Рольові бізнес-ігри для використання на уроках англійької мови за професійним спрямуванням

Role plays and tasks 

1. Leaving a message

Student A:  Leave the following messages to your partner.

Student B:  Take the following messages.

1.  Vicki White; 4 p.m.; to send quotation for 4.000 pieces ref.no. 34/8897 to

Motor Company; 01344 672543.

2.  Ricky Brown; 9 a.m.; to send invoice # 87331 to head office; 567 9874.

3.  Paul  Carter;  11  a.m.;  to  meet  an  important  customer  at  the  airport;

408 441834.

4.  Susan Sarandon; 3 p.m.; to send 200 pieces ref.no. 405 to the A Factory;

567 876301.

5.  Sara Brown; 1 p.m.; to postpone the meeting with the supplier; 65543

67889.

 

2. Taking a message

Student A: You are Peterson. Telephone Student B and ask to speak to Rogers (you can use the title Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms or their first name). You want to speak to him/her about an order. Your telephone number is (0432) 236780.

Student B:  You are Roger’s secretary. Rogers is out. You will receive a call from

Student A. Take a message. Make sure you get his/her name and telephone number.

 

3. Making a call

Student A:  Rogers calls you back. You want to order some shoes. Before you

order you would like to know the price for 10 pairs of model C32. Confirm

the price and tell him/her you will fax the order right away.

Student B:  You are Rogers. Call Student A back. S/he will want to know the dis-

count price for 10 pairs of model C32 shoes:

Normal price: $55.00

Discount on 10 pairs: 10 %.

 

4. Inquiring information

Student A:  You  are  B.  Reed  (you  can  use  the  title  Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms  or  their  first name). You work for Sellersdown Sports Shop. Their address is 23 North Riding Road, Brentwood. Their telephone number is 0345 256 678. Phone Newsome Sports Ltd. Ask the price of the following items and then place an order. Tell them you want the order to be delivered on or before 10 September.

50 pairs of training shoes

30 pairs of socks

10 squash rackets

Cost:   1 pair of training shoes _________

   1 pair of socks ________

   1 racket ________

Order number ________

Student B: 

      You work for Newsome Sports. Student A is going to phone you and place an order. Give your customer prices and the order number. Training shoes $ 45.00

Socks $ 3.00 .Squash racket $ 53. Order number: B 875981.

 

5. Correcting mistakes

Student A: There is an article about your company in one of your trade papers.

Unfortunately, it contains a lot of mistakes. Phone the editor and complain.

Explain what you should have said.

1. They misspelt your company’s name.

2. They said your company’s share price fell by 11 % last month. In fact it rose by 17%.

3. They misspelt the name of one of your products.

4. They said your company’s headquarters are in Seattle, USA.

5. They misspelt the name of your company’s Chairman.

Student B:

You are the editor of a trade magazine. One of your readers calls you about some mistakes in one of your articles. Make a note of the errors so you can print corrections along with an apology next month.

 

6. Complaining

Student A: You are the publisher of an international directory of famous business

people. Someone calls you about some mistakes in their entry. Make a note of the errors so you can make corrections before the next printing.

Student B: A publisher has included an entry on you in an international directory

of famous business people. Unfortunately, it contains a lot of mistakes. Phone the publisher to correct them.

1. They misspelt your name.

2. They said you are ten years older than you really are.

3. They misspelt the name of the school you attended.

4. They said you speak Japanese. (You don’t.) 

5. They misspelt your husband’s/wife’s name.

7. Making an appointment

Student A: You work at the headquarters of an international company. You are

spending next week at your German subsidiary in Dresden and you have to

arrange a meeting with the German Sales Director to discuss next year’s targets. You’ll probably need two or three hours of their time. Phone and fix an appointment. 

Student B: You are the Sales Director of the German subsidiary of a multinational

company. Someone from your international headquarters phones you. You should do everything you can help them.

 

8. Rearranging an appointment

Student A: The Sales Director calls you back ten minutes later. Take the call.

Student B: It’s now ten minutes later. Something has come up and you need to

change the arrangement you just made. Phone your partner, explain what’s

happened (you’d better have a good excuse ready) and fix another time.

 

9. Employment problem

     N  Ltd  is  a  medium-sized  company  with  its  factories  and  offices  in Great Britain. It manufactures electronic components for computers. The company is in financial difficulties at the moment. In recent years it has been concentrating on the research and development of new products rather than  on  marketing  them.  As  a result,  the  sales  have  decreased  and  the company is having heavy losses.

     In this crisis situation the Managing Director has resigned. There have been also a number of resignations from men occupying key positions within the Company. The posts that are vacant are those of Personnel Manager, Deputy Head of Research and Development, Sales Director.

     The  company  has  advertised  these  posts  in  the  mass  media  and  received a great many applications. On the basis of the curriculum vitae submitted, a short list of candidates has been drawn up for each post, and those selected are to attend the interview.

Roles

Chairman of the selection board. You are responsible for leading each interview. You may allot particular areas of interview to other members of the selection board.      Remember you will have to decide which candidate to appoint.

Head of Research and Development You should approach each interview with the needs of your department firmly in mind. You are free to invent your requirements.

Marketing Manager You should approach each interview with your marketing requirements firmly in mind. You are free to invent your requirements.

Each member of the selection board Before you interview a candidate you should work out your attitude to the following points:

The salary you will offer.

The qualifications you require for the job.

The value you put on the candidate’s previous experience.

Useful contacts abroad. Each candidate before being interviewed you should think of an imaginary curriculum vitae. You should also work out your attitude towards such questions as:

1. Responsibilities and rights.

2. Salary – Holidays.

3. Prospects you have with the company.

You should think up other points which you may raise at the interview.

 

10. Preparing for the Interview

Here is a list of commonly asked interview questions. Prepare a written answer for each of these questions based on your own qualifications and experience. 

•   Tell me about yourself.

•   How would you describe yourself?

•   Tell me something about yourself that I won’t find on your resume.

•   What do you take real pride in?

•   Why would you like to work for our organization?

•   Why should we hire you?

•   What are your long-range career objectives?

•   What types of work do you enjoy doing most? Least?

•   What accomplishment has given you the greatest satisfaction?

•   What would you like to change in your past?

•   What courses did you like best and least in college?

•   Specifically, how does your education or experience relate to this job?

 

11. Researching the Employer

   Assume that Philip Morris (or any other company) has invited you for the manager (lawyer)-trainee position. Research this company prior to your interview. Prepare a two-page, double-spaced report on your findings. You will, of course, concentrate on that information most likely to help you during the interview. As you’re conducting your research, some questions are likely to occur to you that you’ll want to get answered during the interview.

    Prepare a list of these questions and attach it as an appendix to your report.

 

12. Presenting a company

     Give a short talk to a new member of your company, department or social club. Decide beforehand what your and your partner’s roles are.

Your presentation should:

•   include the relevant information;

•   have a clear structure;

•   make that structure clear by using appropriate language.

 

13. Presenting company activity

Prepare and give a short presentation on one of the following areas:

•   your company’s pay policy;

•   training in your company;

•   your company’s promotion practice;

•   communications in your company.

    When you give your presentation, make sure that you use connectors to link your sentences and ideas. 

 

14. Presenting yourself

     You decided at the last minute to apply to the graduate school at your institution to work toward an MBA degree. Even though you have a 3.4 (on a 4.0 scale), you were  denied admission because you had not taken the exam, which is a prerequisite for admission. You have, however, been given ten minutes to appear before the Graduate Council to try to convince them to grant you a temporary waiver of this requirement and permit you to enroll in MBA classes next term, during which time you will take the exam.

    The Graduate Council consists of the director of the MBA program and two senior faculty members, one of whom is your business communication professor.

a) What is the purpose of your presentation?

b) What do you know or what can you surmise about your audience that

might help you prepare a more effective presentation?

c) What considerations affect the timing of your presentation?

d) What method of delivery should you use?

 

15. The conflict

      The root reason for the conflict was insufficient quality of the equipment delivered by a supplier. Another complaint was that part of the equipment was still in a warehouse where it had been for more than 2 months. Progressively the losses were running into a huge sum.

     To cut the loss, the management of the plant decided to exercise their legal  right  to  compensation.  They made  a  formal  claim  on  their  business partners and submitted all relevant supporting documents.

Roles

The Buyer’s side: Managing Director, Finance Manager.

The Seller’s side: Chief Executive Officer, Production Manager, Technical

Expert.

Buyers

You represent the interests of the Production Plant. You claim full compensation for the losses.

The list of damages includes:

1)  part of the purchase price for the delivered equipment,

2)  projected transport charges back to the country of origin,

3)  the fee to the Experts’ Commission.

You also claim the “lost profit”. If your partner blocks the negotiation the only option left is to submit the case to Arbitration. Tell your partner that you are ready to present: 

•  An act of experts’ examination;

•  Chemical analysis of the content of steel.

Sellers

     You represent the interests of the Suppliers; During the talks you cannot deny poor operation of the equipment as finished products have visual defects. But you are sure that the only reason for malfunction is improper steel. You are dead sure that poor quality steel affected the quality of the finished product.

     In business you are always committed to a customer and your rescue

plan may be:

1)  to run a test with your own sample of steel used (it will help to discover

the real fault);

2)  to complete the commissioning of the full set of equipment (you will se-

lect people of better professional skills).

 

16. Damage to delivered equipment

Problem

      The Seller shipped to the Buyer six sets of equipment for a project un-

der construction. Assembly and commissioning was done by the Buyer’s personnel under the guidance of the Seller’s Chief engineer. During the trial run one set

of equipment suffered damage. The Buyer asked the seller to remove the

damage and cover all repair expenses.

     To this, the Seller said no. In their opinion, the Buyer’s personnel had infringed the maintenance and operation instructions. 

      However, the Seller could not produce convincing evidence that they had done all possible to remove the fault and its harmful consequences. That was one of the major conditions to the technical side of the Contract which ran: “During the starting period the parties to the contract are to ensure the faultless operation and adjusting of the delivered sets”.

    Encl. extract from the Contract on Warranty

 

Warranty

1.  The seller warrants all equipment manufactured to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service.

2.  This warranty is for a period of 12 months from the date of putting the equipment into operation and is applicable only when the equipment is installed or operated in accordance with factory recommendations.

3.  The warranty does not extend to damage or wear caused by misuse, corrosion, negligence, accident, faulty installation.

4.  This warranty will be extended if, through the Seller’s fault, the plant operation has been stopped for a certain period of time.

5.  All the transport, insurance or other expenses for transportation of defective  parts  back  to  the  Seller’s  country  and  bringing  replacement therefrom to the Buyer’s country are to be borne by the Seller.

Roles

Buyer

     At  a  meeting  you  represent  the  Buyer.  Make use  of  the  arguments which are in your favor. Try to convince the Seller that the damage should be repaired at their expense. 

Seller

At  a  meeting  you  represent  the  Seller.  Defend  your  viewpoint  on  the matter. But if the Buyer sounds convincing in his counterarguments be cooperative.

 

17. The fire

     Below is the case study which is usually given to a student of a business  school  to  test  the  ability  to take  action  and  make  firm  recommendations.

     You are to assume that you will be appointed to a position of executive  responsibility  within  the  firm  if  your  performance  in  the  role-play shows that you can plan, organize, direct and control business operations.

     You are to take decisions on major issues concerned with the case study.

Case-study

Statement of facts

     Brown and Co. are in difficulty now. A month ago there was fire in its factory. The fire started in an old building. The fire brigade tried to prevent the fire from spreading.           To do this they had to soak the research and development area and the water did a lot of damage.

    The Managing Director was up all night. As soon as he heard about the fire he telephoned the key people in management and they all hurried immediately to the factory.

    The next morning the Managing director called a meeting to hear reports from managers and heads of departments on the damage caused by the fire and to discuss what action should be taken to minimize the ill effects of the fire.

Ground plan of the factory premises

A   Headquarters (Administrative/Personnel/Sales/Finance Departments).

B    Research and Development Area.

C    Warehouse.

D   Factory.

  Destroyed by the fire.

Soaked in water by the fire brigade.

Roles

Managing Director

     You  want  accurate  reports  from  your  subordinates  with  concrete  and

realistic proposals as to how problems can be overcome. You should prepare an agenda for yourself listing the points that you wish to raise and the order in which you wish to raise them.

Marketing Manager

     You should prepare a short report on how the fire will affect deliveries to the local customers. Remember that most of your finished goods have been destroyed. You want your local customers to have priority over overseas customers on available stocks and on the goods as they are manufactured. You want to abandon overseas customers for the time being.

Production Manager

     You  have  the  most  difficult  problem.  Your  warehouse  has  been  destroyed and there is no factory space available for storage purposes. Part of your factory has been burnt out, part soaked in water. You should prepare a short report on the extent of the damage. You should also be ready to state what problems in production you will have to face over the next few weeks.

  Head of Research and Development

You are in despair. Your area has been soaked in water, which has destroyed a lot of your equipment, and nearly all your documents.

Finance Director

In your report you analyze the financial consequences of the fire. The firm is bound to have a short-term liquidity problem. The reasons for it are:

1.  The insurance claim won’t be met for some time.

2.  The firm won’t invoice customers for several weeks.

3.  There will be extra wage bills.

4.  There will be the added cost of renting new storage space.

18.  Work-team communication – job-getting techniques

    Working in a group of four to five students, complete the following tasks:

a)  Select an occupation;

b)  List five people any of you know who might provide information about this career or possible job leads. Tell why each person in your network of contacts was chosen;

c)  Interview a counselor at a nearby employment service to determine what help the service could provide in securing a job in this occupation;

d)  Review the help-wanted ads in your local newspaper to determine what types of jobs are available in this occupation.