1. Factory to close 3. Brin Bros to close for one month
2. Sale to stop 4. Zephyr in the Orient
a) b)
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c) d)
X. Speak about your objectives and your action plan for getting a job or promotion. Think about:
- skills you need to develop;
- qualifications you need;
- where you need to look for information and job advertisements.
Corporate Etiquette
I. Read and memorize the following words and word-combinations:
polite
to improve
to invest money
rude
survey ,
to distract ,
torn
low-cut
flashy ; .
hairdo
stuffy ,
courtesy , ,
appropriate ,
II. Discuss these examples of bad manners. Which ones do you think are especially bad? Why?
- arriving late for a meeting
- ignoring people when you meet them
- shouting an order at someone
- being rude to people who offer to help you
- using bad language
III. What other examples of good or bad manners can you think of? Work in small groups and make two lists. Then compare your lists with other groups. Do you all have the same opinions about politeness?
IV. Read and translate the text:
Etiquette is the name we give to the rules for being polite in a social group. Business etiquette is important for people who often have to make new contacts and build relationships in their work. Politeness can also help to improve the working environment for people in the same office. Some cultures and situations are formal, which means that we have to follow rules; other cultures and situations are more informal.
Now some organizations are actually investing money in training their junior staff to be polite. Most office workers say they are rude or bad-mannered at work. Two out of three workers regularly arrive late for meetings, most ignore emails and three out of four use bad language. In a survey of 1, 000 workers, two-thirds say that pressure of work is the reason for their bad manners. Other common examples of bad office etiquette include ignoring colleagues and answering mobile phone calls during meetings. Using mobile phones in meetings is impolite and distracts others. If you respond to a call when speaking to somebody, it means that the phone call is more important than the person or the meeting is not important.
Dress code is a part of corporate etiquette. All experts agree: no low-cut dresses, no torn jeans, no dirty shoes, no flashy jewelry, no heavy make-up, no extravagant hairdo or too much perfume. For any professional job a suit, a shirt and a tie for men and a suit with a skirt and a simple pastel blouse for women will do. Good colours are dark blue and grey. Matching suits are the most effective. Many companies have a strict dress code. There are, of course, still some rules. Dirty or untidy clothes are not allowed. Male employees are told not to wear earrings at work, etc. So, you should dress smartly.
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Psychologist Dr Colin Gill believes that people are not as polite as they were twenty years ago. He said: Courtesy is no longer something that is so much respected in our society. People think it is stuffy to be polite or formal. And one managing director of a recruitment firm says, Avoiding bad manners at work is such a simple thing to do and it can have a dramatic impact on improving your working environment and your relationships with others.
V. Answer the following questions:
1. What is etiquette?
2. What reason do office workers give for their bad manners?
3. Why is it impolite to answer a mobile phone during a meeting?
4. Are people today more polite than they were 20 years ago?
5. What are some organizations doing to improve workers manners?
6. What can you say about dress code? Express your opinion.
7. What are the benefits of avoiding bad manners at work?
8. Do you agree that courtesy is no longer respected and its stuffy to be polite? Why? / Why not?
VI. Look at the following groups of words. Which word does not belong in each group?
1. rude, stuffy, bad-mannered, impolite
2. courtesy, politeness, etiquette, impact
3. communicate, answer, reply, respond
4. regularly, commonly, rarely, often.
