BUSINESS PARTNER B2

UNIT 1 – CORPORATE CULTURE

I. Choose a word from each box to complete the sentences

1 When companies have a(n) _________________, all employees earn above a certain amount.
2 Companies with a fixed ________________ determine clearly who is at which level in the organisation.
3 Those who work in a(n) _________________ need to share the space with their colleagues.
4 Companies with a strict ______________ usually expect their employees to wear more formal clothing.
5 The study of how people interact in an office is called _________________.
6 The amount people are paid per hour, day, week, etc. is the _________________.
7 If a company is a pleasant place to work, we can say it has a(n) _________________.
II. Look at the first sentence in each pair. Complete the second sentence with a phrase from the
box so that the meaning does not change. Some phrases are not used.

1 In the past, companies often gave little thought to the number of hours employees spent in the office
compared to the amount of free time they had.
In the past, companies often gave little thought to the _________________ of their employees.
2 Moving up in the company took many years. => _________________ took many years.
3 There was little thought given to creating a working situation that was pleasant as this was not
considered to be important.
There was little thought given to creating a _______________ as this was not considered to be important.
4 Today companies have di- erent priorities and employees usually don’t work on Saturday and Sunday
as they need time to relax before starting the work week again.
Today companies have di- erent priorities and employees usually _________________ as they need time
to relax before starting the work week again.
5 Dressing less formally is becoming part of the business world.
_________________ is becoming part of the business world.
6 Many junior employees do not expect to do work which is not meaningful.
Many junior employees do not expect to do _________________.
7 Millennials expect to learn professional skills in the workplace.
Millennials expect _________________in the workplace.
8 Doing different types of tasks makes a job much more interesting and leads to motivation.
Doing _________________ makes a job much more interesting and leads to motivation.
2 – TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
I. Complete the sentences using words from the box. Some words are not used.

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1 _________________ good training ensures that their staff have skills …
2 Induction training _________________ helps new staff members get to know the company and its as
well as their new colleagues.
3 Mentoring can be a very successful way of helping individuals _________________ their careers.
4 It shows them that we are willing to invest the time and expertise in them and their _______________ .
5 The biggest bene t of mentoring for me is being able to measure your _________________
6 It allows people to learn at their own pace and in a more _________________ timetable.
7 Online training … means that you can really approach your training when it’s ______________ for you.
8 … training and development is a critical _________________ in a modern business.
II. Complete the text using words and phrases from the box. Some are not used.

Setting up courses including job-related 1_____________ for a large corporation is generally the
responsibility of the HR Department. Before they are set up, companies usually do a(n) 2_____________
to nd out what the employees should learn. Standards are also set which can be measured by
3_____________ during or after the course. It is also necessary to decide on the delivery method of the
training. This can sometimes take place using blended learning (a combination of 4_____________ and
face-to-face training). Some courses are seen as essential for the workplace and work on
5_____________ needed for particular jobs. Examples of these could include learning a computer
programme, presentation skills, or gaining 6_____________ in a particular area of the business. Courses
which drive development are looked at as future investments for the company and may include one-to-
one 7_____________ programmes. It is, however, important to look at both areas when deciding on
setting up programmes. While basic skills are necessary to do one’s job well, development of young
talent can boost employees’ 8_____________, which is also essential to the future of a company.
UNIT 3 – FINANCE
I. Match the sentence halves
1 In a recession, the economy declines or slows a market yesterday following the election results.
down, there are job b wouldn’t charge such high interest rates for loans.
2 Prior to 2008, banks had been giving c slows and conditions become worse; also known
3 Following the 2008 economic crisis, many as a recession.
governments had to bail d recession, construction stopped completely in
4 If there wasn’t a credit crunch, banks some countries.
5 Shares dropped sharply on the London stock e losses and many businesses go bankrupt.
6 Many students have to take out a student f the economy recovered quite rapidly.
7 In the last economic g loan and often have huge debts by the end of
8 When the depression nally came to an end, the course.
9 A downturn is a period in which business h mortgages to people with poor credit ratings.
activity i a good long-term investment.
10 Buying property is usually considered to be j out banks and nancial institutions that were
considered ‘too big to fail’.

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II. Complete the text using the words in the box.

The new CEO has promised to 1_____________ profitability by at least ten percent over the next nancial
year. Although our company is still doing 2_____________ better than our competitors, the last six
months have seen a ve percent drop in our 3_____________. The CEO believes that if we
4_____________ our delivery service to more countries, this will push online
sales up 5_____________. This should result in putting the company back on track to achieve its
6_____________ which will result in a 7_____________ in the company’s shares. This, in turn, will
8_____________ the confidence of our shareholders.
UNIT 4: DIGITAL BUSINESS
C Choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

1 Don’t worry if you’ve forgotten to copy your presentation onto a pen-drive, you can access the internet
if you’ve remembered to save it _____________.
a under a cloud b in cloud c in the cloud d in the clouds
2. We need to _____________ our digital promotions much more: customers are becoming irritated because
they are sent messages for inappropriate offers.
a be personal b personalise c personalisation d personality
3. As I explained in our last class, data _____________ means collecting information that is not easily
seen and also analysing that information, for example, about users or customers.
a mining b collection c dumping d visualisation
4 If I were you, I’d do a(n) _____________. I mean copy the whole research project onto another
computer so you have a back-up, in case your laptop is damaged by a virus or malware.
a data dump b data mining c transaction d anticipation
5 That new start-up is really _____________. They use medical data mining and predictive
technology to analyse people’s health and lifestyle patterns.
a irritating b innovative c analytical d irritated
6 If we updated our website, we could make it more _______, with lots of videos and interactive graphics.
a graphic b visualised c visual d predictive
7. Marta works as a data _____________: she investigates and solves problems related to data,
types of data, and the relationships between different data in a business or an IT system.
a analysis b analyser c analyst d innovator
8. Whenever I call their IT department, they put me on hold and play some stupid tune for ages. It’s
extremely _____________ .
a disruptive b personal c irritated d irritating

II. Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in the box. Use one of
the words twice.
anticipation convert disrupt innovate predict visual
1 We don’t _____________ having any problems with this new software.
2 They are real _____________ – they are always coming up with amazing new ideas.
3 With the information gathered by the app, our client can _____________ what their customer is like
and then target their products to them more effectively.
4 It’s difficult to make accurate _____________about which new technology is going to have more take-
up because the situation is changing so fast.
5 Web analytics involves studying the _____________ rate on websites and how potential customers go
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from browsing to clicking and actually buying a product.
6 _____________ innovation di- ers from a(n) _____________ technology in that it focuses on the use of
the technology rather than the technology itself.
UNIT 5: PERFORMANCE & REWARDS
Complete the text using the words in the box

Today, many companies realise that 1_____________ of the work employees do leadsto increased
motivation. Many years ago 2_____________ were usually given to those who had been with the
company the longest, a way of thinking which also supported the idea of lifelong 3_____________ .
Today’s corporate culture has changed, however, and many companies realise that their 4_____________
also relies on the performance of employees throughout the organisation. This has led to their
5_____________ being recognised by management much faster than in the past and has often allowed
them to 6_____________ through the ranks quite quickly to higher positions. Senior management often
needs to take the time to 7_____________ the bene ts these employees bring to the company as losing
them could lead to problems or even 8_____________ in certain areas. It is important to have a clear
system of employee 9_____________ which help to set targets and justify the reasons for nancial and
non-financial 10_____________ . In today’s ever-changing economic climate, every company needs to
remain flexible and consider the effects that 11_____________ of a younger staff member may have.
Fresh ideas and a new perspective may be just what the company needs.
UNIT 7: TIME MANAGEMENT
I. Complete the table with the correct word forms.

B. Complete the sentences with the correct form of words from Exercise A
1 Due to the amount of work employees have, Recruit Staffing looked into ways to help staff be both
productive and _____________ during the working day.
2 Employees at Recruit Staffing use coloured signs to ___________ when they plan to leave for the day.
3 Because they are out of the office most of the day, the sales team need time in the evening to deal with
paperwork and _____________.
4 When plans for setting a time to nish work were rst introduced, many people _____________ the idea
because they didn’t think it would work.
5 The executives of the company would like to see a(n) _____________ in the amount of work that many
staff members have to do.
6 When people learn how to work efficiently, they can often _____________ as much in a shorter time as
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they did working many more hours.
7 The department _____________ at Recruit Staffing held sessions for employees to inform them how to
better use their time and these efforts helped to shorten the workday.
UNIT 8: CHANGE
I. Complete the table with the correct word forms

II. Match the definitions with words in the table in Exercise I.

1 get involved with other people and their ideas in order to understand them
2 the act of making something better or the state of being improved
3 an advantage, improvement, or help that you get from something
4 an action or step, especially an official one, that is intended to deal with a particular problem
5 when you achieve what you want or intend
6 do something that you know may have dangerous or unpleasant results
7 able to change in order to be successful in new and different situations
8 take action or make changes that you have officially decided should happen
III. Complete the summaries using the words and phrases in the boxes.
Ethan

Ethan doesn’t adapt well to change. He 1___________ at work when his boss told him she was leaving.
The company said it would be a 2___________ but they didn’t replace her and told sta- that they just had
to 3___________ it. Ethan had to take on more work for the same pay. He says he‘s nding it difficult to
4___________ the change and is thinking of looking for a new job or 5___________ .
Pranali

Pranali says that her friends tell her she’s very 1___________ and is 2___________ to change. However,
she found it very 3___________ when she was made redundant because she had just got a mortgage. Her
friend suggested that she left her 4___________ and did something di- erent. Pranali then set up her own
business. Now she’s very happy, although she says she wouldn’t have been able to do it if she hadn’t had
the 5___________ of her family and friends
Boon Tek
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Boon Tek’s university needed to 1___________ laboratories and relocate to another city. He’s annoyed
because management hadn’t 2___________them about the 3___________. Boon Tek says it’s extremely
important to have a shared purpose and for everyone to 4___________ of any changes. He says, all in all,
it was a 5___________ , although it wasn’t 6___________ and it wasn’t an easy transition.
Leticia

Leticia thought she would enjoy her early 1___________ but she missed working as a 2___________ and
many of her friends were still in work. Her husband, Juan, suggested going back to work, but she decided
to 3___________ and become a tai-chi instructor. Leticia wants to help people cope with 4__________. It
has been a positive change and Juan says it’s given her a new 5___________ in life. Her 6___________
job means she also has time to help look after their grandchildren.