Company Structure

Unit 3
 Aims
- Consider the different ways of organizing work
- Discuss potential conflicts between different departments in a company
- Compare differences between large and small companies
Map of Unit
Reading Listening Speaking Writing

- Wikinomics and MBA students: Presentation: Notes for a

the future of Big and Small Presenting a presentation
companies companies company
- Company
structure
READING
Unit 3: page 21-24
Lead-in:
- Discussion in group or pair
- Questions:
1. Which department of a company do you think is the most interesting to
work?

2. Why do departments get into conflicts with each other?

3. Is it better to have one immediate boss or to work for more than one
manager?

4. Do you prefer to work alone or in a team?

5. Is it more motivating to be responsible to someone you work for or

responsible for people who report to you?
 Reading 1: Wikinomics and
the future of companies
∎ Read the text and answer questions (p.21)
1. How is the world of organized work changing?
2. In what ways could your organization, company or business school
use wikinomics principles?
3. What do you think are the disadvantages of the wikinomics
principles?
∎ Vocabulary exercise: p.22
 Reading 2: Company
structure
∎ Read the text and answer questions (p.22)
1. What is the main advantage of a chain of command?
2. Why is it not usually possible to organize a large organization in a hierarchy?
3. In what ways can dividing a company functionally cause problems?
4. What factors might lead company to flatten their hierarchies?
5. According to the text, what kind of managers might not want to delegate decision making?
6. What is the potential disadvantage of matrix management systems?
7. Under what circumstance might teams not be effective?
∎ Vocabulary exercise: p.23
Discussion
Post-reading: Incompatible goals (p.24)
The text mentions the often incompatible of the finance, marketing and production
(or operation) departments. Clarify the following strategies according to which
department probably favour them
1. A factory working with full capacity
2. A large advertising budget
3. A large sales force earnig high commission
4. A standard product without optional standards
5. A strong cash balance
6. A strong market share for new products
7. Generous credit facilities for customers
8. High profit margin
Listening
Unit 3: page 23
 Listening: Big and Small Companies
(record 1.6)
Listen to three MBA students at the Judge Business School
talking about different-sized companies and answer 05
questions

1. Why does Krishna say that company size isn’t important? What does he say
important?
2. Why does Carlos recommend university graduates to start in big companies?
3. What does Carlos say are the differences between big and small companies?
4. What does Olga say is more important than company size?
5. What does Olga say about big companies?
 Discussion: Big and Small companies (p.24-25)

1. How far do you share Olga’s and Krishna’s viewpoints, and agree with
Carlo’s advice?
2. What other benefits of working in a large company can you think of?
3. What other reasons might make someone prefer to work in small
companies?
SPEAKING + WRITING
Unit 3: Page 25

- Presentation (speaking)
- Notes for Presentation(writing)
 Write a notes for a short presentation on your company or a
company you would like to work for. And give a short
presentation to class

Structure for notes: You should mention

+ What does your company do?
+ Where is it located?
+ How it is structured?
+ Why is it successful?
+ Why you want to work for this company?
THANKS!
Any questions?