Task 4. Answer these questions.

In which country (Russia, Germany, the US or Spain):

1. should you start a negotiation with general conversation?

2. do negotiators show strong emotions?

3. is it common for there to be several conversations at the same time during a negotiation?

4. do negotiators focus on results rather than developing relationships?

5. do negotiators plan their tactics carefully?

6. should you not stop someone while they are talking?

7. is it usual for the atmosphere to be relaxed and friendly?

8. do negotiators prefer to think of ideas during a negotiation rather than before it starts?

9. do negotiators like to talk about business immediately?

10. should you not give the other side too much as they will not respect you?

 

Task 5. Say which of the following are good ways of dealing with conflict in a negotiation? Prove your answer.

1. avoid eye contact

2. smile a lot

3. sit back and appear relaxed

4. stop the discussion and come back to it later

5. say nothing for a long time

  6. say ‘I see what you mean’

7. focus out why the other side is unhappy

8. focus on the issues not on personalities

9. say something humorous

10. speak calmly and slowly

 

Task 6. Read the following paragraph and answer the questions after it.

You have probably heard jokes like this (British) one:

What is the difference between heaven and hell? In heaven, the French are the cooks, the Germans are the engineers, the British are the politicians, the Swiss are the managers, and the Italians are the lovers. In hell, the British are the cooks, the French are the managers, the Italians are the engineers, the Germans are the politicians, and the Swiss are the lovers. Do you find such stereotypes amusing or offensive? Is there any truth in national stereotypes? Do cultural habits have an effect on business practices and management styles?

Unit 5. Check-up.

Make sure that you know the following words and word combinations, translate them into Russian.

Lifestyle, workload, job insecurity, working long hours, work-life balance, tackling problems, to look at various options, to sit cross-legged, to become angry when stressed, to worry more about making mistakes, to give up one’s job, anti-social hours, to work one’s way up through a company.

Make sure that you know the following words and word combinations, translate them into English.

Гибкий график работы, конечный срок, успешно справляться со стрессом, поощрять дискуссию, рассказывать о своем успехе, быть менее целеустремленным, обращать больше внимания на мелочи, брать работу на дом, реализовать свои стремления.

 

Make up sentences or short dialogs with the following word combinations from the unit.

1. to intervene and propose something new

2. to take the side of one party and stop speaking to the other one

3. to consider carefully what other people say

4. to be quite good at conflict management

5. to argue with each other

6. to show one’s frustration by being aggressive

7. to make compromises

8. to speak one’s mind

9. to place great weight on the clarity of the subject matter

10. to stop the discussion and come back to it later

Unit 6: Planning

Task 1. Match the verbs in the box to nouns. Each pair of words describes a way to plan effectively.

estimate collect consider forecast do

1. ___________ costs

2. ___________ sales

3. ___________ research

4. ___________ information

5. ___________ options

 

Task 2. Match the verbs to the nouns. Make as many combinations as you can.

to write	1. a deadline
to implement	2. a schedule
to meet	3. a budget
to arrange	4. a plan
to prepare	5. a meeting
to keep within	6. a report
to rearrange

 

Task 3. A Managing Director talks about the planning of a new sales office in the United States. Complete the text with nouns from Tasks 1 and 2.

Recently we decided to open a new sales office in New York. First, I arranged a 1 _____________ with the finance department to discuss the project. We prepared a 2 ___________ with details of the various costs involved. Then we collected 3 ________________ about possible locations for the new office. We considered two 4 ______________ - one in Greenwich village and the other near Central Park. After doing some more 5 _____________, I wrote a 6 ______________ for the board of directors. 

Unfortunately, we made a mistake when we estimated the 7 ______________ as the exchange rate changed, and so we didn’t keep within our 8 _______________. We overspent by almost 20 percent. We had to rearrange the 9 _______________ for moving into the building because the office was not redecorated in time. The board of directors was unhappy because we didn’t meet the 10 _____________ for opening the office by 15 December. It finally opened in January. However, we forecast 11 _________ of at least $ 500 000 in the first year.

 

Task 4. Every successful person in business has his or her own secret of good planning. Read the following text. Work in pairs and make a list of things that are important in planning. Add your own ideas.

The most important thing is to know exactly what it is that you want to achieve, and define it, and define by when you want to achieve it and with that information, you can then set a deadline and identify the tasks that are necessary to achieve that goal, get on with them to a timetable.

There are some things, which are clearly outside our control. In business, it might often be unforeseen changes in the economic climate. When things change, it is important to step back, reassess the situation and redefine one’s goal.