XII. Rewrite the following in another way. Refer to the dialogues:

1. I have an appointment with Jan Pickero. I’m here to see Jan Pickero

2. I’ve parked in a reserved space. …………………………………

3. Could you tell me the way to the main office? …………………………………

4. I’d like you to meet our marketing manager. …………………………………

5. How was the journey? …………… ……………………

6. When was the company established? …………… ……………………

7. We are one of the largest manufacturers in the region. …………..………………

8. We have an excellent name in the market. …………………………………

Doing Business Meetings

I. Read the article below on meetings. Which of these statements would the writer agree with?

	yes	no
- Meetings accelerate the decision-making process.
- Meetings produce a synergy effect and generate good ideas.
Committee meetings cannot be avoided.
Dominant individuals may prevent other people from putting forward good ideas.
Better decisions are made by people working by themselves.

It is generally agreed that successful meetings make successful companies. However, many professionals complain that meetings are often unproductive and too long. Discussions are regularly dominated by participants with large egos and hours of talking ends without any clear results. According to recent research, managers spend the equivalent of one day a week in internal meetings. Yet meetings are often accused of being inefficient because they discourage original ideas and postpone decision-making. A committee meeting has been described as a group of the unwilling, chosen from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.

So why are there so many meetings? Meetings are said to be a good way to pool resources. Participants may stimulate each other through group discussion - what is known as the synergy effect. According to this view, meetings are an efficient, democratic way to communicate and enable people to make better decisions.

But these arguments are not convincing. Firstly, most meetings are held not to make decisions but to avoid individual responsibility. If a wrong or costly decision is made, fault is spread over all committee members and no one takes the blame.

The second problem is that when making decisions in groups, the presence of some group members with strong personalities can mean that their ideas (right or wrong) are frequently accepted without question.

The third drawback is that when tasks require imagination, groups_, rather than individuals working alone produce poorer decisions. If an organization has to make a decision about its declining market share you would expect that a group meeting would solve such a problem better than an individual. However, most research shows that in problem-solving and creative tasks, people perform better on their own.

If a meeting is to be productive, it should have ¹a clear and stated purpose that all the participants know and understand. You should appoint a ²chairperson who manages and controls the meeting You must write an ³agenda, or list of items to be discussed and send it ⁴to all the people concerned. They should ⁵prepare for the meeting and come to it with ideas to contribute.

You have to attach⁶ a time limit to each point, otherwise there is a risk that some of the items will not be dealt with at all.

You ought to ⁷limit the meeting to 90 minutes. If not, you have to ⁸schedule breaks into the agenda. You don't need to ⁹invite all the important staff members to every meeting. But you should send other senior staff members ¹⁰the minutes, or summary of what was discussed. The minutes should include ¹¹a clear summary of the important points -you don't have to ¹² include everything that was said at the meeting. However, you need to include ¹³actions decided upon at the meeting. Lastly, the minutes should ¹⁴be sent within twenty-four hours. It is essential to keep the ¹⁵meeting's results and future actions clear in everyone's mind.

II. Match the verbs on the left with the nouns on the right. Check your answers by rereading the article.

Do	a meeting
Pool	the blame
Hold	a task
Make	Resources
Take	the (un) necessary
Perform	a decision