Auteur PieterMeersman
4 Companies and organisations
In this unit you’ll learn how to talk about companies and the ways they are organized.
4.1 Starter – talking about companies
Exercise 1 – Read these descriptions of some companies. Complete their names.
1. This American multinational technology company provides many different services. It focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence. It’s one of the Big Five companies in the US, along with
The company’s B2B ecommerce channel has more than 10 billion in global annualized sales.
2. This company produces tyres for cars and other vehicles. It is based in France, but it has more than 125,000 employees all over the world. It is well-known for its red and green travel guides.
3. This northern European company operates in the retail market. It specializes in low-price products, including furniture, bathrooms and kitchens.
4. It’s a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). The company makes planes for the commercial aircraft market, where its main competitor is Boeing.
5. This company makes many different electrical and electronic products, such as TVs, computers, and mobile phones. It is South Korea’s largest company and exporter.
Exercise 2 – Complete these sentences with a form of the words in bold in exercise 1.
1. Some companies make or ____ goods.
2. Other companies ___ or offer services.
3. If you ___ in a particular product or service, it’s your main activity.
4. If you work for a company, you are an ___.
5. If your head office is in a particular city, your company is ___ there.
6. If you work in a ___, your company is part of a bigger group (the parent company).
7. If you sell a lot of products, your ___ are very good.
8. If another company operates in the same market as you, it is your ___.
Exercise 3 – Make sentences by randomly combining words in the first column with words in the second column. Use the information from the PowerPoint. produces / makes … specializes in … operates in
sells ‘s competitors are … provides / offers …
(Mitsubishi)
4.2 Company profile
Company profile
information about a company that is in the public domain, e.g. the company’s history, product portfolio, operations bases, organization and management structure etc.
NAME OF THE COMPANY Besam
8 – Exercise 4 – An employee is talking about her company. Listen and complete the information in the table.
PRODUCTS ___________________ _________________ mechanisms: locks and __________________ systems.
GROUP Assa Abloy
NATIONALITY
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
SALES € __________________
NUMBER OF SUBSIDIARIES ______________________ in 40 countries
OTHER INFORMATION Main ____________________ are the Eastern Company, Ingersoll Rand, and Master Lock.
Now talk about Besam, using some or all of these phrases and the information above.
It’s a(n) … company.
It’s a subsidiary of …
Its head office is …
It makes / produces …
It provides / offers …
It has … employees.
It operates in …
It is based in …
It specializes in …
Its main competitors are …
It has sales of …
Exercise 5 – Read this company profile.
J. Canning Ltd is a family company. It was founded in 1894 by Joseph Canning, who began by selling bread and baked goods from a street stall.
It now sells a huge range of food goods to restaurants, shops and hotels. Its unique selling proposition is that it sources food locally and therefore has a lower impact on the environment than its competitors.
It employs over 2,500 people and has three offices in the UK, including its head office in Birmingham.
85% of its business is in the UK, while 15% is in northern European markets, such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
The company has expanded since it started, but it is still run by the Canning family – Joseph’s great-grandson, Patrick, is the current CEO.
True or false?
1. The company has always been in the food business.
2. It has a limited range of products.
3. It tries to get products from all over the world.
4. All of its business is in Europe.
5. It’s been sold several times since it began.
Exercise 6 – Now find the words in the text to match the definitions.
1. country or countries where products are sold.
2. something that makes it different (1)
3. started
4. finds(2)
5. effect
6. got bigger
7. managed
8. head of a company
(1) USP: feature of a product that no other similar products have, used in advertising etc to persuade people to buy it.
Finding a unique selling point for banking services is not easy.
The product’s USPs should be central throughout the development process.
(2) to source: if goods are sourced from a particular place, they are obtained from the place.
Fish for the restaurants is sourced daily from British ports. locally sourced milk
Why is it useful or important to know about a company before you start doing business with them? What could go wrong if you don’t know anything about them?
If a company is _____________________________________, you may suffer by going into business with them.
If a company has _______________________________________(3), it might affect your company’s reputation. …
(3) track record: past achievements or performance of a person, organization or product ‘levensloop, staat van dienst, verwezenlijkingen’
4.3 Company structure
Exercise 7a – Match the words and phrases form the box in the left-hand margin to their definitions.
1. an office where people answer questions and make sales over the phone.
2. a building from which goods or supplies are sent to factories, shops or customers.
3. a place through which products are sold.
4. a place where faulty (= defective) products are mended.
5. company which is at least half-owned by another company (the ________________________).
6. the main office or building of a company.
7. a building for storing goods in large quantities.
8. a large building or group of buildings where goods are made (using machinery).
9 – 7b – Listen to the comments from different places in the organisation and write down a few key words. Then match them to the places listed in 7a. KEY WORDS PLACE IN THE ORGANISATION
(4) AGM Annual General Meeting a meeting held once a year by a business to discuss the previous year’s business, elect officials, etc.
4.4 Company departments
Exercise 8a – Look at this list of common company departments.
8b – Which department usually:
1. sells products?
2. does the advertising and communication?
3. creates new products?
4. answers technical questions from customers?
5. answers all other questions from customers?
6. provides legal services and advice to the company?
7. issues press releases (‘persberichten uitsturen’)?
8c – Complete the sentences about other companies with words from the list.
1. The Logistics Department ___ the transport of products.
2. The Training Department ___ courses.
3. The Purchasing Department ___ from suppliers.
4. The Human Resources Department ___ new staff.
5. The Finance Department ___ with all the money.
6. The Quality Control Department ___ that the products have no defects.
7. The Production Department ___ the goods and operates assembly lines.
8. Administration ___ records.
9. The IT Department installs and ____ the computer system.
10. The Legal Department ___ contracts.
NOTE: Some of the tasks might be dealt with by more than one department, e.g. draw up contracts could also be a function of HR.
GRAMMAR NOTE: use of singular vs plural verb after company or department names. (Cf. course English Grammar)
E.g. Company A have launched a new campaign. They are targeting small businesses.
PRONUNCIATION NOTE: the third person ending -s has three pronunciations.
/s/ /z/ // recruits checks keeps buys deals manufactures maintains draws up arranges organizes
when the verb ends in a voiceless consonant, like /t, k, p, f, …/
when the verb ends in a voiced consonant, like /d, b, v, m, l …/ or vowel
when the verb ends in a hissing sound (‘sisklank’) like /s, z, …/
Cf. course English Grammar
Many videos on YouTube can help you understand this pronunciation issue.
10 – 8d – Listen to three people talking about their work. Which department do they work in?
1
2
cf. words like paperwork, bureaucratic
cf. words like inquiries form journalists, broadcast
cf. recruitment, training, retirement
VOC NOTE: open plan office (‘landschapskantoor’), it has few or no walls inside, so it is not divided into smaller rooms.
4.5 Company culture
Exercise 9a – Look at these words used to describe organisations. Underline the stressed syllable in each word. Then listen and check your answers. – 11
1. bureaucratic
2. decentralised
3. impersonal
4. caring 5. democratic 6. market-driven
7. centralised
8. dynamic
9. professional 10. conservative
11. hierarchical
12. progressive
Which words can describe …
- good qualities of an organisation?
- bad qualities of an organisation?
NOTE that your answer might be ‘sometimes’, ‘it depends’. For example, most of us prefer our banks to be reasonably conservative, for example by not lending to people who can’t repay, discouraging new-fangled practices in counting cash.
9b – Now match the words to their definitions.
1. continuously moving or changing dynamic
2. failing to make people feel that they are important impersonal
3. supporting new and modern ideas and methods progressive
4. organized according to the principle that everyone has a right to be involved in making decisions democratic
5. decision-taking has moved from the central top of the company to the departments
6. divided into different levels of importance
7. showing that someone is well-trained and good at their work.
8. activities or products that are the result of public demand for that product, service, …
9. having a lot of complicated and unnecessary rules
10. the control of the company is organized so that everything is done or decided in one place
11. not liking changes or new ideas and not very modern (= traditional)
12. thinking about what people need or want and trying to help them
4.6 Company organigram
Company organigram / organogram
a drawing or plan that gives the names and job titles of all the staff in an organization or department, showing how they are connected to each other.
Read about Bleu Bay Design:
A company without bosses is called a ________________________________.
What is your opinion? Is it better to have a boss in an organization? Would you feel comfortable working in an organization like this?
Organigram A
Organigram B
Now look at these three company organigrams. How are these organizations different from each other?
Organigram C
A is organized in business units according to _____________________.
B is a functional organization is a more traditional organization and is organized according to ________________________.
C is a group of companies with a _____________________________________ and ____________________________.
Exercise 10a – Work in small groups. Use and read the Top Trumps Business Cards (Toledo) to fill in the incomplete organigram below.
Exercise 10b – Use these phrases to describe how the employees are connected. responsible for report to work for in charge of liaise with work under work in (a team, department) responsible to
To liaise with: to exchange information with someone who works in another organization or department so that you can both be more effective.
(‘samenwerken, contact leggen, als schakel fungeren’)
Ivy is responsible for the lunches in the canteen.
Yuri and Nicole report to Yurat.
____Andi liaises with Jasmine.
____Lee works under Ralph.