OXFORD BUSINESS ENGLISH SKILLS
JEREMY COMFORT "
with
YORK ASSOCIATES
~
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford Umversity ...
1673 downloads
6262 Views
11MB Size
Report
This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form
OXFORD BUSINESS ENGLISH SKILLS
JEREMY COMFORT "
with
YORK ASSOCIATES
~
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford Umversity Press Great cra-eeooe Street, Oxford 0)(2 6DP Oxford New von.. Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Oar es Salaam Delh i Hong Kong Istanbul xerecm Kolkat a Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nillfobi S30 Paurc Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford and Oxford Englis h are tr ade marks of Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 45 7065 7 C Oxford Univers ity Press First published 1997 EIghth Impression 2004 No unauthorized pnotoIANTIIA O'NETLL
Certainly I do. However, we can't expect the same level of sales as we've generated over the last ten years. wouldn't you agree? QL'ESTTONER I
r suppose so, It worries me that we don't have any replacements in the pipeline. Doesn't it worry you too? SAMANTHA O 'NEILL
well, that's difficult to say. It's true we haven't come up with a replacement for the 843. On the other hand, as I pointed. out, we have new products in the pipeline in other areas. QUESTIONER 2
On that subject, I'd like to ask you about the CII product. Can you tell us how much longer before it's ready for production? SA.\1ANTHA O'1\EIL1.
That's not really my field. Tony should be able to give you an idea about that. QUESTIO:-lFR 2
Right, I'll talk to him after the meeting. 3 Sarnantha, could I ask you about the production delays on our new AIS product?
QL:ESnONER
TAPESCRIPT
71
SA M A N T U A O ' NEIL L
Please go ah ead . 3 Well, as you know, we've p ut together a fairly large-scale advertisi ng campaign. Allthe space was booked for an October lau nch ... ?
QU ES TIO :>: IO K
SAMA:-IT HA O ':-OIOILI .
Don't worry. w e'll be ready fur th e launch dale. There an: one or two technical problem s, h UI they won't delay us much longer. QUES TIONER 3
T hat's good 10 hear. 2
a b c d c f
May I ask yo u a q ues tio n! Do yo u mind telling m e w here yo u go t those figu n.' s? I suppose you're in town for ,I week. Is th at right? Don't yOll think we need to take a break? All the job losses arc in the plant, aren't the y? Cou ld I ask yo u whe n you're going to leave?
Unit 9 Putting it all together Language knowledge
JO A :-O S A B RO OKE S
a
The first th ing to be said about th ese p rod ucts is tha t they're very di verse. Well, let's take our premium export lager, Hoh enbrau . Now this product has always been positioned ar the top end of the rnarket.It has a high price and it's only available through selected retail outlets. Altogether, it's quite exclus ive. O n th e othe r ha nd, ou r Rutter's bitter has an entirely diffe rent personality. It's brewed in a traditional way. We put a lot of malt into it wh ich gives it a rich go lde n colou r. As far as I know, it's always be en sold at a medium price and is available through most supermarkets. So, as you can sec, th ese ar e Iwo very diffe rent produ cts. O ne an up-market Germ an -t ype Pilscncr, the other a very Engli sh bitt er. One point for discussion then, is whe ther we should mainta in such different products in our ra nge. Let 's move on to marketin g, and I only want to raise on e issue.
b
Th e th ird clement is th e peo ple ... and pr imarily here, I mean th e br ewer y wor kers and th e mana gement. One of th e things tha t shocked me when I first jo ined westwood was this ._. organi zati on cha r t. It's like somet hing from th e last centu ry - do you reali ze there are ten layers between the sho p-floor wor kers and t he Managin g Director! In my view, this m akes the company slow and unresponsive. I know there are many good thin gs a bo ut \ \ 'C'Stwood, but our image is much the same as it was in, say, the t imes of Queen Victoria - a very tr adi tional, patern alist ic employer. Well, th e very least we need to do is discuss w het he r th is image is a ppro priate for th e late 20t h cen tury, let alo ne the zlsr.
72
T A P E SCIUPT
Video Transcript
Unit 1 What is the point? JOANNA BROOKES
l'm sorry I'm a bit late ... um ... I'm not exactly sure how 10 start this ... urn ... I suppose I should start by telling you something about the brewer y ... It's old of course, very old, and ... urn ... And it was founded in 17, 1778, yes, I think that's right. So it's a very old brewery and ... urn ... we use traditional prod uction methods and the products themselves are very, very old ... urn ... as you can see, and we have an im per ial stout which is very, agai n vcry t radit ional, and it's described as dark, immense, rich with a depth ofburnt fruit iness, this beer is anidea l nightcap. Imperial stout is 50% stronger than any of th e othe r beers in the export premium range ... the re ... urn ... Oh, we also do a lager, we also make a lager whic h is Euro pean, a European type beer and, well, sales have increased a lot over t he last year. Of course, we were a fami ly firm well, in fact, we still are a fam ily firm. As you know t he presen t owner is Ben wcstwood ... urn ... There was a take over bid ... urn ... I'm not exactly sure when, but it was resisted, and ... urn ... we con tinue to ru n as a family firm and this is im portant for the corporate image. well, in fact this is why we're here to day to discuss the corporate image and decide if we, well, it needs to ch ange. We also have horses ... you may have seen them del ivering the beer to th e local pubs? Yes? Yes, yes ... urn ... production has actually dropped a little over the last few years, although profits have actually held up and that's someth ing we need to discuss ... I mean can we actually continue as a sma ll, indepe ndent brewery? Anyway, that's about it. So ... um ... tha t is the ma in question today. So I don't know whet her that helps at all, b ut it's all I can think of really, so I, I'll leave ... I'll leave ... I think that's that, so I'll leave it there, OK?
Unit 2 Making a start Version :l
GEO FF MAXWELL
Right , the tour. I've got some overheads here to give you a pict ur e of ... Oh well, never mind, we'll manage with out. Anyway, I' ll tell you somethi ng about th e pla nt we'll be hav ing a look around. [ don't know how much you know about us. Perha ps some of you have been he re befo re? Anyway, I'll start by telling you a bit about the plant so that later you can ... urn ... ask ques tions ... and it shou ld help to u nders tan d the process. So, here we are in the main bui lding ...
VIDEO TRANSCR IPT
73
Version 2
GEOF F MA XWEL L
Hello and welcome to Sta ndard Electronics. I' m GeoffMaxwell, t he Factory Manager in charge of th e pla nt you'll be seeing today. I know some of you have come a lo ng way today so we aim to ma ke you r tour bo th interesting and worthwhile. Before we start t he lo ur, I'd like to give you a brief presentation about the company - th is will help to put th e production side of the business into context. My tal k will last about 15 m inutes an d I'll be using the flip chart. Now th ere's qui te a lot to cover, so I'd be gra teful if you'd ho ld any questio ns until the end of my talk.
As you ca ll see, I've divid ed up my presentat ion into th ree main parts. Firstly, we' ll fu n briefly through the h isto ry of the com pa ny. Secon dly, I'll tell you something about our ma in markets - this is im portan t in understand ing th e prod uction process. An d finally, I'll come to th e peo ple ou r mo st imp orta nt asset. OK? Let's start with th e history. Sta ndard started out as a private limited com pany wh en it was first established in 1935 ...
Unit 3 Linking the parts Version :t
(i E OFF MAXWE L L
In any case, I' ll ... um ... I' ll tell you something ab out the plant so that later you can ... ask questions ... an d it should help to understand the process ... so, here we are in the main b uilding. Not much of a buil ding. Anyway, we've been based here for more than fifty years, one ofthe country's best -loved engineering firms. Anyway, it sta rted back in 1943 when there was a nee d fo r high quality connections. You know, the sor t Britain's famous for. What we use is a process called pre-pr iodine electrostatic coating. In this process we apply ...
Version 2
G EOF F MAXWELL
... im portant in u nde rstanding the p rod ucti on process. And fina lly, I'll come to t he peopl e - our mos t important asset. OK, let's start with t he h istory. Now don't worry! I'm not go ing to give you a histo ry lesson . just a few key dates. Stan dard started o ut as a pri vate lim ited ... .. went p ublic. So we've had a pr ett y eventful 60 years or so. Anyway, I'll leave the history there. If you're interested, you'll find more about Standard in this pretty brochure. You should find one of th em amon gst all th e othe r bits of paper our PR people love to give out. So, let's turn now to a b rief overv iew of our main markets. If you look at t his chart, you' ll see our slice of th e pie, which in the European ...
74
V I DEO T RA NSC RI PT
Bythe way, you may have seen the story in the news today about our main competitor, Manton. It seems they're going to bring out a new product which could seriously infringe the copyright ... So, we'll have to wait and sec how the market reacts. Anyway,let me get back to what I was saying about new markets for Standard. I think wc have to say that ... Nobody really knows what the next century will bring. What's for sure is yOll need people who can adapt quickly. And that brings me to the final part of this short introduction to Standard, and that is to talk about our people. As 1said, they arc our most important asset. Our total world-wide headcount ... We've even sponsored a group to sail around Britain. So, before I go on, are there any questions about our personnel policy?
Unit 4 The right kind of language Version 1
DR Ll'!':DES
The significance of these figures incorporating data from multicenrre studies cannot be underestimated. Next slide. In the American part of the survey it was found that success in business can be correlated directly with leadership styles. An individualistic style appears to be closely associated with rapid career path progression, whereas a group or participative style, despite its evident attractiveness to all members of staff, is correlated with a relatively slow career progression. Next slide. This is further illustrated in my next slide which shows the results of another survey into senior management attitudes. Although lip service is paid to the concept of participativc management, their real perceptions of leadership qualities completely contradict this view. It can he further seen that such surveys ...
Version 2
DR UI'DE'"
We can't really afford to ignore these results. The survey was one of the most extensive of its kind and covers a wide range of corporations ... \Ve can see in this next slide the results from the American part of the survey. This survey was based on interviews carried out with senior managers in 200 corporations. Youcan see here ... 35%) of the group of managers classified as participativc reached senior management positions. On the other hand, 74% of the more individualistic managers achieved senior management status. So, I think the conclusion is self-evident. If you want to reach the top of American companies, you have a much better chance if you adopt a fairly autocratic, top-down approach. What is important here is not to dismiss the last ten years. Ten rears in which the value of participative management has been preached ... No, what we must do is to better understand the motivation of senior management.
VIDEO TRASSCRIPT
75
If we look at thi s next slide. we can sec the results from an other survey into sen ior man agement att it udes. Th is shows how man agers firstly evaluate the quali ties o f a goo d manager ... and seco ndly, how th ey evalua te the q ua lities o f a goo d leader. What is q uite dear is that managers are suppose d to be sens itive, adapta ble, an d cooperati ve while lead ers need to be decisive, dynam ic, an d single-mi nde d. So, we find there is a ma ssive co nt radic tio n. Goud mana gers are suppose d be participati ve -. to make sure they co nsult and disc uss. Go od lead ers art' supposed to be st ro ng indi viduals - able to make decisions on their own. 10
Unit 5 Visual aids Version 1.
/OASr.;A HROOKES
So, we need to think about the products. Our premium export lager is descr ibed as a German -b rand,..d Pilscncr with an above average alcohol content ... urn ... it's positioned at the top end of the ma rke t and is only available through selected me rchants and retailers. Anywa y, I'm sure yo u're all familiar with that prod uct ... urn ... Our high m alt bottled b itter. Rutter 's. is described as a t radit ional west Cou ntry bitter wit h a very dark colour and thick consistency ... urn ... It has a h igh price for a bottled bitter ... um ... and is ava ilable through all major su pe rmarke t cha ins an d offl icences. As yo u can see, production in 1984 was aro und the 245.000 bottles and th en during th e next five years men..a scd steadily ... fi ve years ago th e an nual outp UI reach ed 480,000 bottles there. as yo u can sec ... an d as yo u can see the figures stayed at that sort offigure until last year whe n th ey d ipped to 460,000 the re, as you can sec.
Version 2
JO AN S A BRO OK E S
A very im portant . perhaps Ihe most im portan t, clem ent in our co r po rate ident ity, is our pro duct ran ge. Th e first thing to ht' said about this product range is that it's wry diverse. w ell, let's tak e our p rem ium export lager, Hohcnbrau. Now this product has always been pos itioned at the top end of th e market . lt has a very high pri ce, and is on ly availabl e through specialist retail outlets. Altogct her, it's q uite exclusive. On th e other hand , o ur Ruu cr's bit ter has ,111 entircly different pc rso nalit y. It's b rewed in a traditional way. Wt' I'll! a lo t of malt in it wh ich gives it a rich go lden co lour. And, as far as I kno w, it's at a me di um price and sold through mo st supe rma rkets. So. as you can see, th ese are two very different products. One an up-market Gerrnan -t ype Pilsen cr, the ot her a very English bitter. Our problem is we' re 110 lo nge r su re about what sort of brewer y we are ... Anyway, let's leave the products for a mom en t, and tu rn to o ur recent reco rd o n th e product ion side.
76
"IDEO TRANSCRIPT
To make sure we're all in the picture, I've prepa red a graph wh ich illustrates our production record over the last twelve years. As yo u can sec, we're o nly going to be look ing at bottled beer p rod uct io n. Now, twelve years ago, we had an annual output of 245,000 bo ttles - as you can see. Over the next six to seven years, prod uct ion grew stead ily and reached 480,000 way back in 1990. Those were the easy years. It seemed all we had to do was to turn up at work, produce the beer, and the beer would sell itself. The last five years have been quit e different. Pro duc tion flatte ned ou t to around 4HO,OOO for four years, an d th en , more worryingly, dropped to 460,000 last year. So, thi s is th e background to our mee ting today. we can no longer sit back and let the well-establis hed na me ofwesrwoo d do the work for us ...
Unit 6 Body language Version 1
D R Ur-;DEK
These cost cuts are going to cause considerable pa in. we need to draw up a plan of action. I have put some ideas on the board ... These are some of the measures we could consider. There are bro adly three approaches. First, we cou ld accept the cuts and reduce staff dras tically ... Secondly, we could fight and hope to achieve some red uctio n in the level of the cuts. Or th ird ly, an d this is what I su pp ort, we co uld put forward an alternative proposal. Now, th is would mean we have to or gan ize ...
Version 2
[H t llN D E N
These cost cuts arc going to cause considerable pain. Wc need to draw up a plan of action. I have p ut some ideas on the b oard ... These arc some of the measures we cou ld cons ider. Th ere are broadly th ree approaches. First, we cou ld accept the cuts and reduce staff d rastically. Secondly, we could fight and hope to achieve some reduction in the level of the cuts. Or th ird ly, and this is what I support, we cou ld put forward an alternative proposal. Now, this would mean ...
Unit 7 Finishing off Version 1
rOANNA RROOKF: S
Yes, yes ... urn ... pro duction has actu ally dropped a littl e over the last few years, although profits have actua lly held up ... urn ... an d that's something we need to di scuss ... I mean, can we actually con tinue as a small independent b rewery? Anyway, that's about it, so ... um ... th at is th e m ain question today ... urn ... so ... I don't kn ow whet her that helps at all, but it's ali i can think of realty, so I, I'll leave ... I'Illeave ... 1th ink that's that ... so ... l'lllcave it there, OK?
VI DEO TRANSCRIPT
77
Version 2
10,.\:'>1"-,\ BIH)OKES
SO, before we move o n to discuss these ma tters, let me just su m ma r ize the main issues as I see them. First ly,on the product side. there's the question of
diversity of product range. Second ly.on the marketing front, we need to review our d istrib ut io n networ k. And thirdly. on the personnel side, we nee d to look at the sort of em ploye r we are, and want to become. So. 1 suggest \\'C look a t things in that order: product. dis tr ibu tio n, an d people. Hopefully th is will help LIS to agree o n a clear way fo rwa rd. Right . be fo re we start, are th ere any questions yo u'd like to ask?
Unit 8 Question time Version 1
QU ES T IOS I' R I
You seem to have com plete ly igno red the q uestion of male domin at ion of top management post s. Do n't you thi nk yOU T results a rc almost ent irely d ue to the fact that there are practically no women in senior positions in American companies! OR L1:-OD EN
I di d not address the q uestio n of gender becau se it was not my purpo se to address it, No doub t it wo uld be in teresti ng to discuss it on an other occasion. Q UES TI O NE R 2
Dr Linden ! If YOLl don't mind me aski ng, co uld you tell us ho w the res ponde nts assessed difficult co ncep ts suc h as indiv id ua lism? IlR UN PEN
Well it is not important, but if you wa n t to kn ow, just a mo ment, ... yes, as I thought ... we used the Belb in persona lity tes t to position res pondents. J Dr Linden. could I ask you how th e sun'eys were set up? Ynu know, d id rbcy use a cont rol group?
QUrcSTIO:-JER
P R Ll XD F.:-J
! believe they used a con tro ! gro up. Th ese weren' t m y su rveys, yo u know, I can' t tell you the details.
Version 2
QU EST IO N E R 1
You seem to have completely igno red the question of male domination of to p management posts. Don 't yo u th ink you r results a rc almost e nt irely du e to the fact tha t there are practica lly no women in sen io r posit ions in American compan ies? UR L1NIHN
I thin k that's a very interesting point. I'm afraid I d id n't have time to add ress t he question of gender itse lf, beca use I was mainly co nce nt rat ing on the question of management sty le. However , I feel sure th at th is aspect wo uld be worth d iscuss ing at len gth o n anothe r occasion .
78
V IrJ EO T R A S SC RI PT
QU ES T I O :-.l E R 2
Dr Linden! If yo u don't m ind me asking . cou ld rou tell us how the respondents assessed difficult concepts such as indi vid ualism? IlR ( .I SD E S
O f co urse. I suppose yo u're referring to the second survey I mentioned? Well. I'll just check. if! mar ... yes ... as I thought. we used the Rclbin person alit y test in ord er to positio n responden ts. I think th at yo u' ll find th at th is is a fairly standard psychologi cal test with such management su rveys. Arc there any more quest ions you would like to ask about the trial? QU E S T I O N E R
3
Dr Lindcn , could I ask you how the surveys were set up ? Youknow, did they use a control gro up? I) R lIS U E:"l
I thi n k I see what you mean. You're interested in the procedu re followed for the surveys? Q Ul'S TlONF.R
J
That' s righ t. HR I.ISDEN
I'm afraid that's really outside my field, I mysclfwas not invo lved in carrying out the surveys. However, I can give you the references afterw ard s, if the y would be helpful. QUFS Tl O N E R
3
Th an k yo u.
Unit 9 Putting it all together JOASNA BKOOKF.S
Good mo rni ng. Some ofyou m ay know me better than others, so let me just b riefly introduce myself. M y name's loanna Broo kcs. and I'm in charge of Pub lic Relation s for westw ood Brewery, As yo u may kno w, this is a relatively new post, and its creation reflects the Board's conce rn over our po sition and image in the market . So, on e of my first tasks is to define a d ear company identity for wcstwood . one that wilt carry us forward into the next century, For th is reason , I ha ve asked you all to join me here tod ay tu hear you r views on a way forward for Westwoo d. So me of yo u have been with the brewery for many years, othe rs no t at all, so before we start I'd like to ou tlin e three main aspec ts which I sec con tr ib uting sign ificantly to the brewe ry's ident ity. The first aspect is the products, the second ou r ma rkets and distribution in part icular, and the thi rd key clement is our people. So, let's just spend the next few minutes reviewing these th ree elements ... and please, in terrupt me if you have any q uestio ns or po int s yo u'd like to ra ise as we go along. So, th e products. Arguably.the mo st im po rtant elem ent in o ur cor porate identity is our product range. The first thing to be said abo ut these products is that they're very diverse, Well, let's take our prem ium export lager, Hohcnbrau. Now this pro du ct has always been po sitioned at the top end of the mar ket. It has a high price and it's onl y available th ro ugh selected retail outlets. Altogether, it's q uite exclusive. V IU l:() T RASSC R I I'T
79
On th e othe r han d. ou r Rutter 's b itter has an en tirely d ifferent persona lity. It's b rewed in a t raditional way. We p ut a lot o f malt into it whic h gives it a rich golden colour. As far as) know. it's always been sold at a medium price and is available through most supermarkets. So, as yo u can see. these arc two very d ifferent prod ucts. One an up-market Germa n- type Pilsene r. tbc o the r a very Engl ish bitt er, On e poin t fo r disc uss ion the n. is whet her we should maint ain suc h different products in ou r ran ge. Let's mo ve on to m arketing. and I onl y want to raise one issue. It's connected with th e products really. It seems to me it's going to be ver y d ifficult strengt heni ng westwocd 's identit y in the market when some of o ur beers are o nly available th ro ugh specialist ou tlets. QUF.STlONEK I
Excuse me, if you do n't mind me saying. J th ink you'll find t here are very good reasons fur restricting the channels for some of our beers. 10AK"'-A
Tha t's interesting you should say so and I look forwa rd to hea ring more about th at in o ur d iscussion s. Perh aps .....e ca n leave it that the re arc pro ba bly \'Cry good prod uct reason s why. but th at these may con flict with th e p romotio n of the tota l com pany image, Would you ag ree? QU ES TI O :-< ER I
Th at's certa inly tr ue. IOA~"'A
So. that covers two o f th e elemen ts which I th ink we need to disc uss. Th e th ird clem ent is the people ... and primarily here. l mean the brewery workers and the management. One of the things that sho ...ked me whe n I first joined Westwood was this ... organization chart. Ifs like something from the last (CnIUr)' - do you realize there are ten layer-, bet wee n th e shopfloor w orkers and the Man aging Directo r! In my vie w, th is ma kes th e co m pany slow and u n responsive. I know there arc man )' goo d t hings about West wood, hu t o ur image is much th e same as it was in. say. the tim es o f Queen Victoria - " very trad itional . pat ernalistic employer.
well. the ver y least we need to do is discu ss wheth er thi s image is appropriate for the late 20th cent ur y, let alone th e 2 Ist. So, before we move on to discu ss these matters.J et r nc just su m marize th e main issues as I see the m. Firstly. on the product side. there's the qu estio n of diversity o f prod uct range. Secondly. o n the marketing fro n t. we need to review our dist ribut ion network. And thi rd ly,on t he personnel side. we need to loo k at the sor t of employer we are and want to become. 50, I suggest we loo k at things in that order: prod uct , dist rib ut io n. and people. Hopefully this will help us to ag ree on a clear way forward. Right, before we start. are there any questions you'd like to ask?
80
V ID EO TKA:-lSCR IPT