Читай и обсуждай. Бизнес-курс английского языка. Учебное пособие

greater volume requires greater co-ordination. However, this structure is very difficult to manage so it is usually better to reconsider its use and replace it with a different type of structure, then compensate for the tradeoffs.

Task 2. Translate into Russian.

1. An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims.

2. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals see their organization and its environment.

3. An organization can be structured in many different ways, depending on their objectives.

4. The structure of an organization will determine the modes in which it operates and performs.

5. Organizational structure allows the expressed allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different entities such as the branch, department, workgroup and individual.

6. Organizational structure affects organizational action in two big ways.

7. First, it provides the foundation on which standard operating procedures and routines rest.

8. Second, it determines which individuals get to participate in which decision-making processes, and thus to what extent their views shape the organization’s actions.

9. Depending on the chain of command, a company’s structure couldbeclassifiedaseitherverticalorhorizontal,aswellascentralized or decentralized.

10. A vertically structured organization or a “tall” company describes a chain of management, usually with a CEO at the top delegating authority to lower-level managers through mid-level managers.

11. Horizontal or “flat” companies, however, have almost no middle-managers,whichimpliesthathigh-levelmanagersgetinvolved in daily tasks and interact with customers and front-line personnel.

12. A centralized organizational structure describes how a company’s direction and decisions are set by one individual only.

11

13. Centralization compliments companies with “tall” structures to create Bureaucratic organizations.

14. Decentralized organizational structures allow individuals some autonomy at each level of the business, because they join the decision-making process.

15. Evidently, classifying organizations as centralized or decentralized is linked to them being “tall” or “flat”.

Task 3. Translate into English.

1. Существует несколько типов организационных структур: линейные, функциональные, линейно-функциональные, дивизиональные, адаптивные.

2.Линейная структура характеризуется тем, что во главе каждого подразделения стоит руководитель, который осуществляет руководство подчиненными ему работниками.

3.Линейная структура управления используется, как правило, малыми и средними предприятиями, осуществляющими несложное производство.

4. Функциональная организация управления базируется на горизонтальном разделении управленческого труда.

5. Функциональная структура управления обычно применяется на крупных предприятиях.

6. Линейно-функциональные структуры управления используются в большинстве предприятий.

7. Дивизиональная структура управления — наиболее распространенная форма организации управления современной промышленной фирмы.

8. Каждое отраслевое отделение представляет собой независимое производственно-хозяйственное подразделение, состоящее из отделений и заводов.

9. Адаптивная структура управления характеризуется децентрализацией и участием специалистов в принятии решений, гибкостью структуры власти и небольшим количеством уровней иерархии.

10. Проектная структура — это временные органы управления, созданные для решения конкретной задачи.

12

11. Вматричнойструктуреуправлениячленыпроектнойгруппы подчиняются как руководителю проекта, так и руководителям тех функциональных отделов, в которых они работают постоянно.

12. Выбор организационной структуры управления осуществляется на основе тщательного анализа всех факторов, оказывающих на нее влияние, оценки преимуществ и недостатков различных типов организационных структур.

13. Организационная структура управления постоянно совершенствуется в соответствии с изменившимися условиями, поэтому­ она отличается большим разнообразием и определяется многими факторами и условиями.

14. При проектировании структуры управления необходимо соблюдать следующее основное правило: вовлекать наименьшее число уровней управления и создавать кратчайшую цепь команд.

Skills Focus

Task 1. Study the following glossary1.

Active vocabulary 1 to work for

to work on

To run … the department to manage a team of

one of my responsibilities is to be in charge of

to deal with

to be responsible for

to be responsible for running the company

to be responsible for personnel, training and management to be responsible for the day-to-day management

to be accountable to the Board

to be assisted by executive departments

to take care of corporate finance and accounting

1 Гордина Е. А. Glossary. Глоссарий [Электронный вариант]. — Новосибирск: НГУЭУ, 2006.

13

to be supported by parent company subsidiary

to direct the actions of the advisory board to take the final responsibility for profits

to establish long and short term objectives, plans and policies and implement them

to coordinate operations between divisions and departments

to represent the company with major customers, the financial community and the public

toassistthetopexecutiveindirecting,administeringandcoordinating company operations, personnel, financial performance and growth

to be accountable for the company’s financial plans and policies to be responsible for the company’s accounting practice

to be responsible for the company’s relationships with financial institutions

to produce a report to prepare results to finalize the design to look for new ideas

to experiment with new products to reach consumers

a key aspect of my department’s work to answer enquiries

to be in contact with the press to inform of a new product to go through a difficult period

to reduce the number of employees in several departments to review salaries throughout the organization

to ensure that all systems are working properly to design and develop

to exchange and share information

Active vocabulary 2

When I first started working in… I was employed as a …

I worked in the … as a …

The next position I held was for a period of … years in the … department as a …

This involved working with skilled personnel in …

14

In both jobs I reported directly to a …

I was then promoted to the position of … in the …

Thisjobinvolvedcarryingawiderangeofanalysisonallaspectsof… For the past year I’ve worked in the … department as …

In this role I report directly to the …

My transition from … to a managerial position came about as a result of …

My current job title is …

My role at present is more concerned with … This involves talking with … to identify …

I am also responsible for …

Task 2. Using Active vocabulary 1 describe the structure of the company1.

Example Functional Organizational Chart

Vice

President

Figure 1

Example Product Organizational Chart

Kraft

Figure 2

1 https://pingboard.com/blog/types-business-organizational-structures/

15

Example Customer Organizational Chart

Hospital

President

Figure 3

Example Matrix Organizational Chart

Music

Publisher

Figure 4

Example Geographic Organizational Chart

Drug Company

President

Figure 5

16

Task 3. Using Active vocabulary 1 describe the structure of your company.

Task 4. Using Active vocabulary 1 and 2 tell about your work experience and you responsibilities.

Reading 2

Task 1. Read and translate the article.

Making your business more competitive with business process reengineering (BPR)1

Theconceptofbusinessprocessreengineering(BPR)istorethinkand breakdownexistingbusinessprocesses.Thisallowsacompanytoreduce costs and improve productivity through newer, more efficient processes. It is important to remember however, that though there are instances where this is necessary, business process reengineering is not without its disadvantages. This makes it vital to weigh your decision carefully. One of the most obvious adverse effects of acompany’sdecisiontoreengineer isaloweredemployeemorale.Mostpeoplearevaryofchangeanddonot manage to adapt to it easily. This aspect needs to be kept in mind when trying to make the decision to go through with the activity.

HISTORY OF BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING Business process reengineering, also called BPR, is the redesign

and analysis of workflow, in an effort to make it more efficient.

In the early 1990’s, Michael Hammer and James Champy published a book, “Reengineering the Corporation”, that stated that in some cases, radical redesign and reorganization within a company were the only way to reduce costs and improve service quality. To this end, they said, informationtechnologywasthekeyelementforallowingthistohappen.

Hammer and Champy said that most large companies made (now invalid) assumptions about their goals, people and technology that

1 http://www.cleverism.com/

17

were impacting the workflow. They suggested seven principles that could be used to reengineer and help streamline workflows, thus improving quality, time management and cost.

Hammer and Champy suggested the following seven principles in their book.

Organize around outcomes, not tasks.

Identify all the processes in an organization and prioritize them in order of redesign urgency.

Integrate information processing work into the real work that produces the information.

Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized.

Link parallel activities in the workflow instead of just integrating their results.

Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process.

Capture information once and at the source.

What does this mean in simpler language? Essentially, for a successful BPR effort, it is important to look at all the tasks that are working to achieve the same goal.This exercise can then allow several jobs to be combined into one. In addition, parallel processes leading to the same outcome should be connected within the process rather than just combining results at the end. Also, it is important to look at all available resources and place the actual work where it makes the most sense.

To make the process most efficient, the power to make decisions regarding it should be given to the people performing the process and any unnecessary control systems should be eliminated. Instead of having extra processes to record information relating to the process, a resource within the process should provide all necessary data to increase accuracy and reduce redundancy.

HOW TO IMPLEMENT BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEE­ RING IN YOUR BUSINESS

The following steps (Davenport, 1992) can help BPR realize its core principles of customer satisfaction, reduced costs of business and increased competitiveness.

18

1. BUSINESS VISIONAND OBJECTIVES

Any BPR activity needs to begin with a clearly defined and measurable objectives. Whether the goal is reducing costs, improving quality of product, or increasing efficiency, the framework for what needs to be achieved has to be decided upon at the outset, in line with the company’s vision and mission.

2. IDENTIFICATIONAND SLACKING PROCESSES

Once a clear goal is in mind, all processes need to be studied and those seen as ‘slacking’or that can be improved need to be identified. Among these, those processes with direct impact on the company’s output or those that clash with the company’s mission become part of the ‘red’ list. This clear identification makes the difference between BPR success and failure.

3. UNDERSTANDAND MEASURE THE ‘RED’PROCESSES With a list of slacking processes in hand, it is imperative to identify how they were identified as such. Are they taking too much time to complete? Is the quality of the outcome being compromised? Whatever the issue, each process must be judged objectively either against industry standards or ethically obtained competitor best

practices.

4.INFORMATION SYSTEM AND TECHNOLOGY CAPA­ BILITIES

An efficient and relevant IT system is an essential BPR enabler. Without such a system, it is not possible to keep a check on all factors affecting the change. Before setting out on a radical BPR activity, it is vital to set in place information systems that can deal with the magnitude of the change.

5.DESIGN, BUILDAND TEST THE NEW PROTOTYPE Before any new product is launched, a prototype is tested out.

A failure at a testing stage should never be implemented at a larger scale. BPR projectsfail more oftenthan not for a varietyof reasons but a basic reason is the inability to identify and accept any limitations at the testing stage.Among other factors, both the management’s attitude

towards the new way of work and the employees’outlook towards the change should be carefully assessed.

19

6.ADAPTING THE ORGANIZATION

Managing change brought about by BPR activities is the final effort towards a successful project. Providing updated documentation, organizational structures, governance models as well as updated charts of authority and responsibility leave little room for confusion and allow a smooth transition into the new way of work.

Business process reengineering is a radical change activity that cannot be repeated if it goes wrong the first time. It is often a high risk activity that involves monetary investment and a risk of demotivated employees. In is essential to have buy in all the way from top management down and it should have a broad functional scope.

SOME FAMOUS EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING

FORD

In his suggestions to Ford, Michael Hammer proposed something radical: Eliminate the invoice. In the new scenario, a buyer no longer needed to send a copy of the purchasing order form to the creditor administration. Instead, he registers an order in the online database. When the items appear at the store, the storekeeper check whether these correspond to the purchase order form in the system. In the old system he did not have access to this form. If the items match the order, he accepts them and registers this in the computer system. If they do not, the items are returned. Hammer reported that Ford benefited drastically from this change with an almost 75 % decrease in workforce in the accounts payable department.

TACO BELL

Taco Bell reimagined their business, focusing more on the retail service aspect and centralizing the manufacturing area. The K-Minus program was created and the meat, corn shells, beans, lettuce, cheese and tomatoes for their restaurants were now prepared in central commissaries outside the restaurant. At the restaurants, the prepared ingredients are assembled when ordered by a customer. Better employee morale, increased quality control, fewer accidents and injuries, bigger savings and more time for focusing on customer business processes are some of the successes of the new way of work.

20