Я – менеджер. Моя работа чрезвычайно трудная. Она требует разных умений и зависит от многих факторов. Менеджеры выполняют четыре основные функции: планирование, организация, руководство и контроль. Менеджеры разных уровней играют различные роли в организации. Все менеджеры должны обладать специальными знаниями, концептуальными и техническими умениями, а также иметь навыки общения с людьми.
Role-playing
You are a manager working for a small company. You dream of changing your job to work for a big international company. Discuss it with your friend to have a piece of advice from him/her.
Case-study/Project
Study the advertisement below. Say if you would like to have a position at SimCorp or not. Explain, why.
| WE HAVE AMBITIONS. ALSO FOR YOU! SimCorp is a global leader in financial software. At SimCorp, you will be part of a large network of competent and skilled colleagues who all aspire to reach common goals with dedication and team spirit. We invest in our employees to ensure that you can meet our ambitions on a personal as well as on a professional level. SimCorp employs the best qualified people in economics, finance and IT, and the majority of our colleagues have a university or business degree within these fields. |
Self-assessment grid*
| Tick (✓) “Yes” or “No” answers in appropriate columns and lines to self-assess your knowledge and skills. | Yes | No |
| I know: | ||
| - topical vocabulary related to a manager’s job; | ||
| - the difference between management job titles; | ||
| - tense forms of the verb to be; | ||
| - past participle forms of regular and irregular verbs; | ||
| - 2-3-syllable word-stress patterns; | ||
| - the functions and skills of a manager. | ||
| I can: | ||
| - find international words in the text; | ||
| - form different parts of speech; | ||
| - find synonyms/antonyms; | ||
| - correctly pronounce the –ed element in past participles of regular verbs; | ||
| - translate from Russian into English small texts which include topical vocabulary; | ||
| - speak on different issues related to the topic “The manager’s job”; | ||
| - properly understand and evaluate job advertisements in the area of management. | ||
| Total number of positive/negative answers: |
Module 2
Pre-reading issues
1. Have you ever worked for any organization? If your answer is ‘Yes’, how long?
2. Are you currently working for any company?
3. What is the difference between working for a company and working independently (freelancing)?
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4. Name some well-known companies/organizations in Russia and abroad.
5. What makes a good organization?
Organization theory
Organizations are connected with people as their interests and abilities are inseparable. Organizations exist to complete work that is inefficient or impossible for individuals to complete alone. Organizations require that individuals work together in pursuit of a common goal. Understanding organizations requires understanding people and how and why they work.
Organizations must offer goods or services relevant in the market place to stay in business. Likewise, people need to be relevant in the market place.
As organizations respond to new demands in the market place, they need workers who will help them to meet those demands. Dramatic changes in technology, communication, information management, and transportation systems have caused businesses to change.
Organizations need workers who possess the skills and competencies needed to lead, develop, and grow organizations in rapidly changing environments. Workers must find ways to keep themselves valuable and able to contribute to organizational success.
Organizations work best when they are free of problems. To accomplish work in the quickest and most efficient ways, all work should be organized and performed in the same, invariable way. Exceptions to the specified work processes create jams in the system and slow down the productive capabilities of the organization.
Organizations are subject to the same laws of behavior as human objects. Organizations are, by their nature, resistant to change and require “unbalancing” forces to steer them in new directions.
Managers are organizational decision makers. It is critical that managers understand the strengths and weaknesses of their companies and the opportunities and threats that exist in their business environments before making important decisions. A solution that seemed clear-cut on paper might have disastrous consequences in practice.
When workers see that managers are genuinely concerned about their well-being and that they are respected and appreciated by management, they usually return those feelings to the managers. Teamwork, cooperation, open communication, trust, and mutual respect can all emerge from effective management practices.
Text comprehension
1. Do organizations depend on people? Why?
2. When do organizations appear?
3. Do organizations and people have common goals?
4. Why should organizations and their workers remain relevant in the market?
5. How should the skills and competences of employees change in modern business environments?
6. When do organizations work best?
7. What can slow down the productive capabilities of the organization?
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8. Are organizations subject to the same laws of behavior as human objects?
9. Should organizations keep resistant to change?
10. Who makes decisions in organizations?
11. Should managers clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of their company? Why?
12. What makes effective management practices?