III. Scan the text and say whether these statements are true or false.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 857.

I. What do you want from you job? Look at this list and add any other points you can think of.

Different Kinds of Companies and Organization Structure

Unit 3

Before reading:

a good salary

a job for life

the chance to learn something new

opportunities for promotion

a good boss

a good team of people to work with

the chance to develop your own ideas

…………………………..

Now number them from 1(most important) to 7, 8 or 9 (least important). When you have finished, compare your answers with a partner.

II. Match up the words on the left with the definitions on the right.

1. The economy in many countries is dominated by large firms.

2. Shareholders have a very important role in running the firm.

3. Hierarchical organization is the oldest type of business structure.

4. When a company becomes larger it can spread geographically.

5. Industrial relations in all countries in the world are very similar.

Companies are a very important part of country's economy. Businesses produce goods and services, and they come in every shape and size. Although the vast majority of the world's companies are small, in many countries the economy is dominated by large firms.

Large businesses differ from small ones in a wide variety of ways. In many countries there are nationalized companies belonging to the state, as well as private companies. A private company might be a small firm with just one owner or a very large firm with thousands of shareholders “owning” the firm.

In very large firms the shareholders have very little to do with day-to-day running of the firm. This is left to the management. Large companies may be organized into several large departments, sometimes even divisions. In business, organization structure means the relationship between positions and people who hold the positions. Organization structure is very important because it provides an efficient work system as well as a system of communication. Historically, line structure is the oldest type of organization structure. The main idea of it is direct vertical relationship between the positions and task of each level, and the positions and tasks above and below each level.

The organizational structure of most companies is very hierarchical with a board of directors at the top and various departmental heads reporting to them. Often the only time shareholders can influence the board is at the yearly shareholders' meeting.

Some firms may only produce one good or service. Others may produce many different products; in fact they may seem to be like a collection of “businesses” inside one company. As a company gets bigger it may expand geographically. Many large firms are multinationals with manufacturing plants and trading locations in several different countries spread around the world.

The physical surroundings of most modern places of work, especially offices, are becoming more and more similar. Although there are some differences from country to country, one office looks much alike another. Office furniture and equipment tends to be similar – desks, chairs, lamps, filing cabinets, computers, phones, photocopiers, etc.

The “atmosphere” of the workplace can influence the effectiveness of a company's employees. Modern offices are more spacious and better lit, heated, ventilated and air-conditioned than in the past. But of course this is a feature that varies from firm to firm and may be dependent on the size of the company and its corporate “philosophy”. In some companies, the employees work in large open-plan offices without walls between the departments. In others, the staff work more privately in individual offices.

Work relations with other people at the place of work include relationship with fellow employees, workers or colleagues. A great part of work or job satisfaction comes from “getting on” with others at work. Work relations will also include those between management and employees. These relations are not always straightforward, particularly as management's assessment of how you are performing can be crucial to your future career.

There will always be matters about which employees will want to talk to the management. In small businesses the boss will probably work alongside his or her workers. Anything which needs to be sorted out will be done face-to-face as soon as a problem arises. There will be no formal meetings or procedures. The larger the business, the less direct contact there will be between employees and management. Special meetings have to be held and procedures set up, to say when, where, how and in what circumstances the employees can talk to the management. Some companies have specially organized consultative committees for this purpose.

In many countries of the world today, particularly in large firms, employees join a trade unions and ask the union to represent them to the management. Every country has its own tradition of industrial relations, so it is difficult to generalize. In some businesses, unions are not welcomed by the management. But in other countries the unions play an important role both in the everyday working relations in individual companies and also in the social and political life of the country.