UNIT TWO – MISSION TO ACCOMPLISH COURSEBOOK, p. 17, WORDFORMATION Complete the gaps with the WORDS created from the words in brackets. EXERCISE 1 First, BAA is unusual in running the project itself. Mr Douglas insists that 1. outsourcing ______________/SOURCE/ to a big project 2. management /MANAGE/_____________ group such as Bechtel would cost more, not less. Second, as much as possible of the 3. construction ______________/CONSTRUCT/ is taking place off-site. This reflects the site´s physical 4. constraints _________________/CONSTRAIN/: it has only one 5. entry __________________/ENTER/ point, through which a 12-metre load must move every 30 seconds for a period of four years. And the site has 6. capacity ______________/CAPABLE/ for no more than two days of 7. storage_______ /STORE/. The 8. solution _________/SOLVE/, he says, has been some “car industry industry logistics“ – a large 9. investment_____________ /INVEST/ in computing and training that no individual supplier would have made. · constrain = verb [transitive] FORMAL * 1 to limit someone’s freedom to do what they want: RESTRICT: We are always constrained by our budget. planning regulations that constrain development 2 [usually passive] to force someone to do something that they do not want to do: feel constrained to do something: She should have kept quiet, but felt constrained to answer. · constraint = noun ** 1 [count often plural] something that limits your freedom to do what you want: LIMITATION: The organization has to operate within the usual democratic constraints. financial/environmental/budget constraints constraint on: constraints on presidential power 2 [uncount] FORMAL behaviour that is very controlled and not natural, usually because you are embarrassed: INHIBITION EXERCISE 2 New departures Passing risk to 1. suppliers /SUPPLY/ chosen by beauty parade increases the risk of corner-cutting. And, as T5´s 2. suppliers /SUPPLY/ are partners who will work on future projects, they have an incentive to do a good job. If something goes wrong later, there may be a debate about 3. negligence /NEGLECT/. If T5 works so well, why isn´t BAA building airports elsewhere? A bigger priority, at least for now, is to get 4. permission /PERMIT/ to build an 5. additional /ADD/runway at Stansted. But 6. ultimately,/ULTIMATUM/ success will 7. surely /SURE/ point to a spin-off business that can build other big projects 8. safely /SAFE/ and 9. cheaply /CHEAP/. COURSEBOOK, p. 17; READING 1 At what stage of construction does the fifth terminal of the Heathrow airport find itself now? What does it look like? - it is not completed yet. When it is, it will be the Britain´s largets free-standing building. At the moment it is a vast glass-fronted box in the midst of a landscape of mud and people 2 What are/ will be the terminal´s main functions? - it will cater for 30m passengers a year - it will also include new road and rail links, and connections to the London Transport network 3 Why is building airports especially tricky? - tricky building techniques - need to interface with other transport links - installation of sophisticated electronics to handle passengers and baggage. 4 Who is Tony Douglas? What is his previous work experience? - the man in charge of this logistical nightmare - he worked shortly in the car and comercial jet industries, and at Kenwood, a domestic appliance firm - for three years he ran BAA = British Airports Authority supply chain 5 What is is T5 and how is it related to BAA? - T5 is the Terminal 5 project ran by BAA - T5 is such a huge and risky project that its potential failure could take the whole company (BAA) down. 6 Does BAA normally outsource such projects or run them itself? - normally they outsource them, but not this time. It would be more expensive. 7 Why does most of the construction work take place off-site? - the site has physical constraints, e.g. one entry point or two days´ storage 8 What is T5 Agreement? - a contract with the project´s main suppliers, companies and subcontractors which aims to minimise the conflicts and cost-cutting which normally plague big building works. 9 What is the suppliers´ attitude to glitches and delays which almost inevitably arise during the course of building works? - they like them because they increase /bump up/ the costs 10 How can a building work get behind the schedule? - when sth goes wrong, legal haggling breaks out between contractors and suppliers and work shuts down for many weeks. This means there is not enough time for the final installation and testing of the electronic systems. 11 How is the BAA trying to prevent delays in the project? - under the T5 Agreement, BAA put a precautionary (preventivní, zajišťovací) sum of money into a fund which will be shared out if the project finishes on time and budget. COURSEBOOK, p. 21; LISTENING Vocabulary to become familiar with before listening. 1. to take on the market research side of the project 2. to have the specifics 3. we are convinced there´s a market out there 4. to do some basic research 5. to conduct; arrange some interviews 6. to focus on the data 7. What about the dates? 8. Does that sound reasonable? 9. There´s no way we can do it by then. 10. It´s exactly the sort of thing we are good at! I´m very happy to be involved. 11. before we draw up the final specifications 12. How much are you budgeting for your side of things? 13. a provisional budget of 50k COURSEBOOK, p. 16; LISTENING Vocabulary to become familiar with before listening. 1. the nature of all the projects is that they are fluid 2. guidelines which project managers have to follow 3. a number of tools to help them 4. critical phases of the project 5. to look at the project as a whole 6. the project doesn´t have solid foundations 7. a feasible project 8. a project that will add value 9. a project overview lays out the purpose and strategy behind the project 10. to develop contingency plans if things go wrong WORKBOOK, p. 10; LISTENING Complete the sentences with the words you hear. · M: I need to get out a press release soon about your office workstation project and wondered if you could check I´ve got my facts right. · J: What do you need to know? · M: Well, I´ve written that office staff will be able to control their workstation “from the touch of a button“… I mean when they enter the building … and swipe their card, the lights in their office will go on, their computer will start up and colleagues will get an e-mail so they know the person´s on their way to the office - all helping to save staff time and increase productivity. · J: Not quite. We´ve got rid of the email bit. Trials of the prototype indicate that people feel they´re being spied on – you know, all their comings and goings noticed by colleagues and bosses! ---------- * M: ….. and what are the key dates and stages before then? * J: I can´t remember off the top of my head, but I can send it all to you though if you like along with possible dates for a press shoot. * . COURSEBOOK, p. 22; D+D, TEST CRISIS Complete the following extract with the most suitable words. Then compare your choice with the original. Well, in this case we really had to 1. move very quickly. There was no way that we could deliver products that had not been tested to our customers. So the 2. priority was first to determine which solutions were feasible in the time we had available. That 3. eliminated the option of building a separate testing plant, simply because there wasn´t enough time to complete it. The three 4. remaining options were all equally feasible. So then it became 5. a question of choosing the solution that would be the most cost-effective. In fact, the one that was selected was “offloading“ testing to the factories that had 6. excess capacity, and that was chosen mainly because it would be cheaper for the company and it would also be a solution that could be used systematically whenever the same problem occurred at any of the plants. I was the project manager and that was my job for the next six months. It was a lot of work co-ordinating all the different factors, but in the end it worked 7. out fine and we still use the system today. For me, it 8. taught me that the most obvious solutions are not, in fact, always the best. Because, of course, we could have just 9. gone and bought testing machines and installed them directly. excess/spare capacity excess/spare capacity D+D, p. 22 1. Who is Infineon? = international semiconductor manufacturer operating in five factories in Europe and one plant in Asia 2. What does each Infeon plant do? = they trace incoming orders and then plan production 3. Why are managers in France worried? = a problem which could impact on deliveries = production levels will have to increase during the coming months to deal with an increase in orders but the real problem lies with testing the equipment = there is not enough capacity to test the increased production with their existing machines = they have five months before the situation becomes critical 4. For what reason has emergency meeting been called? = to decide on what action to také and to set up a project group to deal with the implementation. 5. What will the four managers present at this meeting do? = each one is going to propose a solution and they will decide together on which solution should be adopted. WORKBOOK, p. 11; READING Define the following words: * negligence =failure to give care or attention, especially when this causes harm or damage * glitch = a small and sudden problem: HITCH * system = a set of connected things that work together for a particular purpose * programs = COMPUTING a series of instructions that makes a computer perform an action or a particular type of work * budget = the amount of money a person or organization has to spend on something * delays =a situation in which something happens later or more slowly than you expected * launch = a/to start a major activity such as a military attack, a public INVESTIGATION, or a new career or project * plan =a series of actions that you think about carefully to help you achieve something;an economic/spending/corporate plan;a peace plan * schedule = a plan of activities or events and when they will happen Questions to the text: 1 What happened on Sept 14 in an air-traffic control centre in Palmdale, California? - it shut down, grounding hundreds of flights and leading to 5 mid-air encounters between aircraft unable to talk to the ground controllers. 2 Was there a mid-air collision of aircraft? - no, an accident was averted because aircraft managed to communicate with more distant back-up facilities. 3 What does the author of this articles see as the main problem: a) the fact that sb forgot to restart the system after 30 days, b) the design of the system itself - the culprit is the pooor design and no contingency plan. /contingency = something done in order to prepare for a possible bad event/ 4 What does it mean pervasive? - spreading through the whole of something and becoming a very obvious feature of it. 5 What are the results of the survey carried out by Standish Group - it estimated that 30% of all software projects are cancelled, nearly half come in over budget, 60% are considered failures by the organisations that initiated them, and nine out of ten come in late. 6 Are delays typical only of the IT industry? - no, delays are numerous in many industries but in case of software the losses are bigger than in other industries. 7 Whose fault is it? - software engineers are to blame and their bosses. 8 What fact does the mention of Longhorn illustrate? - Microsoft´s Longhorn illustrates the fact that even Microsoft is not an exception. - it´s long-heralded successor to its Windows XP operating system was originally scheduled for launch much earlier, many of its key feautures have been put off = postponed until 2007. TASK The AS project management team have 1. withdrawn / drawn up / overdrawn the following schedule for the AS 90 project, which 2. has / is / can due to 3. kick back/ kick off/ kick at the beginning of January. The first phase of the project will 4. be carried out/ be carried/ be carried away by Luke Marshall and Gianni Visconti. They will be 5. implementing / organising/ researching a meeting with the whole team during the first week in January to discuss the needs analysis questionnaire before it is sent out to hotel managers in the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands. By mid- January, the software specifications and manpower requirements will be 6. taken over/ submitted/ trained for approval by the project manager and work will start on the pilot programme at the end of February. In April, the B team will 7. take over/ train/ appoint the implementation phase. This will 8. budget / require/ plan extensive travel for the team members who will be providing training for hotel staff at a series of one-day workshops. May has 9. been fixed / outsourced / interfaced as the deadline for handing over the complete project with all deliverables to our customer. Grammar of Unit 2 – additional exercises ARTICLES I TASK Complete this article with either a/an, the or a dash (-) to show no article. HOW CLEAN IS THEIR MONEY?? Money laundering is (1) the name given to one of (2) _________ world´s biggest financial problems:moving money that has been obtained illegally into (3)__________ foreign bank accounts so that (4)___________ people do not know where it has come from. Putting (5)_______________ value on money laundering is of course very difficult, but the International Monetary Fund estimate that it is huge – perhaps $1 trillion (6) ____ year, equivalent to about 4% of gross world product. (7)_________ problem has grown hand-in-hand with (8) _______ globalisation, and particularly with (9)___________ lifting of capital controls and (10) _______ development of (11)________ international payment systems. These allow money to be moved in (12) ________ seconds between banks in different parts of the world who know very little about each other. (13) _______ international payment system is crucial to (14)________ stability of the world´s financial markets, but it also provides (15)___________ opportunity for criminals to hide their money. Private banking is (16) _________ best-known laudering channel. Clients of these banks are wealthy people who want their affairs handled with discretion, especially because they want to minimise (17) ___________ amount of (18) __________ tax they pay. In these banks there is (19)__________ culture of “don´t ask; don´t tell“. And (20) ______ biggest problem within (21)_________ private banking is offshore banks. There are around 5,000 offshore banks controlling about $5 trillion in assets, and some have no physical presence in any location. 2 the 3 - 4 - 5a 6a 7 The 8- 9 the 10 the 11- 12- 13 The 14 the 15an 16the 17the 18- 19 a 20 the 21- I TASK Complete this interview between a journalist and the CEO of Biotec, a biotechnology company. Use either a/an, the or dash (-) to show no article. Journalist: Can you begin by telling me (1) a little about (2) the recent changes at (3)_ Biotec? CEO: Well, as you know, last year we made (4)______ decision to move our operations to (5) Cambridge, because it´s very important for (6) _______________ biotechnology companies to recruit (7) _______ scientists from (8) _______ best universities. We´re in (9) _____ very competitive jobs market here in Cambridge, and we motivate our employees by offering them (10) ______ attractive salaries and (11) ____ excellent working conditions. We´ve built up (12) _______ excellent team, and we´re doing some very important research in (13) ________ field of (14) _____ gene therapy. Journalist: Many people say that (15) _____ biotechnology promises more than it delivers. Is that true at Biotec? CEO: That may be true in general, but (16)____ biotechnology that we do is already producing (17)_______ results. Last year we made (18)______ small profit for (19)__________ first time, and (20) ______ revenue is increasing rapidly. Also, we´ve recently made (21) _____ distribution deal with (22)_________ large pharmaceutical company. They have the marketing skills that we lack, and (23) ______ partnership is working well for both sides. Our aim next year is to enter (24)_____ American market, and we´re confident of (25) ______success. 4a 5- 6- 7- 8the 9 a 10- 11- 12an 13the 14- 15- 16the 17- 18a 19the 20 – 21a 22a 23the 24 the 25- I TASK Complete the following texts with either the or a dash (-) to show no article. A (1) ___ Argentina is one of (2)_____ most deregulated markets in (3) ______ world. (4) _______privatisation process started in (5) _____ 1990s, and has included sectors such as (6)_______ telecommunications, (7)_______ utilities and (8)_______ financial services. (9) ______ Argentine telecoms market was fully deregulated in (10) _____ November 2000 and there are now (11) _____ five million cellular lines and six million homes with (12)_______ cable television services. (13) _______ water was decentralised before being privatised. (14)________ Aguas Argentinas, (15) _____ local water supply company for (16)_______ city of Buenos Aires and all (17)_______ municipalities in (18) _______ Greater Buenos Aires, is (19)___ largest water utility in (20) ____ world. B Imagine a country that continues for 4,200 km from (21)_______ dry deserts in (22)________ north, through (23)______ industrial and agricultural heartland in (24)________ centre, to (25)________ lakes and forestry plantations in (26) ____south, and finally to (27)_________ ends of (28) ______ earth in (29) Patagonia and Antarctica. Welcome to (30) ____ Chile! It´s a very diverse country, with (31)______ Pacific Ocean to one side and (32) ______Andes to (33)____ other – you can swim in (34)______sea and ski in (35)_______ mountains all in (36)_______ same day. There are (37)________ business opportunities in many areas, and (38)______ financial services sector is (39)________ most sophisticated in (40)______ Latin America. 2the 3the 4The 5the 6- 7- 8- 9The 10- 11- 12- 13- 14- 15the 16the 17the 18- 19the 20the 21-/the 22the 23 the 24the 25 -/the 26the 27the 28the 29- 30- 31the 32the 33the 34the 35the 36the 37- 38the 39 the 40- I TASK Complete the following with a, an, the or – (to show no article). 1 ___ Lake Michigan 2 ____ France 3 ______ Hyde Park 4 _______ Ruzyně Airport 5 _______ California 6_______ Globe Theatre THE 7_________ Czech Republic THE 8 ________ Eiffel Tower THE 9 ________ White House THE 10 _________ Prime Minister THE 11 _________ Marketing Director THE 12 to play _____ piano THE 13 to play ______ tennis 14 _____IMF THE 15 _______ 21 century THE 16______ Pacific THE 17 in ____ 1980s THE 18 ______unemployed do not receive enough help. THE 19 Dr. M. Smith is ______ Chairman of _____ Board. THE, THE 20 at _____ Christmas 21 in _____ 2001 22 in _______ July 23 on ________ Thursday A/- 24 We went by_____ train. 25 It happened on _____ train to Rome. THE 26 My mother spent three days in ______hospital. (it is not important in which one) 27 We supply equipment for ________ hospital. THE (one particular hospital) 28 in ____ north THE 29 in______north-west THE 30 at _______ present 31 in _______future THE 32 in ______ past THE 33 at ______ moment THE