Listening The Retail Sector

You will hear part of an interview with Steve Moody, the manager of the Marks and Spencer store in Cambridge, England. What do you know about Marks and Spenser? What do they sell?

Ex. 1. Listen to Part Once, in which Steve Moody describes the role and responsibilities of a store manager. Which of the following tasks is he responsible for?

designing the store and its layout displaying the merchandise employing the sales staff ensuring the safety of staff and customers establishing the company’s principles getting commitment from the staff increasing profits maintaining a pleasant working environment

motivating staff organizing the day-to-day logistics pricing the merchandise running 40 out of 280 stores selecting the merchandise supervising the day-to-day running of the store training staff

Ex. 2. Listen to Part Two, and answer these questions.

1. Why are Marks and Spencer’s store managers limited in giving accountability to their staff and delegating responsibilities?

2. What do they concentrate on instead?

Ex. 3. Listen to Part Three, and answer the following questions.

1. Steve Moody mentions two kinds of regular meetings. The first is weekly meetings for management and supervisory staff. What is the second kind of meeting called?

2. Who attends them?

3. What are they designed to achieve?

4. What kind of problems cannot be dealt with by meetings?

5. How are such problems dealt with?

Ex. 4. Listen to the interview once again and discuss with your group mates whether you have the right skills to be a manager. Would you be able, for example, to set objectives, motivate and coordinate the staff, and manage a department store, or a computer manufacturer?

DISCUSSION

Discuss:

• various aspects of the work of a manager;

• the responsibilities of a general manager;

• the importance of human resources development;

• ways to provide motivation for the workers in highly industrialized societies;

• the goals of financial management;

• the importance of financial analysis;

• the three new roles for managers;

• different styles of management;

• a short course in leadership;

• what is management – an art or a science;

• what makes a good manager.

Vocabulary

“bottom-line” test, n – итоговый тест

debt-equity mix, n – соотношение долгов и активов

detrimental (a) – убыточный, приносящий ущерб, вредный

feed-back, n – обратная связь

implementation, n – выполнение, осуществление

implication, n – скрытый смысл, намек, вовлечение

job enlargement, v –укрупнение технологических операций

job enrichment, n – повышение разнообразия работы, исключение монотонных, повторяющихся операций

job security, n – (социальная) защищенность на рабочем месте

liaison, n – связь

liquidity, n – ликвидность

manageable (a)– поддающийся управлению, контролю

mediocre (a) – посредственный, заурядный

overall (a) – полный, общий

profitability, n – прибыльность, рентабельность

subordinate, n – подчиненный

allocate, v – размещать, распределять, назначать

assemble, v – собирать, производить сборку

attain, v – достигнуть, добиться

communicate (to), v – сообщать, передавать, донести

delegate to, v – делегировать, передавать, облекать кого-то властью

fire, v – увольнять

meet deadlines, v – выполнять в указанный срок

modify, v – видоизменять, модифицировать, преобразовать

reinforce, v – усиливать, подкреплять

relate, v – относиться, связывать, сопоставлять, устанавливать связь

rotate positions, v – менять, чередовать рабочие места

schedule work-flow, v – планировать рабочий процесс

utilization, n – использование, применение

workload, n – загрузка, объем работы, задание по работе