Business English [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

MODULE : ANGLAIS. SEMESTRE : 2 FILIERE : ECONOMIE ET GESTION. SECTIONS: 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12

BUSINESS ENGLISH

Prof: / coordinator: ABDELGHANI ELJOUAL. Prof: ABDESSAMAD RIHANI. Prof: ASMAE ELGHAZI.

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Content:

UNIT 1: Leadership I . VOCABULARY WORK: A. Definition. B. Different leadership styles. C. Characteristics of a good leader D. More about leadership.

II . LANGUAGE: A. Relative clauses B. Defining relative clauses C. Non –defining relative clauses

III. WRITING: Formal and informal written English

VI. READING: Poor leadership

UNIT 2 : Innovation I.

VOCABULARY WORK.

II. LANGUAGE : II.

WRITING

VI. READING:

A. Definition B. Vocabulary related to - Innovation – The passive Informal and formal e-mails Necessity is the mother of invention

UNIT 3:

Employment

I.VOCABULARY WORK A. Definition B. Vocabulary related to EmploymentII.LANGUAGE:

III.

WRITING: IV.READING :

Indirect questions and statements. Job advertisement The human consequences of redundancies.

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Unit 1: LEADERSHIP A . Definition: Leadership is “ organizing a group of people _ a team , a staff....... _ to achieve a common goal “ ; It’s “ the art of leading others to deliberately create challenging results

B. Basic leadership styles: Leadership style refers to leader’s behaviour: It mainly reflects the philosophy, the personality and the experience of the leader.

1. Autocratic or authoritarian style: Under autocratic leadership style, all decision making powers are centralized in the leader. The leader doesn’t entertain – receive or take into consideration – any suggestions or initiatives from subordinates.

2. Participative or democratic style: The democratic leadership style consists of sharing the decision making abilities with the group members, promoting the interest of the group members and practising social equality;

3. Indifferent (laissez- faire) or free rein (hands off) style: A person is in a leadership position without providing leadership, leaving the group to fend- take responsibility – for itself .Subordinates are given a free hand in deciding their own policies and methods.

4. Bureaucratic style: Bureaucratic leadership relies on rules , regulations and hierarchy. It’s based on strict written job description, organization charts and hierarchy.

C. Characteristics of a good leader: A. Self awareness: A good leader has an intimate knowledge of his inner emotional state. He knows his strengths and weaknesses = 3=

B. Self direction: A good leader is able to direct himself effectively and powerfully. He knows how to get things done and how to organize tasks.

C. Vision: A good leader is always working towards a goal that may be greater than himself. He believes in the fact that “working towards a vision is far more inspiring than working towards personal gains “.

D. Social awareness: Understanding social networks and key influencers in that network.

E. Ability to motivate: A good leader provides opportunities for the group to develop a high sense of personal growth and job satisfaction. He encourages and recognizes achievements.

D. More about leadership: Personality adjectives 1. He was rather impulsive- not the person who plans what he says or does. 2. His style of leadership was quite aggressive. He was always so competitive and so eager to succeed that many of us often found him ruthless.

3. If you want to get to the top , you have to be adventurous , I mean be prepared to take risks and to try new ways of doing things. 4. She doesn’t just tell us to do things – she makes us want to do them We are lucky to have such a motivating team leader.

5. We always what she wants us to because she gives us good reasons for doing it, she is very persuasive. 6. He was a passionate chairman; with a very strong belief in the mission of our organisation and very intense feeling about our achievements. 7. What they need is a decisive person, someone who can choose the right course of action even in a very difficult situation.

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LANGUAGE: RELATIVE CLAUSES There are two types of relative clauses : 1. Defining /restrictive clauses. 2. Non defining / non-restrictive clauses. 1. Defining clauses: Describe the preceding noun in such a way to distinguish it from other nouns. They provide essential information about the subject or object of the sentence. 2. Non defining clauses: ( are used between commas) They are placed after nouns which are definite already. They provide more information about the subject or object of a sentence. Relative clauses A. Defining relative clause

1 .Subject 2. Object 3. Possessive B. Non defining relative

clauses

Person

object

Who/ that Who/ whom/that whose

Which/that Which/that Whose / of which

Person

Object

1. Subject 2.Object 3. Possessive

who who /whom whose

which which whose / of which

A. Defining relative clauses: People/ Person 1. The girls who serve in the shop are the owner’s daughters. 2. The woman to whom I spoke is the owner of the company.

3. People whose rents have been raised can appeal.

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Objects /things 1. The stairs which lead to the cellar are slippery. 2. The car which I hired broke down. 3. The company whose former director was suspected of fraud is now almost bankrupt.

B. Non defining relative clauses People /person 1. My neighbour, who is very pessimistic , says that there will be a bad harvest this year. 2. Peter, for whom I was working, was very generous about overtime payments. 3 . Enzo Ferrari, whose cars achieved Cult status, died in 1988.

Objects /things

y

1. The leisure company, which produces oil, is recruiting accountants. 2. The assertiveness training workshop, which starts next month, is designed for anyone who is or will be a team leader. 3. United steel company, whose director was guilty of embezzlement, is now almost bankrupt.

where /when /why

1. The hotel where (in which) they were staying was a five star one. 2. The year when ( in which) he was born is 1999. 3. The reason why ( for which )he refused was convincing.

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III. WRITING: FORMAL AND INFORMAL WRITTEN ENGLISH Informal written English

Formal written English

-

Please send us the report that you referred to.

-

Please send us the report to which you referred.

-

We know the people he got a recommendation from.

-

We know the people from whom he received a recommendation.

-Could you send us the list of applicants who -Could you send us the list of applicants with you have not been able to get in touch with.? whom you have not been able to get in touch with? - We attach some information about the -We attach some information about the area area which you will be responsible for. for which you will be responsible. •

Rewrite the following sentences in a more formal style: 1.The problems we have to deal with are rather serious. 2. That is the project I am most interested in. 3.The company I used to work for is now facing financial crisis. 4.The representatives we spoke to were very helpful. 5. As a leader , she motivated anyone she worked with.

IV. READING:

Weak leadership Poor leadership almost inevitably results in ineffective organisations. These share a number of characteristics. Firstly ,they are weakened by interpersonal conflicts which remain unresolved and are allowed to get worse .Secondly , channels of communication are often blocked , so that information is not adequately shared.; everyone has ‘ secrets’ which they reveal only to their closest friends. In addition, there are conflicts of interest between individual members of staff and the organisation, which frequently cause huge losses of energy. Finally, staff typically feel powerless, cut off from the decision making process. Consequently, hardly anyone feels motivated to give the best of themselves. Such a situation can be remedied by a leader who decides to put people first, to focus on team building, and to find ways of empowering staff.

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Unit 2 :

Innovation I.

Vocabulary work.:

A. Definition: Innovation means the introduction of something new : a new idea , a new method, or a new device. B. Types of ideas: - A revolutionary idea; method or product is completely new and Involves great changes - A practical idea is sensible and likely to be successful in a real situation. - A brilliant idea is extremely good. - A clever idea is useful and effective. - A ridiculous idea is very; very stupid. -A silly idea is stupid and not sensible.

C. Items related to innovation: - to register an invention . - to come up with an invention.

- to encourage an innovation. -to stimulate an innovation.

- to patent an invention.

- to notice improvement. - to secure improvement. - to call for improvement.

- to facilitate an innovation.

- to generate ideas. - to share ideas. - to test ideas.

➢ Our company has introduced a new scheme designed to secure improvement in staff performance. ➢ She never made any money because she didn’t patent her invention. ➢ Let’s hope the new head of the company will stimulate innovation rather than stifle it.

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II.

LANGUAGE: The passive

A. Use: -

We make passive verb forms with the auxiliary verb” be” + the past participle. ➢ The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee.

-

We often choose a passive structure when we are not interested in who performs an action or it is not necessary to know. ➢ The Millennium Technology Prize was awarded to Tim Berners –lee.

-

If we want to mention who performs the action; we can use” by ” ➢ Tim Berners lee was named as one of the top 20 thinkers of the twentieth century by Time magazine.

-

We often use a passive structure to be impersonal or formal (for example; in notices, announcements, or reports) ➢ It has been agreed that the prototype will be tested net month.

B. Form: Tense

Active

Passive

Present simple

Improve / improves

am /is/are / improved

Past

Improved

was /were improved

Present perfect

have/has improved

have /has been improved

Past perfect

Had improved

Had been improved

Present continuous

Is /are improving

is / are being improved

Past continuous

Had improved

Had been improved

Future

will improve

Will be improved

Modal verbs

Can/ must… improve

Can /must… be improved

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Study these examples: 1. They manufacture all these models in China. 2. =< All these models are manufactured in China. 3. We have reduced product launch time dramatically. =< Product launch time has been reduced dramatically. 4. Scientists were testing new drugs. =< New drugs were being tested. 5. Alcatel is developing a very exciting range of mobile phones. =< A very exciting range of mobile phones is being developed by Alcatel. 6. Our engineers can make some modifications. =< Some modifications can be made by our engineers.

III.Writing: We choose the passive forms if we want our writing to be more formal. Study the following e-mails. Informal e-mail Dear Mr.killy Thank you for your order .We are pleased to advise you that we are now processing it. We will pack each item individually in accordance with your instructions .We have already made arrangements for shipment and we will despatch the goods within ten days. Meanwhile, we would like to inform you that you can access our winter catalogue on our website. Yours sincerely.

Formal e-mail Dear Mr. Kelly Thank you for your order. We are pleased to advise you that it is being processed. Each item will be packed individually in accordance with your instructions. Arrangements for shipment have already been made, and the goods will be despatched within ten days. Meanwhile, we would like to inform you that our winter catalogue can be accessed on our website. Yours sincerely.

IV.READING: INVENTIONS According to the old saying,” necessity is the mother of invention”. Indeed; if we think of that steam engine, the light bulb, or the World-wide Web, it seems that these inventions came at the best time. On the one hand ,some of the products on the market which are presented as” new” can be quite useless , and can even be an insult to human intelligence and creativity. What are we to think, for example, of inventions such as the” telescope golf ball retriever” or the “battery-operated pet vacuum cleaner”? Perhaps the majority of consumers will always remain passive and depend on what the market has to offer. However; many people still rely on their common sense and imagination to find alternative uses for ordinary objects or already existing products. Try this little experiment: sit back and relax; visualise a drawing pin; then think of five different things you could use it for. Most probably, you will soon come up with a lot of more than five uses.

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UNIT 3:

Employment I. Vocabulary work A. Definition: Employment means an act or an instance or an occupation by which a person earns a living. It mainly refers to a relationship between two parties usually based on a contract where work is paid for and where one party is the employer and the other is the employee.

B. Vocabulary related to employment: - to interview applicants. - to sign a contract. -to shortlist applicants. - to terminate a contract. - to reject applicants. - to enter into a contract - to call for an interview. - to earn a salary. –to submit a CV. - to carry out an interview. - to receive a salary. – to update a C.V.

- to hold an interview.

- to pay a salary.

– to send a C.V.

. Study these sentences: - The usual American English word for C.V is resume. - Our company has a vacancy for a graduate in economics. - We ask all our new employees to work a probationary period of between one and three months. - The interview panel will draw up a shortlist of only five candidates. - It is usual to ask your previous employer for a reference when you apply for a job. - The starting salary of the successful applicant will be decided on the basis of qualifications and experience. - Applicants will be called for an interview between10 and16 April.

= 11= II.LANGUAGE: Indirect questions and statements Use: •

We often use indirect questions and statements to sound more polite, for example when asking for personal and sensitive information.

-

Could you tell me what your salary is? Would you mind telling me how old you are? I am not sure when the interview finishes.

• -

Indirect questions have the same word order as direct statements. She left the job.

•

=> Could you tell me why she left the job? We can use the following expressions to introduce indirect questions and statements

-

I wonder / I can’t remember / I have no idea / I’d like to know / I am not sure……….. when the post will be advertised?

•

For yes /no questions we use if or whether. We can also use if or whether in statements.

-

Will he apply for the job? ‘( direct question) =>I wonder whether he will apply for the job.

Study these examples. Direct question: Indirect question:

How long did you work there? Could I ask you how long you worked there?

*Could I ask you…………….…? * Could you tell me………….,?

*I’d like to know……………………… *Do you mind telling me…………?

- Do you like to work in a team?

 Could I ask you if you like working in a team? - Are you satisfied with your present salary?  Could you tell me whether you are satisfied with you salary? - How much do you earn in you present job?  I’d like to know how much you earn in you present job? - What are your weaknesses?  Do you mind telling me what your weaknesses are? = 12= III.WRITING: A sample of job advertisement Agribank, one of the three leading banks in the country, is recruiting for an exceptionally well qualified IT specialist to manage the development of software, deployment of hardware, and support of various computing technologies at its headquarters and its eight regional branches. Duties and responsibilities: The chief IT Officer is responsible to the General Manager for the satisfactory performance of all technology functions performed within the country: *Management of Agribank IT staff. *Long range technology planning. The successful applicant will be fluent in English and French. We offer an attractive remuneration package and long term career prospect. Interested candidates should send their letter of application and C.V via e-mail. Closing date for applications Friday, june3th Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.

VI. READING: The consequences of human redundancies

Articles about redundancies frequently focus on numbers, on statistics and tend to ignore the psychological impact of job losses. Naturally, reactions to redundancies vary from one individual to another and depend on age and number of years spent with the company, among other factors. However, most of the victims initially feel disbelief, then anger and depression .Indeed, such a change in their professional circumstances can have a devastating effect on their home lives and family relationships. Very often, for example, losing one’s job means having to relocate. Sometimes far away from one’s relatives and close friends. In addition, redundancies also have long lasting effects on those who survive them. Survivors often feel guilty about being luckier than those who had to go, betrayed by management, and frightened of being next in line.