INPUT
Focus on reading
1. Answer these questions in your own words. You may use the “spider-graph” you have completed.
1) How would you describe the function of the office? 2) To what extent do you think office work is boring? 3) Why do you think the receptionist has a responsible job? 4) What do you understand by the term a “paperless office”? 5) What sorts of equipment would you expect to find on the desk of an executive in a modern office? 6) Why do office workers need to know a lot about business operations? 7) What would be the effect if office workers were inefficient or poorly motivated? 8) What is “video-conferencing”? 9) What social implications do you see resulting from the impending changes?
Reading
1. Read the following text to see whether your points of view on the above questions coincide with the author’s.
THE HUB OF BUSINESS
One way of describing the function of the office is the administrative back-up[1] for the organization. Everyone involved in a business operation has to refer to the office from time to time. Even in the first few minutes of the day the office comes alive. The salesperson telephones from a customer’s shop to find out some details about prices, or discounts, or delivery dates. A customer telephones to find what has happened to the order he sent in last week. The short-listed applicants for the new Quality Control Manager’s job turn up for their interviews with the Personnel Manager. The Company Secretary arrives earlier than usual to ask whether the Agenda for the Board of Directors’ Meeting later in the day has been typed yet. And the office junior brings in the morning mail which he has opened and sorted, and which now needs to be distributed to the various managers. There is a great variety of tasks undertaken in the office and the staff engaged in these operations need to know a great deal about the business. For example, when customers visit the office, or telephone, they naturally expect the staff who deal with them to be knowledgeable. They expect their enquiries to be dealt with courteously[2], promptly and competently. Receptionists may occupy a comparatively lowly position in the organizational hierarchy, but they create the vital first impression which often determines whether we get the order or not.
The importance of the office is obvious. It is the hub[3] of the communications network for the whole organization. Technology affects the whole of business, not least the office, and the concept of a completely paperless office is beginning to emerge. Already on many executives’ desks there are keyboards or other devices to communicate with the computers which control all the electronic devices in the office. Electronic files are replacing conventional filing cabinets, and intelligent facsimile and copying machines are appearing together with a variety of printers able to print anything from letter-quality characters to four-color diagrams. Telephone systems are now incorporating a host of facilities from an answering service to video-conferencing.
Video-conferencing involves executives separated by hundreds and perhaps thousands of miles discussing problems face-to-face on television screens. This in turn conjures up the notion of clerical workers performing many of their daily tasks away from the office. Therefore, the offices of the future are not only going to be paperless, they are also going to occupy less space, require fewer staff and allow much shorter working weeks.
These changes will affect a large number of people. The introduction of robotic production in factories and new technology in offices will change the way men and women work, and the roles they expect to fulfill. There have already been great changes in the traditional patterns of employment due to new technology, and this seems likely to continue, which has implications for both sexes.
Whatever happens as a result of the new technologies, the role of the office will be changed rather than diminished. Most office workers of the future will find themselves seated at multi-function work-stations able to exercise control over routine purchases, sales, market research, production runs and accounting procedures. In other words, we can expect the office to become even more emphatically the hub of the business.
2. How much do you agree with the author?
3. Tick the column according to whether you think the statement is false or true.
A large open plan office...
- gives more natural lighting than an equivalent area of enclosed rooms.
- gives more privacy than enclosed rooms.
- allows managers and supervisors to keep an eye on their staff.
- makes it more difficult for staff to get to know each other.
- could create problems when staff are being interviewed.
- is preferable to enclosed rooms when important clients are being entertained.
- allows artistic and pleasant environments to be introduced.
- is more difficult to clean than closed rooms.
Office equipment
- When you use a paper-clip to hold papers together they cannot work loose.
- Important papers should be placed in the wastepaper basket.
- When you arrive at the office in the morning you can expect to find incoming mail in your in-tray.
- If a file is missing from the filing cabinet it is probably being looked at by someone else.
- In many offices if you want to transfer an incoming phone call to another department you have to get back to the switchboard operator.
- Having a fax machine in the office means you can convey a message to any company in the world at any time of the day or night.
- Armed with staples and a stapler a mail clerk can fasten loose papers together so they do not become parted.
- Photocopiers offering color facilities are essential equipment in every office.
Documentation
- When goods are sold on credit it is usual for the seller to send the purchaser an invoice giving details of the transaction.
- An invoice will give details of any trade and cash discount given.
- Suppliers are usually provided with a monthly statement showing details of any amounts due from them.
- A delivery note usually accompanies the goods when they are sent to the purchaser.
- Paperwork is often in duplicate or triplicate to avoid unnecessary repetition of form-filling.
4. Read the following texts and think of a title to each of them.
A. Technology has entered office life in a big way, helping out the employees in their work. From offices equipped just with telephones, typewriters, and calculators, we have progressed to places decked out in computers, printers, photocopiers, faxes, modems…
B. These days offices are a lot smaller than some years ago, because in the big cities property prices are going up all the time.
But even if there isn’t much space for people in the offices, work is organized in a much more rational way…
C. Nowadays, employees work with computers, which are like enormous archives that can contain hundreds of documents. Do you know how much space these documents would take up, if they were printed on paper? They would occupy whole rooms! This means that space is saved, and less paper is used. And the trees are certainly grateful.
In many offices computers are linked in a network. This way, employees can exchange information and messages without moving from their desks. By linking up to remote databases they can also do research using archives which can be up to thousands and thousands of kilometers away.
5. Here are the original titles: A COMPUTER ON EVERY DESK (1), TECHNOLOGY IN THE OFFICE (2), SMALLER BUT BETTER ORGANIZED (3). Can you match the titles to the text? How much do they compare with your variants?
Culture note
1. Do you remember who invented the telephone and when? Read the text below and fill in the gaps with the words from the box.
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School with a Boston of came pair curiosity as handle work Street helping telegraph in public telephone and |
Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell came to … (1) in 1871 to teach at the Boston … (2) for Deaf Mutes and take advantage … (3) the city’s educational resources. Bell brought … (4) him not only his passion for … (5) those deaf and speech-impaired, but his … (6), persistence, and daring as an inventor … (7) well. By 1875, he began to … (8) on his new and improved “harmonic” … (9), a device he hoped would be able to … (10) the ever-growing level of business communications … (11) Boston. Out of Bell’s harmonic telegraph work … (12) an even more amazing invention – the … (13). Bell introduced his telephone to the … (14) in 1876 at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia … (15) by 1877, the first … (16) of commercial telephones were leased to … (17) Boston banker to connect his office in State … (18) with his home in Somerville, Massachusetts.
2. If you are not sure whether you have done it correctly, check against the key provided.
1 – Boston, 2 – School, 3 – of, 4 – with, 5 – helping, 6 – curiosity, 7 – as, 8 – work, 9 – telegraph, 10 – handle, 11 – in, 12 – came, 13 – telephone, 14 – public, 15 – and, 16 – pair, 17 – a, 18 – Street
3. Do you think telephone communication is on the increase now? What type(s) of phones are given priority to in contemporary business communication?
4. Read the following text about Carphone Warehouse, the giant of the mobile phone retailers in Britain, to see whether you are right.
WHO’S CONNECTED?
In search of a mobile phone? You won’t be alone. Last Christmas over four million people in the UK found them under the tree. Over 154 million people across Europe now use a mobile.
When you enter the maze of tangled information that makes up this market, what’s the first name that springs to mind? It is probably Carphone Warehouse.
Charles Dunstone set up Carphone Warehouse from a small office only in 1989. He originally worked for another company that sold phones to big organizations, but quickly spotted a gap in the market.
He realized that smaller operations, like builders and plumbers, could make good use of the product. People in these professions are generally out at work when the customer rings. But from a customer point of view, if you have a burst pipe or an overflowing system, it needs an instant solution – not a reply at 6.30 pm when the plumber gets home. For the plumber, a mobile phone would mean instant contact with potential customers. This niche grew into a segment of the market, as more and more people realized the benefits of having constant communication opportunities. High street sales have since become a market in their own right.
How could this market be persuaded to buy a phone? In the early days, the combination of phones, networks and tariffs could deter people from even attempting a purchase. So Dunstone went for clarity. This was the beginning of his mission to meet the needs of the company’s stakeholders. He must have developed a successful formula… The business has grown tremendously. Thus, the number of stores increased from 1 in 1991 to 880 in 2000. Carphone Warehouse sales reached the limit of 800₤m in the year 2000.
(From: Business Review. November 2000)
5. The majority of business communication is done over the telephone. In fact, in international trade it is possible to have business relationships for years without ever seeing the people with whom you are dealing. It is through the telephone that you project an impression of yourself and the company you represent. For the business to be a success in this respect it is important for an employee to have certain skills to communicate well over the telephone. Not having such skills may result in one’s sounding rude or arrogant, unsophisticated or not service-minded.
There is also a cultural element that should be taken into consideration when talking to an English speaking partner over the telephone. For effective communication one should be aware of a standard form that English telephone conversations often have. And secondly, one should be aware of two extremely important cultural values that must be expressed: politeness and service-mindedness.
Listening
1. You are going to hear a business telephone conversation. While listening take notes under the following headlines:
- the caller’s name;
- the calling partner’s name;
- the first subject-matter of the calling;
- the second subject-matter of the calling.
2. Compare your answers with those of your partner’s. Same or different?
3. Take a second listening and note the phrases which the people use in the conversation to convey the following. Alternatively, work with the tape-script.
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Greetings |
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Identification |
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Offer of help |
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Exchange of information |
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Confirmation of message |
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Confirmation of action |
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Closing |
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4. It usually takes so little to make a good impression. It makes all the difference in the words you choose. The three golden rules of successful telephone communication in English are:
- Be polite.
- Be service-minded.
- Be informative.
Do the communicants in the conversation you have heard stick to these rules? How can you prove your point of view? Are there any special phrases they choose to sound polite, service-minded and informative?
5. Imagine you are calling a company and want to speak to someone who works there. Which phrases might you use or might you hear?
6. In which order may the following phrases appear in a telephone conversation?
1) Who’s calling, please? 2) I’ve got … on the phone for you. 3) How can I help? 4) Can I speak to … please? 5) Please hold. 6) Just a second. 7) I’ll just put you through. 8) I’ll see if he is in. 9) Who shall I say is calling? 10) Hang on a moment.
7. Now listen to two conversations. In the first conversation Richard Davies is calling the marketing department of a company and wants to be put through to Rosalind Wilson. In the second conversation Mike Andrews wants to talk to Jason Roberts in the marketing department. As you listen, fill in the gaps in the tape-script with some of the phrases above.
- Hello, you’ve reached the marketing department. _____ (1)?
- Yes _____ (2) Rosalind Wilson, please?
- _____ (3)?
- It’s Richard Davies here.
- Certainly. _____ (4) and _____ (5).
- Thank you.
- Hello, marketing. How can I help?
- Could I speak to Jason Roberts, please?
- _____ (6)? Who should I say is calling?
- My name’s Mike Andrews.
- Just a second – I’ll see if he’s in. Hello, Jason, _____ (7) Mike Andrews on the phone for you ... OK – I’ll put him through. _____ (8); I’m just putting you through.
8. Imagine you work as a receptionist and you receive a call for someone who isn’t there. What might the caller say, and what would you say in reply? Listen to a telephone conversation between the finance department of a company and Jennifer McAndrews. Jennifer wants to talk to Adrian Hopwood but he’s not available so she has to leave a message. As you listen, note the phrases she uses for that.
9. Listen again and complete the tape-script of the conversation below.
- Hello, finance department.
- Hello, can I speak to Adrian Hopwood, please?
- I’m _____ (1) he’s in a meeting at the moment. _____ (2)?
- No, I need to talk to Mr. Hopwood, I think. What time will he be out of the meeting?
- In about an hour. Can you _____ (3)?
- Okay, I’ll do that.
- Or_____ (4)?
- Actually, would you mind? _____ (5) him that Jennifer McAndrews called and that I’m in the office all day if he could call me back?
- _____ (6) your number, please?
- Yes, it’s 5556872.
- 5556872. Okay, I’ll _____ (7) he gets the message.
- Thanks very much for your help, bye!
- Goodbye!