- •4.1 Anticipating the Issue
- •4.1 A. The Job that Fits
- •1. You will need the following words to speak about skills and abilities necessary for certain jobs. Think which of them apply to you.
- •3. What would be the ideal job for you, and why?
- •4. Study the following verbs describing very important ways of reacting to other people’s emotions which are essential for working in a team.
- •5. Use the words in the following sentences in the correct form.
- •4.1 B. Seeking Employment
- •1. Explain the meaning of the words in bold which are quite often to be found in job advertisements.
- •3. Don’t forget that you should also actively participate in the interview. You should also ask questions which are interesting to you, such as:
- •4.1 C. Watching and Listening
- •1. Before you listen to the tape, discuss the following:
- •2. Listen to the recording and tick only the advice and information that the speakers actually give.
- •3. Discuss the following questions.
- •4.1 D. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas
- •1. Imagine you are a career adviser. What advice would you give to someone who is
- •2. Chinese astrology organizes years into cycles of twelve with each year named after an animal. The Chinese believe that the year you are born in affects your character.
- •4.1 E. Creative Consolidation
- •4.2 Raise the Issue
- •4.2 A. Words in Context
- •1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
- •2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
- •3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
- •4.2 B. Headhunters
- •1. Read the article.
- •2. Match the words with their definitions.
- •3. Find words or phrases in the text which match the definitions below.
- •4. Answer the following questions.
- •5. Choose the best answer a, b, c or d. Only one answer is correct.
- •4.2 C. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas.
- •4.2 D. Watching and Listening
- •2. Sally Muggeridge is Management Development Director at Pearson plc.
- •4.2 E. Vocabulary in Focus
- •1. Use the following idioms in the correct form in these situations.
- •3. Aspects of employment
- •4. Common work-related expressions
- •4.2 F. Creative Consolidation
- •2. Project-Making
- •3. Study different job advertisements.
- •4.3 Raise the Issue
- •1. Fill in the following expressions in the dialogue below. You might need them to speak about your plans.
- •4. 3 A. Words in Context
- •1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
- •2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
- •3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
- •4.3 B. Inflated Qualifications
- •1. Read the article.
- •2. Match the following words from the article with their definitions.
- •4.3 D. Vocabulary in Focus
- •1. Complete the expressions below using these verbs:
- •2. Use the expressions in these sentences.
- •3. Use the words from the box to complete each sentence.
- •4.3 E. Creative Consolidation
- •4.4 A. Words in Context
- •1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
- •2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
- •3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
- •4.4 B. Working Environment
- •2. Explain the meaning of the following words from the article.
- •3. What is your idea of the best organization of business?
- •4.4 D. Vocabulary in Focus
- •1. Complete the dialogues using the following idiomatic expressions.
- •2. Use the following expressions in the sentences below.
- •3. Use expressions from the box in the correct form in the following situations, connected with climbing the career ladder.
- •5. Over to you.
- •4.4 E. Creative Consolidation
- •4.5 Raise the Issue
- •4.5 A. Words in Context
- •1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
- •2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
- •3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
- •4.5. B Global Companies
- •1. Read the article.
- •2.Match the following words with their explanations.
- •3. Explain the meaning of the following words and word combinations from the text.
- •9. Word search.
- •10. For discussion.
- •4.5 C. Group Discussion. Brainstorm Ideas
- •4.5 D. Watching and Listening
- •1. Before you listen, decide which points below you think Miguel will make about Latin America and which ones Tong will make about China. Tick the appropriate column on the right.
- •2. What are the similarities and differences between the two cultures?
- •3. Listen to the rest of the interview. Summarize how business decisions are made in China, according to Tong.
- •4.5 E. Vocabulary in Focus
- •1. Match the words that collocate.
- •2. Choose the adjectives that collocate.
- •4.5 F. Creative Consolidation
- •1. Case Study
- •2. Write an essay on the following topics.
- •4. Project – Making
- •4.6 Raise the Issue
- •1. Change the underlined words, using more formal and more appropriate words from the list given. Make all necessary changes.
- •4.6 A. Words in Context
- •1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
- •2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
- •3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
- •4.6 B. A Short Cut to Success
- •1. Read the article.
- •2. Match the words from the article with their equivalents.
- •3. Read the article in detail and decide which paragraph mentions the following.
- •3. Distinguish between true and false statements.
- •4. Over to you.
- •4.6 E. Vocabulary in Focus
- •3. Study the following description of the written work for courses.
- •4. The writing process and evaluation.
- •4.6 F. Creative Consolidation
- •1. Write an article for a magazine about the importance of education in contemporary competitive world, developing one of the following theses.
- •2. Write an essay expressing your own opinions on the following statements.
- •3. Project Making
- •4.7 Reading Selection
- •Vocabulary
- •4. Understanding main points.
- •5. Understanding details.
- •6. How the text is organized.
- •7. Discuss the following questions.
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Match the words from the article with their meaning.
- •2. Explain the meaning of the following phrases.
- •3. Decide whether these statements are true or false.
- •4. Answer the following questions.
- •5. Comment on the title and sum up the information of the article.
- •Vocabulary
- •5. For discussion
- •Vocabulary
- •4. Answer the following questions.
- •5. Sum up the information of the article.
- •6. For discussion
- •Vocabulary
- •3. Decide whether the following statements are true or false.
- •4. Using phrases or sentences, outline the "three distinct stages of development" of the high achiever.
- •5. Comment on the title and summarize the article.
- •6. For discussion
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Find equivalents in the article.
- •2. Match the following words and expressions from the article with their definitions.
- •3. Explain the meaning of each adjective used by the author to characterize the ‘blessed barons’.
- •Vocabulary
- •2. What do the following phrases mean?
- •3. Explain the meaning of the following sentences.
- •4. The author paraphrases the common phrase ‘ vicious circle’ into ‘virtuous circle’. What is the difference between the two?
- •6. For discussion
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Match the phrases below with their meaning in the context.
- •2. Find the following expressions and phrases in the article. What are the meanings out of context (literal meanings)? Now decide what they mean in the context (figurative meanings).
- •3. Answer questions 1-5 by choosing a, b, c or d.
- •4. Does the author approve or disapprove of meetings? What pros and cons does he bring? Sum up his arguments.
- •Culture
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Find ten words and phrases in the text associated with each of the following:
- •2. Read the text again in detail to complete the following statements.
- •3. For discussion
- •4.8 Group Discussion
- •4.9 Panel Discussion
- •4.9 A. Vocabulary in Focus
- •1. Fill in the blanks with the words from the box.
- •4.9 B Watching and Listening
- •1. Listen to the first part of the interview and answer the following questions.
- •2. Listen to the second part of the interview and choose the best answer.
- •3. After you listen to the third part of the interview answer the following questions.
- •4.9. C. Brainstorm Ideas
- •4.10 Creative Consolidation
- •2. Write an article developing one of the following theses.
- •4.11 Group Project-Making
2. Write the word next to its definition. The sentences in the previous exercise will help you decide on the meaning of each word.
…………… To deserve and get; to control
…………… Organization of people in a series of levels, according to importance or authority
…………… To oppose or to fight someone or something; to stop yourself having something that you like
……………. Downhearted; hopeless, overwhelmed with sadness
…………… Under the authority or power of another, inferior or below another in rank, power or importance
…………… To find out if a fact you think is true is really true
…………… To use something or do something that is bad, in order to succeed or deal with a problem
..………… To give someone or something special attention or treatment
…………… The ability to know something without the conscious use of reasoning
3. Using the answer line provided, complete each item below with the correct word from the box. Use each word once.
Resort, hierarchy, intuition, subordinate, resist, accord, command, intuition, ascertain, despondent |
1. Jaime was ……………… after losing her job due to downsizing of the personnel.
2. We need to ………….. whether the project is feasible.
3. When polite requests failed, Paul ………….ed to threats.
4. Beth moved steadily up the company …………… until she was named president. This appointment, the culmination of twenty years of hard work and dedication, put her at the pinnacle of her career.
5. My …………… told me not to accept the job offer which was so fabulous – far too fabulous to be legal. I later repented greatly not to listen to my instinct.
6. The owner of the company is vehement in his insistence that managers implement a plan to communicate better with workers in ………………. positions.
7. The judge ………….ed pressure to lengthen the sentence.
8. Japanese …………… a special reverence to trees and rivers.
9. “Supermodels” can ………… extremely high fees.
4.5. B Global Companies
➢ Selection methods can vary not only through cultures but through companies. Do you know about any of them?
➢ What difficulties do you think might me implied in managing multinationals?
1. Read the article.
Managing Multinationals21
Managing a truly global multinational company would obviously be much simpler if it required only one set of corporate objectives, goals, policies, practices, products and services. But local differences often make this impossible.
A fairly obvious cultural divide is one between the countries of North America and North-west Europe, where management is largely based on analysis, rationality, logic and systems, and the Latin cultures of southern Europe and South America, where personal relations, intuition, emotion and sensitivity are of much greater importance.
The largely Protestant cultures on both sides of the North Atlantic (Canada, the USA, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia) are essentially individualist. In such countries status has to be achieved. You don’t automatically respect people just because they have been in a company for 30 years. A young, dynamic, aggressive manager with an MBA can quickly rise in the hierarchy. In most Latin and Asian cultures, on the contrary, status is automatically accorded to the boss, who is more likely to be in his fifties or sixties rather than in his thirties. This is particularly true in Japan, where companies traditionally have a policy of promotion by seniority.
In northern cultures, the principle of pay-for-performance often successfully motivates salespeople. But the principle might well be resisted in more collectivist cultures, and in countries where rewards and promotion are expected to come with age and experience. Trompenaars gives the example of a sales rep in an Italian subsidiary of a US multinational company who was given a huge quarterly bonus under a new policy imposed by head office. His sales – which had been high for years – declined dramatically during the following three months. It was later discovered that he was deliberately trying not to sell more than any of his colleagues, so as not to reveal their inadequacies. He was also despondent not to earn more than his boss, which he thought would be an unthinkable humiliation that would force the boss to resign immediately.
Another example of an American idea that doesn’t work well in Latin countries is matrix management. The task-oriented logic of matrix management conflicts with the principle of loyalty to the all-important line superior, the functional boss. You can’t have two bosses any more than you can have two fathers. French managers, for example, would rather see an organization die than tolerate a system in which a few subordinates have to report to two bosses.
Approaches to selection also vary significantly across cultures. There are differences not only in the priorities that are given to technical or interpersonal capabilities, but also in the ways that candidates are tested and interviewed for the desired qualities.
In Anglo-Saxon cultures, what is generally tested is how much the individual can contribute to the tasks of the organization. In these cultures, assessment centres, intelligence tests and measurements of competencies are the norm. In Germanic cultures, the emphasis is more on the quality of education in a specialist function. The recruitment process in Latin and Far Eastern cultures is very often characterized by ascertaining how well that person 'fits in' with the larger group. This is determined in part by the elitism of higher educational institutions, such as the 'grandes ecoles' in France or the University of Tokyo in Japan, and in part by their interpersonal style and ability to network internally. If there are tests in Latin cultures, they will tend to be more about personality, communication and social skills than about the Anglo-Saxon notion of 'intelligence'.
Though there are few statistical comparisons of selection practices used across cultures, one recent study provides a useful example of the impact of culture. A survey conducted by Shackleton and Newell compared selection methods between France and the UK. They found that there was a striking contrast in the number of interviews used in the selection process, with France resorting to more than one interview much more frequently. They also found that in the UK there was a much greater tendency to use panel interviews than in France, where one-to-one interviews are the norm. In addition, while almost 74 per cent of companies in the UK use references from previous employers, only 11 per cent of the companies surveyed in France used them. Furthermore, French companies rely much more on personality tests and handwriting analysis than their British counterparts.
Many organizations operating across cultures have tended to decentralize selection in order to allow for local differences in testing and for language differences, while providing a set of personal qualities or characteristics they consider important for candidates.
Hewitt Associates, a US compensation and benefits consulting firm based in the Mid West, has had difficulties extending its key selection criteria outside the USA. It is known for selecting 'SWANs': people who are Smart, Willing, Able and Nice. These concepts, all so perfectly understandable to other Americans, can have very different meanings in other cultures. For example, being able may mean being highly connected with colleagues, being sociable or being able to command respect from a hierarchy of subordinates, whereas the intended meaning is more about being technically competent, polite and relatively formal. Similarly, what is nice in one culture may be considered naive or immature in another. It all depends on the cultural context.
Some international companies, like Shell, Toyota, and L'Oreal, have identified very specific qualities that they consider strategically important and that support their business requirements. For example, the criteria that Shell has identified as most important in supporting its strategy include mobility and language capability. These are more easily understood across cultures because people are either willing to relocate or not. There is less room for cultural misunderstandings with such qualities.
Culture
panel interview – a formal meeting at which a group of people is asked questions in order to find out who can best suit a job