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Beyond the suggestion boxBy Nikki Tait
Three years ago, American Freight-ways, an Arkansas haulage company, had a little wooden In Touch provides a freecall number, which the client's employees can dial at any time. Messages are then transcribed verbatim and forwarded to the company's executives within one Having watched tens of companies implement the system, Mr Lilienthal says it is almost impossible to predict what the response will be. But he notes that there is often a quiet interval at the out- Mr Lilienthal has a couple of tips for anyone introducing the system. First, make sure the service is relatively unrestricted, and not advertised as a "complaint" line. Second, convince workers that calls will be taken seriously. American Freightways, for example, promises to get back to all from the Financial Times
1. Look through the whole article and put these paragraph headings into the correct order. a) Typical response patterns after the system is introduced b) How the system works c) Hints on how to introduce the system d) A new system for employee suggestions 2. True or false? a) American Freightways is based in Arkansas. b) Before, the suggestions scheme received no suggestions at all. c) The new suggestions scheme is run in-house. d) Employees make suggestions by e-mail. e) The system is hard to use. f) American Freightways' vice-president for people management thinks that the system has been very useful. g) On the whole, other clients for the system have been satisfied, but they have made some criticisms. 3. Find expressions that mean the same as those in italics. a) In Touch gives a number that people can call without paying. b) What the callers say is then written down word for word. c) They are sent to the company's managers. d) In Touch will give details of the numbers of different calls. e) In Touch will give details of the things that a company's employees are particularly worried about or interested in. f) Callers do not have to give their names. 4. Put these phases for the system into the order they may typically occur. a) a phase with a moderate number of calls b) a phase with a high number of calls c) a phase with a low number of calls 5. Now match each phase in Question 4 to typical employee reactions for those phases. a) The system settles down, and people call less often, but what they have to say is more useful to the company. b) Employees hesitate to use the system because they don't know if it will work. c) Employees call more frequently, often to complain about things that have annoyed them for a long time. 6. Which of these hints to managers for making the system successful is not mentioned? a) Don't say that the system is mainly for making complaints. b) Make the system relatively open for anyone to use. c) You should promise not to try to find the people who call without giving their names. d) You should respond to messages within a particular time. e) Publicise the most important messages and their responses. f) Where relevant, you should get the appropriate manager to respond to messages.
GRAMMAR Date: 2014-12-29; view: 3151
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