Pre-reading Activities

1. Complete the table with missing words. Consult a list of Key Vocabulary and a dictionary if necessary.

2. Translate the sentences into Russian. Mind the words from exercise 1.

1. People’s creativity is restricted by routine and traditional office hours.

2. Many governments cut advertising expenditures during poor economic times.

3. A slogan is believed to express a key corporate value.

4. In recent years, there have been changes in employment, which have affected practically all the work force.

5. It’s known that employee’s behavior influences the image of the company.

Reading

Read the text and be ready to speak about corporate culture and its characteristics.

Corporate culture can be defined as a set of key values, beliefs, understandings and norms shared by members of an organization. It represents the unwritten, informal norms that bind the company staff together. Just as tribal cultures have rules and taboos that dictate how members will act toward one another, modern organizations have cultures that govern how their members should behave. In every company, there are systems or patterns of values, symbols, rituals, myths, and practices that have evolved over time. These shared values determine what employees see and how they respond to their world. When confronted with a problem, corporate culture restricts what employees can do by suggesting the correct way – “the way we do things here” – to define, analyze and solve the problem.

Corporate culture is a perception, because individuals perceive the culture of the company on the basis of what they see or hear within this company. Even though individuals may have different backgrounds or work at different levels in the organization, they tend to describe the organization’s culture in similar terms. That is the shared aspect of culture.

Corporate culture is also a descriptive term, because it is concerned with how members perceive the company and it is not concerned with the fact whether they like it. So, corporate culture describes rather than evaluates.

Research suggests that there are 7 characteristics which cover the essence of an organization’s culture.

1. Innovation and risk taking. The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and to take risks.

2. Attention to detail. The degree to which employees are expected to show accuracy, analysis and attention to detail.

3. Outcome orientation. The degree to which managers focus on results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve those outcomes.

4. People orientation. The degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.

5. Team orientation. The degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals.

6. Aggressiveness. The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing and cooperative.

7. Stability. The degree to which company activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 887