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Главная \ База готовых работ \ Іноземна мова
Іноземна мова
Заказ 3568 (50 грн.) 28.09.2013 20:34
ЗМІСТ
COMPANY STRUCTURE Companies vary tremendously in size and in the extent of their business activities. The firms range from small companies whose products or services reach only a few consumers to huge organizations that produce most of the goods and services in a particular field. The way a company is run reflects the nature of its business and the attitudes of its management No two business firms operate in exactly the same manner. However, nearly all companies have a similar organization that includes:
Stockholders, the owners of a company, control over the company's affairs and operations, vote on certain major questions of company policy and elect a board of directors to head the firm. In most cases stockholders have one vote for each share of company stock that they own. If they cannot attend the corporation's annual meeting of stockholders, they may assign their votes to other shareholders by means of a document called a proxy. Top management of a corporation consists of the board of directors and the executive officers. The board of directors is a group of people who together determine basic company policies, make high-level decisions and appoint the executive officers. These officers include a chairperson of the board or chief executive officer, a president, and a number of vice presidents. They are responsible for carrying out the decisions of the board of directors and the stockholders. The executive officers also select the managers of the various departments of the corporation. The chair of the company may be full-time or part-time. He or she presides over the board of directors, bringing wide knowledge of the business world and company management. The chair acts as a figurehead speaking for the company at high-profile media events. (figurehead - someone who seems to be the leader of the company but who has no real power) Directors may be either "non-executive" or "executive". Executive directors are usually full-time employees of the company and they are most often high-ranking department heads or 'Vice-presidents". They become members of the board simply by virtue of the post they hold, and so recruitment of such officers is a matter for board approval. Non-executive directors are people who are asked to join the board in an advisory capacity. They may be business management specialists or experts in a field associated with the company's business. Managing director is the person who is responsible for the day-to-day running of the company, and for ensuring that the decisions of the board are implemented. Company secretary is the person who is responsible for the company running according to the law. He or she must ensure that the proper accounts are lodged, that meetings of the board and shareholders are called and run according to the Articles of Association and that their decisions are implemented. The company secretary has a professional qualification. Department heads are people responsible for the working of their respective departments and for the interaction of the various departments. Section leaders. If the departments are large enough, they may be split into sections, with the workers in each section reporting to a section head, who in turn reports to the head of department. The number of departments, in a corporation depends on the size of the company and on the nature of the goods and services that it provides. For example, a corporation with many employees may need a Personnel or Human Resources department which hires or reduces employees and reviews salaries. A manufacturing firm may need a Research and Development department to look for new ideas, study ways of developing new products and new designs or improving existing ones: Retailing firms need Public Relations department to answer enquiries made by customers or inform the press of the latest products and changes within the company. The Information Technology department ensures that all systems within the company work properly, and also designs and develops new applications to make it easier for employees to exchange and share information. Most corporations have departments that handle three basic business activities - production, finance, and marketing. The Production department has the responsibility for every activity that helps produce a firm's goods and services. In a manufacturing company, the production department may employ industrial engineers, machine Operators, and a plant maintenance crew. The department may be headed by a production manager who reports to the vice president in charge of production. The Finance department handles all aspects of raising capital, making and receiving payments, and keeping financial records. It may include accountants, bookkeepers, and experts in statistics on its staff. Most finance departments are supervised by a controller. The Marketing department deals with selling goods and services to the consumers. It evaluates prices, consumer demand, promotional activities, and other factors that affect sales. The department's staff may include specialists in advertising, market research, and public relations. In most corporations, the department manager reports to the vice president in charge of marketing.
Over Matter»……………………………………………………………….10-15 FIT FOR HIRING? IT’S MIND OVER MATTER BY JUDITH H. DOBRZYNSKI NEW YORK - Members of America's professional and managerial classes have always left college confident of at least one thing: they had taken their last test. From here on, they could rely on charm, cunning* and/or a record of accomplishment to propel them up the corporate ladder. But that's not necessarily true any longer. A growing number of companies, from General Motors Corp to American Express Co., are no longer satisfied with traditional job interviews. Instead, they are requiring applicants for many white-collar jobs - from top executives down - to submit to a series of paper-and-pencil tests, role-playing exercises, simulated decision-making exercises and brainteasers*. Others put candidates through a long series of interviews by psychologists or trained interviewers. The tests are not about mathematics or grammar, nor about any of the basic technical skills for which many production, sales and clerical workers have long been tested. Rather, employers want to evaluate candidates on intangible* qualities: Is she creative and entrepreneurial? Can he lead and coach? Is he flexible and capable of learning? Does she have passion and a sense of urgency? How will he function under pressure? Most important, will the potential recruit fit the corporate culture? These tests, which can take from an hour to two days, are all part of a broader trend. 'Companies are getting much more careful about hiring,’ said Paul R. Ray Jr., chairman of the Association of Executive Search Consultants. Ten years ago, candidates could win a top job with the right look and the right answers to questions such as 'Why do you want this job?'. Now, many are having to face questions and exercises intended to learn how they get things done. They may, for example, have to describe in great detail not one career accomplishment but many - so that patterns of behavior emerge. They may face questions such as "Who is the best manager you ever worked for and why?' or 'What is your best friend like?'. The answers, psychologists say, reveal much about a candidate's management style and about himself or herself. The reason for the interrogations is clear: many hires* work out badly. About 35 percent of recently hired senior executives are judged failures, according to the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina, which surveyed nearly 500 chief executives. The cost of bringing the wrong person on board is sometimes huge. Searching and training can cost from $5000 for a lower-level manager to $250.000 for a top executive. Years of corporate downsizing, a trend that has slashed* layers of management, has also increased the so potential damage that one bad executive can do. With the pace of change accelerating in markets and technology, companies want to know how an executive will perform, not just how he or she has performed. 'Years ago, employers looked for experience - has a candidate done this before?' said Harold P. Weinstein, executive vice-president of Caliper, a personnel testing and consulting firm in Princeton, New Jersey. 'But having experience in a job does not guarantee that you can do it in a different environment.' At this point, most companies have not shifted to this practice. Some do not see the need or remain unconvinced that such testing is worth the cost. But human-resource specialists say anecdotal* evidence suggests that white-collar testing is growing in popularity. What has brought so many employers around to testing is a sense of the limitations in the usual job interview. With so little information on which to base a decision, 'most people hire people they like, rather than the most competent person,' said Orv Owens, a psychologist in Snohomish, Washington, who sizes up executive candidates. Research has shown, he said, that 'most decision makers make their hiring decisions in the first five minutes of an interview and spend the rest of the time rationalizing their choice.' Besides, with advice on how to land a better job about as common as a ten-dollar bill, many people are learning to play the interview game. Even companies that have not started extensive testing have toughened their hiring practices. Many now do background checks, for example, looking for signs of drug use, violence or sexual harassment. But the more comprehensive testing aims to measure skills in communications, analysis and organization, attention to detail and management style; personality traits* and motivations that behavioral scientists say predict performance. New York Times |