READING AND LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE

Choose one correct answer

TEMPORARY CHANGES TO DELIVERIES

Our customer despatch center will be closed from 30th december- 4th
January. bDuring this time, we plan to install a new stock control
system and (1)_____________ out essential maintenance work to lifting
and loading equipment. While this will be of great(2) ____________ to
customers in the long term ,it does unfortunately (3)__________ that
during this period, we will be unable to send out any customer orders.
Orders placed between 3oth december and 4th january are therefore
(4)_________ to be delayed by upto days.We greatly appreciate your
continued support and look forward to (5) _________you with an
improved service from 5th january .

(1). A Carry B .Bring C. present D. meet

(2). A. Good B. Better C. Benefit D. Fine

(3).A.result B. mean C. Resolve D. conclude

(4)A. positive B. Probable C.likely D.definite

(5). Providing B.adapting C. giving D. presenting

Look at the picture and click on the best answer.

To: All line managers

From: J. Heart: Head of administration
Subject: Presentation by CEO to line
Managers, July 20th, conference Room
B.

The CEO will look at chnages in

the role of line managers in
encouraging and rewarding staf
development, made necessary
by the recently agreed re-
structuring of the organisation.

A. The CEO will explain how the companys new structure will
increase the need for management training
B. The CEO will explain how the company`s new structure will lead
to achange in the number of staf.
C. The CEO will explain how the companys new structure will
have an impacto n managers responsibilities.

Bid to buy
Bartons PLC

Bartons PLC urge shareholders to

accept the Home Fairs Group bid to
buy their company in a 6.2M
pounds deal,Despite recieving
another approach from an
unnamed company.

A. Bartons PLC shareholders are recomended to agree to an ofer

from Home Fairs Group.
B. There has been an agreement that Bartons PLC will buy Home
fairs in a 6.2m pounds deal.
C. Bartons PLC approached an unnamed company after recieving
the Home Fairs Group ofer.

Eastgate IT Solutions

Reduce operational costs

by ofshoring your IT
department. We will save
you an averag eof 30%
on data storage and
printing costs.

A. Eastgate ofers to run IT services

B. Eastgate ofers to design software for IT departments
C. Eastgate ofers to design low cost IT training programmes.

Pink Crystal are Delighted

to announce that , as part
of arecent strategic
review, they have created
an in-house PR
Department.

A. There will eb astrategic review of thge PR department

B. All PR work can be done in-house from now on
C. The company is pleased with the performance of the PR
department.

Induction of new
staf
The company`s induction
handbook must be used to
supply guidance and
information to new
starters, contractors and
agency personnel who
have moved to a new area
of the business.
 A. The purpose of this notice is to give some instructions about
supporting new staf.
B. The purpose of this notice is to give details of an event for new
staf
C. The purpose of this notice is to give advice to new staf.

To. Head of marketing

From: sales director

You asked for my views on the

pluses and minuses of attending
the trade misin to braZil: Id be
wary of signing up to this even it
presents not insignificant business
opportunities. It falls during our
peak period and and diverting key
members of my ream to
accompany me would be unwise.

A. The sales director is unconvinced that attending the trade

misin would generate new business
B. The sales director is reluctant to commit sales staf to the trade
misin
C. The sales director is too busy to participate in a trade misin
with the marketing manager.

TOPAIR makes Tepid

Debut on the Market
Despite expectations of
strong investor demand in
their share release, the
carrier gets a taste of
what life will be like on a
sluggish market.

A. Topair regrets that it has delayed its share release

B. Investors are slow to buy shares in TOPAIR
C. Negative results for TOPAIR surprise shareholders

Business Monthly
Magazine

BIZZMONTH
SUBSCRIBE BY 30TH
APRIL & GET TWO
RECENT ISSUES FREE
$29.50 FOR ONE YEAR
(12 ISSUES)
CANCEL ANY TIME
WITHIN THE FIRST
THREE MONTHS FOR A
FULL REFUND.

A. You will receive the last twelve issues of the magazine for $
29.50
 B. You should subscribe before may for adiscount on the next
twelve issues
C. You can stop subscribing before you receive three issues
without losing Money.

Fill in the gap with one suitable Word.

E- Marketing
E-marketing means using digital technologies such as websites,
mobile devices and social networking top help reach your customer
base,create awareness of your brand and sell your godos or
services.These tachnologies can be used cheaply and efectively, no
matter____________ large or small your company is.

The basics of marketing remain the same-creating astrategy to

deliver the right messages to the right people.Although businesses
will continue to make use of the traditional marketing methods,
_____________ as advertising,direct mail and PR,e- marketing
adds____________ whole new element to the marketing mix.Web
analytics and other online tolos make ___________ much easier to
establish how efective acampaign has been. Mopreover, flexibility
and cost efectiveness are key aspectys of e-marketing______________
particular for small businesses.

Write in the Gap.

Top 100 brands for customers: Our

methodology
We have just published our list of 100 brands rated top for customer
satisfaction. In___________ to find the top 100 brands for delivering
the best customer experience,we carried out 7,300 interviews with
arepresentative sample of consumers over three days in mid-
september. People involved in the process_________ asked to specify
which brands they had interacted with over the past six months and
then to tae each brand in terms of _____________ far it met their needs.
Did they find the company easy to deal with ____________ had they
had problems with it?.__________ average, each respondent rated 18
diferent brands. We used the answers to these questions to build a
league table of the top 100 brands.

Office design
Improving your buildings physical environment will have anumber of
benefits. Research _____________ shown that people work better in
buildings that use good natural lighting and ventilation. This is
because they feel more in control of the environment__________ which
they work.Moreover, they are _________ subject to minor illness and
abseneeism tan employees who work in bad conditions.

_________ achieve a confortable environmment,the lighting, internal

temperatures and fresh air must be suitable for the occupants
activities. People work best in natural light. On the other hand, their
sales of well-being sufers from the noise and restricted sense of
control associated____________ many air-conditioning systems.
Creating a healthier working environment improves staf
morale,productivity and profitability.

TIME MANAGEMENT
A reader emailed me recently saying im always doing everything on
the run.Leaving projects half finished and not up to my usual
standards. I have no breathing space to plan a head ,but am
constantly fire- fighting.How can i manage my time better?
Good question, one of our gtreatest shortages today is time. Many
people feel rushed at work wishing they had time to do things
properly and get round to things that bring greater job satisfaction.
Sadly, this state of afairs is unlikely to change. In fact, it has become
enshrined in our working cultura, where being busy is associated with
virtue and success.And unfortunately, always feeling unable to
complete tasks to our satisfaction can have adebilitating efect.
Making it hard to gain pleasure in the present ,because were worried
about the next thing in the agenda.

There are several options in tackiling this issue , as well as the one
suggested by the writer of the email: becoming norte efficient with
time. One approach may be to careles about not always achieveing
our high unusual standards , although i suspect many people are
hard-wired for perfectionism.Another possibility is to do fewer things
better,in order to mee tour own quality criteria.This involves saying no
to colleaugues, although ofcourse,if you always limit yourself top
tasks you can handle to your own satisfaction, it may damage your
career prospects.

Afurther complication is that management texbooks continually

exhort us to excellence. the good is the enemy of the great.We are
told in apopular misquotation which suggests that doing our best is
not enough. Although there is much to commend in books such as Jim
Collins Good to Great,They ultimately lead to us feeling
disappointed with our own performance.

I recently read about the economist Herbert A Simon,who in 1957

invented the term satisficing.By this he meant, making achoice that is
both satisfactory and sufficient to meet to meet the needs of the
situation, without necessarily being the best of all posible options.He
linked the term to two others: optimising and maximising,the first
concerned with achieving the best outcome from asituation and the
secound with achieving the most. E.g. the highest quality or the top
Price. You choose which of these three strategies best fits the
circumstances.
I d recommend that people apply these principles to their current
tasks, allocating each to one of three columns. Some things that we
seek to maximise could, without detriment to ourselves ,be moved to
the satisficing column-so doing them well enough is fine. Others
will need to remain in the maximising list since its vital that our
output is of the highest quality. For some tasks, its not simply
amatter of quality: other priorities such as workplace relationships
and our own needs and feelings have to be taken into account.

There are other ways to use time more efficiently: identifying golden
time(the hours when we are at our most productive), working with
the co-operation of others to ensure this time is used solely for
tackling long tyerm issues,delegating more,taking on just the things
where we can personally add the most value e.t.c. But only when we
determine what is of greater importance will the use of these
methods make sense.

1. In the secound paragraph, what point deos the writer make

about working life today?

A. Not being busy enough at work causes people to loose

motivation
B. It is seen as desierable to have agood deal to do at work.
C. Only by having alot to do can people achieve job
satisfaction.
D. Having abusy agenda requires people to paln carefully.
2. According to the third paragraph, why is lowering standards not
arealistic option?

A. People would be too worried about having more work to do.

B. People achieve career promotion through work of ahigh
standard
C. People strongly believe their work should be perfect
D. People are anxious about how their work colleagues would
react.
3. What does the writer say about management textbooks in
general?
A. The raise managers expctations of their staf
B. They encourage too much competition the work place
C. They lack practical advice for improving prformance.
D. They can make people feel they have under-achieved.
4. What point did Herbert A Simon make regarding work tasks?

A. It may be neccessary to compromiso on quality

B. It is imposible to judge how best to complete atask
C. Success can only be achieved by focusing on quality
D. The achievement of as many tasks as posible is paramount
5. What does the writer suggest in the sixth paragraph?

A.We must always try to produce our best quality work

B. If we follow amaximising approach, we will never be satisfied

C.Relations with others need to be considered alongside quality

of work

D. Others are likely to criticise our work unless it is our best.

6. In the final paragraph, the writer argues thaty efficient time

management
A. Can only be successful when priorities are decided
B. Will help to solev companies long term problems
C. Is achieved only by establishing how we work best.
D. Requires workloads to be base on individual strengths.
 How to be a First-Time Manager

Becoming amanager taught me the importance of always being seen

as absolutely fair, says paul Bramwell, MD of consultancy JMF. You
have to get used to the fact that you are no longer assessed on how
well you do as an individual, but on how well your team performs.
Suddenly, you have the responsibility of leading and motivating
people youve worked with for years and maye ven still socialise with.

And is things dont get done, its now down to you to do soemthing
about it. Its not easy to tell amate they havent delivered, says
Bramwell. You should be as sensitive as you can, but you have to tell
them. If you duck atricky conversation today, it will come back to
haunt you later if only because your team thinks that you are asoft
touch. You musnt be apushover he stresses , but dont turn into
abully either, promotion isnt areason to chnage your personality
overnight.

However , afew high visisbility alterations can help boster your

credibility with both your team an d the rerst of your company, says
kate Lindsay, a marketing manager at Bergmann Schultz. Youve
taken a step up and whether you like it or nota ll eyes are on you.You
have to make some symbolic changes when you get promoted. I
decided to sit at a diferent desk-i aslo bought soem new suits.

For Linsay,the firts challemge was learning to delegate. I didnt uae to

have the confidence to give instructions directly to staf. It can
conforting to hang on to the bits of your job you were good at. But if
you do,no one in the company will ever trustanyone but you to do
them. Theer are also many managers who think, ill do that myself-it
ll be quicker , but thats afalse economy. You must invest the time
needed to help others do it.

Moving on to naew company bringhs its own set of pros and cons,
says Bramwell. On the upside, you neednt worry about not being
taken seriously by more senior people who still think you are at their
back and call.On the downside, you probably have less of an idea
what your predecesor did and didnt do. Check your in- tray for
landmines in the first week of your new job._ why did yoiur
predeccessor leave, and what did they leave behind them that might
explode in your face?

Another key point says Lindsay , is looking upwards as well as

downwards. Cultivate gaood relationship with your boss.Find out what
they expect from you, and use that knowledge. We all learn by
example soi use your experience of being managed to help you
manage your own staf. For instance one crucial lesson is that no-one
likes doing something they arent going to get credit for.so when the
chairman praises your department in ahigh-level meeting,go and
share the glory with those who deserve it.

1. According to the first paragraph, what does paul Bramwell say

you must learn to do as a new manager?
A. Trust your own instincts
B. Take responsibilities for your decisions
C. Re-assess your opinin of long standing colleagues
D. Be charged according to groupo rather tan personal
achievements

2.What challenge for new managers does Bramwell identify in the

secound paragraph?

A.dealing with por performance

B. Choosing people for promotion

C.Measuring staf performance

D. preventing bullying in the workplace.

3.According to kate Linsay, asmall visisble change to how you appear

in the office can

A. Boost your self- esteem

B. Draw agreat deal of attention to you

 C. produce a mis-leading impression of your attention

D. have apositive im pacto n the way others regards you.

4.Why did Lindsay not delegate efectively when she was firts
promoted?

A. She thought it would be faster to do certain jobs

B. She wanted her staf to concentrate on the tasks they were used
to
C. She felt unconfortable about telling people what she wanted them
to do
D. She lacked faith in her stafs ability to do things as well as well as
she could.

5.What problema of taking up apost in adiferent company is

mentioned by bramwell?

A. Being unfamiliar with the hierarchical structure of the company

B.Discovering unresolved issues dating from before your

appointment.

C. fitting into the working practices set up by an individual unknown

to you

D.convincing senior managers you are capable of meeting the

demands of your role.

6.What advice does Lindsay give to newly appointed managers in

the final paragraph?=

A. Make sure you know what your staf expect form you as aboss
B. Acknowledge everybodys contribution to departmental
success.
C. Dont ignore the management lessons you can learn from yor
staf
D. Look to senior managers to give you advice on how to manage
your department.