State examination situations on Business English Situation 7

a) You have just been appointed the Senior Manager in the Production Department. You are eager to introduce some changes in the department. You’ve made up your mind to discuss your ideas first with your Junior Manager. You think it will be a good idea if you introduce a flextime schedule, give your workers a chance to participate in planning their job activities, etc.

b) You are the Junior Manager at the same department. You do appreciate the Senior Manager’s attempts to improve the situation in the department. You think that in order to achieve the department’s objectives you should be one team.

Situation 1

a) You are the Manager of the Supply Department. You make a phone call to order computers of the latest model needed for your company. You want to know if they are in stock and if it is possible to deliver them urgently. Discuss prices and delivery terms. Ask for a 10% discount, order eight computers.

b) You work in the Sales Department. A customer phones you to order computers of the latest model. Give him/her detailed information. Tell him/her a 10% discount is not available in your company, insist on a 6% discount. Promise him/her to send computers straight away after he/she confirms the order in writing. Agree at a 8% discount.

Situation 2

a) You are the Manager of a local construction company. You meet the Manager of a foreign company that is responsible for supplying experienced construction engineers to your organisation. Now you are discussing whether to recruit local or foreign builders. You think that you should employ local ones, as it will help to reduce the rate of unemployment in the region.

b) You are the Manager of a foreign construction company. As you are not sure about local builders’ qualification, you want to recruit foreign builders and transfer them to Kazakhstan. But to the end of the conversation you do agree to recruit local people and share your company’s experience with them.

Situation 3

a) You are the Managing Director of the Electronic Company. You are having a meeting with the Senior Executive to discuss staff morale. You feel that many of employees are not happy with their work, and that this is affecting their work efficiency. You discuss how to develop a high morale and motivate people to work harder.

b) You are the Senior Executive of the same company. The Managing Director has invited you to discuss how to develop a high morale in the company and to motivate people to work harder. You think that the productivity of the workers will increase if conditions are made better. You suggest carrying out an opinion survey to find out what the staff really thinks about.

Situation 4

a) You are the Managing Director of the Soft Drinks Plant. You are having a meeting with the Union Representative. You discuss the question of the staff moral. You feel that most of the employees are not satisfied with their jobs. You have carried out the opinion survey and you have the results of it.

b) You are the Union Representative of machine operators. You think that creating good working conditions is the solution of the problem. You suggest discussing some demands put forward by workers.