Read through the article, part two once more. Try to summarize in a sentence what each paragraph 1-9 is about

4 Read through the article, part two once more. Try to summarize in a sentence what each paragraph 1-9 is about

5 Read the questions which are the headings of the paragraphs 1-9. Answer the questions. Don’t look into the text.

! Home assignment: get ready to speak about the problems of multilingualism in European community. For more information use the following sites:

For more information: Companies work better with languages — the Business Forum for Multilingualism, European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/news/newsl669_ en. htm

Effects on the European Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise (ELAN), European Commission (2007): http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/projects/ empioyment/elan. htm

Europeans and Languages, Eurobarometer Report (2006), European Commission: for Europe, Conference Report (2008), British Council: http://www. britishcouncil. de/pdf/report08. pdf

ORGANIZATIONS

■British Council: www.britishcouncil.org

■CILT, the National Centre for Languages: www.cilt.org.uk European Commission (Multilingualism): http://ec.europa.eu/ education/languages/index__ en. Htm

Unit 2

WORK AND LIFE BALANCE

 

1 Many business people are facing the problem of how to keep a balance between their business career and private life. What priorities would you set up if dealing with the same problem?

2 Read and discuss three parts of the article by Vicki Sussens-Messerer"Fitting it all" in which she presenfthree different points on work-life balance ( Spotlight 6/2008).

FITTING IT ALL

PENNY FERGUSON, mother of six and owner of leadership-development company Penny Ferguson Limited, in Newbury, England.

Penny Ferguson is sitting in the log-cabin office in the garden of her country home in Newbury, in southern England. The 65-year-old British leadership specialist has just spent 20 minutes relaxing in an armchair. She arrived back from Canada the night before and was up early for a breakfast meeting with clients. She is tired and in a reflective mood. "I have consciously started to take more quality time for me," she says. " That is a big change because I chose to work pretty hard for the last ten years."

In fact, Ferguson has worked hard her whole life. She has six children, five grandchildren and four terriers, and started her company at the age of fifty. At one point, she had six small children, two step-children and nine dogs. "I used to go shopping with eight children," she says. "I had the three eldest pushing the youngest in the prams and I held the hands of the middle two".

Ferguson had her first child at 21 and her last at 29. In the middle, she married for the second time. "I laugh about this now, but when it came to the sixth child, I really didn't know how to fit him into the schedule." She had an eight-bedroom house, which she says she ran like clockwork. She had a mother's help, but not all the time. "I would get up at 5.30 a.m., have a bath and change before I did the baby's first feed of the day. I would make the children's beds as their feet touched the floor. I would take them downstairs and give them breakfast. Then I would drop the boys at their school and Lucy at nursery school. In total, I drove 92 miles (146 km) a day on school rounds. Between rounds, I did the washing, ironing, cooking and shopping. The last thing I did, before I fell into bed at night, was to put the washing in the machine."

But Ferguson doesn't think this is good time-management. "I fooled myself into believing that being efficient made me happy. But what was more important - keeping the house perfect or having quality time with children?" Between her second and third marriages, Ferguson was a single mother for six years, at one stage holding three jobs.

3 Sort out the statements below into TRUE or FALSE:

1 Penny Ferguson was married two times.

2 Penny has a dog.

3 Penny keeps her house perfect.

4 Penny's children attended schools which were quite a distance from her house/

5 Nobody helped Penny with her kids.

6 Penny had to do a lot of washing.

7 Penny is sure that being effective makes a person happy.

8 To make money enough, Penny had several jobs.

9 Penny Ferguson has never had much time for herself.

10 Penny had had six kids by the time she was 30.

CARY COOPER, author and professor of organizational psychology and health at Lancaster University Management School

Сагу Cooper, professor at Lancaster University Management School, is chaotic. The coauthor of Detox Your Desk, Declutter Your Life and Mind (Capstone Press, ISBN 978-1-84112-787-3) knows he has an interview at 7 p.m., but forgot that it was with us. When I phone at the agreed time, he is not there. But the guru on work-life balance is, surprisingly, always available. His answering machine greets me cheerfully and supplies several ways to find him. When he answers his mobile, he is in his car, stuck in a traffic jam. He promises to be home in 15 minutes, which he is.

"I guess I seem a jumble," says Cooper, an American who lives with his British wife in Poynton, near Manchester. "But I am actually quite organized. I know what the big things are that I have to achieve. It's the things in between that I juggle." But he likes it that way:"I would have huge problems if everything was planned for me."

That's why he gives out his telephone numbers. "I like to be disturbed! I find the interruptions stimulating. I like it when a journalist calls me. They often ask, "Cooper, what do you think about X?", and I think "Oh, that's fascinating!" Then I jump back into my writing again. I can't write at home; it's too quiet. But I guess I'm unusual this way."

Yet Cooper gets his work done. Today, for example, aside from his normal university duties, he finishes editing three chapters of a book he is writing on managing stress, he did two live BBC interviews, and gave an interview for both The Times and The Daily Express. What's his secret? "I always start the day by prioritizing, and plan the big items well. But I am lucky because I can process input fast, I write quickly, and I am able to talk off the cuff.

"I don't want work to dominate my life," says Cooper, adding that his first marriage suffered because he spent too much time at work. "I wasn't there for my two oldest children. So, after I remarried, I decided to work bloody hard so I could get home early." Now, when he stops working, he really stops, he says.

4 Answer the questions about Cary Cooper's story:

1 What nationality is Cary Cooper?

2 Is he easy to access?

3  Why did Cooper's first marriage suffer?

4  Can Cary Cooper improvise easily when communicating with people?

5  Does Cary like to share his views with other people?

6  Do you agree that Cary Cooper is the guru on work-life balance?

7  Can Cooper type fast?

8  Is the family important for Cooper?

9  What can stimulate Cary Cooper?

10Can we say that Cooper is a well-known person?

TIMOTHY FERRIS, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and owner of a dietary-supplement business.

Timothy Ferris claims you can run a global company and do all your work in four hours a week - if you want to. One way is to outsource most of your life. Ferris uses service providers for more than just to help run his dietary-supplement business, Brain-QUICKEN. According to his bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek (Random House, ISBN 978-0-307-35313-9), he has also outsourced private jobs to an Asian company called "Your Man in India". Asha, his contact there, has paid his bills and bought toys for his son. He once even wrote an e-mail to Ferris's wife when she was angry with Timothy, who also outsourced our interview request to his book publicist. The author is tango dancing in Buenos Aires - so instead of an interview, the publicist refers us to his book.

"Most of us work like hell to save for a future dream," writes the crusader of living-for-now. He says an investment banker friend once said that, if he worked an 80-hour week for nine years, he could become an MD(managing director) and make up to $10 million a year. "Dude, what would you do with that money?" Ferris asked him. "take a trip to Thailand," the

banker answered. "Guess what?" writes Ferris in his book. "You can do that for less than $3,000!"

Ferris himself takes many "mini-retirements" a year, when he combines a burning interest with a destination. So, for example, when he lived in Rio de Janeiro, he learned Portuguese and Brazilian jujitsu, and while he was in Hong Kong he even acted in a very popular television series.

Ferris says the concept of working nine to five is totally arbitrary. "It means we have to plan things to keep us busy all day." To manage his time, he applies the 80/20 "Pareto principle", which says that 80 per cent of results flow from only 20 per cent of inputs. "I found out that only five of 120 wholesales customers were ordering regularly and bringing in 95 per cent of revenues. Yet I was spending 98 per cent of my time chasing the remainder. All of my problems came from this unproductive majority." Ferris also takes note of Parkinson's Law, which says that the more time you have to finish a task, the longer it takes.

It may be too early to say the young Ferris has found work-life heaven: his life has been filled with crazy, failed initiatives. But his time-saving ideas are worth noting. One of the top tips in this day of information overkill is never to read a newspaper, but to outsource this task, too. "I ask people what's new, and the do the job for me," he says.

5 Complete the sentences below:

1 Timothy Ferris runsbusiness.

2 Timothy wrote a bestseller "".

3 Timothy is sure that one good way to manage time is toto other people.

4 Timothy's friend had a dream

5 Ferris has a rest from his business

6 Timothy doesn't take the conceptas obligatory for everyone.

7 Pareto principle says that

8 Ferris found out that onlybrought him 95 per cent of revenues.

9from unproductive majority.

10is never to read a newspaper.

6 Comment on the word combinations which you came across when reading three stories. Go back to the context to explain and illustrate:

To have a reflective mood, step-children, at one stage, clockwork, to detox, to declutter, to process input fast, to talk off the cuff, to outsource, dietary-supplement, to combine a burning interest with a destination, the concept of working nine to five, information overkill.

7 The table below contains a list of personal time-management recommendations and tips coming from Penny Ferguson, Cary Cooper and Timothy Ferris. Read all three lists, think and say:

Whose list fits you personally the best?

Which items given in three lists do you consider of major importance?

Which items would you never include into your list of time-management tips?

What is your personal time-management achievement?

What is your worst time-management sin?

What five points out of three lists do you consider the most important and useful?

What five points would you put into your personal list of time-management tips?

Penny Ferguson

 

Сагу Cooper on their time management

 

Timothy Ferris

My time management

routine: I start the day by prioritizing. Then I force myself with the things that are important and don't allow myself to be distracted. I choose a quiet time in the day to delete unimportant e-mails.

What's on my desk that shouldn't be there: Sweets. Bits of paper that I have picked up more than once and then put down again, rather than dealing with them. Private photos that have been there for a month and that I haven't yet sorted out.

Biggest distractions: E-mails. People don't distract me because I am good at politely getting rid of those who disturb me.

My biggest time-waste: Thinking about private things I can't do anything about at work, especially things that happened in the past and that might happen in the future.

Top time-management tip: Decide what is important by asking. If this was never dealt with, would it matter? We tend to think of ourselves as two people - a work person and a private person. But we should integrate the time-management skills we learn at home at work, and vice versa.

The first thing I do in the morning: Prioritize! I open my e-mails, print out the ones I need, walk to my secretary's office, where the printer is, collect them and then order them on my desk Then I use them to write my "things to do " list. My time-management sin: Waiting until the last minute to do smaller writing jobs. This is bad time management. But I haven't yet let anyone down. The biggest nuisance on my desk: The pile of papers I don't really want to throw out but don't quite know what to do with. At some stage, I'll go through them and throw most of them out. My biggest time-management achievement: I've stopped trying to change colleagues who are negative. This caused me more stress than anything else. Top time-management tip: Set an exit time every day. If you know that you have to leave at a certain time, you'll make sure you get the important things done. You won't get everything done, but you have to stop somewhere if you want to have a life outside work.

Focus on doing only those things that bring income: Ask yourself, "If I had a heart attack and had to work two hours a week, what time-consuming activities -e-mail, phone calls, conversations, paper work, meetings, dealing with customers, etc. - would I cut out?" Used even once a month this question can keep you san and on track. Fold a standard piece of paper three times to make a small to-do list: Never have more than two critical items on it.

Decide which items are the most critical: Ask yourself, "If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?" Put a post-it on your computer screen with the question, "Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important things?" Accomplish more in less time :Leave work at 4 p.m. and take Monday and/or Friday off. This will force you to prioritize and work more quickly. Use short deadlines to force immediate action and ignore unimportant things.

Answer e-mails twice a day: Have the automated message telling people the two times in the day you read your message and refer them to voice mail they need you urgently.

Unit 3

DECISION MAKING

 

1 We cannot not make decisions. Even when we decide not to decide, this is a decision . Read the questions below, think and answer them:

Have you ever been taught decision making? When, where and for what reason?

What exactly is decision making?

What are the key steps in decision making?

What makes people take bad decisions?

What kind of decision maker are you?

2Read the article by Bob Dignen from Business Spotlight (6/2008).Pay special attention to and memorize the vocabulary in bold type.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

International business is a world of complexity, ambiguity and paradoxes. Decisions are often made on the basis of limited information, which makes risk management an essential discipline. And instead of the clear top-down decision-making structures of the past, organizations now expect individuals and teams to work autonomously at all levels. Greater cultural diversity has also widened the range of decision-making styles and processes, and increased the potential for conflict.

1What is decision making?

Most people would argue that we take business decisions to reach personal, team and organizational goals and that the art of decision making is simply to choose the right option from a range of possibilities. But, in practice, decision making is more complex.

First, the motivations behind our decisions may be less rational and strategic than we think: political loyalties, beliefs, environmental constraints, ethical factors and even irrational motives may play a significant role.

Second, decisions are not isolated events but part of a context of decision making.

2Key steps in decision making

To understand decision making better, it helps if we break down the process into various steps:

a)Decide to decide. The first step is to recognize that a decision needs to be taken to achieve a particular goal. This may be easier for some people than for others. Those who lack self-confidence ox fear risk may be indecisive, preferring to wait and see what happens rather than acting. Others may decide to act too quickly without thinking through the consequences, and so may be seen as impetuous.

Cultural issues may also be significant. In some national or organizational cultures, only those in senior positions can "decide to decide". In collective cultures, this decision may be a group process, which could require time to get a critical mass to support. This can be frustrating to those from a more individualistic culture, but rushing this process could lead to decisions that do not have wide acceptance.

b)Collect and evaluate information. Effective decision making requires reliable
information. But you should not collect so much information that you end up confused and paralyzed. Indeed, it will often be impossible to collect all the relevant information in the necessary timeframe. A certain information risk is often present. It can help to involve others in the information collection process to get as wide a range of opinions as possible. This provides not only better insight, but also potentially greater involvement in the implementation of any decisions.

It is important to set clear and relevant criteria to evaluate possible options. If a human-resources manager is to select training providers, price is an easy criterion to look at, but it may not be as relevant as quality criteria such as experience with similar companies, the ability to innovate or being able to deliver training in different languages.

Finally, you should know when not to take a decision. Resist the pressure to decide if you feel that waiting will allow questions to be clarified or new alternatives to emerge.

c)Decide on an option. A number of problem-solving tools can help you to compare the advantages and disadvantages of different options. On the basis of such tools and a certain amount of gut feeling, you should select the option that you think has the greatest probability of success.

Things may still stand in your way. A new turn of events may require you to rethink things. Unexpected resistance from others may necessitate a u-turn. You yourself may lack the courage to take an unpopular or difficult decision.

Fear of failure often prevents people from taking decisions. To make the right decision, you will have to manage your own fear of failure and risk. Remember the following:

1  Not taking risks limits opportunities for growth and improvement.

2  Risk is meant to be scary, so don't worry about being afraid.

3  We fear losing the familiar, so work hard to embrace the new.

4  Never be reckless: take calculated risks in a rational state of mind.

5  Accept a learning curve and don't try to succeed 100 per cent immediately.

6  When you jump, jump with 100 per cent conviction or you will hurt yourself when you land.

d)Implement the decision. Once you have made a decision, the real work starts. It is vital to

motivate yourself and others to accept the consequences of that decision and to support it with the necessary actions. If you simply announce decisions but fail to "sell and support" them, you risk resistance and failure. Effective decision makers proceed as follows:

-  They explain the reasons and positive intentions behind their actions.

-  They describe the benefits for those affected.

-  They have the mental energy, patience and communication skills to manage conflict.

e)Evaluate the decision. You will never improve your decision-making abilities without reflecting on the decisions you take. Analyze the extent to which key decisions achieve their goals and are supported by those around you. If they were unsuccessful, what was the reason? Remember also that it is possible to take good decisions that have a bad outcome. A decision is good if it is based on a clear goal, logical assessment of the available information and taken with the full commitment of the decision maker and others involved. If things don't turn out as expected, you can use that experience to improve your future decision-making performance.