05100014

First, although, the steady decline of motivation to manage during the 1960s and early 1970s has stopped, students’ motivation to manage still remains very low. Generally speaking, students continue to show a distaste for authority, competitiveness, assertiveness and routine managerial duties. By the way a second conclusion is that female students are no longer lagging behind their male counterparts.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Drawing on your own experience can you recall any specific examples of effective management and mismanagement?

2. In your opinion, what is the single most important aspect of the definition of management? Why?

3. Think of a person or operation that you have seen recently that didn’t achieve a workable balance between effectiveness and efficiency. What could have been done to balance the two? (If I were I'd.)

T E X T 3

Translate the text without using a dictionary.

Successful Managers

The sales manager, the accountant, and the factory manager all act according to their situations, but they also act according to their personalities. Many successful managers (or managers in successful situations) attribute their success to their personal style. Maybe there is a real correlation, but we all know managers who are successful despite their personal styles.

Why are managers successful? It is because they know what they are doing and why. They know their departmental objectives, the procedures and the facts of the business, and they understand and are close to the people around them. They have kept their thought, processes working so that they can keep on top of their jobs and ahead of the game. Crises and panics have been anticipated so that what the level of orders suddenly doubles or the computer breaks down in the middle of the payroll, there is a plan for taking the necessary action. The department is tidy and well ordered and there are no mistakes buried under the carpet, no skeleton in the cupboard. A manager who has achieved this will be confident, relaxed, objective and approachable.

The best manager is the manager who manages best, and in general that means achieving the objectives of his function as economically as possible. We have seen and will see that management is a matter of competence end control and consist largely in taking the right actions rather than in presenting certain styles.

1.What do you understand under the phrases “mistakes buried under the carpet”. “Skeleton in the cupboard”.

2.Try to answer the following:

–Why are some managers successful?

–Which manager is the best one?

–Is there any piece of advice in the text? If there is – what kind of advice?

Managers are human beings who work through and with other human beings. If managers in your company are expected to wear flowered ties, for example, by all means fit the company managerial image – but be yourself. The only way to present a consistent and understandable style over the years is to be true to your own personality. Commit your talents to the organization to whatever extent is necessary, but keep your ego and emotions to yourself.

EXERCISES

1.Determine your career objectives.

2.Write an up-to-date personal history or curriculum vitae as if you were applying for the job you eventually want.

3.Describe your own management style (as you see it).

4.List three main strengths in your style. Can these be developed, and can more use be made of them in the work in which you are involved?

5.List three main weaknesses. Do they affect the results you obtain – and if so, is there anything you can do to overcome your problems or to prevent them from affecting your performance?

6.Analyze the style of the manager you most admire and that of the manager you least admire. Does that tell you anything about yourself? Do you dislike in others traits that you have yourself and do you admire people who are most like you or who would like to be like you?

21

22

T E X T 4

READING

There are different types of management depending on the field of operation. Read about one of them and do the task following the text.

Human Resource Management

All managers are periodically involved in some human resource functions. In small organizations, most personnel functions are performed by the owner or operating managers. Large organizations usually have a personnel department (or a human resource department) which is responsible for organizing and coordinating hiring and training, maintaining personnel records, acting as a link between management, labo(u)r, and government.

Precisely how all the functions related to human resources are split between operating managers and the personnel department varies from organization to organization. For example, the personnel department in one company may do all of the hiring below a certain level. In another company, all the hiring decisions may be made by operating managers, with the personnel department acting only in an advisory capacity.

Important changes have occurred and are still occurring in the composition of the work force. For example, the percentage of whitecollar jobs and the percentage of females in the work force have both increased significantly over the past several decades. The increasing role of women in the work force of the USA has had an impact on human resource managers in numerous ways: child care, spouse relocation assistance programs, and pregnancy leave programs have resulted from this trend.

The aging of the work force is another factor that is having a significant impact on human resource management. For example, in 1982 the median age in the United States was 31 years, 20 % of the population was 55 or older, and 11 % of the population was 65 or older. By the year 2010, 25 % of the population will be 55 or older, 12.5 % will be 65 or older, and the median age will be 37. Human resource managers are having to come up with the ways of better utilizing older employees.

Management skills are the talents necessary for effective performance. All managers need a number of specific skills if they are to succeed. For example, CEOs must be skillful not only in allocating resources and funds to different units of the company, or in delegating responsibilities to their subordinates. CEOs must be skilful at allocating their time. CEOs are likely to spend 59 % of their time in scheduled meetings, 22 % doing “desk work”. 10 % in unscheduled meetings, 6 % on the telephone, and the remaining 3 % on tours of the company facilities. These proportions are different for managers at lower levels.

Finding a competent manager who understands technology is as hard as finding a technologist who can manage. Yet, universities to this day frown on mixing science and commercial education, and the commercially oriented scientist is still looked down. Companies often have to conduct in-service training program(me)s to deal with the problem, training technical experts in commerce and commercial people in technology.

Basic management skills, especially in such key areas as marketing and finance are extremely important in high-tech ventures. Usually, young, brainy, single-minded and often arrogant high-tech entrepreneurs rarely possess such skills. The problem is that high technology requires that management (should) be maintained at above-average level. The high-tech manager must understand the technology but also be capable of getting close to the market and customers.

Say if the statements are true or false:

Significant changes have taken place in the structure of the work force in the USA because

... a) many women and other white-collar workers got employ-

ment.

... b) human resource managers began to hire women for whitecollar jobs.

... c) many competent managers who understand technology now better utilize older employees.

23

24

Part III. To make a decision

T E X T 1

The Decision – Making Process

The task. Imagine that you have got much money. You have to choose: to buy a car or a house. Think a bit. Or maybe not much, but some spare money. What would you choose the first? (to buy a book, to go to the cinema, to go to the restaurant).

Can you prove, that your decision is right?

Now look through the text and think if it is easy to make any decision. What of decisions are easier to make?

How many groups of people can be determined? Describe them. All our working life we are concerned with making decisions.

Even at a very early stage we are involved in them, such as deciding whether to approach the boss, whether to do A before B, whether to try to sell a customer the $100 set or the $150 set, whether to take a check or insist on cash. At the very top, the chairman of a large company is still making decisions, such as whether to buy another company or to proceed into a new market, or to clinch a particular deal.

At home again there is a series of big decision such as, should we have another child, or buy a new car or a bigger house? There are also small decisions: shall we decorate the guest room this week, or shall we leave it until next year? Shall we plant onions again this year when they diet so badly last year, or shall we go for some more potatoes?

All these decisions have one thing in common: we are never in possession of all facts on which to evaluate them thoroughly – in other words, to prove the point conclusively. If we were able to do this then perhaps the need for making the decision would be of a different quality. However, when we are not able to prove the point but must face a decision on a balance of probabilities or estimates or guesses, then we are very much dependant on another quality – decisiveness. This is the capacity to make up our minds and decide to take action, and then take action when we are not in possession of all the fasts.

At one end of the spectrum, we have people who will make a decision or take action when they have no facts at all or practically no facts. We would call these people reckless. At the other end of the spec-

trum, we have people, who will continue calling for further facts and doing further investigations without reaching a decision at all. Or there are those people who keep changing their minds. I’m sure that all of us have worked with people who come to a conclusion one day and then rethink the matter the following day and come to a different conclusion. Who is to say they are wrong? But then action, which is the lifeblood of business, is not taken perhaps when it should be. In addition, the staff people who have been looking to us for a lead find it very frustrating if we keep changing our minds. If they have to adjust to new policies too frequently, they will come to conclusion that perhaps we do not know what we are doing.

I'm sure you will have all seen by now that decisiveness comes with confidence, and confidence comes with knowing what we are doing, or at least thinking that we know what we are doing.

Mechanics of decision-making consists of

1)define the problem,

2)examine the facts,

3)consider the alternatives,

4)include the views of others,

5)decide the course of action,

6)evaluate the results.

For example: it is very important for students of economics faculty to know English much better. What problem can you see here and how would you consider (decide the problem).

EXERCISES

1.What decisions do you regularly make? List six of them, and describe what method you use to make them. Are any of them irrevocable decisions?

2.What was the biggest decision you have ever made? How did you make it and was it successful?

3.List three decisions that could be made by using ranking.

4.List three decisions where simple ranking would be improved by weighting.

5.List three decisions where the use of probabilities would be significant.

25

26

6.Have you ever avoided making decision or felt like avoiding one? Are there any decisions you would avoid now?

7.Are there any circumstances where it is better to stick to a bad decision, than to reverse it? Give an example.

8.What factors would contribute most to improved decisionmaking in your company?

T E X T 2

Read the story. Try to understand as much as possible. Pay at-

tention to the following words.
on time	to care about
happen	complete = finish
facilities	to be concerned by
busy

Answer the questions:

1.What problems (difficulties) in his work as a manager did the author mention?

2.What did he do to overcome some of the difficulties?

3.Is there any item in his list that should be considered the most important? Do you agree with the statement, if not why (explain your point of view)?

– Think about the importance (usefulness or uselessness) of the list of jobs to do.

1.Personal organization

The need for personal organization

When I had my first management job, I found it naturally very exciting, very demanding. I would come in on time, or even early. To digress, a good manager should sometimes come on early and perhaps stay late. All sorts of things happen outside normal working hours. For example, people who get their work wrong or do not complete it during the day will stay behind or come back later to finish it off, (while others will use company facilities for private purposes). However, I would come in on time or early and work like mad throughout the day, but by the end I had never completed all that had to be done, and my head was full of everything that was happening. In particular, I was concerned by

matters affecting the well-being of others, and also by attacks on my department’s activities or on my own standards of performance.

When I arrived home, my head was buzzing and I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking of new ideas or remembering things I had forgotten to do. I had the choice then of lying awake the rest of the night and remembering whatever it was, or going to sleep again and forgetting the matter, although I had not really forgotten it. At least I did not decide to hold a meeting about the situation.

2. Creating a List

I listed all the jobs that I had to do, all the work in my ‘in’ box, and all the functions I had to supervise. I kept a diary, and a current file. To my current File I would add any correspondence, assessments, buying orders, and the like which I wanted to review at a future date; these items were brought into the list as they came up. Having made the first rough list, I then sorted it into its order of importance and urgency. At the end of each day, I used to go through the list and cross off what I had done and also any items, which were no longer relevant. I would add to the list any new jobs or problems that had arisen, and then I would note which jobs I planned to the following day.

So, in the morning, there was my list telling me what I had to do that day. Obviously, unexpected matters arose (in an operational situation one can almost budget for the unexpected), but by large I worked through the list each day.

3. Communications

One of the standing items on the list, apart from going through the diary and current file, was to see all my subordinates. I kept at hand a list of all subordinates, and made a point of seeing each one even if only to say hello every day.

It could be, of course, that you are often away or that you have too many staff people to see. Perhaps in the first case you should consider whether you are away too much to do your job properly; in the second case, you may have many people directly under you and you should delegate some of the process to subordinates. Communications is the name of this game: people require regular contact, in particular from their boss. They will often tell you things or, in talking with them, you may be able to sense a problem that they would be reluctant to bring to your office.

27

28

Communications can only exist on a face-to-face basis, and they are of prime importance at every level. Many managers who have considerable responsibilities in large organizations do not know the names or faces of their top management and directors. And even greater proportion never see, or are never seen by, their top management in any operational situation. No amount of personal work can make people think you care about them if they never see you.

ADDITIONAL READING

T E X T 1

Read and translate the text. Consult the words below. Express your opinion.

Notes on Business Communication Etiquette

Today the business world is supposed to be in a state of “manners crisis”. In our increasingly high-tech, impersonal world, the sensitivity inherent in good etiquette has become an important counterbalance. Also, boundaries in business have extended in all directions. Women have entered the business world in great numbers. People from different cultures interact. Factors such as these increase the need to avoid communication that offends or causes misunderstanding. At the same time, baby-boomers now moving into the executive were mostly not trained in manners. They feel uncomfortable because of their lack of social graces.

Discomfort on both sides is not the only result. Those practicing poor etiquette lose the competitive edge to those who know what to do and do it with grace – in starting salaries, promotions, attracting and keeping clients, inducing the cooperation of subordinates, etc. Good business etiquette pays, both in intangible and tangible ways.

There is certainly more you can add on telephone communication etiquette. Manners are particularly important when speaking on the phone because facial expression and body language are lost. Besides that, we spend a lot of time on the phone. A disgruntled or uninterested voice, poor diction, sentences laced with “you know's”, and nonstandard grammar all present a very negative image. People with heavy accents need to speak even more slowly and carefully than others.

Someone may ask about what to do if the person on the other end of the conversation is rude – and is also an important person. That person may be smoking, chewing gum, talking to other people in the room, etc. Often there is nothing that can be done except to endure and be unfailingly polite in return. But it is all right to ask the person to repeat what he or she has said (plead a poor connection). Better yet, whenever possible, arrange for face to face business meetings, and keep them as brief and to the point as possible.

Another question that may arise is how to end telephone conversations courteously with people who ramble, leaving the listener in the dark about the point of the call, who race on without giving the listener a chance to speak (especially when the listener knows the caller should speak to someone else), or who repeats the same information, important though it may be, more than once. Hanging up is usually not an option in business.

* With ramblers, the best strategy is to interject a direct question: “What exactly do you have in mind?” And the listener may need

to add that he or she has an appointment so hasn't much time.

*With racers, the listener, while avoiding outright rudeness, can only talk over the caller, interrupting with a statement about whom the call needs to be directed, say that the call will be transferred; and then quickly transfer the call. It is a good idea, though, to give the caller the name and number he or she needs in case the transfer fails.

*With repeaters, the listener needs to assert control. One way is to summerize the key points of what the caller has said, say the two will talk later, and close the call with a polite “Thank you. Goodbye.”

You might want to add some other telephone tips that are part of good business communication etiquette such as answering the call on the first or second ring, explaining delays if one must leave the phone to get information, referring to the client by name (title and last name, correctly pronounced), closing the conversation politely, and hanging up the phone gently.

WORDS TO WATCH impersonal – обезличены, inherent in – присущая counterbalance – противовес

baby-boomer – дети послевоенных лет

29

30

move into the executive – приходящие на руководящие посты train in manners – обучать хорошим манерам

social graces – принятые в обществе правила поведения practicing poor etiquette – плохо владеть правилами этикета lose the competitive edge – уступать в сравнении с теми, кто cooperation of subordinates – отношения с подчиненными pays both in intangible and tangible ways – окупается / компен-

сируется зримо и незримо disgruntled – раздражительный to endure – терпеть

unfailingly polite – безукоризненно вежливый plead – ссылаться на

face-to-face business meeting – очная деловая встреча ramble – говорить много и не по делу

leaving smb in the dark about – оставлять кого-либо в полном неведении

to interject – вставить

talk over smb – “одолеть / победить” transfer the call – переадресовать звонок to assert control – установить контроль

BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

1.Do you agree with the author’s statement concerning “manners crisis” in today’s business world? Can you illustrate it with any example?

2.Do you think the communication etiquette is really important in business? Why? Why not?

3.In which ways can communication etiquette influence а сагеer of a business person?

4.Why are manners particularly important when speaking on the

phone?

5.Which telephone tips can you enumerate?

THE TASK FOR DISCUSSION

You are a busy person-you work hard to get education, you read much, you take part in social activity at the university, take part in sport events, meet your friends, and so on). Think, what items would you put

in your list under number 1, 2, 3 (not to forget them). What items are more important for you? Why?

T E X T 2 (to train your brain)

Some but not all of the lines in the following text contain one extra word that should not be there. Read the text straight through to find out what it's about. Underline the unnecessary words and tick (v) the lines that are correct. The exercise begins with two examples (O).

How to be a Good Manager

0 v A lot of research has been carried out into what makes a good 0 manager. This research has covered over all types of working

1.environments by including industry, retailing and government.

2.As the result has been that several characteristics have been

3.identified as are being typical of the very best managers. It

seems

4. that good managers are quick to give the praise to employees

who

5.deserve it and also to pass it on when it comes from outside the

6.company, from a customer, for example. Also a characteristic of

7.good managers is that they treat every people fairly and do not

have

8.favourites. The researchers found that managers who they were

9.thought to be discriminating against some people and giving to

10.others special treatment could seriously reduce the efficiency of

11.the work in force. It was also noticed that good managers

moved

12.around a lot, for getting to know all the staff as well as people

13.outside the company, instead of always staying inside the of-

fice.

14.However, this had to be done carefully because employees, al-

though

15.they appreciate the manager taking up an interest in their work

16.do not want him or her constantly be looking over their shoul-

der.

31

32

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

T E X T 1

Read and translate the following text to be ready to discuss.

What Makes a Good Manager?

Here Are 10 Tips

By Bill Gates

There isn't a magic formula for good management, of course, but if you're a manager perhaps these tips will help you be more effective.

1.Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It’s hard to be productive without genuine enthusiasm. This is true whether you're a manager or employee.

2.Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre results, no matter how well managed it is.

One common mistake is holding onto somebody who doesn't quite measure up. It's easy to keep this person on die job because he's not terrible at what he does. But a good manager will replace him or move him to a set of responsibilities where he can succeed unambiguously.

3.Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on she context.

Sometimes you maximize productivity by giving everybody his or her own office. Sometimes you achieve it by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes you use financial incentives to stimulate productivity. A combination of approaches is usually required. One element that almost always increases productivity is providing an information system that empowers employees.

When I was building Microsoft, I set out to create an environment where software developers could thrive. 1 wanted a company where engineers liked to work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged them to work together, share ideas and remain highly motivated. If I hadn't been a software engineer myself, there's no way I could have achieved my goal.

4.Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should measure their achievements.

Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set by the people who do the work. People will accept a “bottoms-up” deadline they helped set but they'll be cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn't map to reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organization.

At my company, in addition to regular team meetings and one- on-one sessions between managers and employees, we use mass gatherings periodically and e-mail routinely to communicate what we expect from employees.

5.To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If you don't genuinely enjoy interacting with people, it'll be hard to manage them well.

You must have a wide range of personal contacts within your organization. You need relationships – not necessarily personal friendships – with a fair number of people, including your own employees. You must encourage these people to tell you what's going on (good or bad) and give you feedback about what people are thinking about the company and your role in it.

6.Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them.

This is an exciting goal but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he's training his replacement. If you're concerned ask your boss: “If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the company have some other challenge for me or not?”

Many smart managers like to see their employees increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks.

7.Build morale. Make it clear there's plenty of good will to go around and that it's not just you as some hotshot manager who's going to look good if things go well.

Give people a sense of the importance of what they're working on – its importance to the company, its importance to customers.

When you achieve great results, everybody involved should share in the credit and feel good about it.

8.Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate.

The last thins people want is a boss who just dotes out stuff. From time to time prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the

33

34

less attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges.

9.Don't make the same decision twice. Spend the rime and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don't revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you're too willing to reopen issues, it interferes not only with, your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place.

People hate indecisive leadership so you have to make choices. However that doesn't mean you have to decide everything the

moment it comes to your attention. Nor that you can't ever reconsider a decision.

10.Let people know whom to please. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your boss and maybe it's somebody who works for you. You’re in trouble – and risking paralysis in your organisation – when employees start saying to themselves: “Am I supposed to be making this person happy or this other person happy? They seem to have different priorities.”

I don't pretend that these are the only 10 approaches a manager should keep in mind, or even that they're the most important ones. There are lots of others. But these 10 ideas may help you manage well, and I hope they do.

Qu. Do you agree with all these aproaches a manager should keep in mind. Do you consider them to be important. If YES-why, if NO-why?

T E X T 2

1. Read the text and see if the writer's ideas are the same as

yours.

2. The text has eight main sub-sections. Match the cartoons to the sections.

Men and women do things differently. There are, of course, exceptions to every generalisation, including this one.

Cristina Stuart is a managing director of Speakeasy Training, a consultancy that runs courses for men and women working together. Here she describes a few key differences between the sexes in the workplace.

1. Working together

The male approach to business is competitive, direct and confrontational. The end justifies the means*. Personal status and a focus on the individual are important. The female method is collaborative. Collective action and responsibility are more important than personal achievement. Lateral thinking**, as well as goodwill and the well-being of the individual, are also of great importance.

2. Tackling problems

The male approach is to go to the heart of the problem, without taking into account secondary considerations. The female preference is to look at various options.

3. Body language

Male body language tends to be challenging. Female body language tends towards self-protection. A stereotypical female pose is sitting cross-legged; the male sits with legs apart to give an impression that he is in control. Male behaviour can include forceful gestures for example banging a fist on the desk for effect. The female style does not usually include aggressive gestures.

4. Language

The male way of speaking does not encourage discussion. Women tend to welcome others' opinions and contributions more.

5. Conversation

Men like to talk about their personal experiences and achievements or discuss 'masculine' topics such as cars or sport. Women tend to talk about staff problems and personal matters.

6. Meetings

If a woman does not copy the male confrontational style, she is often ignored.

7. Self-promotion

Men find it easy to tell others about their successes. Women tend to share or pass on the credit for a success.

____________________

* The end justifies the means: it doesn’t matter what merhods you use; success is the only important think.

** Lateral thinking: thinking in a creative way, making unusual connections.

35

36

8. Humour

Men's humour can be cruel – a man's joke usually has a victim. Female humour is less hurtful. A woman often jokes against herself.

CAVEAT

Many men have a female style of working. Equally many women have a male approach. As Ms Stuart says many of the current management theorems – flatter organisations*, empowerment, managing by consensus** – have a female style to them.

READING

1 The text is about the different styles that men and women have in the workplace. Look at the cartoons and say which figures you think represent men and which represent women?

____________________

* Flatter organisations: organisations in which there are fewer managers and people have equal status.

** Managing by consensus: managing by getting everyone to agree.

T E X T 3

“Invisible” Resource: Women for Boards

Despite the increased appearance of women on corporate boards in recent years, only 1,8 % of the directors of the top 1,300 boards are women. Almost without exception, these women have been highly “visible” for their achievements in government, education, and nonprofit circles. But there are hundreds of other high achievers who are not so visible. The problem for chairmen and nominating committees is twofold: (I) identifying and selecting the best of this “unknown” but talented pool of candidates and (2) defining and communicating their expectations from women.

Women have only recently entered the boardroom. The popular perception is that large numbers have been appointed to corporate boards and that they are now a significant presence on the boards of most major corporations in the United States. But that perception does not yet reflect reality.

Felice N. Schwartz

Harvard Business Review

Boards: (board of directors) group of persons controlling a business.

Visible: here, outstanding, prominent, well-known.

Nominating committees: groups who suggest possible representatives or members (in this case, board members).

Pool: common fund, supply, or service, provided by or shared among many.

Expectations: wishes or confidences of something to be done, produced, or received.

37

38

It is true that the number of women directors in the United States has increased dramatically, from 147 in 1976 to 300 in 1979, but the ratio of female to male directors remains remarkably small: there are only 300 women directors on only 365 of the Fortune “1,300” boards, whereas there are about 16,000 men on these boards.

This new phenomenon of the woman director is interesting; pressure to recruit women directors, unlike that to employ women in the general work force, does not derive from legislation. The 935 companies among the top 1,300 that do not have women on their boards are not subject to penalty.

But the pressure to recruit women directors is nevertheless real and recognized. It comes primarily from stockholders, from employees (in particular from women employees, especially those at high levels), and from consumers. This pressure reflects a growing widespread concern with equal employment opportunity, a tendency to broaden definitions of corporate responsibility, and a demand for greater accountability on the part of both director and company.

On the other hand, the incentives to appoint women to boards have not yet been clearly perceived. The contribution expected from women directors and the characteristics, perspectives, and expertise required to make that contribution have not been adequately analyzed. The fascinating thing is that the contribution expected from women directors has not yet been defined

Derive: to have as a starting point, source, or origin.

Penalty: punishment for failure to obey rules or keep an agreement.

Stockholders: those who own shares in a company.

Corporate responsibility: the idea of duties that a company is legally or morally obliged to carry out. such that it may be blamed if it does not.

Accountability: responsibility; the expectation of having to give an explanation.

Expertise: specialized knowledge or ability.

either by corporate chairmen and their nominating committees or by the women candidates for those positions.

I will explore four separate aspects of the problem:

1.The preferences of the chairmen.

2.Making a contract with the woman director.

3.The challenge for women directors in the 1980s.

4.Selecting women candidates.

The chairmen's preferences Specifications for directorships have

traditionally been loosely drawn. One thing that has been fixed, however, is that the chief executive officer has always been

.the most desirable candidate. Every CEO I have talked with would like at least a halfdozen chief executives on his board. When the chairmen of the large corporations began to be interested in recruiting women for their boards, they sought women in their own image – chief executive officers. Such women, however, are rare today.

The second preference of chairmen who became interested in recruiting women was often a woman who had the equivalent – or nearly the equivalent – of CEO experience. The boards of the top ten companies in the Fortune “1,300” do not include a single male from business who is not a chief executive, a former CEO, or the equivalent.

The chairmen's third preference then became women of high achievement outside the business world and preferably – but not

Chairmen (chairman of the board): the highest ranking board members.

Preferences: which is better liked or rather chosen.

Specifications: instructions for the design and materials for something to be made or done. Directorships: the positions held by board members.

Chief executive officer (CEO): officer holding top position in any administrative hierarchy, with duties of advising and directing organizational policies and of acting as liaison officer between the administrative and legislative bodies.

39

40