Areas of management

An organizational structure can be divided more or less horizontally into areas of management. The most common areas are finance, operations, marketing, human resources, and administration. Depending on its purpose and mission, an organization may include other areas as well – research and development, for example, or risk management.

A financial manager is primarily responsible for the organization's financial resources. Accounting and investment are specialized areas within financial management. Because financing affects the operation of the entire firm, many of the presidents of the largest companies are people who got their “basic training” as financial managers

An operation manager creates and manages the systems that convert resources into goods and services. Traditionally, operations management is equated with the production of goods. However, in recent years many of the techniques and procedures of operations management have been applied to the production of services and to a variety of nonbusiness activities

A marketing manager is responsible for the exchange of products between the organization and its customers or clients. Specific areas within marketing are marketing research, advertising, promotion, sales and distribution.

A human resources manager is in charge of the organization's human resources programs. He or she engages in human resources planning, design systems for hiring, training and appraising the performance of employees, and ensures that the organization follows government regulations concerning employment practices.

An administrative manager (also called a general manager) is not associated with any specific functional area but provides overall administrative leadership. A hospital administrator is a good example of an administrative manager. He coordinates the activities of specialized managers in all these areas.

UNIT 3

MONEY

The work which people undertake provides them with money. People buy essential commodities with money. All values in the economic system are measured in terms of money. Our goods and services are sold for money, and that money is in its turn exchanged for other goods and services. Coins are adequate for small transactions, while paper notes are used for general business. Originally, a valuable metal (gold, silver or copper) served as a constant store of value, and even today the American dollar is technically 'backed' by the store of gold which the US government maintains. Because gold has been universally regarded as a very valuable metal, national currencies were for many years judged in terms of the so-called 'gold standard'. Nowadays national currencies are considered to be as strong as the national economies which support them.

Valuable metal has generally been replaced by paper notes. These notes are issued by government and authorized banks, and are known as 'legal tender'. Other arrangements such as cheques and money orders are not legal tender. They perform the function of substitute money and are known as 'instruments of credit'. Credit is offered only when creditors believe that they have a good chance of obtaining legal tender when they present such instruments at a bank or other authorized institutions. If a man's assets are known to be considerable, then his credit will be good. If his assets are in doubt, then it may be difficult for him to obtain large sums of credit or even to pay for goods with a cheque.

The value of money is basically its value as a medium of exchange or as economists put it, its 'purchasing power'. This purchasing power is dependent on supply and demand. The demand of money is reckonable as the quantity needed to effect business transactions. The demand for money is related to the rapidity with which the business is done. The supply of money is the actual amount in notes and coins available for business purposes. If too much money is available, its value decreases. This condition is known as 'inflation'.

The British currency is the pound sterling. In each pound there are 100 pence. Pounds are indicated by the symbol £ before the amount. Pence are indicated by the letter 'p'. Five pounds is written therefore as £ 5, fifty pence as 50 p. If one wants to combine the two, the 'p' is dropped. For example, nine pounds and fifty-seven pence is written as £ 9.57.

British currency uses both notes and coins: the one pound piece (£1), the fifty pence piece (50 p), the twenty pence piece (20 p), the ten pence piece (10 p), the five pence piece (5 p), the two pence piece (2 p), and the one pence piece (1 p). Each coin has the date it was minted stamped on one side.

There are five denominations of notes. The lowest note in value is the £ 5 note, the highest is the £100 note. In between these there are the £ 10, 20 and £ 50 notes. Every note has a serial number to show when it was issued and a watermark to prevent forgeries.

ACTIVITIES

1. Learn the words. Cover the words and test your memory, while looking at the translation:

commodity - товар (сырьевой)

goods - товары

coins - монеты

transaction - сделка

copper - медь

currency - валюта

legal tender - законное платежное средство

assets - активы

purchasing power - покупательная способность

demand - спрос

supply - предложение

forgery - подделка

money order - платежное поручение

2. Make sentences using the following words:

1. one, money, is, man's, inventions, greatest, of.

2. is, it, tool, essential, of, an, civilization.

3. take, the, exchange, of, may, barter, form.

4. will, barter, requirements, quite, man's, adequately, serve.

5. barter, the, system, very, and, inefficient, proves, frustrating.

6. system, very, becomes, exchange, of, cumbersome, this.

7. upon, a, depends, it, coincidence, wants, of, double.

8. discovered, a, arrangement, man, more, much, convenient.

9. removes, the, it, of, the, barter, major, system, difficulty.

10. exchanges, are, such, for, granted, taken.

11. would, be, they, without, inconvenient, use, of, the, money.

12. is, problem, exchange, the, rates, solved, of, easily.

13. is, to, deferred, it, serve, payment, means, a, as, of.

3. Give 3 forms of the verbs:

to be, to have, to give, to apply, to satisfy, to live, to study, to examine, to solve, to leave, to survive, to experience, to provide, to turn, to observe, to feed, to build, to depend, to guarantee

4. Fill in the blanks using verbs in brackets:

1. Although Economics... a vast subject and precise defi­nitions... usually very complex, it... not a difficult mat­ter to give a simple answer to the basic question (to be).

2. Economics... itself to the study of the material aspects of life (to limit).

3. We must examine how people have solved or... to solve this problem (to try).

4. It... little attention from those of us fortunate enough to live in these areas (to attract).

5. A large percentage of human race still... in small self-sufficient communities (to live).

5. Translate and answer the questions:

1. Для каких целей использутся деньги?

2. От чего зависит прочность национальной валюты?

3. Что такое "законное платежное средство"?

4. При каких условиях может быть предоставлен кредит?

5. Что такое "спрос на деньги"?

6. Что такое "предложение денег"?

7. Какие существуют достоинства британской валюты?

6. Put in prepositions and translate sentences:

1. Monetary policy is concerned with the cost... money.

2. Bank-notes and coins are not the most important form... money... developed economies.

3. Cheques didn't come... general use... the second half of the seventeenth century.

4. A payment from one person... another merely requires that the banker reduces the amount... one deposit and increases it... another.

5. The transmission... payments... means... cheques creates problems when the person making the payment has an account... a different bank... the person receiving the payment.

6. Most countries have a central bank, which is respon­sible... the operation... the banking system.

7. Several merchant banks date back... the nineteenth century.

8.... recent years there has been a considerable extension... the range... financial services offered... building societies.

7. Home reading. Read and retell the text in English and Russian: