Course preparations: text book

Unit 1: Business communication skills

Page 8-9
Exercise 1
The location, competitors, prices, facilities

Exercise 2
Probable location = Krakow area
+ Points = beautiful and very lively, a lot going on,
- Points = there are already a lot of hotels who are interested in the neighbourhood
Action = he will go exploring and visit other sites.

Exercise 3
-

The client has told us

It seems that
I get the impression that
According to
From what I could see
It was made clear that

Exercise 5
Mountain site
- Ski resort ( saunas, walking, skiing)
- zakopone
- Far away from the airport
- They dont speak English very well = low level of English
City outskirts site
- Edge of Krakow
- Infrastructure is already in place
- Good local facilities

Exercise 6
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Extract 2
Extract 2
Extract 3
Extract 3
Extract 2
Extract 3

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

6
3
2
5
1
4

Exercise 7

Florence Verhaeghe

Page 10
Exercise 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

E
C
D
B
A
G
F

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Repeat the action

Action that is still going on
Action that happened in the past for a certain time
Something that happened in the past
Same
Possible but not certain
Something that will be happened in the future.

Exercise 2

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Unit 3: Change
Page 22
Exercise 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Effective
Accessing
Means
Option
Transformed
Put in
Procedure
Purpose
Dynamic
Implement

Page 23
Exercise 5
1.
2.

3.

Infrastructure, the physical environment and cultural aspects.

They help companies to implement cost-saving measures, to become more productive, to have more
efficient and effective processes, teams, and working practices and they help to raise the level of
motivation.
People at the bottom of the hierarchy are quite happy to get something new. Those at the top of
companies are the champions or sponsors of these new concepts so will naturally be happy about
them. But middle-management has difficulties with changes.

Exercise 7
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)

2
1
5
6
8
4
7
3

Exercise 9
1.
2.
3.

The employees arent motivated enough. They work the bare minimum to achieve their daily targets
We can talk to the employees and ask them what they want to change in their work. More variation in
their job, involve them in the company, asking fort their opinion,
We will work the together with HR-manager and the foreman, he knows his employees the best. The
hr-manager can work in day in the factory; to know the situation better..

Page 24
Exercise 2
Slide1

Slide 2

Slide 3

Research from Henley Management College middle managers are under increasing pressure
Flexible working = management more about resourcing and measuring results
Change demoting = working from wherever you are.
21th century career nomads
Employees will be working harder and longer unless organizations devise formal policies to deal with
new working practices.
Florence Verhaeghe

Slide 4

Shadow careers = amateurs activities are pursued to professional standards

If more people work from home the local communities could be revived.
Flip side = the sheer number of alternatives available to individuals.
Employees compete for talent, focus is always on competition with other employees
Technology-aware workers more opportunities
Key point: major cultural change. The workforce will be able to make choices and employers need to
recognize this and start planning for it now.

Exercise 3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

just to fill you in on some of the background

Ill return to this point later.
Ive divided my talk up into three sections. First of all, Ill ..., After that, Ill ..., Ill conclude with ...
Id like to start by saying a few words about ...
By demuting I mean..., Now, I dont know if youre familiar with this term? Well, ... refers to ...
OK, moving on now to look at ...
This is where ..., and perhaps here I should just explain what I mean by ... - thats when ..., So, for
example
8 Turning to the next point
9 And as I said earlier
10 Just to digress for a second
11 So, that brings me to the end of my talk. Thank you very much for listening. And Ill be happy to take
any questions now.

Page 25
Exercise 6 & 7

Florence Verhaeghe

Florence Verhaeghe

Unit 4: Risk
Page 31
Exercise 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Predict, anticipate
Evaluate, gauge
Identify, recognize
Weigh up
Minimize
Expose something / someone to
Run the risk of
Determine
Accept

Exercise 5
1.
2.
3.

He is the CEO, he has to deal with managing shareholders money and cutting prices
He is the sales representative, he has to deal with what deal they have to offer, who to follow up
He is the Risk Assessor; he has to deal with potentials risks in the company, external risks.

Exercise 6
1.
2.
3.

Over-cautious, reckless, bold, prudent, foolhardy

Sensible, cautious
Prudent, risk averse

Page 32
Exercise 2
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

Everyone seems to be familiar with the agenda.

Jean-Luc and Khalid talk over people.
Nobody introduces themselves each time they come into the conversation. Jean-Luc doesnt identify
everyone. Thomas, Joana, and Greta dont identify themselves, but they might have done before
Extract 1. Khalid identifies himself.
Jean-Luc nominates Greta to speak.
Thomas checks hes understood correctly.
Thomas digresses. Jean-Luc keeps people to the agenda and encourages everyone to do the same.

Page 34
Exercise 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

That refers to the comment the speaker has just made. It refers to the subject related to the
comment.
This is the subject under discussion.
That refers to last year when the solution was explored. It was the solution proposed.
This is the subject under discussion.This is the proposal the speaker is about to make.
The first that refers to the point that has been reached in the discussion. The second that refers to
what the speaker is saying.
It refers to the suggestion just made.
The first it refers to the decision-making process. The second it refers to the subject the speaker is
about to talk about.

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Exercise 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

This
That
It
That
This
It

Page 35
Exercise 1
1 c, d, e, g, j
2 a, b, c, f, g, h, i,
3 b, c, e, f, j

Exercise 2
Extract
1

Relationship
First meeting, colleagues in
same company, different
locations

Methods
A, c

Phrases
Its Steve, isnt it? Ive seen your picture on the
website.

Old colleagues

B, h, c, e

Youre looking well.I thought I recognized that

voice.I may be old, but you cant get rid of me
that easily.

Old colleagues

A, e, g

It must be two years or more since we last met.

Wasnt it at that conference in ..?
Do you remember ...?

Colleagues who havent met

before

B, e, I

Youre not the Janos that pulled off that big

Integra deal, are you?
And anyway, Pietro, Ive heard quite a lot about
you, too. You got the gold award last month,
didnt you?

Old colleagues

F, j

Well, Id been working when senior

management decided ...
So Ive been ...
The jobs pretty challenging. But Im enjoying it.

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Unit 5: Teamwork
Page 40
Exercise 2

The brochures arent ready on time

They havent a good quality
The logo is wrong
There is been miss communication.

Exercise 3
1.
2.
3.
4.

Jenny
Jenny
Ricardo
Paul

Exercise 4
1.
2.
3.
4.

D,E
F,I
C,H
A,B,G

Page 41
Exercise 6
They can use the brochures as they are or they can reprint them.
Ricardo will ask the printer if he can do a reprint in time.

Exercise 7
a) Jenny
b) Paul
c) Ricardo

Exercise 8
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

How do you propose we deal with this issue

Im sorry, but I cant just
I just dont understand how you could
I see what you mean
I just wont be able to go ahead with
Can we try to avoid
Im prepared to overlook
Look, would it help if I gave
I need to know weve got
Can I leave you to

Page 110
Exercise 1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

C
B
A
C
B
A
C
B
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Exercise 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Pay attention to
Obeys to the budget
Steer clear of arguments
Dropped short to
Focus on solutions
Cope with

Page 43
Exercise 2
1.
2.
3.

Conversation 3
Conversation 1
Conversation 2

Exercise 3
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)

3
1
2
2
3
1
3
1
2
2
3

Florence Verhaeghe

Unit 6: Progress
Page 46
Exercise 1
1) They help companies with growing and this by helping them to find new creative ideas. They stimulate
creative thinking.
2) A culture of success can tolerate mistakes, and all great entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes.

Page 47
Exercise 6
1) How you can keep a good balance between running an efficient company while creating space for
those new innovative ideas without cutting into the bottom line.
2) Creativity was very important and the companies was known for its innovations.
3) He focused more on quality control, cost-saving and efficiency using Six Sigma strategy.
4) They are searching for a balance between the Six Sigma strategy and creativity

Exercise 7
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

B
A
B
A
A
A
B
A
B
B
A
A

Page 48
Exercise 1
Ideas
To recycle computer parts
Volunteer training program in
developing country
To specialize in energy-saving
Selling recovered parts through
brokers or even act as brokers
themselves

Pros
More caring image for the
company
Rewarding experience for staff and
more caring image for the
company
Open up market share
More competitive on service than
brokers

Cons
High cost
Not cost-effective or practical

Its risky and very different from

present business.
Not original

Exercise 2
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Coudnt we consider
Its not clear to me what you mean by
Well, for example
I would have thought it would be possible to
Oh, I see, so youre thinking of, am I right
Thinking about it, we could even
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7)
8)
9)
10)

Im not totally convinced

Im concerned about how
I cant help wondering whether
I would certainly need to know, before taking it any further

Page 50
Exercise 1
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

C
A
D
B
A
B
B
C
D
D

Exercise 2
1) A) he wants to give more details
B) he wants others to listen to him
2) A) he hadnt expect to have a difficult year
B) he had expect the year to be difficult but it was even more difficult than he thought.
3) A) it was a surprise for him
B) he thinks the opposite of the person he is talking to
4) A) he is convinced they wont get away with it
B) he is hesitating

Page 51
Exercise 1
Conversation 1:
1) He tries to be helpful
2) Its been too long ago, he doesnt remember the details.
Conversation 2:
1) Not specific and also a bit lazy
2) This person has no concrete ideas. He wants to be encouraging but doesnt want to do the work.
Conversation 3:
1) Vague
2) She has difficulties with putting her descriptions into words.

Exercise 2
Conversation 1:
I seem to remember
Something like that
Conversation 2:
It just needs a bit more
And so on
Conversation 3:
A bit like that
You know, that sort of thing

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