Unit 3 Organisation

How many people work in your office? About half. Anonymous

Starting up
A. Discuss these questions.

1. Would you like to work in the building in the photo on page 22? Explain why or why not? 2. Which people in your organisation have their own office? Do they have their own office because of
a) Seniority b) A need for confidentiality c) The type of work they do?

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
a reserved parking space

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
an office with a window

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
a uniform

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
a personal business card

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
your own office

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
a company car

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
your name on your door

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
having a secretary

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
taking holidays when you like

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
the size of your desk

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
more than one seat in your office

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
flying business class

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
a company credit card

Starting up
B. How important are the following in showing a persons status in an organisation? Give each one a score from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).
having fixed working hours

Vocabulary Company structure

A. Match the words and phrases to the correct place on the diagram.
subsidiary 8 factory / plant 6 call centre 5 service centre 7 head office 1 distribution centre 3 warehouse 4 branches / outlets 2

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
1 Stock levels have been low for two weeks now.

- warehouse

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
2 Can you e-mail these sales figures through to head office as soon as possible? - Branches / Outlets

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
3 Hold on a minute, please. Ill transfer you to a supervisor. - Call centre

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
4 We need to deliver this consignment on Friday. - Distribution Centre

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
5 The production line is operating at full capacity. - Factory / Plant

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
6 The Board of Directors have fixed the Annual General Meeting for Tuesday the second. - Head office

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
7
Why do we always have to check with the parent company before making decisions? - subsidiary

Vocabulary Company structure

B. 3.1 Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write them down. Then match them to the places shown in Exercise A
8
All our engineers are out working on repairs at the moment. - Service centre

Vocabulary Company structure

C. Think about the organisation you work for, or one you know well. How is it organised? How many departments / divisions are there? What are they?

Vocabulary Company structure

D. Discuss these questions. 1 Which of the words below can describe: a) good qualities of an organisation? b) bad qualities of an organisation?
Bureaucratic
Decentralised Impersonal

Centralised
Dynamic Professional Hierarchical Progressive

Caring
Democratic Market-driven

Conservative

Vocabulary Company structure

2 Can you add any other?
efficient Forward-looking responsive unresponsive inefficient

lean

Vocabulary Company structure

3 Which of the words describe your own organisation or an organisation you know well?

Reading A successful organisation

A Read paragraph 1 of the article and answer these questions.
1 Where is SOL located?

Helsinki (Finland)

Reading A successful organisation

A Read paragraph 1 of the article and answer these questions. 2 What is unusual about the company?

It feels like youve entered a playground, the office explodes with colour, creativity and chaos , people are walking round talking on yellow mobile phones.

Reading A successful organisation

A Read paragraph 1 of the article and answer these questions. 3 What does SOL do?

Its a cleaning company.

Reading A successful organisation

B Read the article and match the headings below to paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. A People set their own targets Paragraph 4 B Hard work has to be fun Paragraph 2 C Loose organisations need tight systems Paragraph 5 D Great service requires cutting edge technology Paragraph 6 E There are no low-skill jobs Paragraph 3

Reading A successful organisation

C Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones. X 1 Everyone has their own office.
2 Lisa Joronen believes cleaners can feel good about their job.
No one

Reading A successful organisation

C Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones.
3 At the end of the training course there is an exam. 4 The training course takes 28 months to complete.

Reading A successful organisation

C Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones.
5 At SOL giving responsibility to employees is important. X 6 SOL thinks measuring performance restricts freedom.
Lisa Joronen believes in autonomy, but shes keen on accountability.

Reading A successful organisation

C Which of these statements are true? Correct the false ones.
the customer rates

X 7 Every month Lisa Joronen measures each teams performance. X 8 All the information is stored in filing cabinets.
on the companys intranet

Reading A successful organisation

D Match these phrases from paragraph 5 of the article to their meanings. 1 keen on accountability
c) interested in people being responsible for what they do

fanatical about measuring performance

b) Extremely interested in judging achievement

Reading A successful organisation

E Discuss these questions. 1 Would you like to work in a company like SOL? Explain why or why not. Would Lisa Joronens ideas work in your own company or organisation?

Language review Noun combinations

We can combine two or more nouns in several ways. 1 s possessive e.g. Julias desk 2 one noun used as an adjective e.g. head
3

office

phrases with of e.g. Director of

Communications boardroom

compound nouns forming one word e.g.

Language review Noun combinations

Match these examples from the article on page 24 with the categories above. a) customer satisfaction = one noun used as an adjective b) way of life = phrases with of c) SOLs logo = s possessive d) Salesperson = compound nouns forming one word

Language review Noun combinations

A Find noun combinations in the article on page 24. Write them under these four headings:

Language review Noun combinations s possessive

one of northern Europes most admired companies (lines 1-2) SOLs competitive formula (lines 9-10) the companys upbeat image (line 15) SOLs logo (line 16) the companys budget reports (line 17) SOLs training programme (line 22) the new customers site (line 40) the teams performance (lines43)

Language review Noun combinations One noun used as an adjective

SOL City (line 1) business playground (line 3) film studio (line 4) power players (line 30) customer satisfaction (line 38) performance benchmarks (line 42) budget documents (lines 49-50) performance reports (line 50) training schedules (line 51)

Cleaning Service (line 8) key ingredients (line 10)

status symbols (line 21) time management (line 26) people skills (line 27)

Company news (line 52)

Language review Noun combinations Phrases with of

headquarters of one of northern Europes most admired companies (lines 1-2) the heart of Helsinki (line 4) the rules and regulations of conventional corporate life (lines 18-19) hours of work (line 20) a limited number of ways (lines 24-25) way of life (line 29) the real power players of the company (line 30) a team of up to 50 cleaners (lines 31-32)

Language review Noun combinations Compound nouns forming one word

headquarters (line 1) playground (line 3) jumpsuits (line 15)

salesperson (line 39)

benchmarks (line 42) laptops (line 46) Cell-phones (line 46)

Language review Noun combinations

B Underline the most suitable noun combination in each group.

1 a) the meeting of today b) todays meeting c) today meeting

2 a) a letter of credit
b) a credits letter c) a letters credit

Language review Noun combinations

B Underline the most suitable noun combination in each group.

3 a) a business card b) a card of business c) a businesss card

4 a) a datas base
b) a base of data c) a database

Language review Noun combinations

C Nouns used as numerical adjectives are singular. For example, a plan which lasts for 10 years = a ten-year plan. Change the following phrases in the same way. 1 a hotel with five stars
a five-star hotel 2 a budget worth 3 million dollars a 3-million-dollar budget 3 a presentation that lasts 20 minutes

a 20-minute presentation

Language review Noun combinations

C Nouns used as numerical adjectives are singular. For example, a plan which lasts for 10 years = a ten-year plan. Change the following phrases in the same way. 4 a contract worth 200,000 pounds
a 200,000-pound contract 5 an industrial empire which is 150 years old a 150-year-old industrial empire

Language review Noun combinations

D Match each noun in column 1 to two of the nouns in column 2 to make word partnerships.
1 business 3 sales 4 labour 5 company a) virus b) cards b) technology b) technology b) headquarters c) plan c) policy

2 management a) style a) force a) house

a) campaign b) department

c) trade
c) market c) logo

Language review Noun combinations

D Match each noun in column 1 to two of the nouns in column 2 to make word partnerships.
6 trade 7 consumer 8 research 9 information 10computer a) union a) goods b) technology b) logos c) fair c) awareness

a) project
a) union

b) findings
b) program

c) knowledge
c) desk c) virus

a) technology b) force

Useful language
Greetings Hello. Nice to see you again. Hi . How are you? Hows everything going? Introducing yourself Im from/ Im with / I work for Im in sales / finance / marketing. Im in charge of Im responsible for

Introducing someone else Id like you to meet Miriam. Can I introduce you to Miriam? Robert, have you met Vladimir?

Useful language
Talking about your company The company was founded in We make / manufacture / sell / distribute We have subsidiaries / factories / branches in We have a workforce of 2,000. Our main competitors are Responding Fine, thanks. Not too bad, thanks. Nice / Pleased to meet you. Its a pleasure.

Talking about common interests You and Heinz have something in common. You both like / enjoy / are interested in

Useful language
Networking Were very interested in Do you know anyone who could help us? Could you let me have their contact details? Could I call him and mention your name? Let me give you my business card.

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

A 3.5, 3.6, 3.7 Listen to the three conversations. Choose the correct description from the list for each one. Greeting someone and talking about the past
Conversation 1 Introducing another person Conversation 3 Introducing yourself and giving information about your company Conversation 2

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

B 3.5 Listen to the first conversation again and answer these questions.
1 Which of these expressions do you hear in the dialogue? a) Nice to see you again. d) How about you? b) Fine, thanks. e) I changed my job last year c) Wonderful! f) Im in banking now.

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

B 3.5 Listen to the first conversation again and answer these questions.
2 Who is head of data processing?

Marcus
3 Who now works in marketing? Louise

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

C 3.6 Listen to the second conversation again and complete the chart below.
Name Company Company
Atsource Solutions Atsource Solutions

Activity
Outsourcing various services including payroll, IT services and Human resources

Dan Larsen Erika Koeng

MCB

Financial services

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

D 3.6 Listen again and complete this extract from the second conversation. outsourcing Don Well, were basically an .. business. We supply large companies with various services including payroll, , and human resources. IT services Erika Is Atsource Solutions a new company? Don No, were well established. The company founded was . In 1978. Its organised into divisions three . We have over 6,000 ; employees weve got our in Frankfurtoffices headquarters and in over 20 countries were pretty big.

Skills Socialising: introductions and networking

E 3.7 Listen to the third conversation again and answer these questions. 1 What expression does John use to introduce Miriam? Heinz, Id like you to meet Miriam. 2 Why could Miriam be helpful to Heinz in his work? She speaks fluent Italian, so she could be very useful when dealing with his Italian customers 3 What interest do they share? Skiing