Br2e Int Readingfile10 PDF

Reading file 10
Background
Office strife
A few of us telecommute and have an I recently visited an insurance company
office in a spare room, but most people’s in Milton Keynes. From above, its cubical
working day is spent in a purpose built set up looks like a maze or a rat-run in a
office building. An office block can house scientific experiment. This arrangement,
different office layout environments. justifiably, has been satirized, most
This can range from the individual to the notably in the Dilbert Cartoons. Accounts
shared office through to a completely clerk Fawzia Ali tells me, ‘You are robbed
open-plan environment. The most of the companionship that can come
recent fashion is for hot-desking where with a truly open-plan set up, but have
employees turn up and find an available none of the privacy of a proper office. At
work station. This is suitable for staff any moment someone can appear like a
like salespeople who only need office- meerkat over the chest-high partition.’
space for a short period of time, as the There are often problems with co-workers
rest of the time they are on the road. It speaking too loudly, or eating smelly
is also used in places where office rents food at their workstations, or constantly
are prohibitively high. The downside, ringing phones. Eavesdropping co-
of course, is that people feel rootless, workers’ conversations causes friction as
even anonymous, and that they belong well. Fawzia reports frequent arguments
nowhere. and even fights between co-workers
Even though the individual office is rare, Cubicle or open plan, most of us like
most top bosses have one. It can come as to decorate our space with plants or
a shock to find yourself in one. Kingsley photographs. A ‘clear desk policy’ usually
Goldman feels uncomfortable being on means that all paperwork must be tidied
his own since being promoted to Area away at the end of each working day.
Manager. ‘I had always wanted to be the Legal secretary Marianne Spencer’s firm
man in the corner office, but the peace took this a step further and insisted that
and quiet can make it a lonely experience. this applied to personal objects too. They
The wall is glass and it’s like being in wanted to create a clean, clinical look
a goldfish bowl. I feel that people are for clients. For Marianne this was the last
staring at me and talking behind my back. straw and she left to work somewhere
That’s why I keep the blinds closed most where she is allowed to personalize her
of the time. space and is not treated ‘like a robot’.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Surprisingly, the most difficult relationship
open-plan office. Some people love the is when you have to share an office with
interaction with colleagues and the buzz just one other person. The smallest thing
of ideas – it is also great for office gossip! can irritate you. The way the other person
Designer Brigitta Childs says she couldn’t speaks on the phone, or even breathes,
bear being stuck in a room on her own can drive their partner crazy. ‘When you
all day. The biggest problem with large marry someone at least you have made
open-plan offices is that they are often the choice to be with them,’ says Hesther
located in the centre of the working space P. ‘I spend more time in a room with my
without access to natural light or being office-mate than my husband. The person
able to open a window to the outside I share with is large and messy and just
world. Fluorescent lighting and centrally drives me crazy.’ Since speaking, they
controlled air-conditioning lead to have ‘divorced’ and transferred to other
feelings of frustration at not being able to offices where they are with people who
control one’s working environment. are more compatible.
© Oxford University Press 2017 Business Result Second edition Intermediate

Reading file 10
Exercises
1 Work with a partner. Discuss these questions.
1 How much of your working day is spent in an office?
2 Who, if anyone, do you share your working space with?
3 How is your working space laid out?
4 How does your working environment affect your mood and your relationship
with co-workers?
2 The title of the text is ‘Office Strife’. Strife is another word for conflict.
Discuss what you think the article will be about.
3 Read the text quickly and see if your predictions were correct.
4 Read the text again and discuss with a partner the advantages and
disadvantages of the different office systems. Which one does the writer
seem to like the least?
individual office shared office (two people) open-plan office
cubicle lay out hot desking
5 What are your personal experiences of these different systems?

6 Match 1–8 to a–h to create collocations from the text.
1 spare a bowl
2 office b light
3 goldfish c block
4 natural d station
5 outside e objects
6 personal f room
7 work g built
8 purpose h world
7 Complete the sentences by solving the anagrams.

1 I have been getting letters from government officials. NANYOSMOU
2 Watch out for Brian, he’s always people’s private calls.
AEVESDORPGPIN
3 I don’t like to , but have you heard the latest about Nadia? OSPGSI
4 This new building is like a . I’m forever getting lost. MZEA
5 This layout is much cheaper, but the is that we are going to lose
staff. ONWDSIED
8 Look back at the text and choose three words that you could use in your
day-to-day work.
9 RGT is a small advertising agency in London. They have rented 2,000m2 of

office space. Read the description of what they need and decide how they
should divide up the space for their sixty staff. They need the following:
a conference room for presentations
two small meeting rooms for clients
an office for the head of marketing
an office for the head of design
five small offices for key executives
a large space for the team of in-house designers
a spacious reception area and lounge
a coffee lounge / snack bar
a space for ten telesales staff
a space for the six administrative staff
a space for the sales team
a room for the supplies
© Oxford University Press 2017 Business Result Second edition Intermediate

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Reading file 10

© Oxford University Press 2017 Business Result Second edition Intermediate

5 What are your personal experiences of these different systems?

7 Complete the sentences by solving the anagrams.

9 RGT is a small advertising agency in London. They have rented 2,000m2 of

© Oxford University Press 2017 Business Result Second edition Intermediate

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