IELTS Listening signals and signposts will help you find and keep your place when you think that you’re completely lost!
In this lesson about ‘Business Cultures’ we will analyse the tapescript of a Listening Section 4 to see where the signals and signposts can help.
Examples of IELTS Listening Signals and Signposts
Follow the orange signals in the tapescript to find your place e.g.
- Listing – Firstly, Secondly
- Introductory sentences – The first type is called…, Another characteristic is …, The next type is known as…
- Rhetorical questions (when the speaker asks a question to himself) – What are the benefits of this culture? Well,… What kind of person would this suit? Well, …
- Linking words – But on the negative side
- Other signals – Moving on now to…
- Synonyms and exact words e.g. there aren’t many rules = few rules
- Emphasis – one of the major benefits is…
Business Cultures
Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer
Power Culture
Characteristics of organization
- small
- 31 ……….power source
- few rules and procedures
- communication by 32. ….,……………..
Advantage: can act quickly
Disadvantage: might not act 33 …………………………….
Suitable employee
- not afraid of 34 ……………………………
- doesn’t need job security
Role culture
Characteristics of organization:
- large, many 35 ………………..
- specialized departments
- rules and procedures, eg job 36 ………….. and rules for discipline.
Advantages: economies of scale
Succssful when 37 ___________ ability is important.
Disadvantages: slow to see when 38____________ is needed.
Slow to react
Suitable employee:
- values security
- does not want 39 __________
Task culture
Characteristic of organization:
- project oriented.
- in competitive market or making product with short life.
- a lot of delegation
Advantages: 40.____________________
Good morning everyone. Now whether you’re going to university to study business or some other subject, many of you will eventually end up working for a company of some kind.
Now, when you first start working somewhere you will realise that the organisation you’ve joined has certain characteristics. And we often refer to these social characteristics as the culture of the organisation – this includes its unwritten ideas, beliefs, values and things like that. One well known writer has classified company cultures by identifying four major types.
The first type is called the Power Culture, and it’s usually found in small organisations.
Power Culture
Characteristics of organization
- small
- 31 central power source
31. It’s the type of culture that needs a central source of power to be effective, and because control is in the hands of just one or two people there aren’t many rules or procedures.
- few rules and procedures
- communication by 32. conversation/conversations
32. Another characteristic is that communication usually takes the form of conversations rather than, say, formal meetings or written memos.
Now one of the benefits of this culture is that the organisation has the ability to act quickly, so it responds well to threat, or danger on the one hand, and opportunity on the other.
Advantage:
- can act quickly
Disadvantage
- might not act 33. effectively
33. But on the negative side, this type of organisation doesn’t always act effectively, because it depends too much on one or two people at the top, and when these people make poor decisions there’s no-one else who can influence them.
Suitable employee
- not afraid of 34 risk/risks
34. And the kind of person who does well in this type of business culture is one who is happy to take risks, and for whom job security is a low priority.
- doesn’t need job security
The next type is known as Role Culture – that’s R-O-L-E, not R-O-double L, by the way.
Role culture
Characteristics of organization:
- large, many 35 levels
35. This type is usually found in large companies, which have lots of different levels in them.
- specialized departments
These organisations usually have separate departments that specialise in things like finance, or sales, or maintenance, or whatever.
- rules and procedures, e.g. job 36 description/descriptions and rules for discipline
36. Each one is co-ordinated at the top by a small group of senior managers, and typically everyone’s job is controlled by sets of rules and procedures-for example, there are specific job descriptions, rules for discipline, and so on.
Advantages:
What are the benefits of this kind of culture? Well firstly, because it’s found in large organisations, its fixed costs, or overheads as they’re known, are low in relation to its output, or what it produces.
In other words it can achieve economies of scale.
- economies of scale
- successful when 37 technical ability is important
37. And secondly, it is particularly successful in business markets where technical expertise is important
Disadvantages
- slow to see when 38 change is needed
38.On the other hand, this culture is often very slow to recognise the need for change, and even slower to react.
- Slow to react
Suitable employee
- Does not want 39 responsibility
39. What kind of person does this type of culture suit? Wellit suits employees who value security, and who don’t particularly want to have responsibility.
Task culture
Moving on now to Task Cultures – this type is found in organisations that are project-oriented.
You usually find it where the market for the company’s product is extremely competitive or where the projects themselves have ashort life-span.
Usually top management delegates the projects, the people and other resources. And once these have been allocated, little day-to-day-control is exercised from the top, because this would seem like ‘breaking the rules’.
Characteristics of organization:
- project orientated
- in competitive market or making product with short life
- a lot of delegation
Advantages:
- 40 flexible
40. Now one of the major benefits of this culture is that it’s flexible.
Listen to the podcast here:
- How to listen for signals and signposts (especially in Section 3).
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Thank you so much for your great lessons.
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Excellent! thank you, Fiona. It helped me a lot
That’s great, thanks Maria!