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Look at the statements below and the information on the opposite page about feedback on staff performance.
Which section(A, B, C or D)does each statement 1-7 refer to?
For each statement(1-7), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
You will need to use some of these letters more than once.
Example:
0 the reluctance of companies to base pay on staff feedback
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Changes in Performance Feedback
A In the past, feedback about your performance used to mean a quiet chat with the boss. But now 360-degree feedback - the system where employees are also given feedback from peers and from the people they manage - is taking root in corporate culture. The system is characterised by greater participation and has grown out of the desire of companies to create more open working environments where people work better together and ideas and opinions are exchanged between teams and across levels of seniority.
B PCs linked to the company IT network are set to become the feedback machines. Many firms introducing 360-degree feedback are using Personal Development Planner software. Feedback on an individual, which is based on a questionnaire relating to attributes needed for that person’s role in the company, is collected using this electronic system. All the information gathered is analysed and the end result is a suggested development plan. The advantage is that individuals make requests for the feedback themselves and receive the results directly.
C Sarah Rains, from the pharmaceutical company Optec, said, Now feedback is available on our network, we encourage managers to choose how they use it. It is a flexible tool and we tell them that waiting for the annual event of a formal appraisal needn’t apply.’ At the engineering company NT, 250 technical managers have been through the feedback process. Jack Palmer, a senior manager there said, ’We needed to develop the interpersonal skills of these technically-minded people. In particular, we wanted to build on their team-working and coaching skills.’
D So, how is the new feedback culture likely to affect you? It could form the basis of your personal development programme, providing pointers to your strengths and also to those areas you need to develop more. Or feedback could be used for ’succession planning’, where companies use the information to speculate on who has the right skills to move into more senior positions. As yet, few organisations have stretched the role of feedback so far as to link it to salaries. But one thing is clear: the future will bring even wider participation by all members of staff.
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Read the article below about the differences between chief executives and entrepreneurs.
Choose the best sentence from the opposite page to fill each of the gaps.
For each gap(8-12), mark one letter(A-G)on your Answer Sheet.
Do not use any letter more than once.
There is an example at the beginning(0).
Analysing the Entrepreneur
The ever-increasing attraction of undergraduate courses in business studies demonstrates that many young people begin their working lives determined to be a success in business. Many of them will have ambitions of becoming bosses.(0)___G___That should be the question which all ambitious young business people ask themselves.
Some graduates learn how to run a business in someone else’s time, and then in their early thirties, start out on their own. That course of action is relatively common and straightforward.【P1】______Often, however, their business flair comes at the expense of more mundane business skills such as team building and maintaining harmony.
A recent study, in which seventeen successful entrepreneurs took part in in-depth interviews, as did a similar number of chief executives, concluded that honesty and strong moral principles are important characteristics of entrepreneurs who achieve lasting success. According to the various tests and self-assessment questionnaires used in the interviews, seventy per cent of entrepreneurs have these characteristics, as opposed to only twenty-eight per cent of chief executives. 【P2】______ It would seem that most entrepreneurs deserve more credit than people generally give them.
This ethical style of leadership fosters a culture in which expectations are uncompromisingly high and in which people believe they will be properly rewarded for their individual contribution. 【P3】______ Employees often complain that the worst kind of bosses are the ones who own the business, as they can be very intolerant of others who make mistakes.
Entrepreneurs are passionate about their work but they have not worked their way up through the organisation and tend to lack the people management qualities that chief executives have developed over long careers.【P4】______Of course, it could be argued that the single-minded approach of entrepreneurs is what makes them successful; it certainly enables them to put extraordinary effort into what they do.
The study indicates that generally chief executives can match entrepreneurs in terms of drive and determination. There is one exception and that relates to taking risks.【P5】______The chief executive can, on the other hand, always move to another company.
But in the end, if there are no entrepreneurs, there is no work for chief executives. It is the people that start businesses who are the original wealth creators.
Example:[*]
A However, it can also result in entrepreneurs being profoundly disappointed when others fail to live up to their high standards.
B They need to have the confidence to make everyone in the organisation believe that this is no ordinary place and no ordinary job.
C Given the common perception that entrepreneurs are only in business to make money, this very positive finding was perhaps the most surprising.
D They are less likely to promote teamwork and co-operation than chief executives, who are much better at reading and understanding those around them.
E After all, if it is your own company, you cannot walk away, and you will do anything either to keep it afloat or to help it prosper.
F But true entrepreneurs do not necessarily wait until their business knowledge has improved or until the time is right - they have always been driven to achieve.
G But is it best for them to become entrepreneurs and start their own business or work towards running someone else’s?
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Read the article below about careers in children’s book publishing and the questions on the opposite page.
For each question(13-18), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
Leading from the top
Catherine Bauer looks at career development in children’s book publishing
To get on in the world of children’s book publishing one needs to be ’bright, nice and not ambitious’. Those are the words of a 37-year-old manager thinking about leaving the industry. Managers in other industries would, by that age, be striving towards greater leadership challenges and rewards, while Human Resources departments would be doing all they could to prevent hungry competitors from getting hold of experienced and talented employees. Maintaining successful corporations and happy shareholders is, after all, dependent on using the talents and experience of one’s staff, not on being nice.
Career progression in the children’s sector of publishing seems to be determined almost by luck rather than a proper career structure or assessment of employees’ competencies. Sarah Carter, for example, started her career as an assistant in the customer service department at William Davis Publishing. She only became aware of a vacancy in public relations because her department was on the same floor as the publicity office. ’I had already been promoted to manager in my department, but realised that any career development there would be limited. I decided to move sideways into PR, which was also where I felt my skills were more suited. I was lucky a position came up within the company.’
Across the publishing houses, staff training or development is generally dependent on the approach taken by your immediate boss. Virginia Coutts, editorial director at Prodigy Publications, says, ’This is fine, if you happen to have one who is effective. When I started at Prodigy I worked for Roger Gibbons. I was in children’s fiction, but he also gave me some work on picture books and non-fiction, and that meant I gained experience in a range of areas. He also made sure that new people didn’t come in, train and then move on. And it wasn’t a question of being here for three years or so before you got promoted.’
Not everyone has a similar experience with their manager, but this is not surprising when one considers that few managers have themselves had any structured training. Mark Harlock, marketing manager at T R Publishers, says, ’My job change into management was completely unsupported - my requests for training took months, and by the time they were approved the need had passed. Yes, you learn on the job, but how much more constructive for all involved if it happens in a structured way. Surely this would speed up the learning curve?’
However, there are changes in the air. At Little Feet Publications, Barbara Foster has been overhauling the company’s training and career structure so that all employees have regular appraisals. ’We are ahead of our competitors here at Little Feet, but even we are only beginning to scratch the surface. So far there’s been little opposition to the appraisals, but there’s still loads to do and the results will not become clear for a few years yet.’
Perhaps the industry should consider itself lucky to have so many dedicated managers who have, through a combination of chance and determination, successfully developed their careers in publishing. Clearly it now needs to review what is being done to develop, train and reward the next generation of bosses. Above all, the industry has to find more people with entrepreneurial spirit and push them into demanding roles rather than make them serve their time at a junior level. But such changes can only come from the very top.
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Read the article below about a company that sells household products.
Choose the best word to fill each gap from A, B, C or D on the opposite page.
For each question(19-33), mark one letter(A, B, C or D)on your Answer Sheet.
There is an example at the beginning(0).
DAC’s Margins Hit in Battle of the
Brands
In a surprise trading statement, DAC Household Products yesterday gave (0)___C___of lower margins and weak profits growth. Shares in the company slumped by 22p to 459p after DAC said that its forecast of double-digit earnings growth in 2009 had been【C1】______to low single digits. The company【C2】______that it had failed to spend enough on promoting its own brands and conceded that its market share in India was under assault from【C3】______discounting by various competitors. Its major rival, KC Products, is offering big price discounts to attract consumers from DAC brands, which have traditionally【C4】______the household products sector. DAC also predicted a downturn in consumer【C5】______and strong price competition in Europe, and signalled that it was making【C6】______for an expensive brands battle.
DAC’s chairman, David Chan, said that sales volumes had behaved as predicted, but that waves of discounting and store promotions from rivals had adversely【C7】______price forecasts. As a【C8】______the company now needed to increase investment in advertising and introduce keener pricing.
DAC had until【C9】______sought to increase revenue growth at the same time as improving profit margins. However, Chan confirmed that margins would be【C10】______as DAC increased spending on advertising and promotion to【C11】______those products under attack from competing brands. This commitment means【C12】______the long-term health of the business ahead of the【C13】______.of short-term financial targets,’ he said.
Rudy Mitcham, DAC’s finance director, said that the company’s recent cost-cutting programme would be【C14】______.to help finance the increased spending, although he declined to reveal the【C15】______.amount of money it would invest in additional advertising and promotion.
Example:
A advice B caution C warning D threat
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Read the article below about market research.
In most of the lines(34-45), there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with the meaning of the text. Some lines, however, are correct.
If a line is correct, write CORRECT on your Answer Sheet.
If there is an extra word in the line, write the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS on your Answer Sheet.
The exercise begins with two examples(0 and 00).
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Market Research
0 Market research involves in collecting and sorting facts and opinions from specific groups
00 of people. The purpose of research can vary from discovering the popularity of a political
【M1】party to assessing whether is a product needs changing or replacing. Most work in
【M2】consumer research involves interviewers employed by market research agencies, but
【M3】certain industrial and social research is carried out by any specialist agencies. Interviews
【M4】may be with individuals or groups and can last anything as from minutes to an hour or
【M5】more. In some interviews, people may be asked to examine or try out products before
【M6】giving up their opinion. Successful interviewers tend to like meeting people and should not
【M7】only be shy of addressing strangers. Interviewers are usually expected to work
【M8】unsupervised, organising their own workload. Self-discipline is absolutely essential - and
【M9】as are good health and energy. There are no specific age limits for such a work though
【M10】many agencies prefer to employ older applicants with experience of meeting people.
【M11】Market research agencies which frequently organise training, where trainees learn how to
【M12】recognise socio-economic groups and practise approaching to the public. For information on market research training and qualifications, contact the Market Research Association.
