listening exercises., Exercises of Business English

Download listening exercises. and more Exercises Business English in PDF only on Docsity!

Unit 1 - Management

LISTENING 1: Listen to the following conversation and complete the minutes below, in note form

LISTENING 2: Listen again and fill in the gaps in these sentences from the conversation

1. ..................... the .......... .., I'd say that morale's very low at the moment.
2. You ..................., the ..................... that we've just laid off two hundred or so workers?
3. What are you ................................... Jonathan?
4. Mm ... that's ...................... for ......................., I must admit.
5. I think I'm ...................... the ........................ now, and it's not a very pretty one.
6. And you know, I may have ........... ………………… …………….. the answer.
7. A survey could tell us what's .............. ...................... inthis firm.
8. Everybody must feel free to speak the truth, or else the data won't be .......... ………… ………….. to us. LISTENING 3: Listen to the following conversation and complete the memorandum below To: George Holbrook From: Vanessa McIntyre Subject: ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Ralph Harris has just informed me that ………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Apparently, this regrettable delay has been caused by ……………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………… Ralph says they still haven't managed to develop a biscuit which crackles when you bite into it. Ralph now estimates that his department will not have solved this problem satisfactorily until …………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………. Naturally, this will make it impossible for us to ………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………. In view of these unfortunate circumstances, I would suggest that our best course of action would be to postpone the launch ……………………………………………………………… Could we meet to discuss this as soon as possible?

Unit 2 - Work and motivation

LISTENING 1: Listen to the following conversation and then decide whether the statements below are true or false. True or False

1. Some employees at Trafalgar Products are absent from work more often than they need to be
2. Kerry Webb suggests that all employees who are absent should be interviewed by the Personnel Department
3. At Kerry Webb's previous firm, the employees made fun of those people who took too much time off work.
4. In the American scheme described by Frank Collins, absenteeism was reduced by giving cash bonuses to employees who had a 100% attendance record.
5. None of the other executives at the meeting agreed with the scheme which Frank Collins suggested. LISTENING 2: Listen again and identify the phrases or expressions in the conversation which mean the same as the following:
6. Actually, Sara, I think Frank's right about this. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. Yes, I agree with you, Don. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. They'd know we were watching them carefully. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
9. (People) told you to improve your behaviour. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
10. That's the first point to you, Sara! (as in sport). ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
11. And hardly anyone took time off work, unless they couldn't avoid. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
12. In any case, the unions would be strongly against it (the idea). ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
13. It (the idea) wouldn't be very popular here. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

LISTENING 3: Helen Tucker is Human Resources Director at Procter and Gamble. Each year, the company conducts a survey throughout their organisation to find out how satisfied their staff are in their jobs. Listen to the first part of the interview, write down at least 5 questions that you think will appear in the survey and compare with other members of your group. LISTENING 4: (Track 37, CD1, p40) Listen to the second part of the interview and answer these questions.

1. What three ways have job priorities changed in recent years?

2. What examples does Helen Tucker give of flexible working programmes?

3. Apart from flexible working conditions, what other factors might persuade people to join Procter and Gamble?

4. Why did Procter and Gamble introduce a car share scheme? Helen Tucker LISTENING 5: Listen to three MBA students at the Judge Business School talking about motivation, and answer these questions. Krishna Srinivasan Carlo de Stefanis Saktiandi Supaat (from Malaysia) (from Italy) (from Singapore)

5. According to Krishna, what is the disadvantage of working in auditing compared to banking?

6. How did Krishna's company retain its staff?

7. According to Carlo, what is the main reason why people leave their jobs?

8. According to Carlo, does a company need a set of motivational incentives?

9. What does Carlo say a manager needs to do to engage his/her team?

10. According to Saktiandi, do the staff have to do what the organization wants, or vice versa?

11. What does Saktiandi say about the importance of influencing and convincing people?

Unit 4 - Managing Across Culture

LISTENING 1: Listen to two versions of a conversation between Tiffany, an intern, and Simon, her supervisor. Underline the words that describe Simon's behaviour. Then compare your answers with a partner. Version 1 - Simon is: Version 2 - Simon is: objective impatient a good listener dogmatic diplomatic friendly firm understanding insincere authoritarian threatening weak frank objective impatient a good listener dogmatic diplomatic friendly firm understanding insincere authoritarian threatening weak frank LISTENING 2: Listen to Sandra, an American business student, and David, a British civil service manager, talking about problems they experienced with work placements. Answer the questions.

1. What problems did Sandra and David have?
2. What were the misunderstandings that caused these problems? LISTENING 3: (MKL, p55, CD1 50:52-53:15) Listen to the first part of an interview with Jeff Toms, Marketing Director at the International Briefing Centre at Farnham Castle, Surrey. He talks about training courses which prepare people for doing business internationally. Complete the list of issues that he mentions. Issues covered by the training course  1. ................. awareness  Practical issues of 2. ................. and 3. ............. overseas  Dealing with 4. .................... ......................  Schooling; 5. ...................... care; international security  How to negotiate 6. ...................  Communication - telephone - e-mail - the 7. .................. ..................  Presentation skills - the words you use

Unit 5 - Recruitment

LISTENING 1: Sophie is now talking to the marketing manager, Tim Brown, about salary increases for his staff. Listen to their conversation. Then Look at Tim's notes from the meeting and correct them where necessary. LISTENING 2: Listen to a conversation between Klaus Bohn, the personnel manager of a global company in Cologne, and Jason Hughes, the industrial relations manager of their plant in the U.K. Which statements in each group below best describes the situation they are discussing?

a) A 3% increase has been turned down. b) A 5% increase has been agreed. c) A 5% review was given a year ago.

a) There may have to be some redundancies worldwide. b) There may have to be some redundancies in the U.K. c) There may have to be some redundancies in Amsterdam.

a) White-collar staff have had salaries frozen for 5 years. b) White-collar workers' salaries were last reviewed 2 years ago. c) White collar workers have no chance of a salary review.

a) Workers at the plant are on strike. b) Workers at the plant are dissatisfied with the proposed wage increase. c) Workers at the plant are concerned about safety issues.

a) Workers at the plant have heard rumours of closure. b) Workers at the plant have heard rumours wages may be reduced. c) Workers at the plant have heard rumours that jobs may be transferred to Poland. LISTENING 3: Listen to the dialogue again and complete the questions with the words in the box below. Then use the information in the dialogue to answer the questions.

1. What's ____________________ the union's rejection of the pay deal?
2. What exactly was Jason's ___________________ argument?
3. Why did the union representatives and their members ____________ to reach ________________?
4. Why did they _________________ the salaries of white-collar staff two years ago?
5. What are the _________________ going around the plant?
6. Why have Klaus and Jason got to plan their ___________________? counter – behind – freeze – tactics – fail – rumours – agreement

Unit 6. The different sectors of the Economy

LISTENING 1: Listen to an interview with James Sullivan, a sales manager with Nehling and Hynes, an American credit agency, and answer the questions.

1. Which two kinds of service do credit agencies provide?
2. How large is Nehling and Hynes' database, and why is this important?
3. How are credit ratings useful?
4. What proportion of European and US firms purchase credit insurance?
5. Which advantage does credit insurance give Daryl Vincenti in Saudi Arabia?
6. On average, how much does international credit insurance cost? LISTENING 2: Listen to the conversation between Paul, a manager, and his assistant, Jenny. Complete the schedule with the times or time periods, using the appropriate prepositions. LISTENING 3: Listen to a conversation between Riaz Hussain and Frederick,the front office manager at the Jeddah Royal BeachResort, and complete the customer database entries.

LISTENING 4 : Listen again and answer the questions.

1. Why doesn't Riaz like having rock groups in the hotel?
2. If Ms Koepple leavestoday without paying, how much will the hotel lose?
3. How much credit is Riaz prepared to allow her?
4. Why does Frederick think Mr Kobayashi is a difficult customer?
5. Why is Frederick suspicious of him?
6. What happened with Mrs Saman's company last year?
7. Why are Mrs Saman and her brother important for the hotel? LISTENING 5 : Listen to six business new stories from American radio station, and complete the chart below. News (^) item Which industry or industries are mentioned? Which econnomic sectors are involved? Which companies or organizations are named Is this good, bad or mixed news for the industry? What figures are mentioned? 1 2 3

UNIT 7: PRODUCTION

LISTENING 1: Listento an interview with CharlieWang, Presidentof New China Packaging, a design consultancy based in Taipei, and mark these statements T (true) or F (false).

1. Branding is not enough to differentiate almost identical products.
2. Business guru Jack Trout thinks that companies overcommunicate their difference.
3. Most customers decide which product to buy before going to the store.
4. In the past, design teams were not told about financial and manufacturing problems so as not to limit their creativity.
5. Creative ideas are often simplified and adapted because focus groups don't like them.
6. The task force can't leavetheir hotel until every member of the team is enthusiastic about the new concept.
7. Consumers are not always conscious of what they need.
8. New China Packaging's task forces need months or years to deliver a consumer-validated package. LISTENING 2: Listen to a presentation of the ChartTech i3. What are its three main features?

LISTENING 3: Listen to a presentation of the Pingman, a new personal GPS tracking device which can be usedto locate children, elderly people, animals or mobile staff and answer the questions.

1. How does the presenter get the audience's attention and interest?
2. What is the objective of the presentation?
3. How long will the presentation last, and what is the next step?
4. What does the presenter say about questions?
5. What subjects will be covered in the three sections of the presentation?
6. Which part of the presentation do we not hear?
7. What does the presenter do at the beginning of the conclusion?
8. What does the presenter ask the audience to do? LISTENING 4: Listen to an extract from the marketing meeting at Big Jack's. What two decisions are made? LISTENING 5: Listen again and list the ten suggestions made by Billie and Mick. Which ones does Jack like?

8. Apart from that, I ________________________ that vehicles, machines, and any other kind of equipment are maintained to a high level LISTENING 3: Three purchasing managers are discussing strategies for negotiating with a supplier. Listen to the discussion and answer the questions.

9. What kind of relationship do they want with the supplier?

10. What would be the benefits of such a relationship?

11. What market position does the company have?

12. What kind of products do they make?

13. What kind of agreement are they interested in? LISTENING 4: Listen to three logistics providers presenting their services. Complete the table. specialized in transport mode used Provider 1 (GFT Global Carrier) Provider 2 (Home Tex International) Provider 3 (Cargo Express)

LISTENING 5 : Put the steps in this integrated packing location system in the correct order (1-8). Then listen and check.

□ You scan the barcode of the shipping label.

□ The system calculates the weight of the package.

□ You enter the system.

□ You choose means of transport.

□ You can put together packages.

□ The shipping labels are printed.

□ You can see and access all positions in the container.

□ The order is complete - system prints delivery note.