» Reading bank Unit 1> 1 Before you read, choose the correct definition (a or b) for the words in bold in these sentences. 1. Some people say that money isa good incentive to work hard a something that motivates you to work more ar do something new bb something you give to someone wha warks hard 2 Eduardois avery good footballer and knows lot about game tactics, snow he would like to become a coach someone who trains and advises a person or team bb the manager ofa team 3 An inspector is coming to our school tomorrow to evaluate the quality of teaching: Im sure they will think it’s very good, make something better bb decide how good or bad something or someone's, 4 This document provides a framework for future cooperation with Canada. a asetofideas and rules that you use to decide what to da and how to doit bb anoffiial decision which allows you to do something 5 love working with my Korean colleagues but sometimes Ifind it fficut to understand their mindset a agroup of computer programs which can perform alot of different tasks b the way in which people think about things and make decisions 6 tisbetter for teachersto give students some autonomy instead of always telling them what to do. 2a reward that you give to someone who works hard and never causes problems b the opportunity to make your own decisions without being controled by anyone else 2 Read the article and match the sub-titles (1-5) with the sections of the article (B-F). 1 Whatare the dangers? Section __ 4 Whatare the limits to independence? 2 Whatare the results? Section Section _ 3. Whenwasitintroduced? Section 5 Howdoesitwork? Section _ 3 Decide if the statements are true (T) or false (F). 1 Before ‘responsabilisation’, Michelin had already experimented with giving workers more autonomy. At Le Puy, workers on the factory floor workin teams, but there are no team leaders. [At Le Puy, the teams performance is assessed by the executive committe. ‘Mr Senard does not believe everyone is ready to support the idea of worker empowerment. “There were similar initiatives to Michelin's in Japan and in the USA more than 20 years ago. Michele's programme has influenced both large and small companies. 4 Match 1-5 with a-e to make collocations used in the article, 1 team a programme 2 taining companies 3 quality © member 4 chief d executive 5 small-andmediumsized e control 5 Complete the sentences with collocations from Exercise 4 1 Alotof customers say our new office chairs are nat very good. | think we realy have a problem with, 2 are usvally based in only one place ‘and are owned by only one person or by asmall group of people. 3 Thenew. is planning to reorganise our company. 4 Iwould lke tofollowa: toimprove my computer skils, >1secReading bank >| Michelin’s ‘responsabilisation’ : Power to the workers ‘A. What is ‘responsabilisation’? lisa French word which describes how Michelin, the tyre-manufacturing company, wants o ‘organise the way people work together. The company wants to involve workers more when itneeds tomake decisions, It also wants to give workers more control over what they do, and also to make them feel responsible for what they do. B_ Many years ago, Michelin had already introduced flexibility to allow certain team members o step infor an absent team leader. Some time later, the company tried giving greater autonomy to entire ‘teams. The experiment was a success, o the company started extending the practice to more and ‘more factories in the group. (C_ Michelin’s plant in Le Puy-en-Velay, in South-central France, is one of six factories involved inthe latest phase. tLe Puy, a short training programme prepares workers forthe switch to greater operational responsibilty. They lear, for example, the basis of teamwork, how to manage conflicts, how to ‘communicate positively and how to structure a project ‘Team leaders do not give detailed orders on how to organise production or provide solutions to dificult situations. Instead, they act as coaches or they help to resolve disagreements ‘Workers in the ten-strong teams divide responsibility between themselves, For example, one team member manages production, another oversees safety, a third, quality control. Together, they ‘evaluate their own performance. ‘The teams work within a framework, which includes the vision and values of the group andthe behaviour expected of Michelin stall D_ Group strategy is still decided at the top by the Chief Executive and executive committee. But some teams are already examining how they can handle more sensitive non-production issues such as ‘recruitment, incentives and rewards. E. Individual workers at Le Puy say people are more engaged in their work, they deal with production, line problems more quickly and they find thei jobs more interesting. Michelin says the factories ‘whose workers took on operational responsibility are happier. Besides, Le Puy's production is Increasing, F The Chief ecutive, Mr Senard, says the biggest risks are not moving fast enough and not being able to change the mindset of staffused to greater hierarchy. ‘Some managers may dislike losing status and power, and some workers have sald that the ranting of limited independence is just a cheap alternative to increasing wages. G How different is Michelin's programme from previous management initiatives? Giving decision-making power to front-line workers is not unusual, Taichi Ohno, chief production ‘engineer at Toyota ater the Second World War, insisted that teams should work out how to solve production line problems themselves. He called it ‘autonomation’ or ‘automation with alhuman touch’. In the USA, Tom Peters, the management writer, introduced the idea of ‘liberation ‘management’ in the early 1990s, which had a big infuence on companies such as W.L. Gore, ‘manufacturer of Gore-Tex fabric, and Harley-Davidson, the motorcycle group. Over a decade ago in India, Vineet Nayar, then Chief Executive, turned the hierarchy of HCL Technologies upside down, with an ‘employees frst, customers second’ approach that put ‘managers atthe service of valuable front-line staf Do other companies experiment with ‘responsabilisation’? ‘Some experts rogard the Michelin programme as part of a wider movement towards giving workers more autonomy. Some small-and medium-sized companies in France and Belgium have gone further and no longer have any hierarchy at all Some big French companies, such as privately owned Decathlon, the sports equipment retailer, now have similar programmes. 2159¢