Change
1. Give the Russian equivalents:
1)permanent; 2) to move office; 3) to have a personality clash with smb; 4) a significant change; 5) to merge with; a merger; 6) to relocate a business; 7) hostile workforce; 8) to leave smth behind; 9) to hang on to; 10) to beat smb; 11) to bring smb into change; 12) to lay smth out for smb; 13) a vision; 14) to come to a conclusion; 15) to do well; 16) margin; 17) to take time off work; 18) to be in favour of smth; 19) to recognize; 20) to downsize; 21) to delayer; delayering; 22) lean/ flat organization; 23) front-line employees / grassroots; 24) junior / middle / senior (top) managers; 25) to empower; empowerment; 26) business process reengineering (BPR); 27) area manager; 28) to give rationale for; 29) to invigorate; 30) knowledge capitalization; 31) incremental; 32) gradual; 33) relish; 34) to have an impact on smth/smb;
2. Write the verbs from the box under the correct prefix to make words connected with change. Use a good dictionary to help you. Some of the words can be used with more than one prefix.
down- de- up- re-
centralise
organise
train
grade
regulate
size
develop
launch
locate
structure
3. Complete these sentences with the correct form of the verbs from Exercise 2.
1. It is now so expensive to rent offices in the city centre that many companies are ……………….... to the suburbs.
2. The company has recently had to down ...................... its workforce.
Reducing the number of employees is the best way to stay profitable in the current economic climate.
3. Excellent customer service is vital to keep up with the competition. The company has introduced new working practices and is re ...................... all part-time staff.
4. The seating plan in our office has been re ...................... to accommodate new staff.
5. Our product hasn't been selling well recently. The marketing team has decided to re ...................... the product with a more up-to-date image.
6. The company has noticed that too many decisions are made at Head Office. It is de ...................... the decision-making process so that branch managers are more involved at an earlier stage.
7. The company has finalised the plans to re ...................... the disused car park site. It is going to become a modern three-storey office block.
8. The most successful change in our company was the decision to re ...................... the company hierarchy. Now there is more opportunity for promotion.
Underline the nouns in order to make partnerships with the verbs.
4. Mach the terms and definitions:
lean |
to make a situation, an organization, etc. efficient and successful, full of energy; create optimistic vision |
empowerment |
the person in the company whose job is to gather and manage all the information that a company and its employess possess about the technology (methods and processes) that it uses and about its markets, competitors etc. |
frontline manager |
to move smb/smth to a new place to work or operate |
incremental |
ordinary people in the society or in an organization, rather than the leaders or people who make decisions |
business process re-engineering |
the total value of all the information that a company and its employees possess about the technology (advanced processes and methods) it uses |
vision |
relying on fewer employees and using the most effective methods to shoulder more of the work |
to relocate |
this type of process is one when things happen in small steps |
to downsize |
giving more responsibility to workers by allowing them to organize their own work, make decisions without asking managers |
to delayer |
a completely different, most up-to-day innovative approach to business which includes transformative change both in manufacturing and all the processes that contribute to what an organization produce |
the grass roots the grass-root level) |
to reduce the number of management level in organization |
rationale behind / for / of smth |
the ability to think about or plan the future with great imagination and intelligence |
knowledge capitalization |
to reduce the number of employees in organization |
(chief) knowledge officer |
a supervisor whose job involves meeting or communicating directly with workers |
invigorate |
the principal or reasons which explain a particular decision, course of action |
5. Fill in the missing words.
1. In the struggle to turn the company into a _________ commercial outfit, some lines have been discontinued altogether and some jobs have been cut.
2. The trend is towards _____________ through allowing junior staff to take personal initiatives that normally would have been beyond the scope of their jobs.
3. Kaizen is a Japanese concept of _________ improvements in products through team efforts, which is predictable and based on a progressive acceleration of past performance.
4. To manage change successfully leaders in the organization must outline a clear ________ which describes what changes will be achieved by all or parts of organization, and how the achievement will improve the organization.
5. Profits fill 18 % following the company’s restructuring after it __________ its head office to Stanford.
6. Middle managers are the usual victims of company ___________.
7. To become a leaner organization it is necessary not only to reduce the number of employees but to empower the ___________ level.
8. Substantial cuts in funding had a negative __________ on the volume of production and made the company address such issues as restructuring and reengineering.
9. Titles such as _________________ reflect the changes in the role of the head of information technology.
10. As people are afraid of the unknown, question the necessity of significant transformation or have lack of trust to senior management they may become ____________ to change.
11. There are individuals who cope with change better and flourish in changing times. They move on with today’s dynamic workplace and do not _____________ past performance.
6. Read and translate the text.
Change in organizations.
Recent years have seen massive restructuring. Companies downsized and delayered, getting rid of levels of middle-management in order to become leaner, flatter, supposedly more efficient organisations. Often the reasoning was that computer networks allow top managers instant access to information that was previously gathered and transmitted upwards by middle managers, whose other main function was to communicate executives' key messages downwards to the workforce, and in this they were accused of diluting or confusing the messages, or worse. With fewer organisational layers, top managers say they can communicate more directly with front-line employees, the people who actually produce the goods or services, and deal with customers. With less direct supervision, employees have often been encouraged to make more decisions for themselves in a process of empowerment.
Another trend was re-engineering, the idea that an organisation should not change incrementally, but should start again from scratch with no preconceptions about how things should be done, not just in manufacturing but in all the processes that contribute to what an organisation does, hence business process re-engineering, or BPR.
The human side of this, again, was that there would probably be redundancies. The people remaining would probably feel demoralised, wondering when the next wave of change was going to come and whether it would be their turn to be thrown out.
There has been a reaction to downsizing and BPR and a realisation that an organisation's most precious asset may well be its people, and above all what they know. A company's accumulated knowledge and experience is part of company culture and is increasingly seen as a key to success. This collective knowledge and accumulated years of experience is something to cultivate and develop. Some companies have appointed a chief knowledge officer who creates systems to make this intellectual capital available to all employees via the company intranet ( an internet-type system available only to the company). Knowledge management is a new business skill, essential if an organization is to achieve knowledge capitalisation - the most profitable application of the knowledge available to it.
7. Fill in the gaps in the text with the best word
Introducing change.
Change is a natural part of the human condition. However, we often perceive it as a ______ to our stability, our self-esteem and our values. It is therefore hardly surprising that the most frequent reaction to change is ______.
Business leaders need to bear this in mind and introduce change carefully for it to be successful. They have to raise their staff’s ______ of the ______ of the intended change. This can be achieved through good communications, as well as active staff _____ in the decision-making _______ .
Change is easier in flatter organizational structures than in _____ ones. It seems that people working in _____ tend to generate more ideas and can test them out easily.
A ______ style of management, together with adequate _____, can also boost self-confidence and so help staff cope better with change.
Finally, business leaders should create an atmosphere of _____ in which staff are encouraged to express their feelings. Indeed, silent resistance is a greater threat to the success of a change than open criticism.
a) signal b) failure c) stimulus d) threat
a) violence b) resistance c) obedience d) persistence
a) mind b) awareness c) intelligence d) reason
a) cause b) result c) purpose d) success
a) involvement b) work c) suggestions d) ideas
a) time b) role c) activity d) process
a) democratic b) caring c) hierarchical d) market-driven
a) teams b) offices c) companies d) sections
a) supportive b) preventive c) authoritarian d) disciplined
a) education b) training c) measures d) downsizing
a) belief b) suspicion c) faith d) trust