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Файл:Functional English for university students (for economists and managers). Учебное пособие
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38 protection;
39 recognition;
40 working conditions;
41 repetitive and mechanical job;
42 company’s shared values;
43 competing companies;
44 the burden of responsibility;
45 the security of order and direction;
46 financial targets;
47 perks;
48 factors of motivation;
49 corporate culture.
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7 Unit 7 Management
7.1 Management – an art or science?
Answer the questions
1 What is management? Is it an art or a science? An instinct or a set of skills
and techniques that can be taught?
2 What do you think makes a good manager? Which of the following four
qualities do you think are the most important?
a being decisive: able to make quick decisions;
b being efficient: doing things quickly, not leaving tasks unfinished, having a
tidy desk, and so on;
c being friendly and sociable;
d being able to communicate with people;
e being logical, rational and analytical;
f being able to motivate and inspire and lead people;
g being authoritative: able to give orders;
h being competent: knowing one’s job perfectly, as well as the work of one’s
subordinates;
i being persuasive: able to convince people to do things;
j having good ideas.
Are there any qualities that you think should be added to this list?
3 Which of these qualities can be acquired? Which must you be born with?
7.2 Reading
This text summarizes some of Peter Drucker’s views on management. As
you read about his description of the work of a manager, decide whether the five
different functions he mentions require the four qualities you selected in your
discussion, or others you did not choose
What is management?
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Peter Drucker, the well-known American business professor and consultant,
suggests that the work of a manager can be divided into planning (setting objectives),
organizing, integrating (motivating and communicating), measuring, and developing
people.
First of all, managers (especially senior managers such as company
chairman-and women-and directors) set objectives, and decide how their organization
can achieve them. This involves developing strategies, plans and precise tactics, and
allocating resources of people and money.
Secondly, managers organize. They analyze and classify the activities of
the organization and the relations among them. They divide the work into
manageable activities and then into individual jobs. They select people to manage
these units and perform the jobs.
Thirdly, managers practice the social skills of motivation and
communication. They also have to communicate objectives to the people responsible
for attaining them. They have to make the people who are responsible for performing
individual jobs form teams. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well
as organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they have to work with
people in other areas and functions.
Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see
whether the objectives set for the organization as a whole and for each individual
member of it are being achieved.
Lastly, managers develop people – both their subordinates and themselves.
Obviously, objectives occasionally have to be modified or changed. It is
generally the job of a company’s top managers to consider the needs of the future,
and to take responsibility for innovation, without which any organization can only
expect a limited life. Top managers also have to manage a business’s relations with
customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers, investors, neighboring communities,
public authorities, and so on, as well as deal with any major crises which arise. Top
managers are appointed and supervised and advised (and dismissed) by a company’s
board of directors.
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Although the tasks of a manager can be analyzed and classified in this fashion,
management is not entirely scientific. It is a human skill. Business professors
obviously believe that intuition and "instinct" are not enough; there are management
skills that have to be learnt. Drucker, for example, wrote over 20 years ago that
"Altogether this entire book is based on the proposition that the days of the "intuitive"
manager are numbered," meaning that they were coming to an end. But some people
are clearly good at management, and others are not. Some people will be unable to
put management techniques into practice. Others will have lots of technique, but few
good ideas. Outstanding managers are rather rare.
7.3 Vocabulary
Complete the following sentences with these words
achieved board of director communicate innovations manageable
performance resources setting supervise
1 Managers have to decide how best to allocate the human, physical and
capital…………………………. available to them.
2 Managers-logically-have to make sure that the jobs and tasks given to their
subordinates are …………………….
3 There is no point in …………………objectives if you don’t
………………………. them to your staff.
4 Managers have to………………………their subordinates, and to measure,
and try to improve, their………………………….
5 Managers have to check whether objectives and targets are being
………………………………....
6 A top manager whose performance is unsatisfactory can be dismissed by
the company’s………………………
7 Top managers are responsible for the ………………………. that will
allow a company to adapt to a changing world.
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7.4 Vocabulary
The text contains a number of common verb-noun partnerships (e.g.
achieve objectives, deal with crises, and so on)
Match up these verbs and nouns to make common collocations and make
up your own sentences
allocate decisions
communicate information
develop jobs
make objectives
measure people
motivate performance
perform resources
set strategies
supervise subordinates
7.5 Team – building
Write a brief profile of yourself, outlining your personal qualities and
highlighting any strengths and weaknesses you feel you have. Then write a brief
profile of your partner, outlining his or her strengths and weaknesses as you see
them. Use the list of personal qualities to help you. When you have finished,
work with your partner and compare the profiles you have written
Strengths
Weaknesses
confident
thorough
arrogant
obsessive
enterprising
tolerant
opportunistic
uncaring
humorous
caring
frivolous
nosy
ambitious
prudent
ruthless
indecisive
helpful
focused
controlling
tunnel -
visioned
forceful
supportive
bullying
interfering
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competitive
generous
combative
irresponsible
Open to
change
wishy - washy
7.6 Do the quiz. Choose a right variant for you.
Are you the type to be a good manager?
Questions
1 I try to be friends with all the people I work with
True
False
2 I encourage people to express their opinion on
issues
True
False
3 I do the things right the first time
True
False
4 I plan things very carefully
True
False
5 I work at my best alone, away from people
True
False
6 I always finish what I start
True
False
7 I am always thinking of how to do things better
True
False
8 I treat failure as an opportunity to learn
True
False
9 I avoid getting tired down to fixed deadlines
True
False
10 I try to avoid challenging people with strong
opinions
True
False
11 I get angry at people when things go wrong
True
False
12 I stick to the rules as much as possible
True
False
13 I work long hours
True
False
14 I look at how other people do things and adopt their
good ideas
True
False
15 I notice when people are under pressure and try to
help them
True
False
Comments on the quiz
Friendship is fine but it should not interfere with effectiveness. It is difficult to
be objective with friends, impossible to discipline them and too easy to show
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favouritism. Be friendly, by all means, but leave real friendship to your social life.
Good managers seek opinions from others. A good manager will not
necessarily accept or act on an opinion but will do their best to let everyone have their
say and to ensure that they have not missed any good ideas.
Doings things wrong causes more work putting it right. Good managers dislike
unnecessary work and do their best to ensure that what they and their teams do is right
first time. They still make mistakes, of course, but they do not come from not trying to
do a thorough job.
Good managers seem not to start on any job until they have examined it,
analyzed it and planned how to do it. Plunging straight in is best left for those times when
you have to dive into the cold water on holiday.
Managers manage people. Some people are best suited to specialist tasks
where they do not have to interact with people except when they want to or need to.
There is no shame to liking to work on your own but a decided preference for it will
inhibit your management abilities.
Everyone experiences failure at one time or another. Sometimes this is our
own failure and at other times we experience the failure of other people, perhaps those
who work for us. The important question is how you respond to it. Shouting and
screaming will not help, even if it makes you feel better temporarily. What matters is that
we analyze what went wrong, learn from it ourselves or help others learn from it.
Some people accept that "this is the way we do things." Learning and applying
the system is good but there is no system of process in the world that is perfect.
Accepting things as given and unchangeable risks missing new ideas. The good manager
is always looking for ways to do things better, even small ways.
Great artists never feel that their painting is finished. Writers can re-write their
great work 6 or 7 times and still not want to release it. Management is not like that.
Things have to be done on time and to deadlines, if only to fit in with the product of the
work that other people are doing. If you cannot stand deadlines, perhaps you could take
up painting!
Few people like a fight but managers have to stand up for their team, if not for
78
themselves. What is more, a manager who is ready to go along with anyone who
expresses himself or herself forcibly will be like a bamboo shoot in the wind, bending to
any pressure. If managers constantly change their opinion, depending upon whom they
spoke to last, teams get really infuriated and demotivated.
If you punish people when things go wrong - and getting angry is a form of
punishment - then you do not ensure that the mistakes never occur in the future, you just
ensure that no one will want to tell you about them. If mistakes are not caught quickly,
they can escalate into real problems. Make sure you manage in a way that your team
feels able to tell you about things that have gone wrong - in plenty of time for you to put
things right.
The saying that "rules apply to other people" is wrong. By all means
suggest and try to get improvements but do not act against the rules on your own
decision – unless it is obvious that a rule has to be disobeyed on a specific occasion.
Such occasions are rare in good companies and if you do find yourself in such a
situation, try to work out the logic of the rule and how it does not apply.
Management is not a 9-5 activity. Good managers, sorry to say, put in the
hours. They do what they have to do and then find time to coach their people, network
with colleagues, talk to customers and find out what is happening in their
organization, industry or profession.
There is a saying that stealing words and ideas from one author is
plagiarism while stealing from many authors is creativity! Good managers have open
minds. They are always looking for new ideas and welcome them from other people.
The NIH or "not invented here"
Few people work best under pressure. Some do but most feel stress and this
produces poor work and unhappy staff. The good manager watches how the team is
doing and is ready to intervene is things get on top of them. The good managers'
interventions might be a matter of teaching, suggesting how to do things more
efficiently, re-allocating work or just enabling people to talk about how they feel.
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7.7 Translate, write transcription of these words and learn them by heart
1 to be decisive;
2 to make quick decisions;
3 to be efficient;
4 to be friendly and sociable;
5 to inspire and lead people;
6 to be authoritative;
7 to give orders;
8 to be competent;
9 to be persuasive;
10 to convince people to do things;
11 a set of skills and techniques;
12 to be acquired;
13 to be born with;
14 to set objectives;
15 to achieve objectives;
16 to develop strategies, plans and precise tactics;
17 to allocate resources of people and money;
18 to analyse and classify the activities;
19 to divide the work into manageable activities;
20 to perform individual jobs;
21 to select people;
22 to practise the social skills;
23 to communicate objectives to;
24 to be responsible for;
25 to attain objectives;
26 to make the people form teams;
27 to make decisions about pay and promotion;
28 to supervise the work of the subordinates;
29 to measure the performance of the staff;
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30 to develop people;
31 to consider the needs of the future;
32 to take responsibility for innovations;
33 to manage business’s relations;
34 to deal with any major crises;
35 to be appointed and supervised and advised;
36 to appoint or dismiss;
37 a company’s board of directors;
38 scientific skills;
39 to be learnt;
40 to be good at management;
41 to put management techniques into practice;
42 outstanding managers.
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