Name/Class: Audio Scripts
Audio Scripts The recordings of the material below can be found below can be found on the Test Master CD-Rom, which is at the back of the Teacher’s Resource Book. Play each recording twice.
Entry Test Hello Sam, it’s Alison. I hope you’ve had a good weekend. Sorry to start your week with a problem but I’ve just had a phone call from the Berlin office, and they’ve asked me to go over to Germany for an important meeting on Thursday. That means I’ll be out of the office on Thursday and Friday and we’ll have to make some changes to the diary. I thought I’d let you know as early as possible so that you can deal with the urgent things straightaway. So the first thing to change is the departmental meeting. We can’t now hold this on Thursday morning, so I’d like to bring it forward to Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock. Could I ask you please to e-mail everybody and check if this is OK? As you know, we have to get the monthly report ready before this meeting. And that means we’ll need to finalise it by lunchtime on Wednesday at the latest. So could I schedule a meeting with you and Teresa at – let’s say 9.30 on Wednesday morning? It’s just so that we can go through the final details together. I’ll have to cancel my lunch with Suzanne. But don’t worry about that – I’ll phone her this afternoon.
Watts: Have you been offered another job? Jason: No. Not yet. I’m looking. Watts: It’s a bit unusual to resign when you haven’t got another job to go to. There must really be some problem here. [pause] Do you get on all right with your colleagues? Jason: With most of them, yes. Watts: But not all of them? How about Frank, your team leader? How are you getting on with him? Jason: Well, er ... Watts: Don’t worry. A lot of people find him difficult to work with at first. He can be really hard on new staff. Jason: Yes, it’s true that he criticises my work a lot. I’ve tried to work hard and to do things right. But he’s never satisfied. Watts: I quite understand. Jason: I thought you’d be on his side and say it was because I’m not good enough for the job. Watts: Not at all. I know that Frank can be very demanding. It’s not your fault. You’re fine. You’re doing well. And it will get easier. Can I suggest you think about it a bit more? Jason: Well – I’m not sure. Watts: Why not give it another month or two and then see how you feel? If, after that time, you still feel unhappy, we could maybe consider moving you to another team. Jason: OK. I’ll think about it. Thanks.
The other urgent matter is the briefing meeting for the new management trainees on Friday. I’m afraid I won’t be back in time for this. So perhaps we could re-arrange that meeting for next Monday. Can you please inform the trainees as soon as possible about this change? Well – those are the most urgent points. I’ll have to reschedule the meeting with the legal department for next week. But that won’t be a problem. And I expect there’ll be some other arrangements to be changed as well, but we can discuss those later. As you know, I’m in a meeting with the directors all morning and won’t be back at my desk till after lunch. So we’ll talk then. Bye!
Progress Test 1 Jason: Excuse me, Mrs Watts. Could I have a word with you? Whenever it’s convenient. Watts: Yes, Jason. We can talk now, if you like. Come into my office. Jason: Thanks. Watts: So, what would you like to talk about? Jason: Well – er – the fact is, I’ve decided to resign. Watts: Oh! I’m sorry to hear that. May I ask why? Jason: Well … I don’t feel I’m the right person for the job. Watts: I don’t know why you should feel that. You were selected out of more than 40 applicants. And, as far as I understand, your work has always been more than satisfactory. Jason: I just don’t feel any satisfaction. Watts: Well, you’ve only been in the job for six months. Perhaps you should give it a little longer. Jason: But I really don’t think it’s going to work out for me. So I think I should make a move now and not waste time doing a job I’m not happy with.
38
MARKET LEADER UPPER INTERMEDIATE TEST FILE
© Pearson Education Education Limited Limited 2000 2006 Photocopiable
Name/Class: Audio Scripts
Progress Test 2 Extract 1 A:
B:
C:
A:
Think how much time we’d save. At the moment, I have to go into the office to enter the orders on my PC. It means a special trip which, quite frankly, I can do without after a long hard day of selling. That’s right. It would be much more efficient if we could enter the orders after each meeting with a customer – if we could get it done in the car before moving on to the next visit, for example. OK then. I agree it’s a good idea, providing we can fund it. So let’s see how much it’s going to cost and whether we’ve got the budget for it.
B:
A:
B:
C:
Extract 2 A:
B:
A:
C:
The biggest problem is the travel expenses. They’re out of control right now. We really have to cut back on travelling or we’ll never meet our spending target for the project. But travelling to meetings is important. And I doubt that the project would run smoothly if we didn’t meet with each other on a regular basis. But we’re overspending on travel by 20 per cent. If we just eliminated one fifth of the journeys we make, we could get back on track. I think it’s going to be hard to cut travelling by 20 per cent. Could I make a suggestion? Why don’t we look at our expenditure as a whole? If we spread the cuts over a number of different areas – cutting each cost by just a small amount – it would be much less painful, don’t you think?
Extract 3 A:
B:
I think the product is excellent. This jewellery is eyecatching, it’s exciting, it’s different! Jacqueline is obviously a brilliant designer. But she doesn’t have much business experience. Will she be able to find a market for her designs? How will she manage the financial side of her business? These are the questions that worry me. That’s just it. Without good entrepreneurial skills, the chances of success are very small. How much does she want to raise? Fifty thousand? I think it’s way too much. We shouldn’t consider backing this venture.
deadline. There’s no point in sending you a design if you have to send it back again to be re-drawn. But if you sent us the designs at an earlier stage, we could start to plan how we want to set up production. I don’t think that would do much good. We might have to change something later, and then all your planning will be wasted. But if we can see the main concept, it doesn’t matter if we have to make some small modifications later – we can manage that. It would definitely save us time if we could have the designs sooner. You don’t understand the nature of the work we do. It isn’t a question of main concept and modifications. We have to see the process as a whole. Well, we seem to have a difference of opinion here. How do you think we should deal with this?
Progress Test 3 Part 1 Presenter:
So to summarise. In my talk this afternoon, I have looked at the situation facing many small professional partnerships such as accountancy and legal firms, and I’ve described how poor performance and lack of efficiency often result from poor managerial skills among senior partners. We have looked at three key issues that impact on management style. Firstly, communication – setting goals and making it clear to staff what is required of them. Then, control – being able to find the right balance between empowerment and giving detailed instruction. And finally, cooperation – working with staff and understanding their needs. Professional people have a high level of expertise in their own field, but frequently neglect the need to develop their expertise in management too. Professional knowledge alone isn’t enough if you want your firm to be successful. Managing people is also a vital ingredient. Thank you for your attention. Does anyone have any questions?
Extract 4 A:
B: A: B: A: B: A:
Our website is certainly drawing in lots of extra business. And the online ordering system is working really well. We’ve got no problems there. It’s in the warehouse that the difficulties start to arise. When there’s a rush of orders, we simply can’t handle them fast enough. We can’t dispatch the goods on time and a backlog starts to build up. That’s when the customer complaints come in. So why is that? Is it because there aren’t enough staff in the warehouse? I don’t think so. It’s more to do with stocking – maintaining stocks of the most popular items. So it’s because we don’t always have enough stocks to be able to meet demand? That’s right. In other words, we need to be better at predicting sales. I would say so, yes.
Extract 5 A:
B:
So once again we are behind schedule. We are ready to start setting up production, but we are held back because we have to wait for the designs to be finalised. We always have to rush because our deadlines are so tight. Why does this happen every time? It’s so frustrating! Well, can I just explain? We feel that it’s more important to get the design right than to stick to an unrealistic
Photocopiable
© Pearson Pearson Education EducationLimited Limited2000 2006
MARKET LEADER UPPER INTERMEDIATE TEST FILE
39
Name/Class: Audio Scripts
Part 2 Presenter:
Thank you for your attention. Does anyone have any questions? Questioner 1: Yes. You mentioned that it’s important to motivate staff by offering them opportunities. But in a small firm, opportunities for promotion are usually very limited. Could you suggest any other kinds of opportunities that one might offer? Presenter: Yes – in a small business the best way to give people opportunities is to broaden the scope of their job. So, rather than keeping someone in the same limited job year after year, see if you can extend their responsibilities. Find something new and challenging for them to do. If appropriate, you might send them on a training course to learn new skills. Another way is to make people feel that their work has contributed to the success of the firm. So praising people for their contribution is important and you might also consider introducing a bonus or profit-sharing scheme. Does that answer your question? Questioner 1: Yes, thank you. Presenter: Any other questions? Questioner 2: You seemed to be saying that because we senior partners have had no formal management training, we must be bad managers. I find that insulting. Surely we’re intelligent people and can learn from our experience. It’s mostly common sense after all. Presenter: That’s a good question. Let me explain. Firstly, I certainly didn’t mean to say that you must be a bad manager if you’ve had no formal training. Many people will learn from experience as you say and become good managers. But my point was that many partners are very busy with the professional side of their work and don’t have much time for running the firm. There may be aspects of management that take time to learn – and meanwhile there’s the risk of making costly mistakes. Management training is valuable because it can speed up the process of learning. Questioner 2: Have you got any figures to show what percentage of small firms are failing because of poor management? Presenter: I’m afraid I haven’t. That sort of detailed information would be very hard to come by. Questioner 2: So how can you say that many small firms are failing because …
I:
JL:
I: JL:
I: JL:
I: JL:
on advertising – but this looks set to double within the next few years. By internet advertising, do you mean those ‘pop-up’ ads that block the screen whenever you’re trying to search for information? We think it’s not a good idea to irritate internet users in this way. People today are very short of time. They don’t respond well to ads that take up their time and attention unnecessarily. An ad has got to be relevant to people’s lives. How do you do that? Well, for example – a leading car manufacturer recently launched a new model. And months before the launch, they dedicated a special website to this model. The website advertised a series of rock concerts – but the date and venue of the concerts was kept secret. People had to register their e-mail address or mobile phone number if they wanted to go. Then, at the last minute, the concert would be announced by e-mail or text message. It made the concerts more exclusive, more exciting. This attracted a lot of young people who then associated the image of the car with a fast-moving, music-loving lifestyle. The advertising industry has picked up recently after several years in decline. Is this growth set to continue? Yes, I’m sure it is. We have seen a growth of 4.7 per cent in the last year. The total value of spending on advertising is 400 billion dollars worldwide. It’s a healthy business and it’s going to go on growing. But not in the same way as in the past. The use of media is changing, as I’ve already mentioned. But also the way we work with our clients is changing. How is that? Nowadays, it’s not just a question of developing a campaign. There are many ways to promote a product other than through direct advertising. Agencies have to present the client with an integrated approach. For example, we may even suggest that a company doesn’t advertise its product at all – that they rely on word-ofmouth to spread the message. So they offer their products free to a number of individuals, and those people tell their friends about what a great new product it is. Their friends pass the message on to other friends, and – gradually – that product becomes well-known. Many people who are resistant to advertising will be influenced by what their friends are buying. So this is a promotional technique that can really work.
Exit Test I: JL:
I: JL:
40
I understand your company is changing its name and rebranding itself. Can you tell us more about that? Yes. Our original name, Verner-Martins, comes from the fact that we were founded by Nils Verner and Henning Martins back in 1952. Within the Danish market, this name is well-known and carries with it a strong reputation. But abroad it means nothing. Now we’re moving into a global market. So we want a name that’s more international – in fact, an English name. So we’re changing to Volcano. This name, we hope, sends a message to our clients that we’re moving with the times, that we’re in touch with changes in the global advertising industry. In what ways is the advertising industry changing? Nowadays, there is a much greater mix of advertising media. The use of TV commercials, press and magazine advertising is starting to decline. TV commercials are no longer at the centre of every big campaign. They’re still important, of course, but the internet, e-mail and text messaging are often included in the mix. At present, the internet accounts for about 5 per cent of total spending
MARKET LEADER UPPER INTERMEDIATE TEST FILE
© Pearson Education Education Limited Limited 2000 2006 Photocopiable
