Unit 1 - Management

LISTENING 1: Don Aiken, Managing Director of ELM Electronics, has a meeting with some
of his company's senior executives to discuss staff morale, He feels that many of the employees
are not happy in their work, and that this is affecting their efficiency. At the meeting are Patricia
White, Personnel Manager, Jonathan Laidlaw, Production Manager and William Cooper,
General Manager. Listen to their conversation.
AIKEN: OK, we'll get started then, shall we? You've all received my memo, so you know I
want to discuss the question of staff morale. What I want to know is, are our
employees satisfied, on the whole, with their jobs? And if they aren't, what can we
do about it? Please be frank with me. Right, Patricia, perhaps you'd give us your
opinion first.
WHITE: Very well. I think my opinion will be the same as everyone else's in this room. On
the whole, I'd say morale's very low at the moment. It's hard to find anyone who
has a good word to say about the company. But it's not surprising is it really,
when you think about it?
AIKEN: What? You mean, the fact that we've just laid off two hundred or so workers?
Everyone's afraid they'll be the next to go?
WHITE: That's part of it. No one feels his job's safe. People are anxious, worrying about
when the next round of redundancies will come
AIKEN: I hope it won't. Making people redundant is not the most pleasant of jobs, I can
tell you. But what else can you do when your profits are falling? How about you,
Jonathan, do you agree with Pat?
LAIDLAW: A hundred per cent. People are unhappy, they do fear the future. But I'm not sure
morale's low just because we've had redundancies. I mean, lots of firms have had
to get rid of workers. But the people who remain are loyal and enjoy their jobs.
AIKEN: What are you getting at, Jonathan?
LAIDLAW: What I'm saying is, even if times are difficult, we seem to be having a lot of
problems here. More than our fair share, perhaps.
AIKEN: Like what, for example?
LAIDLAW: Well, look at our labour turnover. 16% for the company as a whole. And wasn't it
over 20% in my department, Production? That's far too high. And what about our
graduate trainees - a third had left by the end of the year. AIKEN Mm... that's
food for thought, I must admit. And absenteeism was high too, wasn't it? I
believe we lost more working hours last year than ever before. Bill, how do you
feel about all this?
COOPER: Jonathan's right. I don't think the recession's causing all our problems. I can tell
you this, though, I've never had a year like last year. Two strikes by the machine
shop workers, people complaining to me about this, that and the other. We even
had a fight on the shop floor. A couple of workers had a go at one of the foremen.
 Something to do with allocating overtime hours. It never used to be like that in
my department.
AIKEN: I think I'm getting the picture now, and it's not a very pretty one. Thank you for
being so frank with me.
WHITE: May I make a suggestion, Don?
AIKEN: By all means, Patricia.
WHITE: I've been thinking about this problem of staff morale for some time now. And you
know, I may have come up with the answer. At least, I have a positive suggestion
to offer
AIKEN: Uh huh
WHITE: Why don't we carry out an opinion survey? Let's find out what our staff really
think about us. We could ask them all sorts of questions, like: Are they satisfied
with their jobs and working conditions? What do they think of their superior? Do
they have enough responsibility in their work? Enough variety? ... that sort of
thing. A surveycould tell us what's going wrong in this firm.
AIKEN: An interesting idea, Pat. Very interesting indeed. Of course, we've never done
anything like it before. Maybe now's the time to start. Any comments, anyone?
COOPER: I like the idea too, Don. If we had a survey, it would show staff that we care how
they feel. They would understand that we're interested in solving their problems.
That might be a first step towards improving their morale.
LAIDLAW: A survey's a good idea, I think, as long as the information is treated as
confidential. Everybody must feel free tospeak the truth, or else the data won't be
of any use to us.
AIKEN: A good point, Jonathan. We must bear that in mind when we prepare our opinion
survey.
LISTENING 2: Same as above
LISTENING 3: Vanessa McIntyre is Marketing Manager of the Candymix Company Limited, a
manufacturer of confectionary products. She receives a phone call from Ralph Harris, Head of
Research and Development. Ralph has some bad news about a new product his department are
developing. It's a biscuit, consisting of a wafer covered with chocolate, whose brand name will
be Krackle. Listen to their conversation
MCINTYRE: Hello, Vanessa McIntyre speaking.
HARRIS: Hello Vanessa. Ralph here
MCINTYRE: Hello Ralph
HARRIS: How's everything going?
MCINTYRE: Fine. And you?
HARRIS: Not too good, I'm afraid.
MCINTYRE: Oh? What's the trouble?
HARRIS: It's the Krackle biscuit. It won't be ready for test marketing by January. I'm sorry.
We've run up against some problems, I'm afraid. We're going to need more time.
MCINTYRE: Oh no. Everything was going fine, I thought. What are the problems, then?
HARRIS: They're technical. We can't seem to get the right type of wafer yet. It's not crisp
enough. After we coat it with chocolate, it seems to go soft for some reason.
Because of that, it doesn't make the right crackling sound.
MCINTYRE: I don't understand. I tasted some of the Krackle biscuits last week. I thought they
were just fine.
HARRIS: But you're not a teenager, Vanessa - they know what they want.
MCINTYRE: Mm.
HARRIS: Look, our brief- and it came from the Board, don't forget - was to develop a new
biscuit for young people.
MCINTYRE: True.
HARRIS: It had to look different, and taste different, from everything else on the market.
Right?
MCINTYRE: Yes,
HARRIS: It had to have a crackling sound when you ate it. And it had to be nutritious - the
sort of biscuit children would take to school and eat at lunch-time. Uh?
MCINTYRE: OK, OK But you've done that, surely? Or come pretty close.
HARRIS: That's not good enough. Everyone in our department's tried Krackle. And they've
taken it home and tried it out on their children. None of us think we've got it right
yet.
MCINTYRE: Mm ... all I can say is, it's damned annoying. When will it be ready by?
HARRIS: Mm ... with a bit of luck - by the end of March, or thereabouts
MCINTYRE: The end of March. Good Heavens! That means we'll never get it on the market
by June. No way!
HARRIS: I'm sorry. Things don't always go as you plan, Vanessa
MCINTYRE: It's really disappointing. It means I won't meet one of my main objectives for
next year.
HARRIS: Oh?
MCINTYRE: Yes, I agreed with George Holbrook that Krackle would be on the market by the
beginning of June. Huh, it's not on, is it?
HARRIS: No, it isn't. And I won't be meeting my objective either, for that matter. I said to
George we'd have Krackle ready for test marketing by January. Our Managing
Director's certainly not going to like it, is he?
MCINTYRE: Not at all. He doesn't accept excuses when you don't meet your objectives. He's
so ... rigid. Trouble is, my salary increase and bonus depend on meeting
objectives
HARRIS: Mine too. Even so, I'm not going to cut corners, Vanessa. They'll get the product
they asked for, or none at all.
MCINTYRE: That's fair enough, I suppose.
HARRIS: There is one thing we could do.
MCINTYRE: Yes?
HARRIS: Maybe we could talk to George. Tell him he's got to bemore flexible, if this
MBO programme is going to work properly. We could ask him to change the objective for
Krackle. Substitute September for June.
MCINTYRE: It's certainly worth a try. But are you sure it'll be ready for test marketing in
March?
HARRIS: Positive. We'll have solved the technical problems by then
MCINTYRE: OK. I'll fix up a meeting with George. He might bend if we're persuasive enough
- you never know!
HARRIS: Good. We'll get round this one, don't worry. Ha! I don't know what you think
about the MBO programme, but I reckon things were a lot simpler in the old days when no one
had ever heard of Management by Objectives.
MCINTYRE: Mm ... maybe you're right. Let me think about that one.
LISTENING 4: Same as above
LISTENING 5: Marion and Polyanna work at the head office of Superfare, a group of food
stores. Marion's boss, Edward, is Director of Special Projects. Polyanna's boss, Gerald, is
Financial Controller of the organisation. While having lunch together, Marion and Polyanna
discuss their respective bosses. Listen to their conversation.
MARION: Honestly, Polly, I don't think I'll be working here much longer. Edward's driving
me up the wall. He's impossible to work for. Absolutely impossible.
POLYANNA: Oh? I've always thought he was rather nice. Mind you, he always seems to be in a
rush - never has a minute to talk to you.
MARION: That's it. He's always rushing around in a panic. And he never gets anything
done. It's so ... frustrating. I can't stand it much longer.
POLYANNA: It's not that bad surely
MARION: It is. Look what happened last week. We had a report to get ready for
Wednesday's board meeting. Right?
POLYANNA: Uh huh.
MARION: We'd been given Friday as the deadline for submitting it. So what happens?
POLYANNA: You didn't meet the deadline, uh?
MARION: Dead right. And why? Because Edward decided to prepare all the statistics for the
appendices himself. I could easily have helped him - I begged him - but he didn't
want to know. He's so stubborn - you wouldn't believe it!
POLYANNA: Ah, one of those: wants to do everything himself, then can't understand why he
never finishes anything on time.
MARION: Yes. Then blames you when people start complaining. Typical!
POLYANNA: Oh come on...
MARION: Anyway, I was telling you about the report. So, Friday came, it still hadn't been
finished. Panic! Edward works on it all Saturday morning. And, believe it or not,
I have to come in over the weekend. Work all day Sunday on the word-processor
to get it ready for Monday morning.
POLYANNA: Unbelievable!
MARION: Yes, and no extra payment for it. Just part of the job. That's what happens when
you work for the Director of Special Projects!
POLYANNA: Oh well, but at least he's a very nice guy - not like some of the managers round
here.
MARION: Yes, I suppose you're right. But I do wish Edward would plan his time better. It'd
be so much simpler. You're lucky. Gerald's obviously highly efficient.
POLYANNA: Mm, he certainly knows how to use his time effectively. He's got some useful
little tricks, actually.
MARION: Tricks? What do you mean?
POLYANNA: Well, to plan his time. Like at the end of the day makes a list of things he has to
do the next day. You know. phone calls he's got to make, meetings to attend,
work that's got to be done - that sort of thing.
MARION: Oh, I see.
POLYANNA: Yes. It helps him to get a good start to the day. He always knows what he's got to
do.
MARION: Any other things he does? Maybe I can pass on a few tips to Edward?
Diplomatically, of course.
POLYANNA: Mm, well... I've noticed Gerald always does the important jobs first. He never
puts them off, and he works on them until he's finished them. He never gives up
on a job. MARION: Oh, interesting. He must be very patient.
POLYANNA: Mm. Another thing. If he's working on a tough problem, he keeps his door shut.
Heaven help anyone who disturbs him then! Once, I even had to ask the
Managing Director to come back
MARION: You didn't, Polly
POLYANNA: Mm. He was nice about it. He knows what Gerald's like,
MARION: I suppose so. Any other tips to pass on to Edward?
POLYANNA: Let's see... Nothing else really. Oh yes, there is one other thing. Gerald makes a
lot of phone calls. Hates sending memos. Avoids them like the plague. Saves
time, of course-phoning. I mean. MARION Oh, it must be great working for him.
POLYANNA: I don't know about that. He does give me a lot of work to do, you know. He's very
clever at passing the buck
MARION: Passing the buck? Oh, I think that's what's known as delegating work' round here,
isn't it?
POLYANNA: I dare say you're right.
MARION: Oh well, back to the grindstone, I suppose. And to dear Edward
POLYANNA: Bye, Marion.