Test 2 Part 3
Questions 23-30
• You will hear an interview with Steve Marriott, an internal business consultant with Carserve, a vehicle breakdown service.
• For each question (23-30), mark one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer.
• After you have listened once, replay the recording.
23 According to Steve Marriott, what problem do some of Carserve's remote workers have?
A They think that they do not receive enough company information.
B They want a greater amount of informal contact with colleagues.
C They feel uncomfortable without a separate office base.
24 According to Steve, some staff believe that
A they need to prove that they are working hard.
B their breaks should be taken at intervals.
C the support they receive from management is inadequate.
25 In Steve's opinion, what was the underlying management problem when he joined Carserve?
A There was confusion about who gave orders.
B Objectives were not made clear to staff.
C Long-term planning was not carried out.
26 Steve improved the situation at Carserve by
A introducing regular work meetings.
B encouraging managers to trust staff.
C modifying the system of supervision.
27 Why have Carserve's teams become more effective?
A Distance has forced them to become more organised.
B They are expected to make decisions quickly.
C Their meetings have become more frequent.
28 What does Steve Marriott say about staff contacting managers?
A Managers sometimes fail to respond promptly.
B Managers don't want to be disturbed in their work.
C Staff may be uncertain about when it is appropriate to do so.
29 How have managers been affected by the change to remote working?
A They now have to deal with employees' personal problems.
B They now have to assess staff more regularly.
C They now spend more time travelling than talking to staff.
30 To help managers, Carserve is planning training on the subject of
A making the best use of technology.
B organising remote teams.
C reducing managerial control.
BEC Higher 3 - Listening Test 2 Part 3
23 C 24 A 25 B 26 B 27 A
28 C 29 A 30 C
Woman: These days, more and more people are employed by a company, but work from home. They're sometimes called 'remote workers'. Carserve is a vehicle breakdown company whose phone operators are all based at home. Steve Marriott, an internal business consultant with Carserve is in the studio today. Steve, do people really enjoy working from home?
Man: It you measure enjoyment by staff retention and improved productivity, the answer is definitely yes. But this doesn't happen by itself. In Carserve, we like the fact that our staff keep in touch with each other, through personal phone calls and emails. We also use email for company communications, instead of using office notice-boards, though of course we can't guarantee that everyone reads them all. But the absence of a sharp division between work and home sometimes creates a definite sense of insecurity, which we can't always remove.
Woman: Wasn't there a risk in introducing remote working?
Man: Before it was started, the greatest fear was that, with the change in the support provided, people would be less productive. As it's turned out, staff have to he actively encouraged to take short breaks. You see, they tend to feel they have to answer the phone at the first ring, in case their manager thinks they're sitting around watching TV, even though they know we don't do that kind of checking up.
Woman: When you joined Carserve you weren't happy with the ways things were being run, were you? What was the problem?
Man: The management focused on what could he put down on paper, like an organogram showing reporting lines. But they tended to avoid the less concrete issues, like how to ensure the workers knew what they were expected to achieve. So despite detailed planning and plenty of memos, in reality people were working in a bit of a vacuum.
Woman: How did you turn that around?
Man: Communication is important, but regular meetings arc no substitute for a change of attitude. Managers have to start from the assumption that the remote workers are doing their job properly, even though they aren't being supervised. So that's what I focused on.
Woman: You do teamwork, don't you, even though the teams aren't physically working in the same place. How does that work?
Man: Surprisingly, perhaps, it makes them more effective. Because they know they're only coming into the office for a team meeting, they plan that meeting much more carefully than perhaps they would do otherwise. And between meetings they communicate by email or phone, and that tends to take the pressure off reaching a decision before thinking it right through.
Woman: Earlier, you mentioned the use of electronic communication internally, like the phone, and computers for emails. Have these replaced face-to-face contact?
Man: Not entirely. In fact, managers often work from home too, and staff are sometimes afraid, wrongly in fact, that a phone call will disturb them, or that an email won't be read on time. So, we make sure staff can regularly talk to their managers face-to-face.
Woman: Doesn't remote working make it difficult lor managers to carry out their work?
Man: It certainly changes its nature. As part of our performance management process, managers visit staff at home twice a month. When everyone works in one office, you get on with some, and have less rapport with others, and usually that doesn't matter. But when you travel around visiting staff in their own homes, you have to develop relationships with them that are based on their needs, which may mean helping them with aspects of their non-working lives that are affecting their work.
Woman: So, have you organised framing for managers, to deal with this new way of working?
Man: Yes, a great deal of thought goes into finding out what would most benefit staff. Many people would focus on how to use the technology, but in our experience that isn't a priority. We've already run workshops on managing reunite teams, but many managers find it hard to let go of their Traditional control, and feel that remote working is a recipe for chaos. We're trying to tackle this.
Woman; Steve Marriott, thank you very much. Man: Thank you.