Business English practice: Unit 9 — Managers, Executives and Directors

drillBiz

May 25, 2016

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Read through the explanations.
- A | Managers and executives: UK
  Managers and executives: UK
  
  All the directors together are the board. They meet in the boardroom.
  
  Non-executive directors are not managers of the company; they are outsiders, often directors of other companies who have particular knowledge of the industry or of particular areas.
  
  The marketing director is the head of marketing, the IT director is the head of IT, etc. These people head or head up their departments. Informally, the head of an activity, a department or an organization is its boss.
  
  An executive or, informally, an exec, is usually a manager at quite a high level (for example, a senior executive). But ‘executive’ can be used in other contexts to suggests luxury, as in ‘executive coach’ and ‘executive home’, even for things that are not actually used by executives.
  
  B | Managers and executives: US
  
  In the US, the top position may be that of chairman, chairwoman or president.
  This job is often combined with the position of chief executive officer or CEO.
  Some companies have a chief operating officer to take care of the day-to-day running of the company. The finance director may be called the chief financial officer.
  
  In the US, senior managers in charge of particular areas are often called vice presidents (VPs).
Look at the managers listed in A opposite. Match each task to the manager most likely to be responsible for doing it.
- Meet with advertising agency to discuss new advertisements for the company’s holidays.
  - customer services manager
  - human resources director
  - sales manager
  - marketing director
  - research director
- Study possible new holiday destinations in detail.
  - human resources director
  - customer services manager
  - marketing director
  - sales manager
  - research director
- See the research director to discuss new holiday destinations.
  - research director
  - marketing director
  - sales manager
  - human resources director
  - customer services manager
- Contact newspapers to advertise new jobs.
  - human resources director
  - sales manager
  - marketing director
  - customer services manager
  - research director
- Deal with complaints from customers.
  - research director
  - sales manager
  - customer services manager
  - human resources director
  - marketing director
- Discuss sales figures with sales team.
  - human resources director
  - sales manager
  - research director
  - customer services manager
  - marketing director
Who’s who on this company board? Look at B opposite and complete the exercise.
- ‘My name’s Montebello and I’m president and CEO. We have some excellent people on our board, including two who are not involved in the day-to-day running of the company: Gomi and Jones.’
  
  ‘My name’s Smith and it’s my job to look after the accounts and balance the books. I work closely with Change and Roberts, as they tell me what their departments need for marketing and research, and I allocate them an annual budget.’
  
  ‘My name’s Dawes and I head up personnel, on the same level in the company as Chang and Roberts.’
  
  Montebello
  - President and CEO
  - Non-executive director
- Gomi
  - President and CEO
  - Non-executive director
- Jones
  - President and CEO
  - Non-executive director
- Smith
  - SFO
  - VP Marketing
  - VP Human Resources
  - VP Research
- Chang
  - VP Marketing
  - VP Research
  - SFO
  - VP Human Resources
- Roberts
  - VP Marketing
  - VP Human Resources
  - VP Research
  - SFO
- Dawes
  - VP Marketing
  - SFO
  - VP Human Resources
  - VP Research
Over to you
- If you work …
  Draw an organigram of your organization.
- In you don’t work …
  Who are the most famous bosses in your country? Which companies do they head?

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