Английский / Английский язык. Метод. указ

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sends faxes, types letters and dials the phone».

He completely reorganized the office: instead of walls, they have plants at Semco, so bosses can’t shut themselves away from everyone else. And the workers are free to decorate their workplace as they want. As for uniforms, some people wear suits and some wear T-shirts.

Semler says, «We have a sales manager named Rubin Agater who sits there reading a newspaper hour after hour. He doesn’t even pretend to be busy. But when a Semco pump on the other side of the world fails and millions of gallons of oil are about to spill into the sea, Rubin springs into action. He knows everything there is to know about our pumps and how to fix them. That’s when he earns his salary. No one cares if he doesn’t look busy the rest of the time».

Semco has flexible working hours; the employees decide when they need to arrive at work. The employees also evaluate their bosses twice a year. Also, Semco les its workers use the company’s machines for their own projects, and makes them take holidays for at least thirty days a year.

I sounds perfect, but does it work? The answer is in the numbers: in the last six years, Semco’s revenues have gone from $ 32 million to $ 212 million. The company has grown from eight hundred employees to 3,000. Why?

Semler says it’s because of «peer pressure». Peer pressure makes everyone work hard for everyone else. If someone isn’t doing his job well, the other workers will not allow the situation to continue. In other words, Ricardo Semler treats his workers like adults and expects them to act like adults. And they do.

IV Answer the questions in pairs.

1.What do employees at Semko do tat they probably wouldn’t do in other companies? Look at the list in Ex. I.

2.How does Semco And its staff look different from other companies?

3.Who is Rubin Agater and why is he important at Semco?

4.How does Semco show that it trusts its workers?

5.What is ‘peer pressure’ and why is it important at Semco?

V Discuss.

1.What do you think of Semco’s policies?

2.Would you like to work in a company with these policies?

3.Would any of the rules at Semco be possible were you work / in your country? Why / Why not?

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VIDEO

The Ideal Workplace

IDiscuss.

1.What are the negative/positive aspects of working in an office?

2.Do you / Would you like to work in an office? Why/why not?

II a) Read the extract from an interview with Richard Semler below, and fill in the gaps with a word from the box.

colour away process suits other simple choose everything uniforms time trust symbols

«It went into things like, you know, how could we possibly tell people that we (1) _______ them completely and then search them when they leave. So we started going from the very (2) _______ issues of, for example, getting people to choose what (3) _______ they wanted to use, if at all, and what (4)

_______ . We went from there, and I think we started with all the very small things, as (5) _______ . But then people started saying, «Well, but if we can (6)

_______ our own this and that, why can’t we choose what (7) _______ we work?» And slowly we started going through a (8) _______ which said that … we applied a tool, it’s a mental tool, to everything, which was really what we called the three «why’s in a row about (9) _______ . And almost nothing stands up after that. When you say, «Why are we wearing (10) _________ and ties?» and people say, «So we’ll look more like each (11) _______» and so «Why do we want to look more like each other?» and these things suddenly start going

(12)_______».

b)Watch the film and check your answers. III Discuss.

1.Do you agree with that Semler says about treating people as adults?

2.Do you think ideas like this would work in companies you work?

3.In general, do you think traditional ideas or innovative ideas are more important in business? Give some examples.

4.What is your idea of the «ideal office» or working environment?

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Unit 10. Memories

READING

I Read the introduction to the text below and answer the questions.

Paul Simon once sang «There are fifty ways to leave your lover». Here we tell you some of the worst. There are also plenty of ways to fire your staff but, as David Corey reports, there are nice ways and there are nasty ways.

1.What is the text about? Do you think it is

(a)very serious (b) a little bit funny (c) full of jokes?

2.What two topics will the text talk about?

II Read the texts and answer the questions.

1.What type of goodbye is described in your text?

2.How did the companies/people say goodbye?

3.What is the conclusion at the end of the text?

4.What do you think of the behaviour described in the text?

5.Is there a «good» way to say goodbye in these situations?

HOW NOT TO FIRE YOUR STAFF

One company text-messaged its employees, telling them to call a number. A recorded message informed the employees that «all staff who are being retained will be contacted today. If you have not been spoken to, you have lost your job». It’s probably not the nicest way to find out that you are now unemployed. But it’s maybe better than some.

Employees from a technology company came back from lunch and found that their security cards didn’t work. «What’s going on?» they asked. The reply? They had been fired.

Another company invited its staff to a conference in Florida. When they turned up in the morning, some of the staff were told to go to Room A, others to Room B. The people in Room A listened to a presentation about the company’s future. The people in Room В were told they were leaving the company.

It is impossible to come up with a «nice» way to fire someone, but managers should at least do it in private and show respect for the employee. The problem is that bosses often panic. They are worried that the fired employees will steal important information. And they are sometimes right: in one company, the fired staff stole computers and other equipment and nearly destroyed the company’s offices.

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HOW NOT TO SPLIT UP WITH YOUR PARTNER

Ok, so the rich and famous always say «It was an amicable break up» or «We split up because of work pressure». Don’t believe a word of it. They may carry on smiling for the cameras, but behind the smiles there are some angry people. Here are some examples of why.

One famous actress was expecting a baby when her long-term partner and the father of the child sent her a fax to inform her that he was leaving her. But may be that’s not as actor Matt Damon. He split up with girlfriend Minnie Driver on the Oprah Winfrey chat show, life, in front of the US public. Billy Bob Thornton called off his relationship With Laura Dern by marrying Angelina Jolie. Dern said, «I left our home to work on a movie and, while I was away, my boyfriend got married and I’ve never herd from him again».

But if you think they went through hell, times were even harder for women a few centuries ago. Take King Henry VIII’s wives. Out of his six wifes, he divorced two and he had another couple executed. When it’s time to say the Big Goodby, it seems that women have always had to put up with insensitive men.

III Now find the phrasal verbs in bold in the texts that mean the following:

VIDEO

Icons

IDiscuss.

1.Do you know any «icons» of the twenties century? Why are they regarded as «icons»?

2.How did they become famous?

3.Why are they/have they been so influential?

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II a) Match the words / phrases in A to the definitions in B.

b) You are going to watch a film about three other famous «icons» – Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks and Marilyn Monroe. Which of the words / phrases above do you associate with each woman?

III Mark these sentences true (T) or false (F).

1.Frida Kahlo is the most famous woman artist of the 20th century.

2.She had a terrible accident when she was a teenager.

3.She married Trotsky.

4.Rosa Parks became famous because she refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman.

5.In her home town, African Americans refused to use the buses.

6.Thirteen years later, segregation on buses was banned.

7.Marilyn Monroe’s real name was Norma Jean Davis.

8.Monroe was married to a famous sportsman and a famous writer.

9.She died at the age of forty-six.

IV Watch the film and check your answers.

V Discuss.

1.Did you like the film? Why/Why not?

2.In what different ways did these women suffer?

3.Think of one other woman who is admired by million of people. Explain why you choose her. What does she have in common with Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks and Marilyn Monroe? Did she have to suffer? How will she be remembered in future?