Revision 2 Повторение 2

Exercise 1

Read and translate the text.

Difficult Colleagues

Do you have a problem with difficult people at work? Do you have a colleague who is always late, who is always criticizing your work or who can never decide anything? Recent research suggests that you are not alone. Many managers say that they are spending more and more time dealing with difficult people and trying to stop confrontations at work.

Katerina Gerhardt, a leading management consultant, has spent over three years looking into the problem of conflicts in the office or on the factory floor. Her report lists some of the commonest types of “difficult” people.

Mr Angry. This person finds it almost impossible to control his emotions at work. If there is a problem at work he becomes aggressive, and shouts and screams until he gets his way. This behaviour can be very intimidating for other people and can lead to serious problems in a department or in a company.

Ms Indecisive. She is completely unable to make a decision. She prefers a wait–and–see approach. Even the most trivial questions take weeks or months to decide. Katerina Gerhardt gives several examples of cases where slow decision making has led to losses of important contracts and millions of dollars in revenue.

Mr Rumour. He is normally an insecure person who feels threatened by colleagues. He may feel that people dislike him or think that his work is poor. His reaction is to talk about people behind their backs and spread rumours about them. This usually creates a bad working atmosphere and can even affect productivity in extreme cases.

Mr Right. He is convinced that his, and only his, opinions are correct and that his decisions are the right ones. Katerina Gerhardt says that Mr Right is very common in senior management positions. He is only interested in himself. He dismisses his colleagues’ contributions and will only listen to his own opinions. He is usually the worst kind of team leader.

For some people being difficult is a full time job. This can make life impossible for colleagues and can even lead to people leaving the company.

So what’s the solution? Katerina Gerhardt says that some types of behaviour are so difficult that no satisfactory solution can be given. However, she does suggest some ways for managers to deal with problem people.

• First to arrange a meeting with the difficult person. Make sure that you meet somewhere quiet and not in the middle of a busy office with phones ringing and visitors arriving.
• Listen to his or her opinion. Don’t give the impression that you are not interested in the reasons for the problem. Try to find some points you can agree on if possible. Emphasize that you are interested in finding a solution to the problem.
• Don’t listen to rumour or opinion. Concentrate on the facts of the case. Turn the conversation to specific cases of “difficult” behaviour. Don’t repeat vague accusations or second–hand stories from colleagues in your department.

Exercise 2

Read the article again and mark the sentences true or false.

1. In most companies there are some difficult people.
2. Dr Gerhardt studied difficult people in three companies.
3. Mr Angry is usually very relaxed at work.
4. It could be very expensive for a company to employ Ms Indecisive.
5. Mr Right is normally a good listener and a popular boss.
6. Ms Gerhardt thinks that all problems with difficult colleagues can be solved.
7. It is a good idea to invite a difficult colleague to a restaurant to discuss the problem.
8. You should agree with everything the difficult person says.

Exercise 3

Read and translate.

Managers and time

A recent seminar in Budapest on the management of time in business concluded that senior managers are not always using their working time efficiently. Managers know that they can replace old or obsolete equipment and that people who leave a company can be replaced. So managers must learn to manage time – their own time and the time of other people in the company – more carefully.

One speaker at the three–day seminar, Dr Jaroslav Lentzer of the Prague–based International Management Forum, claimed that some companies were spending over 40% of time on tasks which were unnecessary or which could be completed in less time. He gave the example of one company in the service sector where office staff spent over half the working day socializing with each other or at “meetings” which had no practical purpose.

‘Time’, said Dr Lentzer, ‘is one of the most important resources a manager has. Most companies know what time their workers arrive in the morning and go home at night. But very few companies know how much time their employees spend on useful work’.

He told delegates that effective time management must begin with a study of how a manager uses his or her time at the moment. He gave the example of a Canadian bank which issues each manager with a log–book where they record daily activities. Managers are told to write down everything they do during the working day, including apparently trivial tasks like taking phone messages for colleagues. Managers do this for a four week period. Then the completed log–book is sent to a time management consultant who carefully examines the information. This helps the bank to decide how effectively each manager is using his time.

Dr Lentzer thinks that if more companies use this approach they will improve productivity and become more competitive. He says that each manager should answer the following four questions:

1. Am I spending enough time on essential tasks?
2. How much time do I waste each day on trivial or unnecessary work?
3. How much work can I delegate to other people in my department?
4. Do I give a specific amount of time to certain tasks – an hour for a meeting, for example –and stick to it?

The next stage is to draw up a “time–plan”. Dr Lentzer says that managers should spend at least two weeks on the first stage of the plan. ‘Make sure your colleagues know about the changes,’ he says. ‘And more importantly, make sure they know why the plan is necessary. Remember not to cut out minor but necessary tasks like looking through the business press or talking to colleagues.’

Don’t let the plan become too restrictive. It should still be flexible enough to allow you to make any changes necessary. Maybe you’ll find you need more time to talk to customers or to deal with personnel problems.

Exercise 4

Here is the final paragraph from the article. Complete the gaps: