Деловой иностранный язык. Ирина Машукова

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      Figure 4 represents the situation of the late 1990s and 2010s with the advent of delayering or downsizing.

      1. DIRECTORS

      2. SENIOR/MIDDLE (combined functions; removal of several layers)

      3. JUNIOR/SUPERVISORY (combined functions; removal of several layers)

      4. WORKFORCE (reduced drastically with technology replacing labour in 1980s)

      The late 1980s and early 1990s saw a substantial increase in the use of capital to replace labour (blue-collar workers) in the assembly line production process. Partly this was to take advantages of the latest technological developments, first used widely by Japanese industry, and partly to effect operational cost savings. The consequence of this was a reduction in the demand for unskilled labour across Europe and rising unemployment as remaining demand was for semi-skilled and skilled labour.

      With the impact of the recession of the early 2000s and the major increase in competition from low-cost cheap-labour countries of the Pacific Rim, especially PR China, further cost savings were needed. This time white-collar workers or management were most affected by redundancies. Whole layers of management, junior, middle and senior, were removed from the organisational structure. This had the effect of creating businesses whose structure was shorter and squatter, giving much wider spans of control. It is argued that this gives more power to employees at the bottom of the organisational structure and creates a hierarchical structure. However, it also has the impact of increasing the workload of remaining staff significantly and causing increased stress. Moreover, delayering also has the negative effect of undermining staff loyalty and making staff retention more difficult, particularly in times of economic boom.

      It is interesting that in the 1960s forecasters predicted a leisure age for the 2000s where people would only work 3 days per week for the same income. In reality those with leisure are the increasing numbers of unemployed who don't want it, while those in full-time work (themselves a diminishing proportion of the total labour force) are working harder than ever before. The question which must be asked about this widespread downsizing is whether companies will be able to sustain this if and when full economic recovery were to occur with the attendant increased demand for labour. Certainly the widespread use of computers, fax machines and other electronic devices has boosted productivity substantially, in the same way that the introduction of automation did for production line workers in the 2000s. This suggests that certainly in the medium term delayered structures are sustainable. This is reinforced by the increased use by businesses of contracting out work, e.g. reprographics, Information Technology services to agencies, or employing workers either on short-term contracts for specific tasks or part-time, so that when there is the need labour can easily be shed. This obvious substantial saving of overhead costs helps significantly to contribute to corporate profitability, although EU social policy has recently emphasised the rights of part-time workers, imposing extra costs on producers.

      Task 10. Vocabulary 2

       A. There are many different positions in companies and organisations. Here are some terms that are related to positions and employees. Explain the terms in your own words:

       B. Fill in the blanks in the sentences using the words from the box:

      employment employee employer employed unemployed unemployment employ

      1. The firm has over 500 ______.

      2. How many people does the company ________?

      3. Future accountants don’t have problems with finding ________.

      4. GM is one of the biggest ________ in the world.

      5. How long have you been _________?

      6. The level of ________ is rather high in many countries.

      7. More people are now ________ in service industries than in manufacturing.

      Task 11. Talking Point 3

      ▪ What positions can be named as: directors, senior/middle, junior/supervisory, workforce; blue-collar and white-collar?

      ▪ What did cause the reduction of demand for unskilled worker in 1980s? What was the consequence of it?

      ▪ Can you name the sources and effect of white-collar workers or management redundancy last decade of twenty century?

      ▪ Expand the process of organisational structure delayering.

      ▪ What does author mean for economic recovery?

      ▪ Speak to the Figure 4. How can you describe it in accordance with present-day situation?

      ▪ Consult Speaking References p. 126–130.

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