Blood Boils in UK Workplaces

Cheating, stealing, and "incredibly loud" staff are turning the UK's workplaces into hotbeds of anger, new research claims. Anger at colleagues and incompetent managers is affecting productivity and causing people to threaten to resign or take time off for stress.

Occupational psychologist Jill Booth, who interviewed workers in the NHS, education, and shops, said she was "shocked" at the scale of anger among staff. "People told me they were angry morning, noon and night," said Mrs. Booth, a student at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston.

The most common cause was "immoral behaviour" such as lying, stealing or cheating. Some people complained that managers exploiting their position by not doing their jobs properly or regularly turning up late for work was causing their blood pressure to rocket.

Anger levels often spilled over into people's private lives and some workers said they went home in a bad mood because of something that happened at work.

A shop worker told Mrs. Booth she was angry that a colleague had been stealing goods without getting caught while a nurse was threatening to resign because of the behaviour of a colleague. A health worker interviewed for the study said of a colleague: "She is incredibly loud. When she comes into the office everything is disrupted, everything is disturbed." A teacher, angered by a pupil, said: "All my family knew about him. I used to come home and that's all I'd talk about." A worker angered by her manager said: "I don't really show anger when I am at work. I keep everything bottled in and then I get home and I'm like a lunatic."

The study warned that anger among workers could have long-term consequences for companies.

Exercise 17. Answer the following questions in pairs.

1. Who carried out the research into the working environment in British companies?

2. Where was the study made?

3. What causes anger in UK workplaces, according to the research?

4. How does workers' displeasure affect companies?

5. How does anger at work influence people's family life?

6. What can cause workers' dissatisfaction in Russian companies?

Exercise 18. In writing, describe any case of dealing with a difficult employee. Analyze the behaviour of both the manager and the problem worker.

Exercise 19. Role play.

1. Roles: a managing director, a new R&D manager.

A managing director tells a new R&D manager how to treat creative employees. The manager asks questions about their responsibilities and personal characteristics.

2. Roles: a manager in a toy factory, artists.

A manager wants to make a new doll / toy car / game. He / she explains the task to factory artists. The chief wants an original product. He / she asks them to search for revolutionary ideas. The artists ask questions about the product and the deadline.

3. Roles: a trainer and students.

A trainer and his students have a seminar on difficult employees at a business school. The trainer asks the students to characterize different types of problem workers and describe the way to cope with them.

 

UNIT 6. CUSTOMER SERVICE

6.1. Western Standards of Service

 

Exercise 1. Focus on the topical vocabulary.

to be concerned about smth [kqn'sE:nd] беспокоиться, заботиться о чём-л.

to get closer to smb становиться ближе к кому-л.

a passion fог excellence ['pxSqn…'eksqlqns] стремление к совершенству

to treat the customer like a king ['trJt…'kAstqmq] обращаться с покупателем, как с королем

to have a smell for... иметь нюх на...

a customer-oriented company ['LrIqntId] компания, ориентирующаяся на интересы покупателей

to issue bulletins ['IsjH'bulqtInz] выпускать бюллетени

to feature ['fJCq] v печатать на видном месте.

in a host of ways всевозможными способами

to demonstrate respect for smb ['demqnstreIt rIs'pekt] проявлять уважение к кому-л.

the Hall of Fame ['hLl…'feIm] зал славы

marketer ['mRkItq] n амер. продавец

customer-support people [sq'pLt] персонал, непосредственно работающий с покупателями

to shower smb with attention ['Sauq…q'tenSqn] оказывать кому-л. особое внимание

receptionist [rI'sepSqnIst] n секретарь, ведущий прием посетителей

loading dock ['lqVdIN 'dPk] погрузочная платформа

in particular [pq'tIkjulq] в частности, в особенности

contemptuous [kqn'tem(p)tjuqs] a презрительный, высокомерный

to permit [pq'mIt] v допускать; разрешать, позволять

facilities [fq'sIlItIz] n оборудование; средства, устройства; сооружения

back-room n секретная лаборатория; секретное конструкторское бюро

unique [jH'nJk] а уникальный, единственный в своем роде

device [dI'vaIs] n приспособление, устройство

to respond [rIs'pPnd] v отвечать, реагировать

request [rI'kwest] n просьба; v просить

to review [rI'vjH] v просматривать, проверять

complaint [kqm'pleInt] n жалоба

swiftly ['swIftlI] adv быстро

to measure customer satisfaction ['meZq…"sxtIs'fxkSqn] n удовлетворение

to make measures n удовлетворение

delivery date [dI'lIvqrI 'deIt] дата доставки

quality ['kwPlItI] n качество

reliability [rI"laIq'bIlItI] n надежность

sample ['sRmpl] n образец

perception [pq'sepSqn] n восприятие; понимание

substantial [sqb'stxnSql] а существенный

amount [q'maunt] n сумма

Exercise 2. Try to understand the meaning of the derivatives.

Deliver, delivery; passion, passionate; sell, seller, bestseller; quality, qualitative; exclude, exclusive, exclusively; orient, orientate, orientation, customer-oriented; market, marketing, marketer; receive, reception, receptionist; load, loading, loader; direct, directly, indirectly; respect, respectful; engineer, engineering; achieve, achievable; contempt, contemptuous; particular, particularly.

 

Exercise 3. Guess what these international words mean.

To identify, to sort out, an aspect, to demonstrate, general management, service, a manufacturer, an organization, a function, display, film clips, special, associated, regularly, policy meetings, to produce, products, to focus, a unique person, a statistical abstraction, information, a reason, perception.

 

Exercise 4. Read the adjectives with the suffixes -some [sqm] and -ous [qs] and say what they mean.

Handsome, burdensome, darksome, gladsome, tiresome, lonesome.

Continuous, mysterious, famous, hazardous, strenuous, dangerous, joyous, mountainous, contemptuous.

 

Exercise 5. Find antonyms in List A and В, С and D.

Model 1: to support – to discourage

A. To demonstrate, to keep one's promise, to support, to treat people well, to link, to attend a class, to be showered with attention, to promote, to hope, to improve, to prove, to find, to increase.

B. To discourage, to handle people badly, to disconnect, to be neglected, to demote, to make worse, to refute, to decrease, to hide, to despair, to lose, to break one's promise, to miss a lesson.

Model 2: close – far

C. Swift, true, friendly, close, good, active, contemptuous, probable, dishonest, complete, well-bred, severe, important, easy.

D. Bad, respectful, slow, impossible, difficult, fair, partial, ill-bred, soft, far, false, hostile, insignificant, passive.

Exercise 6. Read the following word combinations and give their Russian equivalents.

To treat customers; to make annual reports; to feature stories; customer service, to attend celebrations; to take seriously; to shower customers with attention; to answer telephone calls; to get training; a respectful, polite language; contemptuous language; to exchange visits with customers, to invite customers to meetings; to visit facilities; back room operations; customer-support people; customer-support stories; iron laws; to respond to customers' requests; to respond to suggestions; to respond to complaints; to connect departments; customer satisfaction; to review surveys; to keep one's promise; to miss a promised date; to take severe measures; to improve quality; to increase reliability; to use the products; a substantial amount of money.

Exercise 7. Read these sentencies and express the same in Russian.

1. Do you mind opening the window? 2. He was responsible for taking control over fulfilment of production assignments. 3. The right management is the most important factor in determining success. 4. Management implies planning, organization, motivation and control while setting and reaching the goals of the company. 5. He was accused of having sold information to rival companies. 6. The books by Dale Carnegie are worth reading. 7. The manager insists on treating customers with respect. 8. Reading books on management is necessary for every executive. 9. Our main goal is satisfying the needs of our customers. 10. I like the way of serving customers in this shop.

Exercise 8. Work in pairs. Speak about a Sales Manager's duties. Use the model and list of word combinations below.

Model. A: What are the Sales Manager's responsibilities?

B: Organizing the work of the department and supervising the salespersons are the Sales Manager's duties.

Supervising the salespersons, informing customers, informing the top management, maintaining discipline, organizing the work of the department, organizing meetings, planning the work of the department, encouraging good marketers, awarding customer-support people, promoting good workers, demoting bad workers, responding to complaints, improving working conditions.

 

Exercise 9. Businesses in Western Europe and the USA have long traditions of excellent customer service. Read the text about the "royal" treatment of customers in successful American companies. How does such an approach affect business profits?