Business communication 1– participating in discussions

A Three marketing executives, Jacek, Paul and Anna, talk about a new morning snack called Krakel. Listen to their conversation and underline the correct answers.

 

1 Who does Jacek want to target with the new bar?

a) children b) rich women c) young workers

 

2 Jacek says more people these days …..

a) do not have breakfast. b) have breakfast on the way to work.

c) eat breakfast at home.

3 Krakel contains ….

a) no sugar. b) a bit of sugar. c) a lot of sugar.

 

4 Krakel contains …..

a) no fruit. b) a bit of fruit. c) a lot of fruit.

 

B Listen to the conversation again. Complete these extracts.

1 Sorry, Paul, I don’t ………….. with you.

2 I …………… we need to target young working people.

3 You’re ………………. There is a big market for morning snacks.

4 How do you ………….. about this, Anna?

5 I really ……………. the idea.

6 OK. ……………. call a meeting and talk to the rest of the department.

C Look at the extracts in Exercise B. Decide whether the speaker is:

a) agreeing.

b) disagreeing.

c) asking for an opinion.

d) giving an opinion.

e) making a suggestion.

D Work in groups of three. Role-play this situation. You are taking part in a marketing meeting. You are discussing the name and price of a new cereal bar and how to promote it.

Student A You start the meeting with a suggested name for the bar. Name Good taste Price?1.25 Promotion Advertise in magazines and papers for young professionals

Student B You disagree with Student A’s suggestions. Name Healthy bite Price?0.95 Promotion Advertise on radio and TV

Student C You like Student A’s suggested name and you agree with Student B’s price, but you disagree with their promotion ideas. Name Good taste Price?0.95 Promotion Advertise on posters and on websites popular with target market

Useful language

Agreeing You’re right. I really like the idea.	Giving an opinion I think…. In my opinion….
Disagreeing (Sorry,) I don’t agree with you. I’m afraid I don’t agree.	Making a suggestion Let’s……. How about……?
Asking for an opinion What do you think? How do you feel about this?

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION 2 – WRITING E-MAILS

Useful tips

In many e-mails and letters, information is often presented in the following order:

1 greeting

2 thanks / reference to earlier contact

3 most important point

4 other points

5 reference to future contact

6 closing

7 signature

A Complete the e-mail with phrases from the box.

for sending like to know look forward to please confirm interested in

Dear Ms Werner

Thank you for sending¹ us technical information about your range of air conditioners.

We are particularly ……………………² your Aeolis and Zephyr portable models and plan to buy five of each.

Could you ………………..³ that you have those items in stock.

As this is a large order, we would also ………………………⁴ what sort of discount you offer.

We …………………..⁵ hearing from you.

With best wishes

Joao Ramos

B Put these sentences in the correct order to make up an informal e-mail.

Kind regards,

I’m looking forward very much to seeing you next week.

I’m glad that we’ll all be there to agree on the price of our new energy drink, and how to produce it.

Thanks for sending the agenda for our marketing meeting next Thursday.

However, I’d like to suggest that we once again discuss the name of this new product or I am the only one not to be wildly enthusiastic about “Gulp”?

Hi Vicky,

Max

C Rewrite this e-mail using paragraphs, punctuation and capital letters where necessary.

hi tom mr stankov from impex contacted me this morning he is very unhappy because he hasn’t received the samples of our new products he says he may not order from us again could you please send him another box of samples as soon as possible you know russia is a very important market for us and we don’t want to lose this customer many thanks for dealing with this best regards kim

MODULE 8

EMPLOYMENT

TEXT A

1 Study this vocabulary and definitions and think of Russian equivalents:

career – the job or profession that someone does for a long period of their life

promotion – a more important job or rank in the organization that you work

salary – the money that someone is paid each month by their employer, especially when they are in a profession such as teaching, law, or medicine

wages – the amount of money regularly paid for the work someone does

to apply for a job – if you apply for a job you write a letter or fill in a form in order to ask formally for it

pay – the money that you get from your employer as wages or salary

working conditions – the factors of employment which affect people’s comfort, safety, or health

pension – a regular sum of money from the state or from a former employer

a nine-to-five job – a job with typical hours of work in an office, often used to express an idea of routine

working hours – work time, hours of work

to clock in / to clock out (=to clock on / to clock off) – When you clock in/on at work, you arrive there or put a special card into a device to show what time you arrived/ When you clock out/ off at work, you leave work or put a special card into a device to show what time you left.

flexitime (AmE: Flextime) – a system that allows employees to vary the time that they start or finish work, provided that an agreed total number of hours are spent at work

shift – a set working period: If a group of workers work shifts, they work for a set period before being replaced by another group, so that there is always a group working.

to commute – to travel a long distance every day between your home and your place of work (русск. ездить на работу в город (о жителе пригорода)

commuter – a season-ticket holder (русск. пассажир, регулярно совершающий поездки из пригорода в город и обратно (обычно на работу)

 

2 Read and translate the text, pay attention to the words in bold.

In the past, workers often stayed with one company for their whole career until they retired. Now employees regularly change companies, perhaps because they want promotion and higher salary. When we apply for a job, things like pay, working conditions and pension can be important. Many modern employees also want jobs that give them enough free time to spend with their family and friends.

 

Old and new ways

I’m an office worker in an insurance company. It’s a nine-to-five job with regular working hours. The work isn’t very interesting, but I like to be able to go home at a reasonable time. We all have to clock in and clock out every day. In this company, even the managers have to, which is unusual!

I’m in computer programming. There’s a system of flexitime in my company, which means we can work when we want, within certain limits. We can start at any time before eleven, and finish as early as three, as long as we do enough hours each month. It’s ideal for me as I have two young children.

I work in a car plant. I work in shifts. I may be on the day shift one week and the night shift the next week. It’s difficult changing from one shift to another. When I change shifts, I have problems changing to a new routine for sleeping and eating.

I’m a commercial artist in an advertising agency. I work in a big city, but I prefer living in the country, so I commute to work every day, like thousands of other commuters. Working from home using a computer and the Internet has become very popular and the agency is introducing this: it’s called teleworking or telecommuting. But I like going into the office and working with other people around me.

 

3 In small groups discuss the following questions:

What sort of work would you like to have? Which is more important to you, a high salary or a job you enjoy?

What do you think is good or bad about a nine-to-five job/ a flexitime system / working in shifts / commuting / telecommuting?

Why do you think people change jobs nowadays more often than they used to? Would you like to have a job for life? Why?

 

4 Read the article. What sort of company is Manpower? What types of workers does the article mention?

THE WORLD OF WORK