MD: Good afternoon everyone. First of all, I am not sure youve met Ana Mance.

She is a
Workers Representative. Im afraid the Admin Manager cant be with us today. Do you all have
copies of the agenda?
+++: Yes
MD: Good. As you all know, some people are against English as a corporate language. Ive called
this meeting in order to discuss that. I would like everything to be finished until 5 o'clock, so
wed better get down to business. Mrs Majcug, would you Mind taking the minutes?
TM: Not at all.
MD: All right then. Lets start with the first item. After a number of years on foreign assignment
for ITCorp, I am back to Croatia. I studied on Harvard and worked so many years abroad and I
know the necessary of English. I think the best solution would be to keep English only as the
external language and use Croatian as a companys language. But first, i would like to hear your
personal opinion about this idea?
MM: If you dont mind, I would like to begin. We are already spread on local markets like Serbia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia... where we can use Croatian, but in my opinion, if we want
our company to survive we need to sell things to the European markets where English is already
widely spoken. Places such as Austria, Italy, Macedonia, even Germany. And thats the reason
why our sell forces need to be trained in English.
WR: I am afraid I cant agree with You. Even now there is a degree of bad feeling among
workers. All workers are unsatisfied with documentation in English. That is a huge problem
because it really slows down their work and causes many mistakes. If you want to bring English
language in company, they demand someone who will translate documentation in Croatian.
HRD: I also dont quite agree. I work in this company for a long time and I think that English
wouldnt help us as much as you hope. We have very strong local market and I think we should
stay on it and we couldnt afford losing our clients. I think were doing quite well here. The
expansion is a little bit risky, dont you think?
MM: Silvija, I think you are mistaken. Its very risky to stay on this market. To survive, PCCorp
must develop a business with neighbouring countries because the domestic market will be sooner
or later exploited.
MD: Lets move on the next item on the agenda. We have two more topics to discuss so that we
can make a decision about inaugurating English language as a company langage. Silvija, please
present us some local views.
HDR: PCCorp has always played a significant role in the Croatian community. It seems that
recent takeover caused a lower reputation of our firm in Croatia. I have discussed this issue with
many people. They are little bit annoyed with English which is widely used in Croatia. I have
also noticed that Croatian youth is very affected by British and American culture and some

politicians complain about it. I am afraid that is another sell-out and will lead to disappearance of
the PCCorp very soon.
MM: Thats absurd. The Anglicization that you are talking about is the key of success and it can
also contribute to the community, especially to the local economy.
TM: Some people are against English language but if we look for a further period of time it
means higher salaries and new workplaces. Well, it is the most important factor of every economy
today. Take tourism as an example. On the Croatian coast English was being used for
communication with international guests which made domestic people become afraid of
Anglicization. In the end they realised how much income they reached from it.
MM: Thats a good point. People will get used to it, at least because of the benefits. And I dont
see anything bad happen to the culture on the Adriatic Sea.
MD: I agree. We dont need to give a lot of attention to the social and cultural obstacles.
Moreover, if our company is more powerful than our country is more recognizable and our
society happier. There remain only the views from the shop-floor. Ana?
WR: As I said, English is not well accepted in a firm. There was never some special level of
knowledge of English language requested from the workers in factories and in the shops. That
means that we would have problems with an adjustment if we request greater English knowledge.
I am not saying that they could organize a strike or something like, they are just a little bit
annoyed.
MD: If nobody has anything else to add, I would like to hand over to Ms Kumanovi, who is
going to lead the next point.
MM: Thank You. You have probably already yesterday received my SWOT analysis on e-mail. I
just want to highlight our biggest strength that we are a part of the international giant. We also
have weakness, the resources for language courses. But, better knowledge of English means
greater mobility. The threat we face is possibility of becoming one English company whose only
aim is a profit and it can be easily sold. Do you have any questions or objections?
TM: I have. I want to keep to the point, but before voting I need to mention that I studied the
financial analysis you made for language training. It is correct, of course. But there are several
other ways of financing the courses like demands for more funds from ITCorp or bank loans
MM: Absolutely. I conducted the analysis only at the level of PCCorp.
MD: Ok, now we have clarified all the facts. Thank You, Ms Kumanovi, for detailed analysis.
Lets put this to a vote. Who is for introducing English as company external language?
+++: ( MD+, MM+, TM, +; HRD-, WR-)
MD: The motion is carried: 3 votes for and 2 against. So, weve agreed that we will use English
as companys external language. Now we can move on the last topic today. Ms Majcug will
outline plans for training. And after that we need to decide about training. Ms Majcug?

TM: We have two options. First, we can hire local suppliers, who can provide basic language
training that way all our employees can learn basics of English. It is financial feasible and, if you
ask me, better, because this will keep the money in the local economy. Second option is sending
our middle and senior management on training courses either in the US or in the UK like other
companies.
HRD: That is absurd. Do you know how much does it cost?
TM: Yes. I know. Can I just finish what I was saying? We need to discuss budget, but better
results will be if they study English in foreign countries where English is native language. Of
course, we can, also, combine both options, but that would include training for fewer people.
Managers could go on foreign courses and other people could get on a local training.
HRD: So, you think the company should stay without a great number of managers for about a
month??
TM: Silvija, nobody said they need to go all together at the same time. And it should be
considered that great number of managers already have professional degree of English.
MD: I agree with You Ms Majcug that would better if our management will learn English in
foreign countries. I also agree with you Ms Mami that this would be a huge cost, but it would be
also a great investment.
MM: I would like to emphasize once again that the best solution would be to train all sales force
in English.
MD: Ms Kumanovi, I dont think it is feasible and we have just agreed that we will have English
only as external language. And it will be also very expensive to train all employers in selling.
WR: Excuse me, may I interrupt? We have only one simple wish. That is to translate the
documentation into Croatian what is less expensive than providing language support through
training. It would cause fewer mistakes. The workers are not linguists and should not be expected
to be competent in English.
MD: Yes, from now the internal documentation will be on Croatian.
TM: Ill solve that.
MD: Were running short of time. To clarify, it doesnt make sense spending the budget only on
the training on manager. It is also bad for our reputation having managers who dont speak
English great. There is only one solution. Ready to make a decision? Whos for training of our
managers abroad and the local training for the part of the sell force?
(HRD:-, others:+). That would be one vote against and four votes for.
It is decided.
Ms Majcug is in charge of completing the training plan by 14th April and Ms Kumanovi will
with my help investigate the financing sources. Silvija and Ana, please begin with the
organization of employees.

Silvija, I am a little bit sad that You have some problems with getting used on
internationalization. But, I advise you to start that.
Thank you, Ana, for your participation. I think weve covered everything. The meeting is closed.