Нина Пусенкова - Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач

Нина Пусенкова

Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач

Посвящается Сампо, моему лучшему другу

Предисловие

Предлагаемый вашему вниманию практический курс был разработан специально для передовых российских менеджеров (и всех, кто хочет ими стать), желающих усовершенствовать свой деловой английский. Он рассчитан на студентов, достаточно свободно владеющих английским языком. Задача данного пособия – представить учащимся в соответствующем контексте современную экономическую, управленческую и финансовую лексику; оно знакомит также с модным жаргоном, на котором сейчас говорят в международном деловом, финансовом и инвестиционном сообществе.

Структура пособия во многом ориентирована на учебные программы, которые обычно преподаются в школах бизнеса. В него включены материалы по управлению ценностью (стоимостью), корпоративному управлению, корпоративной культуре, социальной ответственности корпораций, сбалансированной системе показателей, Нью-Йоркской фондовой бирже, рынку облигаций, торговле производными финансовыми инструментами, инвестиционной стратегии, оценке российских компаний и т. п. Пособие содержит тексты о таких широко известных компаниях, как «Дженерал электрик», «Энрон», «Хьюлетт-Паккард», «Газпром», «Аэрофлот». Особый акцент сделан на материалах по экономике, инвестиционному климату, финансовому рынку России, проблемам российского бизнеса.

В учебных целях были подобраны тексты из самых разных источников: ведущих западных финансово-экономических журналов и газет (Business Week, Fortune, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times); представлены отчеты компаний, материалы инвестиционных банков и т. п. Это дает студентам возможность ознакомиться с разнообразными стилями изложения материала. При необходимости тексты были сокращены и адаптированы.

Пособие включает 40 уроков. Каждый урок содержит упражнения, позволяющие закрепить новые слова и лучше разобраться в теме занятия.

Англо-русский словарь в конце учебника представляет собой так называемый магистерский минимум – более тысячи терминов, которые следует знать профессионалам в сфере экономики и финансов.

Поскольку русский финансово-экономический язык находится в процессе формирования и разные источники зачастую дают разный перевод многих профессиональных терминов, автор ориентировалась на «Банковский и экономический словарь» Б.Г. Федорова, который, как представляется, дает наиболее верную трактовку важнейших понятий. В некоторых случаях автор исходила из собственных представлений о правильности перевода английской терминологии.

Учебное пособие поможет студентам школ бизнеса, языковых, экономических и финансовых вузов, а также специалистам из различных секторов экономики овладеть профессиональной лексикой делового английского языка.

Успехов!

Автор

Lesson 1

Motivation Theories

Read and translate the text and learn terms from the Essential Vocabulary.

Motivation Theories

Motivation is at the heart of your success. Because management is all about getting things done through others, the ability to get others to perform is critical. A crucial driver of organizational performance, motivation refers to the processes that determine how much effort will be expended to perform the job in order to meet organizational goals. A lack of motivation costs the company money – in terms of lost productivity and missed opportunities.

With downsizing and restructuring becoming commonplace in organizations, employee morale has become negatively impacted. This has made the motivation of the workforce even more important.

The old command-and-control methods of motivating are not suitable for today’s environment of empowerment and teams. Providing one-size-fits-all rewards does not work with diverse workforce.

No single theory captures the complexity of motivation in its entirety. You need to understand multiple theories, and then integrate them to get a more comprehensive understanding of how to better motivate your employees.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow developed a theory in 1943 to analyze what drives human behavior. The Hierarchy of Needs Theory explained human behavior in terms of needs.

His theory’s underlying premise is that people must have their needs met in order to function effectively. These needs are ordered in a hierarchy.

Maslow suggested that human behavior is first motivated by basic physiological needs. That is, you need food, water and air. Providing your employees with a sufficient remuneration, bonuses and breaks during their workday enables them to meet some of these basic physiological needs. Health-care programs, medical insurance and paid sick leaves also assist your employees in meeting these needs.

Once these needs are fulfilled, people are motivated by safety needs. You can provide fulfillment of these needs for your employees by ensuring strict adherence to occupational safety rules and offering them some degree of job security.

Many of the benefits that companies offer, such as savings plans, stock purchase plans and profit sharing programs, also fulfill the safety needs of employees. Even outplacement services to assist employees who were made redundant can address the safety needs: these services ease the pain of the layoff.

As this need is fulfilled, people progress up the pyramid to be motivated by social needs or belongingness. These reflect the need for affiliation, socialization and the need to have friends. Your company’s social events provide opportunities for socialization. Corporate sponsorship of community events also provides an opportunity for employees to make friends while giving something back to the community.

As these needs are satiated, people are motivated by esteem needs. These needs involve gaining approval and status. You can help your employees fulfill these needs with recognition rewards such as plaques, trophies, and certificates.

And finally, the need for self-actualization – the need to reach your full potential – drives people’s behavior. In the words of the Armed Forces, this is «being all that you can be». Developing skills for your employees helps them to reach self-actualization. While the first four needs can be fulfilled, the need for self-actualization cannot be satiated. Once you move toward your potential, you raise the bar and strive for more.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor proposed that managers use one of two different assumptions concerning people. His theory is called the Theory X and Theory Y view of managers, which reflects these two different sets of assumptions.

The Theory X view is the negative set of assumptions. The Theory X manager believes that people are lazy and must be forced to work because it does not come naturally to them.

The Theory Y holds that people will look for responsibility and that work comes naturally to people. This is seen as the positive assumption about people.

Generally, Theory Y manager will have more motivated employees. Sometimes, the Theory X manager can achieve results when used in the appropriate situations. But today’s workforce, as a rule, seeks more challenging jobs and an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. This is closer to the assumptions of the Theory Y manager.

McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory

David McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory is also referred to as the Acquired Needs Theory. According to the theory developed in the 1970s, needs are developed or learned over time. McClelland suggested that there are three needs – for achievement, power, and affiliation – that are important to the workforce. While all three are present in everyone, one need is dominant.

People who have a dominant need for achievement are proactively seeking ways to improve the way things are done, like challenges and excel in competitive environment. An employee who has a dominant need for achievement should be provided with challenging jobs with lots of feedback on his or her progress.

The need for power is the need to control others. Those with a dominant need for power like to be in charge and enjoy jobs with status. You should allow such employees to participate in decisions that impact them and give them some control over their jobs.

The need for affiliation is the need to have close relationships with others and to be liked by people. Individuals with the dominant need for affiliation generally do not desire to be the leader because they want to be one of the group. They should be assigned to teams because they are motivated when working with others. You might also let them train new employees or act as mentors because this addresses more of their need for this interaction that is dominant within them.

Equity Theory

Equity Theory is a social comparison theory that was developed in 1963 by J. Stacey Adams. The underlying premise of this theory is that people will correct inequities:

I? I

O = O

The ratio of your inputs to outputs is compared to the ratio of another’s inputs to outputs. You can compare your ratio to other employees with comparable positions. You might also compare your ratio (especially with regard to output) to your organization’s pay policies or past experience or to a standard. Annual industry surveys can serve as the benchmark.

Inputs involve all that you bring to the job – your education, the hours you work, level of effort, and general performance level. The output portion of the equation is generally measured in terms of the salary and fringe benefits that you receive. In some cases this could be prestige, approval, and status.

Any inequities in the relationship will be corrected as soon as they are detected. The only variable that you can manipulate is your input. So if you believe that the relationship is not in balance and that the ratio of your inputs to outputs is greater than the ratio of the comparisons, you will work to bring the relationship back into equity by reducing your inputs – increasing your absenteeism or performing at lower levels.

You can correct inequities in a number of ways. You can make the correction by changing the perception of the inputs or outputs. You may somehow rationalize your perception of the inequity. You may choose to change the comparison person or standard. Or, you may remove yourself from the situation (such as quitting your job).

Expectancy Theory

Developed by Victor Vroom in the 1960s, Expectancy Theory proceeds from the assumption that behavior is based upon the expectation that this behavior will lead to a specific reward and that reward is valued.

According to expectancy theory, you must decide how hard you have to work to get an upcoming promotion. Then you must decide if you can work at that level (to get that promotion). The third link is deciding how much you value that reward (the promotion).

All three pieces of this equation determine your motivational level. You think of expectancy as the following equation:

M = E x V x I,

where M = Motivation; E = Expectancy; V = Valence; I = Instrumentality.

Expectancy is your view of whether your efforts will lead to the required level of performance to enable you to get the reward. Valence is how valued the reward is. Instrumentality is your view of the link between the performance level and the reward. That is, whether you believe that if you do deliver the required performance, you will get the valued reward. Because this is a multiplicative relationship, if anyone of these links is zero, motivation will be zero.

You must be clear about telling your employees what is expected of them. It is critical that you tie rewards to specific performance. You must also offer rewards that your employees will value. Critical in this process is the employee’s perception of his or her performance. Employees will become demotivated when their performance does not produce the valued outcome.

You must be especially careful about building trust. Your employees must know that if they perform at the required level, you will follow through with the desired reward. Your credibility becomes a key component in this theory.

Source: www.accel-team.com

Essential Vocabulary

1. performance n – зд. показатели (результаты) деятельности; исполнение