Task Sheet 1
A: What is important when selecting applicants for a job or employees for promotion? I believe it is very important for employers to observe the applicants’ or employees’ interpersonal skills when they make their selection. We cannot just witness the academy award performance of the applicants or employees. We need to ask questions regarding the applicant’s interpersonal relationships with people in other social and civic situations. Most jobs are not performed in isolation and the need to interact is often essential. In fact, most failures in the workplace are not due to lack of technical ability, but rather to shortcomings in interpersonal competence. An individual may be a highly skilled worker. However, if he or she cannot work well with other employees, chances for success are slim. This is especially true in today’s world with increasing emphasis being placed on the use of team.
B: What is important when choosing a new supplier?
I think reputation is an important element we have to consider when we choose a new supplier. The supplier we are going to cooperate with should be an established partner who can provide the specialist expertise and applications our business needs. He can back-up his service and his partners' applications with a flexible range of products.
If our supplier enjoys a high reputation, he will guarantee his services, preferably through a service level agreement that sets out availability, performance levels and response times. And will have the financial stability to guarantee the future of his service.
Generally speaking if our business is growing, we need to look for scalability. A suppler with high reputation has the capability to offer services that can grow as our business expands - without costly reconfiguration or upgrades.
C: What’s important when aiming to improve production quality?We should attach great importance to R&D when we aim to improve production quality.
Any far-sighted entrepreneur will have to acknowledge that in today’s competitive market, a business can only survive by improving production quality. We therefore should recognize the importance of innovation and development and set up a research and development department in our company, staffed with experienced researchers and engineers trained to develop the latest technology in the industry. With all this modern technology, we will be able to increase productivity, maximize production output and enhance the quality of our products. Thus, we will able to undertake complex production process and ensure that the products’ quality meets our clients’ expectations. In our move to be more globally competitive, we should strive to achieve internationally recognized quality standards through R&D.
Task Sheet 2
B: What's important when deciding whether to attend a conference?
When you decide to attend a conference you must first check the quality of the speaker. That is to say the speakers invited to deliver speeches during the conference should be qualified. If the conference organizers select the right keynote speakers they will have an excellent way to begin their conferences and create excitement for their attendees. Qualified speakers can help a lot to set the tone of the conference on a high level.
From the audience’s points of view, qualified speakers are good at defining what the message of the event will be and creating excitement for the remainder of the conference topics. Well-known speakers also can draw attendees and boost attendance. Even the portion of the audience who might not hold the same interests as the majority still will be interested in what the speaker has to say.
A conference equipped with wisely selected speakers must be an excellent one.
C: What's important when developing new products?
In my opinion market research should be the first consideration when we develop new products. Our customers’ tastes and requirements have to be taken into account if our new products are not to be left unsold. That is to say our new products need to be available in the right quantity, at the right place, at the right price and at the right time. When developing new products, we should ask ourselves: “what do customers need which they do not already have?” and “in what form would they prefer the goods (or services) which they are persistently missing?”. We need to approach these problems sensitively by conducting market research. In fact a business can only survive if it is able to anticipate the needs of consumers and continue to do so.
