Text 1. LINE AND STAFF POSITIONS

 

In business, organization structure means the relationship between positions and people who hold the positions. Organization structure is very important because it provides an efficient work system as well as a system of communication.

Historically, line structure is the oldest type of organization structure. The main idea of it is direct vertical relationships between the positions and tasks of each level, and the positions and tasks above and bellow each level. For example, a sales manager may be in a line position between a vice-president of marketing and a salesman. Thus a vice president of marketing has direct authority over a sales manager. A sales manager in his turn has direct authority over a salesman. This chain of command simplifies the problems of giving and taking orders.

When a business grows in size and becomes more complex, there is a need for specialists. In such case administrators may organize staff departments and add staff specialists to do specific work. These people are usually busy with services, they are not tied in with the company product. The activities of the staff departments include an accounting, personnel, credit and advertising. Generally they do not give orders to other departments.

Exercises

 

I. Answers questions.

1. What does the organization structure mean?

2. What docs the organization structure provide?

3. What is historically the oldest type of organization structure?

4. In what position is a sales manager in attitude to a vice-president of marketing and a salesman?

5. What is the difference between line and staff departments?

6. Why is an advertising department or a credit department

considered staff structure rather than line structure?

II. Choose the necessary word and put it in the sentence.

1. Organization structure shows... between each position and positions above and below.

2. A sales manager has direct... over a salesman.

3. As a rule a... usually does not give.

orders to other departments.                  

4. When the business gets more..,            

there is a need for staff departments.         

5. My friend......of sales manager.           

6. The... of staff departments is to do       

different services.                                      

7. My friend works in a......, he is            

responsible for the company product.         

 

A relationships

B to hold a position

C  authority

D complex

E task

F a line department

G a staff

H department

 

Text II. Unemployment

There will always be a certain amount of unemployment in the economy. When economists talk about full employment they mean that everyone who can work and wants to work has got a job. Able workers who are not working are simply not happy with the salaries that are offered - or just can't be bothered!

However, economies rarely reach full employment. There are a number of reasons for this, and a number of different types of unemployment. One of these is cyclical unemployment. This type of unemployment varies with the growth and recession cycle of the economy. As the economy grows, demand for labour grows and unemployment falls. As the economy contracts, unemployment grows.

A second kind of unemployment is structural unemployment. This occurs when changing public-tastes or advances in technology cause a fall in demand for some types of work. For example, computer technology has revolutionised the printing industry, and many traditional printers' jobs have become obsolete. Sometimes whole regions of a country suffer from high structural unemployment. The north-east of England, for example, was famous for many years for its shipbuilding industry. Competition from abroad forced many shipyards to close. This caused huge unemployment in the region.

How long structural unemployment lasts will depend on two things. Firstly, how easily the workforce can retrain for new jobs. This may be difficult for older workers who find it hard to learn new skills. There is also the question of who pays for the training. The second issue is mobility. Workers who are able to relocate easily to another part of the country will find new jobs more quickly.

There are two other kinds of unemployment which we should mention here. These are less serious, perhaps, but they are still difficult for governments to get rid of. The first is frictional unemployment. This is a natural kind of unemployment that occurs when someone leaves a job and is looking for another one that suits them. Frictional unemployment often happens because people want to leave their job in order to change careers. Few people walk straight into another job. However, when the economy is in recession, frictional unemployment will be more common because jobs are harder to find.

The second kind is seasonal unemployment. Some industries have busy periods and periods where there is no work at all. Some freelance farm workers, for example, get most of their work in the spring and summer. Like structural unemployment, seasonal unemployment can affect whole regions of a country. Areas that rely on summer tourism, for example, suffer serious unemployment during the autumn and winter months.

Exercises

    I. Complete each sentence with a word or phrase.

■ can't be bothered ■ mobility ■ tastes   ■ contracts ■ freelance ■ obsolete region ■ relocates ■ retrain shipyard  

 1 People's......................in clothes change with fashion and with their age.

2 If you......................to do something, you just don't feel like doing it.

3 When something......................, it gets smaller.

4 A......................is an area of a country.

5 When a company......................to another part of the country or abroad, many workers lose their jobs.

6......................workers are not employees for a company, but are self-employed.

7 If something is.......................it no longer exists because it isn't needed anymore.

8 If you lose your job due to mechanisation, you may have to go to college and......................for something else.

9 A......................is where ships are built,

10 Your......................is your ability to move from one place to another.

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