In American culture, the word leader (use) to mean power, influence and control. Being a team leader is not the same as being a team manager.
Leadership is a particular type of authority relationship. Authority (come) from the power one (hold). In some cases, the authority (come) from the position that one (hold) in an organization.
People (become) team leaders not because of positions that they (occupy), but because they (view) as special. Those who (influence) others solely through the use of personal power (call) informal leaders. Formal leaders are those who possess personal and position power. However, true leadership is not dependent upon position it (relate) to personal power.
A promotion into a new management position can have the effect of turning an informal leader into a formal leader or adding more position power to someone who (be) already a formal leader.
Translate the text into English.
Ikea, Ericsson, Scania H&M .
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(From: www.studyinsweden.ru)
Role-playing
You are quarreling with your relative, classmate etc. over some issue. Try to be more patient but reassure your partner that you are right. Give enough reasoning and argumentation to support your views.
Case-study/Project
We are all members of many groups at work, in the classroom, etc. Make an insight into your academic group (class) arrangement and performance. Analyze the (in)formal groups/teams within your class (e.g. what other common interests apart from studies they have). Suggest some tips to foster and encourage the students teamwork and performance. Make a written account of your survey and present it to the teacher for further evaluation and assessment.
Self-assessment grid
| Tick (✓) Yes or No answers in appropriate columns and lines to self-assess your knowledge and skills. | Yes | No |
| I know: | ||
| - the topical vocabulary Group and team management; | ||
| - the rules of reading of the clusters gn and ng; | ||
| - different meanings of the word single; | ||
| - the meanings of the conjunction once; | ||
| - the rules of forming the degrees of comparison of English adjectives. | ||
| I can: | ||
| - use some phrasal verbs in appropriate contexts; | ||
| - form nouns with the suffix ity; | ||
| - form adjectives with the element self-; | ||
| - explain the meanings of some English proverbs/sayings with the word once; | ||
| - discuss the personal qualities necessary for working in a team/group; | ||
| - make a survey on how your academic group (class) is organized. | ||
| Total number of positive/negative answers: | ||
Module 8
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Pre-reading issues
1. Does the work of a company depend on any internal or external factors?
2. Name some factors that can influence the companys performance.
3. Should a companys top management busy them with working out the companys strategy? Why?
SWOT analysis
The particular process that is commonly used in strategic planning is an analysis of the companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, also known as the SWOT analysis.
Strengths and weaknesses are factors that exist within the organization. The strengths tend to be easier to list than the weaknesses as everyone wants to claim that they contribute to the organization.
Threats and opportunities exist outside the organization. The term opportunity refers to those factors outside the organization that are favorable to the organization. The threats are those factors outside the organization that are not good news for the company.
What the company chooses to do with that information depends on what gets stated in the other categories. What is important to realize is that potential future directions for the organization are not identified at this stage that comes a bit later.
Once the SWOT is concluded, there are four strategies to choose from in order to guide future directions: 1) growth, 2) stability, 3) retrenchment and 4) combination.
Growth means exactly that the organization is going to grow in some way.
A stability strategy means that the company is going to maintain the status quo. They are going to continue what they have been doing up till now. Nothing is going to change. No increase in production, no new markets, no growth in the number of employees.
Retrenchment means that somehow the company will be cutting back. That could include selling off some assets, reducing the number of products that they sell or getting out of some countries in which they now operate.
A combination strategy is more common with a large, multi-divisional company. With a combination strategy, one division of the company will pursue one strategy while another division follows another strategy.
The strategies outlined flow directly out of the SWOT analysis. Done correctly, the strategies and the SWOT analysis form a great package.
(From: Susan Quinn. Management Basics)
Text comprehension
1. What is SWOT analysis?
2. Do strengths and weaknesses exist within or outside the organization?
3. What is easier to list strengths or weaknesses? Why?
4. What are the factors outside the organization?
5. Which of them are good and bad ones?
6. How many strategies can a company choose from? What are these factors?
7. What does the phrase maintaining the companys status quo mean?
8. How can retrenchment affect the companys life?
9. What kind of company is a combination strategy more typical of?
10. In what case can the SWOT analysis and the strategies form a great package?
