The world of work

Chapter 1
The world
of work
Th e f a c t s
The past
Much has changed in the world of work.
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From living and working on the land, most
people in the industrialized countries
now live and work in or on the edge of
towns. Until recently, these societies offered
many jobs in factories to unskilled 1 and
semiskilled workers who worked on
machines organized into an assembly line2.
The aim was to manufacture as much and
as quickly as possible. Taylor’s scientific
management theory was used by many
employers to speed up the assembly line,
while keeping wages 3 down. Now, more
and more of these jobs are disappearing
either because of automation or the closing
down of the factory which is relocated 4
elsewhere in the country or abroad.
The present
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6
The world of work has become a global
market, thanks largely to information technology5 which enables people to work anywhere at any time of the day or night and to
communicate rapidly on a global scale 6.
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Henceforth7, the workforce must acquire
the skills necessary to work in the new technological industries plus other skills such as
adaptability in order to face all the innovations in the organization of work, learn new
skills and take on new responsibilities.
It is therefore important to provide everyone
with a good general education so that they
can cope with 8 specialised training and
re-training9 when necessary. Languages play
a bigger role than before, especially English
which has become the main language used
for international communication, spoken
and written.
New factors
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New factors have appeared in industry such
as ethics and the importance of ensuring
equal opportunities for the growing army of
working women more and more of whom
offer high qualifications and would like them
to be recognized! This is called smashing the
glass ceiling, a process by which ambitious
women endeavour11 to move up the occupational hierarchy to become the boss! The
role of ethics in the company can go from
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protecting the environment to showing concern for social problems in the home country
and abroad, so far the domain of charities.
The latest development in the US and GB is
the ethical employee. The company hires
people for their professional qualifications
plus their ethical commitments12.
This is the age of global technology and competition and companies have to perform13 in
this context. Jobs and working conditions are
bound to14 be affected, especially those of
the low-skilled workers who are so often the
victims of relocation15. People in management are also affected of course, but they are
■
usually better equipped to cope.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
skilled: qualifié
assembly line: chaîne de production
wage: salaire
to relocate: délocaliser
information technology: informatique
scale: échelle
henceforth: dorénavant
to cope with: faire face à
re-training: recyclage
to endeavour: essayer
to show concern for: se préoccuper de
commitment: engagement
to perform: fonctionner
to be bound to: être obligatoirement
relocation: délocalisation
CHECK THE FACTS
LEXICAL WORK
1. What changes have taken place in the world
of work?
2. What has the world of work become thanks to
information technology?
3. Why must the workforce be adaptable?
4. Why is it important to have good a general education and to speak English?
5. What new factors have appeared in industry?
6. What is an ethical employee?
7. What is the difference between low-skilled workers and people in management when they are
faced with the loss of their jobs?
1. Find the second noun to make a compound
noun and then translate.
a. the assembly – b. management – c. information –
d. the work – e. the glass
2. Put the words in the right order to make a
sentence and translate.
a. used / people / to / work / Most / land / the / on.
b. one / place / Relocation / another / means /
transferring / from / jobs / to.
c. global / is / and / competition / This / age / the /
technology / of.
d. become / More / to / more / and / women /
boss / want / the.
e. for / main / English / the / communication /
language / is / used / international.
7
Ta l k i n g i t o v e r
Voting with
your vocation
Firms that give staff time off for charity work may have the edge1
in a tough jobs market, says Sarah Ryle.
ow much does your company care? Not about
yo u : a b o u t t h e w i d e r
world? The evidence is that the
more intelligent, the more motivated the employees, the more
value they put on working for a
boss who gives them time to
spread2 a little happiness.
For companies that have invested
time and money in devising3
charitable or community projects, there is more to gain than
tax breaks4.
“We are seeing the rise of the
ethical employee,” says Richard
Reeves, head of futures5 at the
Industrial Society. “People are
more acutely6 aware of what
their work says about them now.
The reputation of their company
is more important to them. There
is some evidence that the process
people go through when they
choose jobs is becoming more
closely associated with the way
they want to live their lives.
“People are voting with their
vocations. It makes much more
difference to the world what the
attitude of their company to the
community is than where they
put their X on polling day7.”
Reeves’s team is preparing to
investigate.
“The workplace is increasingly
the mechanism through which
people want to exercise their
social conscience. Fifty per cent
H
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1. to have the edge:
avoir l’avantage
2. to spread: répandre
3. to devise: inventer
4. tax break:
dégrèvement fiscal
5. futures: le marché
à terme
6. acutely:
intensément
7. polling day: jour
des élections
8. graduate: diplômé
de l’université
9. high-flyer:
personne
ambitieuse
10. fundraising:
collecte de fonds
11. scheme: projet
12. courier DHL:
messagerie DHL
13. loyalty: fidélité
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75
of the workforce is female and
there has been a huge increase in
the number of mothers with
young children who work. They
were the people who used to
exercise our conscience for us at
home, doing charity work.”
Reed, the recruitment agency,
has seen a rise in the number of
graduates8 who want to work for
charities, for a few years at least,
when they leave university.
“We have found jobs for City
high-flyers9 who want more job
satisfaction and look to the charity
sector,” explains Reed spokesman
Jack Tarr.
More and more companies are
shouting about their fundraising10 and volunteer schemes11,
from supermarkets such as Tesco
and Sainsbury’s which operate
schools’ focused community
projects, to courier DHL12.
Corporate community involvement consultant Erica Hauver
says,”Companies are providing
more employee volunteer opportunities because they realise this
is good for their business.They see
increased morale, corporate loyalty13 and better teamwork.”
Two studies, one in the US and
one in Europe, carried out in 1999,
both reported a loyalty rate of
87% from staff at companies perceived to be committed to solving
social problems.
The Observer, 8 July 2001.
ees want from their boss?
3. What does a company gain financially when it
invests money in charity and community projects?
4. What is important for an ethical employee
when choosing a job?
5. What does he/she consider to be more
important for the community, his/her choice of
company or of politician?
6. How do more and more people consider the
workplace?
7. Which people used to do all the charity
work? What do they do now?
8. What do high-flyers want from their jobs?
9. Why are companies prepared to provide
volunteer opportunities for their staff?
10. What does the journalist suggest in the
subtitle?
Now, sum up the text.
COMMENT
1. It is in everyone’s interest that companies
should participate in charity work be it for charitable or for business reasons. What do you think?
2. Do you agree with the writer when she says
in the subtitle that job applicants may choose
their jobs according to the firm’s attitude
towards charity?
TALKING POINTS
1. How can we explain the development of
employees’ ethical awareness?
2. Most people would find it difficult to choose
between a well-paid job in a non-ethical
company and a much lower-paid job working for
a charity organization such as HELP THE AGED.
LEXICAL WORK
1. Choose the right word from the box to make
an expression used in the text and then translate the expressions.
satisfaction – recruitment – projects – loyalty –
work – team – volunteer – jobs
a. … market – b. community … – c. …place –
d. … agency – e. job … – f. … schemes – g. corporate … – h. …work
2. Find the odd man out (different from the
others) and choose one or two of the words to
make sentences.
Chapter 1
1. What is the subject of this article?
2. What do some intelligent, motivated employ-
Example: hat – song – bus – sing
“Sing” is the only verb, the others are nouns.
Singing songs in English may help us to
improve our accent.
a. find – intelligent – devise – operate
b. ethical – huge – staff – social
c. used to – through – to – for
d. attitude – provide – community – graduate
e. workforce – teamwork – fundraising – workplace
3. Find the verbs or nouns in the text that correspond to the following nouns and verbs.
Translate them and make a sentence with
either the verb or the noun.
Nouns
device
choice
…
exercise
commitment
…
…
operation
The world of work
COMPREHENSION
Verbs
…
…
to satisfy
…
…
to scheme
to involve
…
LISTENING AND TALKING
Having listened to the Chairman’s message,
answer the following questions.
1. What do equal opportunities in employment
practices include?
2. For what reasons do some employers discriminate against employees or job applicants?
3. Discrimination means that employers may
refuse a brilliant applicant. In order to remedy
this, what policy does the Chairman want to
implement?
4. How will the company make sure that this
policy is implemented?
5. What is the last message? Who is it aimed at?
PRONUNCIATION
Charitable [tʃrətəbəl] – ethical [eθkəl] – people
[pipəl] – social [səυʃəl]
1. Look at the phonetics and listen to the pronunciation of these words. What do you notice
about the last syllable?
2. Find six other words in the text which have
the same sound in the last syllable. Listen to
the tape to check your list.
ROLE PLAY
The Personnel Manager is talking to his assistant. They are trying to make a list of possibilities for voluntary actions for the employees
who are not already involved in any.
9
Writing i t d o w n
Time to plan your life
ver since women first
entered the workforce en
masse in the 1970s, they have
struggled1 to balance2 career
and family. The movement’s
pioneers often sacrificed marriage and children to the
larger cause of breaking down
barriers in the workplace.
Subsequent generations made
careers their priority and stumbled 3 into marriage – and
childbearing4 – late.
Today, many young women
plan to work hard for a few
years, take time off to have children, then return to a lessdemanding or part-time job5.
“The emerging attitude toward
work is flexibility, and building
one’s career by making choices
rather than getting on a ladder
and hoping it will take you to
the top,” says sociologist Kathleen
Gerson. “Women are more concerned
with finding a balance between public
and private, family and work.”
Most women need to work for
financial reasons. And today they
have more career options than ever.
They are well educated, confident
and technologically savvy6, and they
are entering a labour market7 that
still desperately wants them. New
mothers are, on average, returning
to work more quickly. And they are
having children – or at least planning
for them – at an earlier age.
The key to more family time, of
course, is fewer hours in the office.
But a part-time schedule is not without risks. “Often the part-time options
don’t have any benefits8 attached to
them, and don’t have any job security,” says Donna Stewart. Part-time
jobs are also the first to go in an economic downturn9. Still, many young
working women are willing to make
that trade-off10 for the prospect of
afternoons at the playground.
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1. to struggle: lutter
2. to balance:
équilibrer
3. to stumble:
trébucher
4. childbearing:
maternité
5. part-time job:
travail à temps
partiel/mi-temps
6. savvy: calé
7. labour market:
marché du travail
8. benefit: avantage
9. downturn: baisse
10. trade-off:
concession
11. to ditch:
abandonner
12. mate:
époux/partenaire
13. the bulk of: la plus
grande partie de
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In fact, if forced to choose between
a high-powered career and raising
children, several of the women interviewed for this article said they would
ditch11 the job (at least temporarily).
Diane Thompson, a 25-year-old cancerresearch specialist in Los Angeles,
says she would “probably choose to
raise kids” and then “go back to my
career later”. For now, the biggest
obstacle women like Thompson face
is finding an acceptable mate 12 .
Though they are hopeful that they will
find men who will be equal partners,
they are well aware that few women,
including their mothers, have achieved
that: women still do the bulk of13 the
housework and childcare.
The ultimate goal is to have real
choice for men as well as women,
which means women have to be capable of fulfilling their economic potential and men their domestic potential.
By Susan H. Greenberg,
Newsweek, 8 January 2001.
© 2001, Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission.
make?
4. How did later generations try to deal with the
problem?
5. How do many young women nowadays cope
with this problem?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages
of part-time work?
7. What would many women do if they were
forced to choose between having a career and
raising their children?
8. What must women find if they want to have
a career and a family?
9. What role do most women still play within
the family?
COMMENT
1. Do you agree with the writer when she says
that women who want to have a career and a
family have to plan their lives?
2. The ultimate goal is to have a real choice for
men as well as for women. How do you interpret
this statement?
3. Some women, even those with a high-powered career, are prepared to give up their jobs
to bring up their children. What do you think of
that? Would you do the same?
LEXICAL WORK
1. Fill in the gaps with one of the following
words, making the necessary changes.
combine – travel – ceiling – demanding – talented –
hard – babies – reach – hour – career
2. Match the following words and translate them.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
labour
job
break
well
part-time
raise
economic
time
a. downturn
b. children
c. off
d. security
e. market
f. educated
g. down
h. job
Chapter 1
1. What is the subject of this article?
2. What have women always struggled to find?
3. What sacrifice did the pioneers sometimes
According to Alison Eadie, glass … do not prevent …
women from … the top. Having … does. A more …
work environment, long … and global … have in
some ways made it too … for young women with
children to … a … with a family.
The world of work
COMPREHENSION
3. Put the words in the right order to make a
sentence.
a. women / balance / struggled / have / to /
career / family / and.
b. need / for / women / reasons / most / to /
work / financial.
c. office / the / more / key / in / the / to / family /
is / hours / time / fewer.
d. first / in / to / downturn / economic / part-time
/ are / jobs / the / go / an .
e. obstacle / face / acceptable / the / biggest /
ambitious / women / an / mate / finding / is.
DISCUSS
1. The majority of part-time jobs are taken by
women. How can this be explained?
2. An old proverb says that a woman’s work is
never done (finished). How true is this now
that everyone is equipped with sophisticated
household machines?
3. Is it easy to go back to work after a ten-year
gap? What sort of problems would one have?
EXAM WORK
1. Faites un compte rendu en anglais de cet article.
2. Traduisez de “Today, many young women plan
to work hard” à “at an earlier age.” (l. 14-38).
3. Vous travaillez pour une société internationale.
Vous êtes l’assistant(e) du directeur des ressources
humaines et, ayant lu un article très intéressant sur
les femmes d’affaires, vous lui proposez de demander à Julia Donnegan, femme d’affaires, de venir
parler de sa carrière, donc de son parcours en tant
que femme. Il vous charge de lui écrire.
– Vous vous présentez ainsi que votre entreprise.
– Vous lui expliquez comment vous avez entendu parler
d’elle, et pourquoi vous aimeriez qu’elle vienne faire une
conférence aux chefs de service dans votre entreprise, en
mentionnant la politique d’égalité des chances que celleci cherche à pratiquer dans un contexte international.
– Vous expliquez comment vous pourriez organiser cet
événement en proposant des dates et des horaires.
– Vous insistez sur l’importance de sa venue.
– Vous envoyez cette lettre à Julia Donnegan,
Managing Director, 10 Bramley Road, Bracknell,
Berkshire RG12 8PE.
11
Lexical w o r k
• affaires
• allocation/indemnité
• aptitude
• atteindre
• attendre à (s’)
• bénéfice
• bulletin de salaire
• cantine
• chaîne de montage
• changer/déplacer
• chef d’exploitation
• chef de service
• classe ouvrière
• comité d’entreprise
• compétent/capable
• conférence
• congé
• conseil(s)
• contremaître
• corvée
• délocaliser
• démissionner
• égalité des chances
• entreprise/société
• essayer
• faire face à
• fonctionner
• fonds de roulement
business
benefit
ability
to reach
to expect
profit
wage slip
canteen
assembly/
production line
to shift
works manager
departmental head
working class
works council
competent/skilful
lecture/conference
time off
advice
foreman
chore
to relocate
to resign
equal opportunities
firm/company/
business
to try/to endeavour
to face/to deal with/
to cope with
to perform
working capital
USE THE LIST
Find the words that mean:
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1. someone who has had special training for his job.
2. working in a group.
3. hard, sometimes, unpleasant work.
4. money earned by working.
5. having the same possibilities.
6. not going to work.
7. future possibilities in your job.
8. you may need this when you start a new job.
9. to make an effort to do something.
10. to get/arrive at a given point.
• former/formation
• gagner sa vie
• heures de travail
• heures supplémentaires
• journée ouvrable
• lieu de travail
• main-d’œuvre
• mal payé
• marché du travail
• métier/maîtrise
• occasion
• ouvrier qualifié
• patron
• permis de travail
• personnel
• perspectives de travail
• population active
• poste sans avenir
• résoudre
• revenu
• salaire brut/net
to train/training
to earn one’s living
working hours
overtime
working day
workplace
work force
low-paid
labour market
workmanship
opportunity
skilled worker
boss
work permit
staff/personnel
work prospects
working population
dead-end job
to work out
income
gross/net salary/pay/
wage/earnings
source
de
revenus
livelihood
•
• technique/compétence skill
part-time work
• travail à mi-temps/
partiel
teamwork
• travail d’équipe
shiftwork
• travail posté
factory
• usine
working life
• vie active
voir fiche 9 p. 159
Observez les phrases suivantes
a) the workforce must acquire the skills necessary to work… (p. 6, l. 23-24)
b) plus other skills such as adaptability in order to face… (p. 6, l. 25-26)
c) It is important to provide everyone with a good education so that they can… (p. 6, l. 29-31)
Analysez
Quelle forme est employée :
– avec deux sujets différents ?
– pour insister sur l’idée de but (cette expression
se trouve souvent en début de phrase) ?
– pour indiquer l’idée de but (sans insister) ?
Entraînez-vous
Choisissez la forme qui convient dans les phrases
suivantes.
a. We work … (earn) our living and sometimes, we
even enjoy ourselves!
b. He is doing overtime … his daughter (be able)
buy a computer.
c. … (cope with) the Christmas orders, the employees are working twelve hours a day.
d. The boss asked them to work such long hours
… the customers (be) happy.
e. … (convince) them, he also offered them a big
bonus.
f. We all know that we have to work hard … (pass)
an exam.
g. We take exams … (improve) our chances of finding a job.
Les noms dénombrables et indénombrables
Chapter 1
Les subordonnées de but : to/in order to/so that
The world of work
Grammar w o r k
voir fiche 2 p. 151
Observez les phrases suivantes
a) plus other skills such as adaptability (p. 6, l. 25-26)
b) The role of ethics […] to showing concern for social problems (p. 6-7, l. 45-48)
Analysez
Quels noms désignent :
– des choses que l’on peut compter ?
– des concepts qui ne peuvent être dénombrés ?
Entraînez-vous
Choisissez un des mots suivants pour chaque
phrase en faisant les changements nécessaires.
relocation – work – management – job –
unemployment – automation
a. Hundreds of … disappear in the same area when
a factory is relocated.
b. Some people blame … for mass … .
c. The victims of … are often the low-skilled workers
who cannot move from their town.
d. People in … also lose their jobs but are better
equipped to deal with the problem.
e. Finding … can mean leaving one’s town, region
or country. It must be hard to leave one’s family and
culture.
Translate
1. De nos jours, la plupart des jeunes sont formés
pour travailler sur ordinateur.
2. Les gens acceptent souvent de travailler à mitemps pour avoir de l’expérience.
3. Le patron veut que ses employés travaillent en
équipe afin qu’ils puissent profiter des compétences
des autres.
4. Nous voyons en ce moment une augmentation
du nombre de jeunes qui veulent voyager pour
améliorer leurs compétences linguistiques.
5. Les femmes qui ont quitté leur emploi pour
élever leurs enfants sont souvent obligées de se
recycler pour trouver du travail.
6. Il pense ouvrir trois autres agences mais il n’a
pas encore trouvé l’argent dont il a besoin.
7. La direction de cette entreprise est accusée de
ne pas donner assez de renseignements au personnel.
8. L’industrie en Grande-Bretagne souffre d’un
manque d’investissements.
9. L’informatique permet à tout le monde de
communiquer avec ceux qui habitent à l’autre
bout du monde.
10. Les conseils que vous m’avez donnés m’ont
permis de fonder ma propre entreprise.
13