Comprehension

1. Answer the following questions.

1. What is management based on?

2. What is management?

3. What does management include?

4. Managers are concerned with some resources, aren’t they? Name these resources.

5. How can you define material resources?

6. How do employers try to keep their employees content?

7. What does the organization use to meet its obligations?

8. Why can’t organizations ignore information?

Vocabulary

2. Match the words from column A with the words from column B to make a phrase.

A	B
1) to achieve	a) the obligations
2) to apply	b) objectives
3) to meet	c) information
4) to deploy	d) results
5) to set	e) goals
6) to store	f) resources
7) to measure	g) financial assets
8) to coordinate	h) knowledge

3. Fill in the correct words from the list below.

Stages, fulfillment, performance, assignments, increase, goals, information, leading, action, meeting, performed

The four basic management functions that make up the management process are described here: planning, organizing, influencing, controlling.

Planning involves choosing tasks that must be performed to attain organizational …, outlining how the tasks must be performed, and indicating when they should be … .

Organizing can be thought of as assigning the tasks developed in the planning … to various individuals or groups within the organization. Organizing is to create a mechanism to put plans into … . People within the organization are given work … that contribute to the company’s goals.

Influencing is also referred to as motivating, … or directing. Influencing can be defined as guiding the activities of organization members in the direction that helps the organization move towards the … of the goals. The purpose of influencing is to … productivity.

Controlling is the following roles played by the manager:

- gather … that measures performance;

- compare present … to pre established performance norms;

- determine the next action plan and modifications for … the desired performance parameters. Controlling is an ongoing process.

4. Read this short article about the responsibilities of a general manager. Choose the best phrase from a- h to fill in gaps 1-8, to complete the text.

What are the responsibilities of a 1______ manager? Usual­ly they include the following:

1. Long-term planning 2______, production/oper­ation processes, new markets, financial flexibility, and organi­zational changes.

2. Finding and training competent subordinates. The gen­eral manager's goal would be to 3________ and authority as possible to subordinates in finance, mar­keting, production, and human resources in order to be free for the major decisions 4_______company.

3. Coordination. The general manager's goal would be to ensure that 5_________ of the company reinforce one another, rather than work at cross-purposes.

4. Decision making. The general manager will 6_______ that subordinates cannot make, either because of disa­greements or because they lack a sufficiently 7_______ on the issues that need to be considered.

In short, the general manager must understand all func­tional areas of business and be especially competent in 8________ management.

A for new products

B concerning the overall

C make deci­sions

D delegate as much responsibil­ity

E broad perspec­tive

F the various activities

G general

H human resources

5. Fill in the gaps with the words responsibility or authority?

To be a successful manager you must know your ... and … . … is the obligation to carry out a task. It is the actual work that is delegated to a person. ... is the right to act in the name of a superior in an organ­ization. Sometimes we read that a person must have ... equal to the ... . This confuses different concepts: ... is an obligation, ... is a right or power. They are two different things. If you hold a person responsible for carrying out certain tasks you must ensure that he or she has the means to do those tasks. The ... you grant must be adequate to accom­plish the task you have delegated, but must not exceed your own ... .