Практический курс английского языка = Practical Course of English for Students of Economics. Учебное пособие для студентов экономических специальносте

Text 5

Read the text and define the problems discussed in it. Be ready to answer the questions given below.

Training

Attitudes to training vary. All progressive firms agree that much more business training is needed. Then main arguments are about what kind of training is needed, what methods should be used and who should do the training.

If training is to be effective, a firm must have clear objectives. It may want to introduce a new equipment, improve efficiency and performance, train unskilled workers, to avoid a labour shortage, reduce the supervision needed, provide greater chances for international promotion.

Trainees also need clear objectives. These might be:

•to increase their pay

•to obtain promotion

•to reduce the chance of accidents.

Unless trainees see some personal benefit in the training, they will not be highly motivated and the course will fail.

Once the objectives are clear, a suitable program can be planned. The three main purposes of training are to instil knowledge, change attitudes, increase skills. The importance given to these purposes will help decide what training methods are used.

A lecture is often used for the induction of new employees. However, if the quality of the lecture is poor, the audience’s attention will soon wander.

•Visits to other parts of the firm may be part of the induction process, to increase knowledge of other stages in the production process and to establish good relations between departments.

•Case studies present trainees with a business problem which they have to solve as a group. Attitudes and emotions may be involved here.

•In role-play, where trainees act out a real-life business situation to gain confidence and experience, emotional involvement is often fairly high. In group therapy, trainees come together to explore their attitudes to one another by speaking their minds freely. Emotional involvement is very high.

•Personal skill instruction – the traditional method of watching an older, experienced worker – is still widely used for training unskilled or semiskilled workers.

Training may be done internally, within a firm itself, or externally at college or school. Internal training provides constant work experience

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and can be more easily controlled by the firm itself. External training may be more professional and give a broader view.

Training is provided for all people of 16 or 17 who are not in full-time education or a job. Youth training (YT) leads to National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) Level 2 and Modern Apprenticeships to NVQ Level 3. Training is mainly in local firms, though specialist trainers and colleges are also used.

1.Give four reasons why a firm might set up a training programme.

2.Why is it important for trainees to be motivated?

3.Choose four methods of training. Describe when and for whom they might be used and their advantages and disadvantages.

4.Explain, with examples, why it is sometimes important to change the attitudes of employees. What training methods can be used?

Text 6

Read the text and identify the problem discussed in the text.

Changes in Employment

In recent years, there have been dramatic changes in employment which have affected practically all members of the work force. The changes include the decline of traditional industries, such as coalmining, shipbuilding and steel-making, creating structural unemployment, technological unemployment among both manual and white-collar workers, owing to the increased use of computers and automation, organizational changes in big companies, which have reduced the size of firms and the number of managers, flexible working, which has replaced full-time jobs by a variety of part-time and temporary jobs.

Let us examine these changes – and their effects – in more detail. For the last 30 years or so, there has been a gradual decline in the traditional industries of shipbuilding, steel-making and coalmining, which were the basis of the first industrial revolution. Hundreds of thousands of miners, shipyard workers and steelworkers were made redundant. Structural unemployment affected: mainly manual workers in the primary and secondary sectors. However, technological change, which was brought about by the increasing use of computers and automation, affected both manual and white-collar workers. During the 1980s and 1990s, many office workers and managers were made redundant as computers: took over their jobs.

Increasing foreign competition, particularly from the Far East, forced many British companies to become more efficient by cutting costs. Companies did this by: downsizing, or dismissing employees, which in-

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creased productivity as the same amount of work was now done by a smaller number of employees, contracting out the work of whole sections or departments, such as publicity, to specialist firms which could do the work more cheaply, reducing the size of the company, by selling off unprofitable businesses.

Between 2000 and 2005, Britain’s 100 biggest companies shed almost 400,000 jobs. ВТ got rid of the biggest number – 88,500 jobs. To save even more money, many big companies started to replace permanent full-time jobs by part-time temporary jobs. They retained a core of key workers with special skills. These employees have full-time jobs with reasonable job security and chances of promotion. However, the remaining employees, the flexible work force, are employed only when their labour is required. This reduces a company’s salaries and wages bill, but adds greatly to the employees’ feeling of insecurity.

There is a great range of flexible working, including:

Short-term contracts. Employees are given a short-term contract for a year or 18 months instead of a permanent job.

Part-time work. There has been a huge rise in part-time jobs of all kinds, ranging from the unskilled office cleaner’s to the highly skilled computer consultant’s. They have increased four and a half times, to over 6 million, in the last 10 years.

Temporary work. At one time, temporary workers were used mainly to cover for permanent employees who were ill or on holiday. That has changed. In some big companies, up to 10 per cent of the work force are temporary workers. This cuts a company’s costs as ‘temps’ are employed only if there is a special job to be done.

Teleworking. There has been an increase in teleworking, or working at home using computers and information technology to maintain contact with company headquarters. About 6 per cent of firms use teleworking extensively.

Some progressive employers look after their employees better by providing flexible hours instead of flexible work. This gives employees more choice about when they work, which is particularly useful for working mothers. There are various forms of flexible hours, including:

Flexitime or flexible working hours. Employees work an agreed number of hours of core-time each day, but may choose when they work the rest of their hours.

Four-day week. By working longer hours, employees do five days’ work in four days and have the other three days off. Term-time working. Parents (usually mothers) work full-time during the school terms, but have unpaid leave during the school holidays so that they can look after their children.

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Job sharing. Two people share the same job and split the salary between them. One might work in the morning and the other in the afternoon or they might work alternate weeks.

Career breaks. An employee is allowed to take unpaid leave for a year or more and can return to the same, or a similar, job at the end of the break. This is useful for women who have to look after children or relatives; for study; or for employees who want a refreshing break.

1.Describe flexible working in your own words.

2.How do flexible hours benefit employees?

3.What has caused a large-scale redundancy?

;Language

1.Practise reading aloud the following words. If necessary, use the dictionary.

Affiliation, supervisor, employee, flexible, scheme, incremental, nonmanual, advertisement, objective, semiskilled, redundant, flexitime, teleworking, technique, unemployment, picketing, bargaining, induction, redundant.

2.Give the Russian equivalents to the following words and word-com- binations.

Clerical work, cushy job, full-time job, part-time job, flexible working hours, job-sharing, nine-to-five job, odd job, hour job, discrimination, employment discrimination, wage discrimination, career, strike, strike ballot, labour union, picket, fringe benefits, unemployment benefit, to eliminate unemployment, dole, lay off, scrounger, freelancer, commuter, teleworking, to give the sack.

3.Read the following sentences and explain the meaning of the underlined words.

1.Anyone who works for a company is part of the personnel of that company. 2. A staff department is a department of a company that provides a service to the managers. A staff department is not directly involved with production. 3. Recruiting refers to finding new employees or managers for the company. 4. When workers retire or quit, the personnel department must recruit new workers to fill the vacancies. 5. A company recruits internally if it wishes to fill vacancies by transferring or promoting current employees. 6. External recruitment means that a company is seeking new employees from outside the firm. 7. When an employee is promoted, he receives a position with more authority and responsibility, and usually an increase in salary. 8. The worker was transferred from one department to the other.9. Fringe benefits include paid vacation, medical insurance, and employer contributions to a pension

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plan. Fringe benefits are what the employee receives in addition to his wages. 10. There is a grievance procedure for handling complaints when an employee feels he has been treated unfairly.

4. Match the words on the left with the expressions on the right.

5. Write out the suffixes indicating different parts of speech in the fol-

6. Identify the part of speech of the missing words. Supply the correct form

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7. Match the terms on the left with their meanings on the right.

8. Complete each sentence with the correct form of the word in bold type. Sometimes you will need to use a negative form using a prefix (un-, dis-, de-).

satisfy

a)Women are more ... with their jobs than men in many countries.

b)Low pay and poor working conditions create ... workers.

c)Small European countries are at the top of job... league tables. motivate

a)What are the strongest ... factors in people’s lives?

b)Workers become ... if they work long hours for low pay.

c)What was your ... for becoming a salesperson? fulfil

a)Becoming Department Head was the ... of a lifelong ambition.

b)He ... his role as manager very effectively.

c)I feel ... in my job because I am not given enough responsibility.

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inspire

a)Jack Welch was an ... business leader who motivated employees.

b)He has been an ... to the new members of staff.

c)After an ... launch, the new model quickly failed.

frustrate

a)You could see the ... building up in the workforce.

b)I find talking to him ... because he never listens to anything I say.

c)I felt so ... with their attitude that I decided to resign.

9.Write a single word synonym for each of these phrases.

1.given the sack = … .

2.out of work = … .

3.left the company = … .

4.was given a better position in the company = ... .

5.future possibilities in a job = ... .

6.stopped working for ever = ... .

7.workers in a company = ... .

10.Find the logical answer on the right for each of the questions on the

left.

11. A. Complete the extract below with passive forms of the verbs in brackets.

Several surveys ... (conduct) recently concerning the relationship between work and play. According to psychologists, activities are more likely to ... (perceive) as play – and therefore attractive – rather than work – and therefore unattractive-if they ... (enter) into voluntarily. In one experiment, for example, volunteers ... (give) a problem-solving game to perform: some ... (pay) to perform the game and some were not. Those who ... (pay) spent less free time performing than those for whom the only motivation was the pleasure of the game. Thus, motivation to play springs from within and the readiness to perform activities ...

(reduce) by external rewards.

B. Like the passive, the expression have/get something done focuses on what happens and not on the doer of the action.

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A:Is the photocopier working?

B:Yes. We had it mended yesterday. (It doesn’t matter who did it) Complete the exchanges below with the expression have /get something

done.

1 A: This office looks rather shabby, doesn’t it? B: I know. We’re go-

ing to ..................................................................................................

2 A: What a dazzling speech! B: Yeah. I’m sure he..............................

..................………………………………………………………………………………

3 A: The video’s on the blink again. B: We definitely need to .............

..................………………………………………………………………………………

4 A: Our fire alarm seems to have a will of its own, doesn’t it? B: Yes. I

think we should ...................................................................................

5 A: I’m not sure the figures in this report are right ……………………....

............................................................................................................

B: Well, why don’t you ................................................................. .

C. Make up 3–5 sentences of your own according to the above pattern.

12.Look at the following sentences and write questions, using the passive form. The first one has been done for you.

1.Pantel’s takeover of Riesmann will be cleared by the European Commission in April. (Who by)

Who will the takeover be cleared by?

2.In 1999 Ј800 of computer games were sold in Britain. (When)

3.Those computer games are manufactured under license in Japan. (Where)

4.Over 600 people were made redundant last year. (How many)

5.Future success will be driven by developing a sales force capable of challenging the status quo. (How)

6.The new team will be employed for a minimum contract period of ten months. (How long)

7.Effective leadership is endlessly discussed in management circles. (What)

8.A coercive style of leadership could be used during an emergency, for instance. (When)

9.The next meeting has been scheduled for the end of March. (When)

10.The interim report was written by Ms Eadie. (Who)

13.Choose the best word from the brackets to fill the gap. The first one is an example.

1.We need to …recruit... four new people for our office in Manches-

ter, (join/recruit) 2. We are using a recruitment ... to find them for us. (agency/headhunter) 3. They advertised the ... in the local newspaper

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15. Complete the sentences by putting one of the words or phrases given below in each space.

1. John’s company demands that he is in the office between 10.00 and 15.00 but he can start earlier than that and finish later than that as long as he works 40 hours per week. He is working … . 2. This is the worst week of the month for Mary because this week she’s working nights. Next week is the best, because then she’ll be at home when her daughter comes in from school. She’s working … . 3. Pat works for a large insurance firm but he only goes to their office one day a week. For the other four he works at home and keeps in touch by e-mail, fax and phone. He’s … . 4. Peter is a journalist He writes for a variety of papers. This week it’s the Financial Times, last week it was the Wall Street Journal. He decides how much work he does and when he works and completes his own accounts for tax purposes. He’s working … . 5. Heidi is working at a food processing plant in Germany. She’s worked there for two months, and her job finishes at the end of this month. She hopes the company will renew her contract for another three months. She’s working on a … . 6. Mary and Jane are both receptionists for a PR firm. Mary works there on Monday and Tuesday, Jane then takes over for the rest of the week. They are …

16. Decide which word suits best each space. Choosing a job

One of the most difficult decisions is choosing what to do for a (1) … . For example, do you want to follow a definite (2) … and (3) … a low (4) … at the beginning, but have good (5) … in a company that trains its (6) …? Or are you more interested in taking any kind of work, because you need a/an (7) … ? You may have to (8) ... the feet that a good (9) … can be difficult to find. In that case, why not take a (10) … one? You will gain some useful (11) … Remember that even if you have the right (12) … you may have to (13) ... lots of application forms before you are asked to (14) … an interview. But don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to (15) … exactly. You’ll enjoy finding out!

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