UNIT 1 : Organisation
➢ Learners can use vocabulary related to a range of job roles and responsibilities within a company
or organisation.
➢ Learners can use the tenses correctly.
➢ Learners are aware of different ways to manage first meetings and can use a range of phrases for
greetings, introductions and goodbyes.
➢ Learners can use a range of questions and responses to make small talk in first meetings.
➢ Learners can organise information in a work-related email and write a reply to a work invitation.
1.1. A news organisation
Company departments :
• Finance -> cash flow , invoicing
• Human resources -> healthy and safety , recruitment
• Marketing -> brand image , promotion , customer service
• Operations -> supply chain
• Production -> manufacturing , quality control
• Sales -> pricing
Jobs :
• News Editor
• News Reporter
• Programme Director
• Director of Human Resources
• Finance Supervisor
• My job involves newsgathering for a major news organisation.
-> if an activity or situation involves something, that thing is part of it or a result of it
• My role as Programme Director is to lead the production team.
-> the position of having control of or responsibility for a group of people or an activity
• I’m responsible for running the human resources team.
-> organising or being in charge of an activity, business, organisation or country
• We need to make sure we’re getting cash in.
Check that something has been done
Expressions + propositions :
• I report to the IT Director
• I’m the head of sales
• I work closely with the head of marketing
• I look after the company website
• I take care of the export documentation
• I’m responsible for coordinating the production team
• I’m in charge of the research and development team
• I coordinate with all departments to ensure customer satisfaction
Business English 1 1
,1.2. Innovative organisations
Words + definition :
• Promotion = a move to a more important job in a company or organisation
• Innovative = new, different and better than before
• Hierarchy = a system of organisation in which people are divided into levels of importance
• Bureaucracy = a complicated official system that has a lot of rules and processes
• Centralised = organised the control of an organisation so that everything is done or decided in one
place
• Decentralised = moved parts of an organisation, etc. from a central place to several different
smaller ones
Tall organisations have lots of management levels. There is generally more bureaucracy and decision-
making is slow and centralised in the top levels of the hierarchy (top-down decision-making). A criticism
of tall organisations is that they are slow to innovate and therefore are less competitive. However, there
are also many opportunities for promotion. Large complex corporations with a lot of staff are typical
examples of tall organisations.
Organisations with taller structures can be slow to change and innovate
Flat organisations are less hierarchical. There are fex levels of middle management. Decision-making is
more decentralised and therefore quicker. The lines of communication between staff and senior manager
are more direct and two-way (top-down as well as bottom-up). Flatter organisations are said to be more
creative and innovative. However, with fewer management levels, there are fewer chances pf promotion.
Managers can have more responsibilities and stress. Start-ups with fewer staff are typical flat
organisations.
Tall organisations Flat organisations
+ clear management structure + faster decisions
+ better supervision + better communication
+ more chances for promotion + employees have more responsibility
- slower decision-making - managers can be overloaded
- poor communication - fewer promotions opportunities
- more expensive to run - can be hard to control
Business English 1 2
, • To dwindle: to become smaller in size or amount
• To decline: to gradually become less, worse or lower
• To encourage: to make someone more likely to do something, or to make something more likely
to happen
• To permit: to allow something
• To discourage: to make someone feel less confident, enthusiastic, and positive about something,
or less willing to do something
• To delineate: to describe or mark the edge/border of something
• Conducive: providing the right conditions for something to happen or exist
• To elicit: to get or produce something, especially information or a reaction
• To put on a pedestal: to behave as if one person is more important than others
• Egalitarian: based on the idea that people are equally important and should have the same rights
and opportunities
• Tiered: having a particular number of tiers (= layers or levels)
• To assign: to give a particular job or piece of work to someone
• To emulate: to copy something achieved by someone else and try to do it as well as they have
• To mitigate: to make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad
• To pursue: If you pursue a plan, activity, or situation, you try to do it or achieve it, usually over a
long period of time
• To emerge: to begin to exist // to become known or develop as a result of something
Flat leadership : questions
How does innovation take place in a flat organisation structure?
➢ Failure is accepted : not succeeding in something, making mistakes, not automatically agreeing with decisions
and ideas of others
What type of company usually chooses a flat organisation structure?
➢ Modern day startups.
➢ Companies doing something new or untested, with high costs initially and little revenue, often helped out by
investors to cover high costs.
How does the Dutch army differ from the American army when it comes to equality and rank?
➢ The Dutch army welcomes and expects a certain degree of equality, not so much a leader telling everyone what
to do: failure is also accepted.
➢ The US military is all about hierarchy and leadership : failure is not accepted
How does a hierarchical company structure encourage speed and accuracy?
➢ Every employee is given a certain role and a lender to report to
What do US Army officers mean when they say that “emulating a startup mentality could lead to serious confusion when
serious and quick decisions need to be made”?
➢ They are afraid that solider won’t follow or believe in their leader anymore.
➢ Since receiving clear order leads to quicker action, this option seems best in a context of war/ danger.
➢ Allowing failure in a war zone might lead to death
Why is it easier for a startup to ‘go flat’ than for the military or healthcare industry?
➢ Startups can take more risk. Thay might lose money or employees but never lives
➢ Being quick and accurate is more important to the military or healthcare industry, hence a traditional structure is
often chosen
What could the reason be for the Dutch army to use a flat structure and for the US army to use a tall structure?
➢ The US army spends more time in a state of war than the Dutch army
➢ In a training context, where lives are not at stake, a flat structure could work
➢ In a actual war contact, where lives are at stake, a hierarchical structure would be preferred
Business English 1 3
➢ Learners can use vocabulary related to a range of job roles and responsibilities within a company
or organisation.
➢ Learners can use the tenses correctly.
➢ Learners are aware of different ways to manage first meetings and can use a range of phrases for
greetings, introductions and goodbyes.
➢ Learners can use a range of questions and responses to make small talk in first meetings.
➢ Learners can organise information in a work-related email and write a reply to a work invitation.
1.1. A news organisation
Company departments :
• Finance -> cash flow , invoicing
• Human resources -> healthy and safety , recruitment
• Marketing -> brand image , promotion , customer service
• Operations -> supply chain
• Production -> manufacturing , quality control
• Sales -> pricing
Jobs :
• News Editor
• News Reporter
• Programme Director
• Director of Human Resources
• Finance Supervisor
• My job involves newsgathering for a major news organisation.
-> if an activity or situation involves something, that thing is part of it or a result of it
• My role as Programme Director is to lead the production team.
-> the position of having control of or responsibility for a group of people or an activity
• I’m responsible for running the human resources team.
-> organising or being in charge of an activity, business, organisation or country
• We need to make sure we’re getting cash in.
Check that something has been done
Expressions + propositions :
• I report to the IT Director
• I’m the head of sales
• I work closely with the head of marketing
• I look after the company website
• I take care of the export documentation
• I’m responsible for coordinating the production team
• I’m in charge of the research and development team
• I coordinate with all departments to ensure customer satisfaction
Business English 1 1
,1.2. Innovative organisations
Words + definition :
• Promotion = a move to a more important job in a company or organisation
• Innovative = new, different and better than before
• Hierarchy = a system of organisation in which people are divided into levels of importance
• Bureaucracy = a complicated official system that has a lot of rules and processes
• Centralised = organised the control of an organisation so that everything is done or decided in one
place
• Decentralised = moved parts of an organisation, etc. from a central place to several different
smaller ones
Tall organisations have lots of management levels. There is generally more bureaucracy and decision-
making is slow and centralised in the top levels of the hierarchy (top-down decision-making). A criticism
of tall organisations is that they are slow to innovate and therefore are less competitive. However, there
are also many opportunities for promotion. Large complex corporations with a lot of staff are typical
examples of tall organisations.
Organisations with taller structures can be slow to change and innovate
Flat organisations are less hierarchical. There are fex levels of middle management. Decision-making is
more decentralised and therefore quicker. The lines of communication between staff and senior manager
are more direct and two-way (top-down as well as bottom-up). Flatter organisations are said to be more
creative and innovative. However, with fewer management levels, there are fewer chances pf promotion.
Managers can have more responsibilities and stress. Start-ups with fewer staff are typical flat
organisations.
Tall organisations Flat organisations
+ clear management structure + faster decisions
+ better supervision + better communication
+ more chances for promotion + employees have more responsibility
- slower decision-making - managers can be overloaded
- poor communication - fewer promotions opportunities
- more expensive to run - can be hard to control
Business English 1 2
, • To dwindle: to become smaller in size or amount
• To decline: to gradually become less, worse or lower
• To encourage: to make someone more likely to do something, or to make something more likely
to happen
• To permit: to allow something
• To discourage: to make someone feel less confident, enthusiastic, and positive about something,
or less willing to do something
• To delineate: to describe or mark the edge/border of something
• Conducive: providing the right conditions for something to happen or exist
• To elicit: to get or produce something, especially information or a reaction
• To put on a pedestal: to behave as if one person is more important than others
• Egalitarian: based on the idea that people are equally important and should have the same rights
and opportunities
• Tiered: having a particular number of tiers (= layers or levels)
• To assign: to give a particular job or piece of work to someone
• To emulate: to copy something achieved by someone else and try to do it as well as they have
• To mitigate: to make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad
• To pursue: If you pursue a plan, activity, or situation, you try to do it or achieve it, usually over a
long period of time
• To emerge: to begin to exist // to become known or develop as a result of something
Flat leadership : questions
How does innovation take place in a flat organisation structure?
➢ Failure is accepted : not succeeding in something, making mistakes, not automatically agreeing with decisions
and ideas of others
What type of company usually chooses a flat organisation structure?
➢ Modern day startups.
➢ Companies doing something new or untested, with high costs initially and little revenue, often helped out by
investors to cover high costs.
How does the Dutch army differ from the American army when it comes to equality and rank?
➢ The Dutch army welcomes and expects a certain degree of equality, not so much a leader telling everyone what
to do: failure is also accepted.
➢ The US military is all about hierarchy and leadership : failure is not accepted
How does a hierarchical company structure encourage speed and accuracy?
➢ Every employee is given a certain role and a lender to report to
What do US Army officers mean when they say that “emulating a startup mentality could lead to serious confusion when
serious and quick decisions need to be made”?
➢ They are afraid that solider won’t follow or believe in their leader anymore.
➢ Since receiving clear order leads to quicker action, this option seems best in a context of war/ danger.
➢ Allowing failure in a war zone might lead to death
Why is it easier for a startup to ‘go flat’ than for the military or healthcare industry?
➢ Startups can take more risk. Thay might lose money or employees but never lives
➢ Being quick and accurate is more important to the military or healthcare industry, hence a traditional structure is
often chosen
What could the reason be for the Dutch army to use a flat structure and for the US army to use a tall structure?
➢ The US army spends more time in a state of war than the Dutch army
➢ In a training context, where lives are not at stake, a flat structure could work
➢ In a actual war contact, where lives are at stake, a hierarchical structure would be preferred
Business English 1 3
