2. Read and translate the text: Staff of the Kitchen: Food Preparation

The term “management” has many definitions as there is no uniform point of view as to the functions and activities of managers. The most popular one is that management is a set of activities, including planning and decision making, organizing, leading, and controlling, directed at an organization’s human, financial, physical, and information resources, with the aim of achieving organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner.

Managers supervise, monitor, and coordinate the different areas of an industry. For example, financial managers focus on generating and reinvesting finance capital. Human resource managers help recruit people with desirable skills and place them where they are most needed. Marketing managers help sell final goods and services to customers. But we can differentiate between four basic functions of any manager:

1) Planning includes anticipating future trends and determining the best strategies and tactics to attain organizational objectives.

2) Organization includes designing the organizational structure, attracting people to the organization (staffing), and creating conditions and systems that ensure that everyone and everything works together to achieve the objectives of the organization.

3) Directing is getting others to work willingly and enthusiastically to accomplish the objectives of the organization.

4) Control is checking to determine whether or not an organization is progressing toward its objectives, and taking corrective action if it is not.

At any time managers are likely to be involved in several different activities and performing some functions simultaneously. Nowadays a manager is faced with a variety of interesting and demanding situations. To develop your managerial potential you need five groups of skills: verbal and writing skills, human relations skills, computer skills, conceptual skills, and technical skills. Managers must be able to communicate freely with all employees and patrons. Their speech should be correct and fluent. Managers must also be able to write clearly and precisely. Managers study all aspects of enterprise they work in and all subjects concerning business, accounting, computers and psychology. Human relation skills associate with manager’s ability to work well with others as a member and as a leader. Conceptual skills help a manager to understand the organization as a whole, how it functions, and fit into the wider context of the industry.

Managerial jobs in organization fall into three categories: first-line, middle and top management.

Top management is the highest level of management and consists of the president and other key company executives, who develop strategic plans, make long-range decisions. Middle management includes plant managers and department heads that are responsible for implementation of top management plans. Supervisory management or first-line management includes people directly responsible for assigning specific jobs to workers and evaluating their daily performance.