1 2 3 4

1. Material resources are physical materials and the equip­ment used by an organization to make a product. For example, cars are made on assembly lines. These assembly lines and the buildings that house them are material resources.

2. The most important resources of any organization are its human resources - people. Some firms believe that their em­ployees are their most important assets. To keep employees con­tent, a variety of incentives are used, including higher-than-aver­age pay, flexible working hours, recreational facilities, lengthy paid vacations, cafeterias offering inexpensive meals, etc.

3. Financial resources are the funds the organization uses to meet its obligations to various creditors. A grocery store obtains money from customers and uses a portion of that money to pay the wholesalers from which it buys food. A large bank, borrows and lends money. A college obtains money in the form of tuition, income from its endowments, and federal grants. It uses the mon­ey to pay utility bills, insurance premiums, and professors' sala­ries. Each of these transactions involves financial resources.

4. Finally, many organizations increasingly find they cannot ig­nore information. External environment - including the econo­my, consumer markets, technology, politics, and cultural forces - are all changing so rapidly that an organization that does not adapt will probably not survive. And, to adapt to change, the organiza­tion must know what is changing and how it is changing. Compa­nies are finding it increasingly important to gather information about their competitors in today's business environment.

It is important to realize that these are only general categories of resources. Within each category are hundreds or thousands of more specific resources, from which management must choose those that can best accomplish its goals. Managers must coordi­nate this complex group of specific resources to produce goods and services.

Assignment 4. Find English equivalents to the following phrases in the text:

и наоборот; отвечает за все уровни и области менеджмента; требует большого мастерства (навыков); оборудование; здания, в которых они размещаются; оплата выше среднего; гибкий график работы; недорогая еда; длительный оплачиваемый отпуск; места отдыха и развлечений; бакалейно-гастрономический магазин; часть этих денег; обеспечивая обучение (преподавание); чтобы оплачивать счета за коммунальные услуги; зарплата преподавателей; внешняя среда (окружение); чтобы приспособиться к изменениям; производить товары.

Assignment 5. Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions from the text:

1. Management is based on _________ _________ and today we can say that it is

__________ __________ .

2. The owner of a sole proprietorship may be the only in the organization.

3. Management is the process of coordinating the resources of an organization to achieve the _________ _________ of the organization.

4. Managers are concerned with four types of __________ .

5. Material resources are __________ materials and __________.

6. Human resources are perhaps the most __________ resources.

7. To keep employees content, a variety of __________ are used.

8. A large bank __________ and _________ money.

9. External environment is changing so rapidly that an organiza­tion that does not

adapt will probably not ___________ .

10. Companies are finding it increasingly important to gather ___________ about

their __________ .

11. Managers must coordinate the complex group of specific re­sources to produce _________ and __________ .

Assignment 6. Answer the questions on the text:

1. What can you say about management in general?

2. Why does a large organization employ many managers?

3. What is important to an organization?

4. Does the ability to achieve organizational goals require a great skill?

5. What can you say about management as a process?

6. What main resources are managers concerned with?

7. What incentives are used to keep employees content? Why?

8. How does an organization obtain financial resources? Give some examples.

9. Is external environment including the economy, consumer markets etc. changing rapidly?

10. What must an organization do to survive?

Assignment 7. Complete the text “What is management?” using these words.

select work out divide communicate analyze measure train improve contribute risk form perform understand use commercialize

You want me to explain what management is? Well, I guess I can manage that! Actually, management as we (1) ………… it today is a fairly new idea. Most economists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example, wrote about factors of production such as land, labour and capital, and about supply and demand, as if these were impersonal and objective economic forces which left no room for human action. An exception was Jean-Baptiste Say, who invented the term “entrepreneur”, the person who sees opportunities to (2) ……….. resources in more productive way.

Entrepreneurs are people who are alert to so-far undiscovered profit opportunities. They perceive opportunities to (3) ………….. new technologies and products that will serve the market better than it is currently being served by their competitors. They are happy to (4) …………. their own or other people’s capital. They are frequently unconventional, innovative people. But entrepreneurship isn’t the same as management, and most managers aren’t entrepreneurs.

So, what’s management? It’s essentially a matter of organizing people. Managers, especially senior managers , have to set objectives for their organizations , and then (5) …………… how to achieve them. This is true of the managers of business enterprises, government departments, educational institutions, and sport teams, although for government services, universities and so on we usually talk about administrators and administration rather than managers and management. Managers (6) …………… the activities of the organization and the relations between them. They (7) ………… the work into distinct activities and then into individual jobs. They (8) …………. people to manage these activities and perform the job. And they often need to make the people (9) ………….. effective teams.

Managers have to be good at communication and motivation . They need to (10) …………… the organization’s objectives to the people responsible for attaining them. They have to motivate their staff to work well, to be productive , and to (11) ………….. something to the organization. They make decisions about pay and promotion.

Managers also have to (12) ……………. the performance of their staff, and to ensure that the objectives and performance targets set for the whole organization and for individual employees are reached. Furthermore, they have to (13) ………… and develop their staff, so that their performance continues to (14) ……………. .

Some managers obviously (15) ………….. these tasks better than others. Most achievements and failures in business are the achievements and failures of individual managers.

Assignment 8. Translate the following text in writing using a dictionary.

Better Utilization of Resources

‘Resources utilization’ is becoming a familiar term in management theory. It means achievement of greater economy in the use of everything – metals, minerals, energy, water, manpower, finance, etc. The main management technique

is better cost control. It means answering the question: “How can we achieve the

same value of output while reducing all our resources inputs?” The answer is: “We

must improve quality and standards required by consumers and industrial customers and make longer our product’s life. Second, we must include economy in the use of natural resources if they are scarce. It may be the best way to use scarce resources”.

The best solution for companies is to set up a resources utilization section. In small companies with 1,000 employees two men will be enough.

A company’s management must be very responsible. Resource utilization must not cause damage to people and environment.

Words you may need:

utilization – использование

manpower – людские ресурсы

technique – метод, способ

cost – (зд.) издержки

value – объем, величина

scarce – скудный, недостаточный

to cause damage – наносить ущерб