MANAGING ORGANISATIONS

Lect. Dr. Sorina Chiper

Lect. Dr. Anca Cecal
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

 To become familiar with the stages of an

organisation’s life cycle
 To practice the use of adverbs of degree
 To practice vocabulary related to

organizational problems at different stages of

the life cycle
 To acquire vocabulary related to meetings
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of organisational growth

Stage 1: Creativity
 Dominated by the founders of the

organisation, who
◦ are usually good, creative entrepreneurs
◦ are not very fond of management activities
◦ are focused on marketing and selling products
 Emphasis: creating a product and a market
 Crisis of leadership

◦ from conflicts among managers with unwanted

management responsibilities
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of
organisational growth
Stage 2: Direction
 Solution to crisis of leadership: get a strong,

specialised manager, who

◦ is acceptable to founders
◦ can pull the organisation closely together
 outcome: growth through direction
 responsibility for direction: new manager, key

staff
 in time, lower managers want more autonomy
 Crisis of autonomy
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of
organisational growth
Stage 3: Delegation
 Solution to crisis: increase delegation from top

managers
 Top managers – find it difficult to let go of their

power
 Lower-level managers – lack decision-making

experience
 Organisations – struggle
 Lower-level employees – dissatisfied
 A decentralised organisation structure develops
 “+” – it increases motivation at lower levels
 “-“ – top managers – dissatisfied with the loss of

power and control

 Crisis of control
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of
organisational growth
Stage 4: Coordination
 Solution: formal systems – implemented to

achieve greater coordination

 Top managers = supervisors
 Workers at lower levels – motivated by the

decentralised model
 The organisation can become too large and

complex to be managed through formal

systems
 Crisis of red tape
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of
organisational growth
Stage 5: Collaboration
 Solutions: developing teams, solving personal

differences
◦ Social control, self-discipline
 Problem: employees – exhausted by too much
teamwork and strain to reach innovative
solutions
 Crisis of growth – the business has run of

ideas
1. Larry Greiner’s theory of
organisational growth
Stage 6: Alliances
 Solution: find alliances, accept to be taken

over
 Levels of hierarchy - removed
2.1 Focus on vocabulary (1)

 Red tape = bureaucracy

e.g. He decided to leave the public sector because he
could no longer put up with the red tape that he
was struggling with daily.
 Outdoor = in the open air

e.g. An outdoor tennis tournament will be organised

in Iasi this year, and I look forward to it!
 Trust = an arrangement whereby a person (a

trustee) holds property as its nominal owner for the

good of one or more beneficiaries.
e.g. This project will be financed by a trust that was
set up 5 years ago.
2.1 Focus on vocabulary (2)

 Trader = a person who buys and sells things as a

job
e.g. Small, local traders are organising a March fair
where you can see what they produce and buy their
products
He has been pushing me to become a currency
trader but I just do not have that kind of
personality, to spend so much time following
market trends and financial speculation gurus.
 a sole trader = a person who runs a business on

their own
e.g. Being a sole trader is a risky endeavor.
2.1 Focus on vocabulary (3)

 Stall = a stand, booth or compartment for the

sale of goods in a market or large covered area
e.g. You can find fresh dairy products at the
stalls on the left.
 Stallholder = owner of a stall

e.g. Stallholders are protesting against the poor

hygiene in the market.
 Homeware – products used in the house

e.g. Now there is just one shop in town,

specialising in homeware.
2.1 Focus on vocabulary (3)

 to recall a product = to withdraw a product from the

market
 e.g. A few years ago, Toyota had to recall thousands of

cars from the European market.

 faulty = broken, not up to standards, malfunctioning

 e.g. They had to recall the product because it was faulty.

 outstanding – remarkable, excellent; which has not been

completed, paid, etc

e.g. His achievements are outstanding and he has been
shortlisted for the Nobel Prize.
You have an outstanding debt towards our company of
$34,556.
2.2 Special vocabulary: meetings (1)

 to chair a meeting = to run/preside over a meeting

e.g. Who is chairing the meeting tomorrow?
 agenda = document circulated before the meeting

which includes details about the time and place of

the meeting and the list of items to be discussed
e.g. There are 5 items on the agenda of the meeting.
 to go over the agenda = to read aloud the items on

the agenda
e.g. The chair goes over the agenda at the beginning
of the meeting.
2.2 Special vocabulary: meetings (2)

 Apologies – first item on the agenda. It refers to the

persons who have announced that they cannot attend
the meeting
 AOB (any other business) – last item on the agenda. It

refers to any question that needs to be discussed,

and which was not planned in advance.
 minutes = document issued after the meeting has

taken place, which gives a summary of the arguments

discussed and of the decisions that were made
e.g. The secretary used to take the minutes but now
that she is sick, we have to ask one of the
participants to do this job.
3. Focus on grammar (1)
Adverbs

 Adjectives vs adverbs
1. Most adverbs - formed by adding ‘-ly’ to an
adjective
e.g. sure – surely
profitable – profitably
beautiful – beautifully
! Fast – both adjective and adverb
e.g. She loves fast cars.
You are driving too fast for me!
3. Focus on grammar (1)
Adverbs
 Adverbs of degree: a bit, slightly, quite, rather,
so, too
e.g. I think she is a bit shy, this is why she does
not talk much.
This cake is quite sweet, I cannot eat it.
He is so rude, I cannot believe he has been hired
in a customer-facing position!
 Connectors (Linking words)

 First, second, third

 then, later, subsequently, finally, eventually
 also
3. Focus on grammar (2)
Present Perfect vs. Past Tense
Present Perfect:
Form: Sj + HAVE/HAS+ Vb (3rd form/Past
Participle)
 Used to express:

 An action taking place in an unfinished past

 A past action with a present result
 key words: lately, just, yet, already, since, for,

ever, so far, this week/month/year

3. Focus on grammar (2)
Present Perfect vs. Past Tense
Past Tense:
Form: Sj+Vb(-ed)/Vb – second form (irregular
verbs)
 Used to express:

 a past, completed action

 events occuring in the past, in a story
 key words: ago, last (week/month), yesterday,

the day before yesterday, in 2003, in 1976,

etc