Although the concept of organizational climate is somewhat nebulous, it is valuable in understanding several aspects of organizational behavior. Organizational climate is the overall favourability of member attitudes and perceptions with reference to specific activities and featuresof an organization.
Organizations tend to have their specific culture: a peculiar mix of values, attitudes, norms, habits, traditions, behaviors and rituals. Some organizations are well aware of their culture and regard it as a powerful strategic tool, used to orient all units and individuals toward common goals, mobilize employee initiative, ensure loyalty, and facilitate communication. They aim at creating a culture of their own and making sure that all employees understand it and adhere to it. The specific cultural values of an organization may concern, for example:
· the organization’s mission and image ( high technologies, innovative spirit, superior quality);
· seniority and authority (respect for seniority; seniority as a criterion of authority);
· the treatment of people ( concern for people and their needs, equitable treatment or favouritism, privileges, respect for individual rights, training and developing opportunities, how people are motivated);
· the importance of different management positions and functions (authority of personnel department; importance of different vice-presidents’ positions; respective role and authority of research and development);
· work organization and discipline (voluntary versus imposed discipline; punctuality; use of time clocks; flexibility in changing roles at work; use of new forms of work organization);
· decision making process (who decides; who has to be consulted; individual or collective decision making; need to reach consensus);
· circulation and sharing of information (employees amply or poorly informed; information readily shared or not);
· communication pattern (preference for oral or written communication; rigidity or flexibility in using established channels, use of meetings; who is invited to what meeting; established behaviour in the conduct of meeting);
· ways of handling the conflicts (desire to avoid conflict; preference for informal or formal ways; involvement of higher management);
· performance evaluation (confidential or public; by whom carried out; how results are used);
· socialization patterns (who socializes with whom during and after work; facilities such as separate dining rooms or reserved clubs);
· management and leadership style (paternalism; authoritative, consultative or participative style; flexibility and adaptability);
· identification with the organization (manager and stuff adherence to company objectives and policies; enjoying working with organization).
T E X T 6
WHY ARE COMPANIES REFERRED TO AS LTD., INC., GMBH, OR S.A.?
An individual, like Henry Ford, might want to begin a small enterprise and personally retain total responsibility and liability, but once it starts to grow, a partnership or a "company"—such as Ford Motor Company—would need to be formed. The key factor in owning any company is the guarantee called limited liability: the owners of a company never have to pay more than they have invested in the company. Their liabilities are limited. When a company goes bankrupt, the owners can never be required to pay its unpaid bills.
The worst that can happen to investors in a limited liability company is losing their initial investment if the company fails. By limiting the downside risk for shareholders, companies are able to attract equity investors and raise large amounts of funds called equity capital through sales of shares rather than by borrowing money at potentially high interest rates.
The names of companies around the world reflect this guarantee of limited liability. The abbreviations "GmbH" in Germany, "Inc." in the United States, or "Ltd." in most other English-speaking countries indicate that the firm is a limited liability company and investors have nothing more to lose than the money invested in their shares. The "S.A." in French- and Spanish-speaking countries also refers to limited liability by defining shareholders as "anonymous." Since the identity of shareholders can be kept secret, the creditors of a bankrupt company have no right to pursue them for the company's unpaid debts.
Many countries make a clear distinction between public and private companies, with separate designations, such as AG and GmbH in Germany, or Plc and Ltd. in Britain. Generally, "public" companies are those large enough to have their shares traded on stock exchanges, while smaller unquoted companies are said to be "private," even though their shares can be held by the public at large. In some countries, a large company is said to be privately owned if its shares are not available to the general public. In the United States, where little distinction is made between public and private companies, most companies simply bear the title "Incorporated."
T E X T 7
JOB SPECIFICATION
An interesting feature of the labour markets is that many organizations do not specify the type of person they require instead they will give the details of a job in a job specification. The Department of Employment has given the following definitions of a job description and job specification:
Job description: a broad statement of the purpose, scope, duties and responsibilities of a particular job.
Job specification: a detailed statement of the physical and mental activities involved in the job. The specification is usually expressed in terms of behaviour: what the worker does, what knowledge he uses in doing it, the judgments he makes and the factors he takes into account when making them.
The great variety of job specifications which exists in business illustrates the range of specification in occupation. The five categories given below do not cover this wide range, but can become a guide to the role of manpower in organization.
1.Unskilled. Many jobs do not require any training or previous experience, for example manual labour or assembly work. These occupations are often highly repetitive and boring, as well as being poorly paid.
2.Mechanical or motor skills. There are some tasks in business which are performed by machines which require an operator. The more complicated the machine, then generally the more the operator must be.
3.Intelligence and knowledge. Occupations which require a high level of motor skill sometimes also demand a high level of intelligence and aptitude. But there are jobs which do not need mechanical skills but make demand on people’s knowledge.
4.Administrative or managerial skills. The ability to organize other people is a rare skill. It not only requires knowledge and understanding of the functions within an organization, but also the ability to motivate people. In addition managers must be able to organize nonhuman resources using techniques of forecasting, planning, coordinating and controlling. These are techniques which require judgment as well as knowledge.
5.Decision-making skills and initiative. Decision-making is an everyday occurrence for everyone. We decide what to eat, what to wear, where to go, and so on. Similarly, decisions are part of an organization’s everyday activities. The higher one goes up the hierarchy, the more necessary is the skill of decision. The risks which all organizations face mean that that organizations have to be run by people who have the ability to diagnose and assess the risk, and the capacity to decide on the correct strategy. Business is constantly changing and organizations require people with enterprise and initiative in order to survive.
Ex.18.Translate the text in written form.
Business is the exchange of goods and services, and money, on an arm’s length (objective) basis, that results in mutual benefit or profit for both parties involved. An individual engages in business because he or she believes that the rewards, or possible future benefits, of business are greater than risks, or possible future sacrifices, of business.
Business activities are events that involve making and carrying out the operating, investing, and financing decisions that deal with business assets or obligations.
In a profit-seeking business, there are three types of business activities that correspond to the three types of business decisions. Operating activities are the profit-making activities of the enterprise. They include those business activities that generate revenues, such as selling merchandise for cash or on credit or providing services for a fee. They also include activities that result in increased expenses, such as purchasing goods for manufacture or resale, paying wages, or combining goods and labour to manufacture products.
Investing activities include the purchase and a sale of long-term assets in addition to other major items used in a business’ operations.
Financing activities are activities that involve obtaining the cash or using other non-cash means to pay for investments in long-term assets, and to repay money borrowed from creditors, and to provide a return to owners.
UNIT 3
MANAGEMENT
If the leader is good, the followers will be good.
Your vocabulary
Management
-the control and organizing of a business or other organization;
- those stuff within the firm who exert control over its activities on behalf of owners.
Top management
includes the chief executive of an organization, his or her deputy or deputies, the board of directors and the managers in charge of the divisions or departments of the organization.
Middle management
consists of the managers to whom top management delegates the day-to-day running of the organization.
Managing director
- company director responsible for the day-to-day running of a company. Second in the hierarchy only to the chairman, if there is one; the managing director is the company’s chief executive.
Manager
-a person controlling or administrating a business or part of a business.
Ex. 1.Do you know the meaning of the following derivatives? Show it with the help of your own sentences.
to manage; manageable; management; manager; manageress; managerial.
Translate the following sentences. Pay attention to the words in italics.
1. The reserved the right to make managerial decision.
2. What you need is advice from your bank manager.
3. I wish you could manage the time to come and to talk to us.
4. Private banks are being nationalized, and are to be managed with workers’ participation.
5. They are part of my management team.
6. The baby can be greatly influenced by the parents’ management.
7. She has been working as the manageress of a bookshop.
8. It is perfectly manageable task to tackle systematically.
Ex. 2.Write down a synonym for each of the words on the left. Choose the one on the right. In what do they differ?
Choice
objective
current
predict
happen
handle
influence
posses
grant
get
affect
present
own
target
process
option
give
obtain
foresee
occur
Ex. 3.The following words can be classified into 5 groups. What are they? Show the difference in their meaning with the help of your own sentences.
Choice, have, solve, dilemma, own, profit, posses, variant, cope with, to process, option, tackle, problem, handle, return, predicament, gain, alternative.
Ex. 4. Match the definitions with the words given below.