Text comprehension

1. What definitions of organizational culture are given in the text?

2. Does organizational culture refer to any type of organization?

3. What other terms are used instead of organizational culture?

4. Why shouldn’t organizational culture be changed fast?

5. Are HRM and organizational culture interlinked? How much?

6. Is employee involvement important for organizational cultures? In what respect?

7. How can organizational culture be facilitated?

8. Why do different cultures or subcultures appear within one organization?

9. Where is organizational culture more informal – in large or small organizations?

10. Do national or regional cultures influence organizational cultures?

11. Should HR managers be knowledgeable about the national and regional factors connected with employees’ behavior?

Vocabulary and grammar acquisition

1. Read the words paying attention to the pronunciation of the bold-typed letters. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

Culture, artеfacts, values, assumptions, behavior, refers, groups, government, agencies, entities, company, concept, neither, nor, competitive, enough, interlinked, organizational, higher, favor, whichever, find, facilitate, key, goals, reward, fair, subcultures, own, unique, diverse, national, regional, shaping, ethics, should, knowledgeable, identity, core, healthy.

2. Read the words with the suffix –ate which is pronounced differently depending upon the part of speech.

Verbs -ate/eit / activate, aggregate, associate, ate, co-operate, create, duplicate, initiate, facilitate, fascinate, motivate, separate, violate

Adjectives -ate /ət/ aggregate, associate, corporate, delicate, fortunate, intricate, legitimate, separate

Nouns -ate /ət/ or /eit/ certificate, duplicate, electorate, emirate, distillate, doctorate, professoriate; but: condensate, mandate, nitrate

3. Practice reading words with the suffix –que /k/.

Antique, cheque, discotheque, grotesque, mosque, mystique, physique, picturesque, technique, unique.

4. Translate the following expressions into Russian.

Organizational culture; cultural artifacts, values and assumptions; collective behavior of humans; not-for-profit groups; government agencies; business entities; similar concept; to remain competitive; a reflection of the culture; employee involvement; employee satisfaction and motivation; key HR businesses; ongoing training; continuous communication channels; clear goals; creating a fair reward system; work ethics; employee identity.

5. Find English equivalents in the text.

Предметы материальной культуры; предположения; некоммерческий; конкурентоспособный; взаимосвязанный; приветствовать; вовлеченность; непрерывный; субкультуры; разнообразный; существенный; информированный.

6. Find in the text all the adjectives which collocate with the word “culture”.

E.g. Organizational culture, …

7. Form word-combinations with the word “corporate” and translate them into Russian. Use a dictionary if necessary.

corporate

assets culture company effort image memory merger party responsibility

8. Study the meaning of the prefixes sub- and co- in the words below. Use an English-Russain dictionary to translate the words into Russian.

A) sub-branch, sub-committee, sub-contractor, sub-division, sub-group, sub-heading, sub-human, sub-normal, sub-prime, sub-rosa, sub-section, sub-standard, sub-text, sub-total;

B) co-author, co-brand, co-chair, co-counseling, co-education, co-existence, co-founder, co-insurance, co-locate, co-operate, co-ordinate, co-own, co-partner, co-worker.

9. Make up 4-6 sentences with the words from the exercise above.

10. Explain (or paraphrase) the following sentences. Pay attention to the parts in bold type.

1. Organizational culture refers to … any type of organization be it school, university, not-for-profit groups, government agencies or business entities.

2. … the way they do things around there is different from the way we do things around here.

3. HRM is a reflection of the culture in which it operates.

4. HR managers should be knowledgeable about the national and regional factors … .

5. The role that HRM has … is the core of managing a healthy organizational culture.

6. In organizational cultures where employee involvement is common, it is more likely to have higher employee satisfaction and motivation than in the ones that do not favor employee involvement.

7. National and regional cultures are also significant in shaping the organizational cultures.