Understanding the main points. 1. Number the following ideas 1-8, depending on the order in which they appear in



1. Number the following ideas 1-8, depending on the order in which they appear in

  the text.

  

1. In In Search of Excellence the authors give many examples of the

  ways in which organizations try to break down the barriers

  between management and employees.                                               …………

2. Subordinates are often reluctant to tell their superiors when things

  are not going well.                                                                             …………

3. In the most successfully managed organizations communications

  are extremely good because staff meet to discuss things openly

  and informally.                                                                                  …………

4. Communication problems sometimes occur when employees

  misinterpret what their manager tell them.                                       …………

5. Better communications between managers and employees can be

  achieved by trying to reduce the social divisions between them

  within the company.                                                                          …………

6. The purpose of the book was to illustrate the good management

  techniques which are used in top American companies.                       …………

7. One of the problems faced by managers is that their staff do not

  always feel that they are able to come and discuss important

  matters freely with them.                                                                  …………

8. Staff communications are much easier if work places are designed

  in such a way that people frequently come into contact with each

  other.                                                                                                 …………

 

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having open-plan offices?

3. Why are the manager and the subordinate in the example not communicating

properly?

4. Supposing you were Communications Manager in a large organization, what

advice would you give managers to avoid communications problems?

Note down a few of the suggestions you would make.

1. ………………………………………………………………………………….

2. ………………………………………………………………………………….

3. ………………………………………………………………………………….

4. ………………………………………………………………………………….

5. ………………………………………………………………………………….

 

Vocabulary focus

1. Find words or phrases in the text which mean the same as the following:

 

1. to welcome (paragraph 1)

  ………………………………………………………………………………….

2. to answer for (paragraph 1)

  ………………………………………………………………………………….

3. to communicate (paragraph 2)

  …………………………………………………………………………………..

4. to support (paragraph 3)

  ………………………………………………………………………………….

5. by chance (paragraph 3)

  …………………………………………………………………………………..

6. to change (paragraph 8)

  ……………………………………………………………………………………

7. to interpret (paragraph 14)

  ……………………………………………………………………………………  

 

2. Complete the extract with the following words: aims, confidence, rapport,

 understand, relationship, verbal, development, one-to-one, strategy.

 

Communication is the key. People have to ……………….. (1) what you are trying to tell them to do. They have to have a long-term ……………….. (2) in terms of their career ………………..(3). You must make it clear, as a manager, what    those ……………….. (4) are. ……………….. (5) is more important than written. People can talk to you on a ……………….. (6) basis. You actually              encourage ……………….. (7) then and you actually get a ……………….. (8) and  a ……………….. (9) with the individual.  

LANGUAGE STUDY

1. Idiomatic uses of point.

come to/get to/reach the point                                                            give the important part of what one is trying to say
keep to the point limit oneself to what is relevant to the subject being discussed
get away from/off the point say something irrelevant
point out draw attention to something
make a point express your opinion, offer an argument, e.g. He made several valuable points at our last production meeting.
make a point of make a special effort to, e.g. I shall make a point of visiting our agent when I go to Madrid next week.
on the point of about to do something, e.g. I was on the point of leaving my office when I got a telex from Japan.
up to a point not completely
point-blank in a forceful, direct manner

 

 

Complete the following sentences, using suitable verbs, phrases and expressions

from the table above.

 

1. Our Chairman likes to know everyone in the firm. When he visits our factory

  he ……………….. chatting with all the staff he meets.

2. Harry is boring at meetings. He talks for hours and never ……………….. .

3. Pamela is very good at chairing meeting. She makes sure that speakers

  ………………. .

4. I thought John ……………….. at the meeting about our need to improve our

  distribution system.

5. I don’t entirely accept your analysis of the situation, but I agree …………… .

6. I have heard a rumour that there will be quite a few redundancies when we’re

  taken over. There’s only one way to find out. I’ll have to ask the Personnel

  Director ……………….. .

7. Peter seems to be really fed up with his job at the moment. I’d say he is

  ……………….. leaving the company.

8. The Financial Director ……………….. that the loan would have to be

   repaired within ten years.

 

2. Idiomatic uses of back.

 

put your back into it   work very hard (usually physical work)
back out withdraw (from an agreement, a contract etc.)
back down admit that you are wrong
back up support someone (in a discussion or argument)
back-date (v.) make effective from an earlier date e.g. My salary increase was back-dated to January.
break the back of finish the most difficult/main part of a job/task
have your back against the wall be in a difficult situation
background a person’s social class, education, training or experience
backing support (moral or financial)
backhander (informal) bribe
backlog accumulation of uncompleted work, unfulfilled orders etc. e.g. When I returned to work from my holiday, there was an enormous backlog of correspondence to deal with.  
back-breaking very hard, tiring physical work

 

Answer the following questions using suitable verbs, phrases and expressions

from the table above.

 

1. If you are not happy when negotiating a contract, what is the best thing to do?

2. What sort of person would you select to run a major car manufacturing

  company?

3. Suppose you are a creative person and you have just invented a revolutionary

  electric razor but do not have enough money to develop it yourself. What

  would you try to do?

4. In some countries, goods can be delayed at customs for a long time. How

  might some dishonest people speed up clearance of the goods?

5. Some workers have to spend all day lifting heavy cases on and off trucks. How

  would you describe that sort of work?

6. How does the owner of the firm feel when he/she is faced with a desperate

  situation such as a huge tax bill or bankruptcy?

7. It is September. After several months of hard negotiations between your union  

  and management you learn that you are to receive a pay increase. What do you

  hope management have agreed to?

8. You have been working all morning on a difficult task. Now you feel fairly

  happy. Why?

 

Use the remaining verbs, phrases and expressions with backin your own

sentences.


 

UNIT 12 LEADERSHIP

DISCUSSION

 

Work in groups of three or four. Each member of the group should choose a famous leader, either living or dead.

First, members should say briefly

  

a). what the leader achieved

b). what qualities and abilities the leader has (or had)

c). whether group members think the person they chose was an effective leader

 

Then, the group should discuss the following questions.

 

1. Do the leaders you have described have any common characteristics, e.g.

  similar qualities, abilities, skills etc.?

2. Are leaders born or made?    

READING

 

Leadership is needed at all levels in an organization. It is likely, however, that the leadership qualities required by a supervisor or manager are not the same as those required by the chief executive of a company. It is, therefore, difficult to define leadership satisfactorily.

 

A typical definition is that the leader “provides direction and influences others to achieve common goals.” This is true in the case of supervisors and managers, but is it a good definition of the leader of an organization? A chief executive must indeed give “direction” but he must do much more than that. He has to create “a sense of excitement” in the organization, and convince staff that he knows where the business is going. In addition he must be a focus for their aspirations. As Peter Drucker, the American writer, says, “Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations.”

    

When psychologists and other researchers first studied leadership, they tried to find out if leaders had special personal qualities or skills. They asked the question: Were there specific traits which made leaders different from other people? The results of their research were disappointing. In time, it became clear that there was not a set of qualities distinguishing leaders from non-leaders. Some studies had suggested, for example, that leaders were more intelligent, more self-confident, had better judgement etc. than other people. But, it was pointed out, many people with these traits do not become leaders. And many leaders do not have such traits!

 

In 1974, a researcher, Ralf Stogdill, reviewed a large number of projects on leadership. In Chart 1, you can see the personal qualities which were considered important for success as a leader.

 

Chart 1.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A LEADER

Personal qualities Number of studies
Fluency of speech Ascendance, dominance Knowledge Emotional balance, control Originality, creativity Self confidence Achievement drive, desire to excel Drive for responsibility Task orientation (interest in work) Sociability, interpersonal skills Participation in social exchange 28 42 23 25 20 45 28 29 19 49 29

Source: R. Stogdill, Handbook of Leadership. Macmillan, 1974.

    However, as early as the 1950s, the trait approach to leadership had become discredited. It is generally agreed now that you cannot say a person is a leader because he/she possesses a special combination of traits. All you can say is that some qualities, like above-average intelligence and decisiveness, are often associated with leaders.

 

An important analysis of leadership has been made by Fred Fiedler, Professor of Psychology and Management at the University of Washington. For over twenty years, he has carried out research into effective leadership in a number of organizations – businesses, government agencies and voluntary associations. Fiedler observed how leaders behaved, and he has identified two basic leadership styles:

 

Task-motivated leaders “tell people what to do and how to do it.” Such leaders get their satisfaction from completing the task and knowing they have done it well. They run a “tight ship”, give clear orders and expect clear directives from their superiors. This does not mean that they show no concern for other people. But their priority is getting the job done.

 

Relationship-motivated leaders are more people-oriented. They get their satisfaction from having a good relationship with other workers. They want to be admired and liked by their subordinates. Such leaders will share responsibility with group members by encouraging subordinates to participate in decisions and make suggestions.

 

Throughout his work, Fred Fiedler emphasized that both styles of leadership could be effective in appropriate situations. There was no best style for all situations. Effective leadership depended on matching the leader to the task and the situation.

 

In a book called The Winning Streak, the authors studied leadership in some top British companies. The managers of those companies believed that effective leadership was a crucial factor in their organisations’ success.

 

The authors were able to identify some characteristics of the chairmen and chief executives of the companies, which made them good leaders: firstly, the leaders were “visible”. They didn’t hide away in some ivory tower at Head Office. Instead, they made regular visits to plants and sites, toured round their companies and talked to employees. Leaders made their presence felt. There are some fascinating examples of this practice. Sir Hector Laing, Chairman of United Biscuits, travels around his company with a jug of orange juice. He uses this to show employees how the company profits are divided up between employees, reinvestment, dividends, tax etc. Lord Sieff, Chairman of Marks and Spencer until 1984, kept close contact with his staff. Once, when there had been heavy snowfalls, he drove from London to Chatham – a long way – just to thank sales assistants for turning up in spite of the weather. Lord Sieff had the habit of making telephone calls every Saturday, at about 5 p. m. to a few stores, chosen at random. He wanted to know how the day’s trading had gone. No doubt, by doing this, he kept the staff on their toes. And he showed them that the Chairman had not forgotten them!

 

Another example of being “visible” is provided by Brian Nelson, Group Managing Director of Bulmer, the cider-making firm. Every six months, he goes out in a lorry which delivers cider, and works as the lorry driver’s mate. This gives him the opportunity to learn about the delivery service, and to talk frankly to employees about their problems.

 

Besides being visible, the leaders of these top companies provided a “clear mission”. In other words, they knew where the organization was going and persuaded staff to follow them. Sometimes, they spelled out the mission in a written statement. For example, Saatchi and Saatchi, the advertising group, include a statement of their principles in all annual reports. The statement says that Saatchi and Saatchi must be “sharp in the definition of their long-term objectives”. And the documents also cover matters like employees, clients, creativity, market position and profitability.

 

Finally, successful organizations have clear values. And it is the job of the leader to show what they are. As Douglas Strachan, Managing Director of Allied Lyons Beer Division, says, “You have to keep telling people your values. If you repeat it often enough, it does go down the line”. Thus, the leader is not only someone who “lifts a man’s vision”. He/She must also protect and promote the organisation’s values.    


Дата добавления: 2018-02-15; просмотров: 1341; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!

Поделиться с друзьями:






Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!