Unit 1: the job of a manager

Text 1: WHAT IS A MANAGER?

A number of different terms are used for “manager”, including “director”, “administrator” and “president”. The term “manager” is used more frequently in profit-making organizations, while the others are used more widely in government and non-profit organizations such as universities, hospitals and social work agencies.

What, then, is a manager?

When used collectively the term “management” refers to those people who are responsible for making and carrying out decisions within the system. An individual manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization.

Some basic characteristics seem to apply to managers in all types of organizations; they include hard work on a variety of activities, preference for active tasks, direct personal relationships.

Almost everything a manager does involves decisions. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists. In decision-making there is always some uncertainty and risk.

Managing is a hard job. There is a lot to be done and relatively little time to do it. An engineer can finish a design on a particular day, and a lawyer can win or lose a case at a certain time, but it is different about a manager.

Vocabulary:

terms – термины, условия

frequently – часто

profit-making organizations – коммерческие организации

to refer to – относиться к; иметь отношение к

to be responsible for – быть ответственным за

to supervise – руководить

to include – включать в себя

preference – предпочтение

relationships – отношения

almost everything – почти все

to involve – вовлекать

reason – причина

decision-making – принятие решений

uncertainty – неуверенность, неопределенность

relatively – относительно

case – дело

Text 2: FINANCIAL MANAGER

Usually businesses have the financial managers who work with the banks. They negotiate terms of financial transactions, compare rates among competing financial institutions. Financial management begins with the creation of a financial plan. The plan includes amount of funds and the inflow and outflow of money. The financial manager develops and controls the financial plan. He also forecasts the economic conditions, the company’s revenues, expenses and profits.

The financial manager’s job starts and ends with the company’s objectives. He reviews them and determines the funding they require. The financial manager compares the expenses involved to the expected revenues. It helps him to predict cash flow.

The financial manager plans a strategy to make the ending cash positive. If cash outflow exceeds cash inflow the company will run out of cash. The solution is to reduce outflows. The financial manager also chooses financing techniques. One of them is short-term financing. Another is long-term financing.

At the end of the fiscal year the financial manager reviews the company’s financial status and plans the next year’s financial strategy.

Vocabulary:

term – срок

terms – условия (договора)

rate – ставка, тариф

revenue – выручка, доход, доходные статьи

expenses – расходы

inflow of money – приход, приток денег

outflow of money – расход, убытки, отток денег

to involve – привлекать, вовлекать

cash flow – поток денежных средств

available – имеющийся в наличии, доступный

to exceed – превосходить

to reduce – сокращать

to run out of – истощить запас

fiscal year – финансовый год

Exercise 1: Match the terms with their definitions. Memorize them.

1. know-how	a) an estimate of what will happen in the future
2. management	b) to deal with something
3. voucher	c) knowledge about how some thing works
4. to organize	d) controlling and running a business or part of business
5. risk	e) to plan and operate something so that it works efficiently
6. forecast	f) measurement of output per worker
7. productivity	g) chance of failure
8. to handle	h) a paper coupon given instead of money

Exercise 2: Match English terms with their Russian equivalents

1. careers adviser	a) курс повышения квалификации
2. training centre	b) трудовой стаж
3. choice of profession	c) учебный отпуск
4. modular courses	d) обучение без отрыва от производства
5. career development	e) пособие на обучение
6. adult education	f) испытательный срок
7. vocational education	g) уровень квалификации
8. work experience	h) служба профориентации
9. in-company training	i) профессиональная переподготовка
10. unskilled labour	j) дистанционное / заочное обучение
11. labour market flexibility	k) выбор профессии
12. distance lerning	l) неквалифицированный труд
13. study leave	m) подвижность рынка труда
14. skill level	n) консультант по выбору работы
15. refresher course	o) профессиональное образование
16. occupational retraining	p) учебный центр
17. careers service	q) учебный семинар
18. training allowance	r) модульные курсы
19. training workshop	s) продвижение по службе
20. trial period	t) образование для взрослых

Text 3: A STORY

In some misbegotten moment of my youth, I decided to become an accountant. Although I have never been good at figures, I set to totting up columns with the accuracy of a computer and delved into the deeper mysteries of company finance.

I remember the day at Pitman in Russel Square I foiled with some mythical 2 million pounds company, produced a trial balance, and found with joy that it came out all right (well, within a few pence, anyway).

I learned a lot more besides, most of which I have now forgotten. And I am glad. Accountancy was not for me. I was lucky to make the discovery and escape in time. Many people, whether they set out to be accountants, engineers or bakers, never make the discovery at all. Or if they do, never get the chance to change horses.

One of the wisest things William Morris, the socialist, artist and writer, ever insisted on was “pleasure of labour”. And one of the stupidest ways of life is the work-holiday basis, slogging away at some boring job, in a factory, office or shop, to get the means to have a holiday, only to return to the same mill a few weeks later.

Work ought to be more pleasurable than that. Of course, it is doubtful if all work could be made pleasurable, and some of the unpleasurable kind is a vital part of one’s social responsibility to one’s fellow humans.

As Emerson said, “The high price of life, the crowning fortune of a man, is to be born, with a bias to some pursuit which finds him in employment and happiness”.

I am thinking of a young man I know who wants to be a folk singer, in fact is a folk singer, a good and capable one at that. He makes a living doing shows at the clubs, earning a few pounds here and a few there.

Yet, he has a degree as a biochemist, and could undoubtedly do a job that many might consider socially far more useful than singing in smoky, beery atmosphere. But that’s the way he prefers it. He works hard every day. If he didn’t, he would never have a repertoire of some 200 songs, on which he can ably accompany himself on half a dozen different instruments. And he is a walking encyclopedia of the folk world. His clothes are shabby, his shoes are down at heel and his diet is Spartan, but he is happy.

(Bob Wynn)