1、In this unit, you are expected to learn a. some specific aspects of corporate culture; b. how the SQ3R reading strategies can help you become an active reader; c. how to compare companies in terms of corporate culture.,Find some background information about corporate culture. The information will he

2、lp you have a better understanding of the topic. You should do the task before class.,Activity 1,Read the following text on corporate culture and its importance. Then try to answer the questions that follow.,What is corporate culture? At its most basic, its described as the personality of an organiz

3、ation, or simply as “how things are done around here.” “Here” refers to an organization. It guides how employees think, act, and feel. Corporate culture is a broad term used to define the unique personality or character of a particular company or organization, and includes such elements as core valu

4、es and beliefs, corporate ethics, and rules of behavior. Corporate culture can be expressed in the companys mission statement and other communications, in the architectural style or interior decor of offices, by what people wear to work, by how people address each other, and in the titles given to v

5、arious employees.,The surface layer of corporate culture often includes visible things such as offices, furnishings, visible rewards and recognition, the way employees dress and how they interact. The next level deals with professed culture of the organization. Slogans, mission statements and other

6、operational creeds, as well as local and personal values, are usually found at this level. At the third and deepest level, however, are the unseen elements identified in everyday interactions between employees.,Questions to think,1. What is the importance of corporate culture for an organization? 2.

7、 What elements are included in corporate culture? 3. Do you know the corporate culture of any company? If so, can you say something about it?,Activity ,Go to the library or surf the Internet to find more information about corporate culture. List how a corporate culture is demonstrated with examples.

8、 Focus your research on three aspects of corporate culture: advertising slogans, company statements and examples of unethical business practice. Examples are given in the following table. Please add your own.,In this task you are going to learn something about management styles, which is one of the

9、most important aspects of corporate culture.,Activity 1,Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires. So different management styles reflect different corporate cu

10、ltures. Study the following three management styles and match the styles with the descriptions.,Key,Clear,Activity 2,Ask at least five of your classmates which management style they like and why. Then write one short report on peoples opinions on different management styles. Do not forget to add you

11、r own opinion as well.,However, they have different opinions on . This report has been written because . The main findings are that . The significance of the result is . The main conclusion that can be drawn is that .,Exchange the information you have got about the corporate cultures of different co

12、mpanies.,Activity 1,Work in groups of 3 or 4. Discuss corporate culture and answer the following questions.,1. How does the advertising slogan reflect a companys corporate culture? 2. How does the mission statement reflect the companys corporate culture? 3. What activities are considered as unethica

13、l business practices?,Activity 2,Ethical business practices result from a corporate culture. Give your opinions on the following situations. Work in pairs and tell each other whether you think they conform to business ethics.,A restaurant purchasing manager recently purchased 20 cases of wine from a

14、 new beverage supplier. Without the managers advance knowledge, the supplier delivered a free case for his personal use since the free case did not influence his purchase of the 20 cases for the restaurant. 2. A bar manager contracts with a company to monitor the bartenders to determine whether they

15、 are preparing drinks according to the standard recipe and whether they are charging customers properly for all drinks served. 3. As one firms business grew, it hired more employees. Unfortunately, demand for its product had declined recently, and its owner laid off 20 employees that were hired over

16、 the last two years. 4. One airline company advertised an attractive fare from London to New York and sold about 8 percent of the seats at the advertised price.,Watch a video clip on Toyota recalling its faulty cars and complete the following activities.,Activity 1,Read the questions below carefully

17、. Then watch the video clip and answer the questions.,1. What is the video about? _ 2. What is the problem at Toyota? _ 3. What is the Japanese management consultancy supposed to teach the managers? _,The corporate culture of Japan and the need to change it.,Toyota cars cause death and injuries in t

18、he U.S. and the Toyota company is not addressing it.,How to deal with scandal/corporate crisis.,Key,Clear,Activity 2,Watch the video clip again. Pay attention to the different corporate cultures in Japan and America mentioned in the video clip. While you are watching, write down the words you have h

19、eard to describe corporate Japan and corporate America.,too much secrecy, hide, lie, close up,transparent, consumer-driven, open up,Key,Clear,Activity 3,Watch the video clip for the third time. Then write a summary of what you have got from the video clip.,It was widely accepted that . . the issue i

20、s a management problem rather than an engineering problem. A rapid change in . Given such differences in corporate culture between Japan and the U.S., it is . To summarize the facts, .,Work in small groups of 3 or 4. Choose one of the three sets (A, B or C) of questions below to discuss.,How does a

21、companys culture affect its employees? What is your management philosophy and how would you motivate others if you had your own business?,What do you know about the corporate culture of some world-famous companies? (e.g. Nestle, Google, Apple),Why is social responsibility very important to a corpora

22、tion? What are the factors affecting business ethics? What does “honesty is the best policy” mean? How do you expose a coworker who pretends to know his job but copies from you?,Do you think it is important to know how decisions are made in a company and how those decisions are communicated to the s

23、taff, before accepting a job? Should the organization emphasize working in teams? Should a company provide its employees with established career paths? How effectively does the company communicate to its employees?,More post listening exercises: Go to page 15 in your Workbook,Read the following quot

24、es from some successful business leaders. They have concerns on different issues in their daily work and you may find different management styles, which are taken as one part of corporate culture. Read each statement carefully, then write your immediate reaction to it. Do not write more than 25 word

25、s for each statement.,1. We have found that by reaching for what appears to be the impossible, we often actually do the impossible; and even when we dont quite make it, we inevitably wind up doing much better than we would have done. Jack Welch, former CEO of GE _,2. The number one role of a leader

26、is to communicate. And the number one role of a CEO is to be the chief communicator, to make sure that the people inside the organization know what is important, as well as our partner community and our customers and our shareholders. Jonathan Schwartz, former CEO of Sun Microsystems _,3. A corporat

27、ion is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. The sum total of those changes is transformation. Andrew Grove, former CEO of Intel _ 4. People are definitely a companys greatest asset. It doesnt make any difference w

28、hether the product is cars or cosmetics. A company is only as good as the people it keeps. Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics _ 5. We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless were in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. Theres no s

29、ubstitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation _,Now you are going to read the passage Why Does Corporate Culture Matter? As you are reading, keep thinking about what is important to lead a company to succe

30、ss. Try to think of the following questions before reading the passage.,1. What are the factors leading to a companys success? 2. How important is technological innovation in a companys success? Please give examples to illustrate your idea. 3. It is said that corporate culture is the driving force b

31、ehind every aspect of the companys performance. Do you agree or not? 4. How do you think a corporate culture is established? 5. Is a corporate culture often changed? Why?,Why Does Corporate Culture Matter? Its Not a Technology Failure Its a Failure of Understanding the Culture. Bill Brendler,Activit

32、y 1,Scan the passage and try to answer the following questions.,1. What change does the insurance company want? _ 2. What is the training about? _ 3. What problems arise due to the failure of the training? _ 4. What is the cause of the failure of the training? _ 5. What is important for understandin

33、g the corporate culture? _,The increase of its competitiveness by rapidly evolving to a new CRM product.,Teaching employees to use the new system in six months.,Some serious problems with the customers and dropped productivity.,No recognition to the deeper realities of the corporate culture.,To unde

34、rstand what is going on at the deeper level.,Key,Clear,Activity 2,Choose the best answer for the following questions based on what youve read in the passage.,1. Which statement is true about a corporate culture? A) It determines a companys collective behavior. B) It determines technology and product

35、ion failure. C) It is what a company is trying to change. D) It is what a company finds weak and poor. 2. What are the trained employees supposed to do when customers ask them questions? A) Refer to some previous cases. B) Refer to the new CRM system. C) Write down the questions in their folders. D)

36、 Seek help from the IT manager.,Key,Clear,3. If a company values teamwork, _. A) it encourages competitiveness B) it rewards the best one in the team C) it focuses on the work of a team D) reward systems are individual-oriented 4. What do the executives and employees of this company believe? A) The

37、training should be done during working hours. B) The new CRM system changes the corporate culture. C) Training is secondary to finishing normal work. D) Innovation is the top priority in the company. 5. What can be inferred from the passage? A) A corporate culture is subject to change. B) Change rel

38、ates to a corporate culture. C) The important part of a corporate culture is taught. D) Employees and managers ignore their corporate culture.,Key,Clear,Activity 3,Read the passage again and analyze its structure. The following questions may help you do the activity.,1. What is the organization of t

39、his passage? Part 1: _ Part 2: _ Part 3: _ Part 4: _ 2. What topic is introduced in paragraph 1? 3. What is the purpose of the anecdote? 4. What is the conclusion of this passage?,Key,Clear,Introduction of a topic,Illustration by an example / anecdote,Further discussion on the topic,Conclusion,When

40、a change is needed, a corporate culture is revealed.,Try to illustrate that corporate culture matters when something new occurs in a company.,Culture is crucial for a company and the most important part of it is invisible.,Activity 4,Read the passage critically and discuss the following questions wi

41、th your classmates.,Do you agree that the unseen elements of corporate culture are identified in everyday interactions between employees? Give examples. 2. Do you agree that the invisible part of culture determines peoples behavior? Give examples. Can you explain the phenomenon that Chinese students

42、 always keep silent in class from cultural aspects?,More language exercises: Go to page 17 in your Workbook,Now you are required to do online research on the corporate culture of some world-famous companies. It is known that corporate culture is a complicated issue. You have learned that some aspect

43、s of corporate culture are easily observed while others are more difficult to discern. What aspects of corporate culture are you more interested in talking about when you survey those famous companies? Try to answer the following questions during your research.,What are the three layers of corporate

44、 culture? What are negative and positive corporate cultures?,Activity 1,Positive corporate culture is now a prerequisite for success rather than a competitive advantage. Organizations which are able to maintain positive cultures enjoy many benefits. Morale is improved, and the work environment would

45、 be more enjoyable with increased teamwork, openness to new ideas and sharing of information. A negative corporate culture, however, plays the opposite role. Read the passage Work Until You Drop: How the Long-hours Culture Is Killing Us (page 11 in your Workbook). Try to use the SQ3R reading strateg

46、y while reading.,Activity 2,Read the passage again and use some key words or phrases to summarize the passage.,1. Title of the passage: _ 2. The number of sections in the passage: _ 3. The purpose of writing the passage: _ 4. The thesis: _ 5. Supporting details: _ _ _,Work Until You Drop: How Long-h

47、ours Culture Is Killing Us,Two sections.,Report the dangers of long-hour working and some practice to change the situation.,Long hour culture is no good.,1) Long working hours are bad for health, equality, families and society. 2) As well as being bad for individuals, long-hours culture is also bad

48、for business.,Key,Clear,Activity 3,Read the two passages Does Corporate Culture Matter? The Case of Enron and Success Isnt Only for the Extroverts (page 85) in the Further Reading section in your Workbook. Read them carefully and sum up the aspects reflecting corporate culture. The table below provi

49、des some aspects and you may add more.,(passage 2) better at speaking up at meetings, articulating my accomplishments and building a strong professional network,(passage 2) low, 12 years in the same company,(passage 1) have systemic problems, oversight, ethical disclosure, corporate priority, questi

50、onable financial practices (passage 2) hard-driving, deadline-oriented, instant decisions, constant interruptions,Key,Clear,(passage 1) risk taking, aggressive growth, entrepreneurial creativity, shareholders value,(passage 1) objections are not heard (passage 2) assertive, asking pointed questions, opened offices, cooperative,(passage 2) meetings often spanned two mealtimes,(passage 2) long hours,(passage 2) bright dress (one of my senior bosses wore fiery red suits),(passage 1) employees are deceived (passage 2) employees are encouraged t