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

Taco Bell has gone from being a $500 million company in 1982 to a $3 billion company (Early 1990s).

HALLMARK

Hallmark used to spend 3 years in bringing new products to the market. With more niche markets identified Hallmark executives were convinced that the product development process needed to be redesigned. Using reengineering, the goal was set to change cycle time to one year. They discovered to their surprise that two thirds of the product cycle was spent on planning and conceptualizing the card rather than on printing and production rework as had previously been thought. The concept spent 90 % time waiting for a creative staffer to complete a new iteration till it was eventually finalized, In 1991, a new line of cards was brought to market in 8 months, ahead of schedule, by creating a cross functional team for product development.

Although there have been many BPR success stories, the process became somewhat unpopular in the late 1990s. There were many organizationswhowentthroughtheattemptstoredesignprocessesbutdid notmanagetoreapanyofthemyriadbenefitspromised.Soitisessential to plan carefully before undertaking this exercise. First and foremost, a business problem needs to be identified.Are we manufacturing at higher costs than our industry? Is there a newer way of work that we have not brought into our processes? Do our processes seem overly complex? Are too many people doing too many similar things? After setting clear objectives and securing support from all levels of management within thecompany,itisimportanttoapproachtheprocessasoneofcontinuous learning and to keep an eye on new and emerging problems as well the existing way of work. The success of any BPR initiative hinges on how deeply a process improvement mindset is created and nurtured by both management and the process owners themselves.

Task 2.Answer the following question.

Atwhatstageofitsdevelopmentdoesacompanyneedtobechanged? Does it happen with any company? Study the given examples of the famous companies BPR and give your opinion on the changes made.

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UNIT 2. CORPORATE CULTURE

Lead-in

Task 1.Answer the following questions.

1.What 10 words would you use to describe your company?

2.What is really important?

Task 2. Paraphrase the following statement. Do you agree with it?

Why? Why not?

Corporate culture is one of those focus areas that are not always fully understood.

Reading 1

Task1.Choosethebestanswerforeachofthefollowingstatements.

1.Company culture

A.takes on a great deal of responsibility

B.increases productivity

C.controls over all aspects

2.In a healthy culture, employees

A.are distinct from the company

B.are owners of business

C.gain satisfaction

3.Entrepreneurs

A.view themselves as part of a team

B.need to explain their vision of the company’s future

C.focus upon their own needs

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4.Hiring decisions

A.are based upon racial issues

B.are based upon ethnic issues

C.reflect desired corporate culture

5.Corporate culture

A.plays a major role in small business failures

B.is a pitfall

C.perform the tasks

Task 2.Translate the article into Russian.

Culture in Small Businesses1

Culture can be a particularly important consideration for small businesses. A healthy company culture may increase employees’ commitment and productivity, while an unhealthy culture may inhibit a company’s growth or even contribute to business failure. Many entrepreneurs, when they first start a new business, quite naturally tend to take on a great deal of responsibility themselves. As the company grows and adds employees, however, the authoritarian management style that the business owner used successfully in a very small company can become detrimental. Instead of attempting to retain control over all aspects of the business, the small business owner should, as consultant Morty Lefcoe told Nation’s Business, strive to “get everybody else in the organization to do your job, while you create an environment so that they can do it”.

In a healthy culture, employees view themselves as part of a team and gain satisfaction from helping the overall company succeed. When employees sense that they are contributing to a successful group effort, their level of commitment and productivity, and thus the quality of the company’s products or services, are likely to improve. In contrast, employees in an unhealthy culture tend to view

1 http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/corporate-culture.html

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themselves as individuals, distinct from the company, and focus upon their own needs. They only perform the most basic requirements of their jobs, and their main — and perhaps only — motivation is their paycheck.

Since every company is different, there are many ways to develop a culture that works. Following are several main principles that small business owners should consider in order to create a healthy corporate culture:

Prevailing corporate culture begins at the top. Entrepreneurs need to explain and share their vision of the company’s future with their workers. “Let your vision for the company become their vision for the company”, stated John O’Malley in his article “How to Create a Winning Corporate Culture”. He goes on to say that “a company without a vision is reactive in nature and its management is seldom confident addressing competitive threats and stepping into the future”. In addition, small business owners should be aware that their own behavior and attitudes set the standard for the entire workforce. Small business owners who set poor examples in areas such as lifestyle, dedication to quality, business or personal ethics, and dealings with others (customers, vendors, and employees) will almost certainly find their companies defined by such characteristics.

Treat all employees equally. Entrepreneurs should treat all employees equally. This does not mean that business owners cannot bestow extra rewards on workers who excel, but it does mean that interactions with all employees should be based on a foundation of respect for them. One particular pitfall in this area for many small businessownersisnepotism.Manysmallbusinessesarefamily-owned and operated. But bloodlines should be irrelevant in daily operations. “Successful businesses constantly place ‘you are no different’ expectations on family members they employ”, noted O’Malley. “Doing otherwise quickly undermines employees’ morale”. Showing favoritism in the workplace is like swimming with sharks — you are destined to get bitten”.

Hiring decisions should reflect desired corporate culture.The wise small business owner will hire workers who will treat clients and

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fellow employees well and dedicate themselves to mastering the tasks for which they are responsible.After all, “good attitude” is an essential component of any healthy corporate culture. But entrepreneurs and their managers also need to make sure that hiring decisions are not based upon ethnic, racial, or gender issues. Besides, businesses typically benefit from having a diverse workforce rather than one that is overly homogeneous.

Two-way communication is essential. Small business owners who discuss problems realistically with their workforce and enlist employees’ help in solving them will likely be rewarded with a healthy internal environment. This can be an important asset, for once a participatory and engaging culture has been established, and it can help propel a small business ahead of its competition.

On the other hand, problems with the corporate culture can play a major role in small business failures. When employees only perform the tasks necessary to their own jobs, rather than putting out extra effort on behalf of the overall business, productivity declines and growth comes to a halt. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs tend to ignore the developing cultures within their businesses until it is too late to make needed changes.

Task 3. Explain the meaning of the words and phrases in bold.

Task 4.Answer the questions.

1. Why is corporate culture an important consideration for small businesses?

2. Why should employees sense that they are contributing to a successful group effort?

3.Why does the corporate culture begin at the top?

4.Why is it necessary to treat all employees equally?

5.Why should hiring decisions reflect desired corporate culture?

6.Why is two-way communication essential?

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Language Focus

Task 1. Complete the passage using the following words and phrases:

corporate image, corporate culture, values, shareholder return, growth,firm’soperations,leadership,tosubdivide,aggressive,todefine

Corporate culture

Corporate culture refers to the shared 1…, attitudes, standards, and beliefs that characterize members of an organization and define its nature. Corporate culture is rooted in an organization’s goals, strategies, structure, and approaches to labor, customers, investors, and the greater community. As such, it is an essential component in any business’s ultimate success or failure. Closely related concepts, discussed elsewhere in this volume, are corporate ethics (which formally state the company’s values) and 2… (which is the public perception of the corporate culture). The concept is somewhat complex, abstract, and difficult to grasp. A good way 3... it is by indirection.

The concept of 4… emerged as a consciously cultivated reality in the 1960s along-side related developments like the social responsibilitymovement–itselftheconsequenceofenvironmentalism, consumerism, and public hostility to multinationals. Awareness of corporate culture was undoubtedly also a consequence of 5…, not least expansion overseas – where corporations found themselves competinginothernationalcultures.TheU.S.competitionwithJapan, with its unique corporate culture, was yet another influence. So was the rise to prominence of management gurus the dean of whom was Peter Drucker. As corporations became aware of themselves as actors on the social scene, corporate culture became yet another aspect of the business to watch and to evaluate — alongside the “hard” measures of assets, revenues, profits, and 6… .

Corporate culture by definition affects a 7…. It is also, by definition, something that flows from management downward and

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outward. In many corporations, the “culture” was set very early on by the charismatic activity and 8… of a founder. But as major tendencies become deeply institutionalized, corporate culture also becomes an institutional habit that newcomers acquire. In actual practice “reinventing” the corporation from the top down, therefore, is difficult to achieve, takes time, and happens only under strong leadership.

Observersandanalystsofthephenomenontend9…cultureintoits various expressions related either to major constituencies (employees and workers, customers, vendors, government, the community) or to methods or styles of operation (cautious, conservative, risk-taking, aggressive, innovative).Acorporate culture may also, by overstepping certain bounds, become suicidal – as the case of Enron Corporation, the energy trader, illustrates. In the Enron culture an 10…, creative, high-risk style led to fraud and ultimate collapse. Analysis is helpful in understanding how a corporate culture expresses itself in specific areas. However, the concept is social and culture, as the phrase itself implies. It does not lend itself to reorganization by a rearrangement of standard building blocks.

Task 2. Translate into Russian.

1. Corporate culture is one of those focus areas that are not always fully understood and are not optimally utilized either in an organization.

2.Abasic definition of organizational culture is the collective way we do things around here.

3.It involves a learned set of behaviors that is common knowledge to all the participants.

4. These behaviors are based on a shared system of meanings which guide our perceptions, understanding of events, and what we pay attention to.

5.Culture is reflected in the way the corporation or institution is structured; whether work is conducted cross-functionally or within silos, how the hierarchical levels are set up, and the types of job titles used.

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6.When working towards company goals or when trying to effect change in the organization, your organizational culture can be the very thing that trips you up.

7.Once a strategy is set for the organization, the way deliverables are produced in the organization needs to be examined and challenged.

8.This is to ensure that every process is geared towards achieving the strategy.

9. Every component of the corporate culture needs to underpin what is required from all stakeholders in order to realize the strategic goals.

10. A culture can be created or reinforced through the use of socialization.

11. The key to the success of the above is to ensure that the culture you wish to socialize others into is an ideal one, necessary for breakthrough performance in your work area or organization.

12.One of the surest ways to align the culture to the organization’s strategy is to apply leadership practices that are also aligned.

13. Theleaders,atalllevels,needtoknowwhattherequiredculture is and then determine ways of establishing practices and procedures in all operations that will closely reflect the desired culture.

14. They also need to role model the very behaviors they wish exhibited by everyone in the organization and provide the necessary support to others that will enable them to function accordingly as well.

15.Leadership needs to be front and center to create a corporate culture that works.

Task 3. Translate into English.

1. Корпоративная культура — это система общепринятых в компании и оберегаемых ее членами культурно-этических, моральных и других постулатов в отношении целей, дела, внутрифирменных взаимоотношений и взаимодействия с клиентами, партнерами, конкурентами, госструктурами, обществом в целом.

2. В каждой организации могут быть свои, отличающиеся от других ценности и принципы.

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3. В зависимости от классификационных признаков были выделены следующие модели управленческих культур: «семья», «Эйфелева башня», «управляемая ракета», «инкубатор».

4.«Отец семейства» обладает опытом, властью, что позволяет ему знать лучше подчиненных, что для них хорошо или плохо, что им надлежит делать.

5.Больше тяготеют к модели руководителя-отца (в противовес модели руководителя-лидера) национальные культуры Востока и юга Европы.

6.Разновидностью корпоративной культуры является «Эйфелева башня».

7.Руководитель выступает как носитель определенной роли, который инструктирует подчиненных, доводит до них цель корпорации, требует исполнения служебных обязанностей согласно заключенному контракту.

8.Власть в «Эйфелевой башне» непосредственно связана с занимаемой должностью, со статусом роли.

9.Модель «управляемая ракета» имеет больше сходных черт

с«Эйфелевой башней».

10.Для нее прежде всего значимы результаты — максимальная практическая реализация стратегий и достижение поставленной цели.

11. Эта культура восприимчива к изменениям, но они относятся скорее к способам исполнения, чем к поставленным целям.

12.Модель«инкубатор»базируетсянаидееэкзистенциализма о вторичности организации по сравнению с целями самореализации и самовыражения индивидуумов.

13.Решающаярольвэтомтипекультурыпринадлежитлюдям, которые выдвигают идеи, находят ресурсы, разрабатывают продукт или новую услугу.

14. В противоположность «семейной» культуре лидерство в «инкубаторе» не предписывается, а достигается.

15. Люди следуют за тем лидером, чьи идеи в наибольшей степени впечатляют и кто добивается наибольшего прогресса.

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Skills Focus

Task 1. Read the following statements about Japan. Make notes about Russia. Is the situation different in Russia?

1.In traditional companies new groups of recruits normally all enter the company on the same day of the year (usuallyApril 1).

2.New recruits go through an orientation course. Among other things they learn the company philosophy, its motto and its song.

3.Most employees receive regular training throughout their career with the company.

4.During recessions both workers and top executives sometimes accept salary cuts so that everyone can remain in work.

5.If they are forced to lay workers off, good companies will try to help the person find another job.

6.Individual roles within the group are not clearly defined: everyone does whatever is necessary to accomplish the task .

7.When the problems come up, special teams of managers and workers form to decide how to solve them. They often meet outside company hours.

8.Many ideas originate at the bottom of the hierarchy.As they move up though the company they are adapted until they are finally authorized at the top.

9.Employees receive a bonus in summer and a large one at the end of the year which is equal to two to six month’s pay or, if the company is doing well, even more.

10.People are dedicated to the business. They routinely work more than their allotted number of hours and do not take all the holidays they are entitled to.

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