Speaking skills
Task 1. Read the problem Your team has completed a highly successful project, and the company’s directors have decided to give a financial reward of $10,000 to be shared among you. You have to agree how you want to use the money. Step 1. Preparation Read the problem again. First of all, set some objectives so you can run an efficient meeting. For example, you should decide on the following” a) Time: You only have 15 minutes for this meeting b) Organization: to give each person a chance to speak? to encourage free discussion? to keep it short by limiting discussion? c) How to reach a decision: to have a consensus of percent… (e.g. 100%, 80% etc.) Step 2. Open the meeting More preparation: plan how you will open the meeting to discuss the financial reward and what you will say to introduce each of the five steps given above in Task III. Step 3. Demonstrate how you would open the meeting. Step 4. Hold the meeting. Choose a role. Read your role card and role-play the meeting.
Role A. You want to spend the money on a special celebration. Suggest a dinner and night at an expensive hotel in (city of your choice). You want to invite wives/husbands/parents to the event. Role B. You are going to open the meeting. You think the money should be given in the form of shares in the company(stock option). Role C. You want to divide the cash among you so you can each spend it as you wish.
Role D. You want to spend the money on a special training course that all of you would attend. It could be a course in marketing, negotiating or English.
Role E. You want to spend the money on a trip. Your company’s head office is in New York and none of you has been there yet. Propose a visit.
Part 2. DIFFICULT SITUATIONS AT THE MEETING.
A. Dealing with difficult people. Exercise 1. When we talk about dealing with difficult people, what we really mean is dealing with difficult behavior. By learning to understand what it is that makes someone else behave and talk in a difficult way, we are in a better position not only to take charge of the situation, but also to help the other person resolve the conflicts that made him or her ‘difficult’ in the first place. The crazy thing is that the natural way in which many of us react when we meet a difficult person is often more inclined to make that person’s behavior even more difficult. The key factor in dealing successfully with difficult people is to understand what makes them behave in the way they do. Recognizing the personality type of difficult people enables us to deal successfully with them. Most styles of behavior can be caregorized as one of three basic types: Passive Aggressive Assertive Passive behavior I most typified by people who put other people’s needs before their own; such a person is often insecure and frustrated by his own inability to be assertive leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy of feeling inadequate. Aggressive behavior can be summarized as satisfying one’s own needs at the expense of others; a tendency towards being a bully. This aggressive behavior is often the result of feelings of inadequacy and lack of self-worth: that nothing is ever their fault but always someone else’s, because an aggressive person’s lack of self0esteem does not allow them to admit faults. An assertive person is concerned not only for his own rights and opinions but also for those of others and tries to obtain a win-win situation. In general, assertive people are the ones we most like to be associated with and by moving towards the assertive areas ourselves, we are better able to respond to passive and aggressive types.
B. Different types of behaviour. Exercise 1. Look at the following examples of behaviour that a chairperson might have to deal with in a meeting. Which situation(s) should the chairperson deal with most urgently? Discuss what strategies the chairperson could use in each situation: 1. A participant looks bored and is not contributing to the discussion. 2. Every time anyone makes a suggestion, one participant responds with a negative comment. They say why an idea won’t work, but don’t make any positive suggestions. 3. Two participants keep having private, whispered discussion during the meeting. 4. A participant doesn’t want to listen to anyone else’s ideas. They keep interrupting and try to dominate any topic discussed. 5. A participant is not very willing to give an opinion. 6. A participant keeps introducing irrelevant topics to the discussion.
B. DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE.
Exercise 2. Look at the suggestions below for dealing with difficult situations and choose the response that you think would work better.
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1. Help calm a difficult situation by acknowledging how the person feels. a) You’re obviously pretty angry about this. b) I can see that you feel strongly about this. 2. Try to find out why the person is being difficult. a) Can you explain why you are feeling this way? b) Why are you being unreasonable? 3. Show that you understand. a) I can sympathise with your concerns. b) I realise why you’re panicking about that. 4. Encourage quiet participants when they contribute, even if you don’t agree with their ideas. a) Thanks for your suggestion, but you really need to think it through a bit more. b) I think the basic idea is good, but perhaps we could discuss some of the details. 5. Be firm if people try to use the meeting to speak about personal grievances. a) This isn’t the best place to discuss this. b) Leave your personal differences out of this.
C. INTERRUPTING AND HANDLING INTERRUPTIONS.
Different styles of interrupting apply in different situations. Appropriacy depends on place, context and the people involved. For example, internal meetings or meetings with clients, friends, status of relationships, formality, urgency, time considerations, conventions, agenda, style of discussion etc. Generally, the more informal the meeting, the more likely that interruptions will be acceptable. In large formal meetings, interrupting may be reserved only for the chair.
Interruptions can have different intentions: a) to ask for clarification; b) to add opinion; c) to ask for more details; d) to change the direction of the discussion; e) to disagree. In some cultures, people like to work in a sequential manner, finishing one task before starting the next. Such people dislike being interrupted in the middle of a task and having to consider something else. In other cultures, people can happily handle several tasks at once. This means they don’t mind interruptions. These different attitudes can affect the way meetings are run.
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Exercise 3. Read the following discussion in the European sales office of an American off-road automobile manufacturer (Amass). It concerns the advertising plans for the launch of a new truck, the Rodeo 4 PLUS. Manager, Matt Haslam, is explaining his ideas. Mark the following statements as True (T) or False (F).
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Exercise 4. Read the conversation again. Choose the interrupting phrases and write them down in the order in which you read them. There should be nine of them. 1. …………………………………………………….………………………………… 2. …………………………………………………………………………….………… 3. ………………………………………………………………………………………. 4. ………………………….…………………………………………………………… 5. ……………………………….……………………………………………………… 6. ……………………….……………………………………………………………… 7. ………………………….…………………………………………………………… 8. ……………………….……………………………………………………………… 9. ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Exercise 5. a) Discuss the style of the Amass meeting. b) How does Matt handle the interruptions? Does his approach change at any point during the extract? c) Did you think the interruptions are appropriate?
QUICK COMMUNICATION CHECK. (optional) (for doing at home with further discussion in the classroom)
Exercise 6. Stating opinion. Complete the following phrases. 1. It s………………………………………………… to me that the price is too high. 2. I t…………………………………………….……. the price is too high. 3. I b……………………………………………..…… the price is too high. 4. In my o…………………………………………….., the price is too high. 5. In my v…………………………………………….., the price is too high.
Exercise 7. Asking for opinion. Complete these exchanges using one of the words in the box.
think, interesting, great, agree, hear, opinion (2), right, information
1. What’s your (a) ……………………………………………………...……. on this? Unit 11
2. It’s a (b) ……………………………………………………………….……… idea. 3. Do you have any particular (c) …………………………………..… on the subject? 4. It’s (d) ………………….……, but I need more (e) ………………………………. 5. Mark, can we (f) ………………………………………………… from you on this? 6. I (g) …………………… with Madeleine, she’s absolutely (h) ……………….…... 7. Let’s hear what others (i) …………………………………………………….….….
Exercise 8. Interrupting. Underline the correct word to complete these sentences.
1. Can I say/tell/talk something here? I think … 2. Excuse me, Mr Chairman, I want to interrupt/disagree/not agree with what Mr Ancram has said. 3. I’m sorry, may I add/interrupt opinion? It seems to me…. 4. That’s not the true/true sure! 5. I’m afraid/pardon/sorry but I’d like to go/move on/continue another point.
Exercise 9. Handling interruptions. Replace the marked words in the sentences below with words or phrases in the box that mean the same.
talk about, return, not talk about, interrupt, finish, anything to do with, go ahead
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