many of the practices of The H-P Way became widely copied by corporations throughout the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s1.
(3) The idea received a further boost when Tom Peters (the guru of Excellence) wrote in his second book (A Passion for Excellence) that he saw ‘managing by wandering about’ as the basis of leadership and excellence. Peters called MBWA the ‘technology of the obvious’. As leaders and managers wander about, he said that at least three things should be going on.
They should be listening to what people are saying.
They should be using the opportunity to transmit the company's values face to face.
They should be prepared and able to give people on-the-spot help.
►Question/Answer session:
What does MBWA involve?
“The big problems are where people don't realize they have one in the first place.” Comment on this.
What is the drawback of MBWA? Do you think it’s justified?
Why was the adoption of MBWA revolutionary?
Tom Peters says there are at least 3 things that should be going on as leaders and managers wander about. What can you add to this list? Explain your choice.
‘BATTLE’ POINT
►Team up with your classmate and start to develop your arguments about the following statements:
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – much ado about nothing.
Theory X is down-to-earth; Theory Y is nothing but ‘WHY?’.
MBWA is an impeccable management style that never fails.
Total quality management! Total? Sounds unrealistic.
See ‘Battle Point’ in unit 2 for instructions.
‘WWW.’ POINT
►G
o
to www.hp.com
and
learn about the company’s history, values and principles. Prepare
a PowerPoint presentation on ‘The H-P way: a philosophy in
practice’.