Vocabulary preparation

➢ Match up these verbs and nouns to make common collocations

1. allocate A. decisions
2. communicate B. information
3. develop C. jobs
4. make D. objectives
5. measure E. people
6. motivate F. performance
7. perform G. resources
8. set H. strategies
9. achieve I. subordinates
10. supervise J. goals

➢ Match up the following words and definitions

1. consultant A. a plan for achieving success

2. crisis B. a new idea or method

3. innovation C. a person with a less important position in an organization

4. objective (noun) D. a person who provides expert advice to a company

5. promotion E. a situation of danger or difficulty

6. public sector F. something you plan to do or achieve

7. strategy G. the section of the economy under government control

8. subordinate H. when someone is raised to a higher or more important

position

➢ Fill in the blanks with a correct preposition

1. The success or failure of a company depends ……………….. the quality of their managers.
2. One well-known classification of the tasks of a manager comes ……………….. Peter Drucker.
3. According to Drucker, the work of a manager can be divided ……………….. five tasks.
4. Managers have to communicate objectives ……………….. the people responsible ………………..
attaining them.
5. They have to work ……………….. people in other areas and functions.
6. Managers have to see whether the objectives or targets set ……………….. the organization are being
achieved.
7. Top managers have to manage a business’s relations ……………….. customers, suppliers and so
on.
8. They have to deal ……………….. any crisis that arises.
9. Some people are good ……………….. management.
10. Some people will be unable to put management techniques ……………….. practice.

WHILE-READING TASKS

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT

Management is important. The success or failure of companies, public sector institutions and services, not-for-

profit organizations, sports teams, and so on, often depends on the quality of their managers. But what do

managers do? One well-known classification of the tasks of a manager comes from Peter Drucker. Drucker was

an American business professor and consultant who is often called things like ‘The Father of Modern

Management’.

Drucker suggested that the work of a manager can be divided into five tasks: planning (setting objectives),

organizing, integrating (motivating and communicating), measuring performance, and developing people.

• First of all, senior managers and directors set objectives, and decide how their organization can achieve or

accomplish them. This involves developing strategies, plans and precise tactics, and allocating resources of

people and money.

• Secondly, managers organize. They analyse and classify the activities of the organization and the relations

among them. They divide the work into manageable activities and then into individual tasks. They select people

to perform these tasks.

• Thirdly, managers practise the social skills of motivation and communication. They also have to

communicate objectives to the people responsible for attaining them. They have to make the people who are

responsible for performing individual tasks form teams. They make decisions about pay and promotion. As well

as organizing and supervising the work of their subordinates, they have to work with people in other areas and

functions.

• Fourthly, managers have to measure the performance of their staff, to see whether the
objectives or targets set for the organization as a whole and for each individual member of it are being

achieved.

• Lastly, managers develop people – both their subordinates and themselves.

A company’s top managers also have to consider the future, and modify or change the organization’s

objectives when necessary, and introduce the innovations that will allow the business to continue. Top

managers also have to manage a business’s relations with customers, suppliers, distributors, bankers,

investors, neighbouring communities, public authorities, and so on, as well as deal with any crisis that arises.

Although the tasks of a manager can be analysed and classified in this fashion, management is not entirely

scientific. There are management skills that have to be learnt, but management is also a human skill. Some

people are good at it, and others are not. Some people will be unable to put management techniques into

practice. Others will have lots of techniques, but few good ideas. Excellent managers are quite rare.

➢ Complete the guided notes

1. The reason why management is important
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………

POST-READING TASKS
Vocabulary review
➢ Complete the following sentences with these words

achieved – board of directors – communicate –

innovations –
manageable – performance – resources – setting –
supervise

1. Managers have to decide how best to allocate the human, physical and capital ………………..
available to them.
2. Managers – logically – have to make sure that the jobs and tasks given to their subordinates are
………………..
3. There is no point in ……………….. objectives if you don’t ……………….. them to your staff.
4. Managers have to ………………..their subordinates, and to measure, and try to improve, their
………………..
5. Managers have to check whether objectives and targets are being ………………..
6. A top manager whose performance is unsatisfactory can be dismissed by the company’s
………………..
7. Top managers are responsible for the ……………….. that will allow a company to adapt to a changing
world.

➢ Use the word combinations you have learned from the reading text to complete the sentences below
1. After an organization has ……………….., it has to make sure that it achieves them.
2. Managers have to find the best way to ……………….. all the human, physical and capital
……………….. available to them.
3. Some people ……………….. ……………….. better on their own while others work better in teams.
4. Managers ……………….. the work of their ……………….. and try to develop their abilities.
5. Managers ……………….. the ……………….. of their staff to see whether they are reaching their

targets.

6. Top managers have to be prepared to ……………….. with ……………….. if they occur and then have to

……………….. quick ………………..

Listen to the recordings again and fill in the blanks with the words you hear.
CARLO DE STEFANIS

... so managers should (1) ……………….. the company goal, maximize value for shareholders, and so on, but
on the other hand they should accomplish also the personal goals and (2) ……………….. of the people they
manage, for instance helping young (3) ……………….. to develop, and understanding the (4) ………………..
of everybody in their team, and trying to match goals of the company and even helping people to (5)
……………….. in their team.

OLGA BABAKINA

I believe that good managers actually don’t (6) ……………….. anybody, and good managers basically they are
good (7) ……………….. of strategies, because the companies today, those ones who are successful, are not
those who have lots of business plans and strategies somewhere in the (8) ……………….. and files, but those
companies who have managers, executors of plans, so basically in order to be a good manager you have to
know how to lead people, how to (9) ……………….. people, and how to make sure that you are meeting your
(10) ……………….. ...