Unit 9 contrite executives play the blame and shame game

1. Pronounce the following words and word combinations. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Contrite, to atone for, humiliation, shame, apology, contrition, coach, athlete, misdemeanour, to urge, hierarchy, reparation, nuance, culprit, to engender, vital, repentance, to acknowledge, corruption, bow, condign, villainous, prosecution, to vow, reputation.

2. Give Russian equivalents to the following words and word combinations.

To atone for faults, to express shame, to make a formal public apology, to bow heads in contrition, misdemeanour, to flatten hierarchies, to conform to legal and moral standards, to make reparations, guilt culture, blame culture, repentance for past misdeeds, to walk handcuffed, to be stripped of authority, condign punishment, prosecution for corporate manslaughter, to vow.

3. Read the text again and answer the following questions.

1. Why did Charles Prince make a formal public apology?

2. Who else makes public apologies? Why?

3. What do decentralising authority and flatten hierarchies lead to?

4. How many types of culture are there? Describe each type.

5. Do guilt and blame cultures seek to engender shame in different ways? How is it different?

6. What are the examples of engendering shame in the USA?

7. What are the examples of engendering shame in Britain?

8. How do blame cultures express their shame?

4. Complete the sentences with the information taken from the text.

1. Executives … … their companies’ faults openly.

2. In Japan it is popular to bow their … in ….

3. Nowadays modern system of management forces companies to … hierarchies.

4. Companies are not ready to make … .

5. There are two types of culture: … … and … … .

6. … should know their own failings.

7. These two types of culture seek to … shame in different ways.

8. In guilt cultures the … punishment is very important.

5. Explain the following English words and word combinations in your own words.

Guilt cultures, blame cultures, to flatten hierarchies, to express shame, to be stripped of authority, aftermath.

6. Decide which of the following statements are right and which are wrong. Give the correct variants.

1. In blame cultures people realise their own failings and punish themselves.

2. Football coaches do not consider it reasonable to atone for their own misdemeanours.

3. In the USA public apologies are seen as vital in expressing shame.

4. The bow expresses submission to the will of authority.

5. In Japan shame is more commonly inflicted by others than publicly acknowledged.

6. In blame cultures it is common when companies are publicly pilloried by dozens of pamphlet writers.

7. In Britain, the guilt culture has a long history.

8. In guilt cultures there is a trend to force a public declaration of shame from wrongdoers.

7. Make up your own sentences using the words and word combinations given below.

Contrite executives, to atone for faults, to express shame, to flatten hierarchies, to strip of authority, to walk handcuffed, culprit, to pillory, to engender shame, to vow, to bow, prosecution, to display shame publicly, to fall apart.

8. Depresso Industries has long been the economic mainstay of its birthplace, Hometown, USA. Most of Hometown’s small businesses and school support Depresso Industries, either by supplying the materials needed for production or by training Depresso employees, Depresso has found that it can increase profits by 50 per cent by moving its production facilities overseas. Closing Depresso operations in Hometown will cause many of the town’s businesses to fail and schools to close, leaving great percentage of the town unemployed with no options for reemployment.

As a Depresso manager you must help decide if the plant should be moved and, if so, when to tell the employees about closing Hometown plant. What alternatives do you have? What are the consequences of each alternative? Which alternative will you choose?