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Sample of a memo. Practice. Social responsibility of business
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Sample of a Memo
To: all the staff Date: 22/10/2004
From: Personnel Manager
Subject: Business English classes
1. Since November 1 free English classes will be held for all personnel in the Training Center (room #3) twice a week – on Mondays and Thursdays. All teaching materials will be provided; the size of each class will be limited to 12 trainees.
2. The deadline of applications is 6p. m. 30/10/2004. Applicants will be tested for the level of proficiency in English to form 2 groups of pre-intermediate and intermediate levels.
(Signature)
Ann McCline
Practice
Task 1. Use the following data to compose your own memo:
1. To: Department Managers; from: Managing Director; subject: reducing costs of production.
2. To: all employees; from: Director; subject: recognaziation of the company.
3. To: all staff; from: trade-union representative; subject: the annual meeting.
4. To: all shareholders; from: the President; subject: general annual meeting.
Task 2. Complete the letter choosing from the words listed below:
travel agents, previous correspondence, system, responsibility, index, personal assistant, travel arrangements, directory enquiries, circulation, references, job, international telephone operator.
Dear Susan,
Well, I’ve been working for a week, and I must say I’m still bewildered. I hope it all sorts itself out.
Mr Sutherland is going away on a business trip – isn’t it exciting? He’s going to Spain, Portugal and Italy.
The first thing I had to do was to make his (1) _______ so I had to talk to the (2) _______ the Company uses and get them to book all the trains, planes and hotels, and I also had to organise his car hire, make the appointments and fix up his meetings. I’ve used the telephone a lot. The (3) ______ has got quite used to my voice, and the lady who deals with (4) ______ must be quite tired of me! I also had to look up the (5) ______ he’s had with the people he’ll be seeing, and sort out the letters he’ll need to take with him.
We organised the (6) ______ list for memos. (He’ll be sending tapes back to me. ) While he’s away, I’ve promised to reorganise his filing (7) ______ and make up an (8) ______ to the files, so that he can find things quickly. I’ve also got to learn which (9) ______ books to use when I need to find something! By the time I've done all this, I’ll be really pleased with my (10) ______! I’m really going to be a real secretary, not just a shorthand typist; in fact I’m nearly a (11) ______ – P. A. for short – as I do take complete (12) ______ for some areas of the work.
See you soon!
Jane.
Task 3. Listen to the stories of two people, who lost their jobs, prepare memoes on them for the personnel manager of your company.
UNIT 4
Text 1
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY of BUSINESS
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What is the purpose of a business? Is it just to make as much profit as possible for its shareholders? Or does a business have a wider responsibility to help solve society’s problems? This is the controversial topic we shall now examine.
Thirty or so years ago, discussions of social responsibility were of three types. Firstly, there was a lot of talk about how business people should behave in their work. Should they have the same ethical standards – the same principles – as they had in their private life? A question which was often discussed was: should an executive offer a bribe to secure a contract, when he knew that his competitors were likely to do so? Secondly, people discussed the social responsibility of business towards its employees. They were interested in how organisations could improve the working conditions of their employees. Finally, social responsibility included the idea that business people should contribute to cultural activities. They should support activities like music festivals and exhibitions. Executives were also expected to serve on educational committees, hospital boards, and so on. In other words, they had to take an active part in the life of their community.
Nowadays, there is a new approach to social responsibility. Many people say that a business should try to meet the needs and interests of society. It has an obligation to help solve the problems of society. Because of this new concept, society expects more from its business organisations. For example, pressure is put on business to provide a safer environment. A chemical company, therefore, is not only expected to meet government standards regarding pollution. It must take steps to reduce pollution to as low a level as possible – even if this means reduced profits.
These days, businesses are expected to show social responsibility in all kinds of ways. They are urged to provide safer products; to protect and respect envi- ronment; to hire more people from minority groups; to offer work opportunities to unemployed youngsters; to oppose racial discrimination and at all times behave with integrity. The list is endless.
The new concept of social responsibility means that businesses and business people must have integrity. They must deal honestly with their employees, and with the outside world. As Sir John Clark of the Plessey company says, “I attach more importance to integrity than to ability”.
Successful companies are very sensitive if their integrity is attacked. They usually respond sharply. Some time ago, an English health inspector found fault with the standards of hygiene in a Trusthouse Forte hotel. Lord Forte was most upset by the inspector’s accusations. Making no attempt to plead guilty and by so doing avoid publicity; the Trusthouse Forte Group fought the case in the courts. It also advertised in several national newspapers to give its side of the case.
There are, nevertheless, some famous people who are against the new approach. One of these is Milton Friedman, an American economist who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1976. Milton Friedman believes that business has only one social responsibility. That is “to use its resources and energy in activities designed to increase its profits as long as it stays within the rules of the game... and engages in open and free competition, without deception and fraud”. Fried-man says that a business’s social responsibility is “to make as much money for its shareholders as possible”.
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It is certainly true that social actions cost money. And businesses have to bear that cost often by raising prices, lowering wages or having less profit. Someone has to pay for the social actions in the end – it may be the customer, the employee or the shareholder.
A spokesman for the Rank-Xerox company spoke recently of the wide range of social projects Rank-Xerox were engaged in: grants of equipment to universities; information technology projects and seminars; training programmes in universities and schools; career seminars; sponsorship of art competitions etc. The spokesman said that the social projects were “an integral part of the company’s business strategy”. They were not some sort of charity work which would get a brief mention in the company’s annual report. Being a large organization, Rank-Xerox had many contacts with government departments and other groups in society. And, since it was a knowledge-based company, it needed to hire highly skilled people. Its social programmes were “critical to its success”. There was no doubt that, in the long run, these activities were profitable to the organization.
Task 1. Learn the following words and word-combintions:
social – of society or its organization, esp. of the relations of people or classes of people
responsibility – authority; managerial freedom; duty, commitment
to offer a bribe – to offer money or services in one's favour
to reduce – to make smaller or less
to be urged – to be encouraged or entreated earnestly or persistently
integrity – moral excellence; honesty
to plead guilty – to declare oneself to be guilty or not guilty of a charge
to put pressure (on) – to constrain influence, affliction or difficulty
fraud – criminal deception; dishonest trick
to benefit – to receive advantage; profit, help
in the long run – ultimately, eventually
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