Exercise 1: Complete the collocations related to organizing meetings!
Exercise 2: Chairs' skills - Complete the sentences with A, B, C or D!
Exercise 3: Complete these sentences, used by the chairs of the meetings, with the words from the box.
Exercise 4: Match the examples with the disagreement strategies they exemplify.
Exercise 5: Match the sentences with their explanations!
Exercise 6: Combine the words to make ten common problems encountered in meetings.
VIDEOCONFERENCES
Exercise 7: Watch the funny video conference scenes and think about the possible problems arising during this type of event!
Exercise 8: Learn the basic expressions for a video conference!
SITUATIONS:
HR
(1) A number of key staff have left your company in recent months. You have been asked to recommend things the company can do to keep staff.
Discuss and decide:
- how losing staff can damage a company
- what makes an organisation an attractive place to work in
- what conditions your company can offer to keep staff
HR
(2) You work for the branch of your company that has been identified as having the lowest turnover of staff. You have been asked to suggest ways in which staff turnover could be reduced in the other branches. Discuss and decide together:
- what the reasons for high staff turnover in a company might be
- what effect the high staff turnover might have in future methods of selecting staff
- what procedures concerning staff induction and training might need to be introduced.
HR
(3) The manufacturing company you work for wants to increase efficiency. You have been asked to consider ways of achieving this.
Discuss and decide together:
- how to encourage all staff to improve the efficiency of the company
- whether to use an outside organisation to help improve the company’s systems
HR
(4) You are all senior sales personnel. Your company is expanding rapidly, and you are goint to take on new sales staff. Your meeting has the following agenda:
- whether to recruit experienced sales people or train up relatively inexperienced sales people
- the most suitable incentives for new sales staff
HR
(5) Your company is proposing to send a team of staff abroad for six months to set up an office and train local employees. You have been asked to make some recommendations for the project.
Discuss and deside together:
- how to select appropriate staff to manage the project
- what preparation and advice the staff would need before leaving.
Management
(6) Your local Chamber of Commerce has asked you to investigate ways of motivating staff in local companies in order to produce a happier, more effective and more productive workforce. Study these ways managers can motivate staff:
- performance pay and bonuses
- annual performance reviews / appraisal
- competitions for new ideas
- empowerment
- working in teams
- regular training
Company strategy
(7) Your company is thinking of buying a foreign company as a subsidiary. Your managing director has asked you to investigate the opportunity. Discuss and decide:
- what are the advantages of buying a company in order to expand into a new market?
- what activities are useful when trying to incorporate a new company into your company’s culture?
Company strategy
(8) A competitor has been waging an expensive advertising campaign in order to capture part of your market share. Your manager has asked you for suggestions about how to deal with this threat. Discuss and decide:
- why market share is an important measure of a company’s success
- how the company should react to this challenge
Company strategy
(9) While working for your present company, you’ve noticed a great business opportunity. Do you
a., tell them about it in the hope that they’ll put you in charge of a project team to exploit the opening?
b., leave the company and set up on your own to exploit the opportunity?
Company strategy
(10) A company is considering investing a percentage of last year’s net profit of your company in order to generate returns for future expansion. Discuss the situation with your partner and decide:
- where the company should invest the money
- what returns might be expected
- the risk involved in the selected options
Company strategy / CSR
(11) In order to show its commitment to the environment and sustainability your company has decided to dedicate a training day to the importance of responsible environmental actions the company and staff can take. You have been asked to come up with some general ideas to promote on the training day.
- Discuss and decidetogether:
- A what kinds of actions the staff and company could take to be more environmentally friendly
- B how you would promote the training event to encourage staff to approach the event with a positive frame of mind.
Production
(12) You and your partner work as production manager and human resources manager in your company. The company needs to raise its productivity to remain competitive in your industry. Your managing director has asked you to suggest ways in which this can be done without creating unnecessary conflict with staff. Discuss and decide:
- what steps you can take to raise productivity with the co-operation of the staff
- how you can communicate these proposals to staff
Marketing
(13) Your company sells software to other companies, not to the general public. It has decided it needs a new advertising campaign to promote its products. You have been asked to consider what form this should take. Discuss and decide together:
- what forms of advertising you think will be most effective
- how you can measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign.
Marketing
(14) Your company is looking for a business hotel for a conference they are going to hold in your city. You are visiting a hotel in the area. The examines is the manager of the hotel. Find out this information:
1 facilities available at the hotel
2 prices of rooms
3 discount for group booking.
Marketing
(15) The pharmaceutical company you work for is keen to participate in an international conference abroad. You have been asked to make recommendations about the company’s participation.
Discuss and decide together:
- how to select members of staff to represent the company at the conference
- what practical arrangements would need to be made by the company before the conference.
- how the company should respond after the conference to interest shown in its products.
Marketing / CRM
(16) In the event of recession, it could be quite risky for your company to be employing so many customer service staff. Recently, one member of the management team suggested axing the customer service department and outsourcing their function.
A outsource?
B keep the function in-house?
Finance
(17) You run a small business. One of your business customers has told you that she’ll order twice as many of your products if you allow her to pay in 90 days. This may cause you cashflow problems.
Do you
A sell the goods and give her 90 days?
B insist she pays cash and sell her at least?
Finance
(18) You are an Investment portfolio manager and you manage investment portfolios for rich clients. You meet with one of them to present a new investment opportunity: you want your client to invest in Berganian government bonds. Bergania is a country which has problems with rebels, violence and civil rights. The bond has a 7-year maturity and offers a 12% coupon. The country has huge mineral reserves and has potential for economic growth if stability is achieved. Persuade your client to invest, with regard to the following facts:
- you know that the government wants to use the capital raised to buy weapons to fight against the rebels.
- you secretly made a deal with the government which ensures you get a share of the capital raised.
- your client considers you a friend and trusts you.