YATHZIRI ZARAI HERNANDEZ MEJIA

ADMINISTRACIÓN DE EMPRESA
ANÁLISIS DE TEXTOS DE ADMINISTRACIÓN EN
INGLÉS

E1LAE302

ACTIVIDAD 2
1. Read the following text carefully: 

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

People have been managing work for hundreds of years, and we can trace formal management
ideas to the 1700s, but the most significant developments in management theory emerged in the
20th century. We owe much of our understanding of managerial practices to the many theorists of
this period, who tried to understand how best to conduct business.

One of the earliest of these theorists was Frederick Winslow Taylor. He started the Scientific
Management movement, and he and his associates were the first people to study the work
process scientifically. They studied how work was performed, and they looked at how this affected
worker productivity. Taylor’s philosophy focused on the belief that making people work as hard as
they could was not as efficient as optimizing the way the work was done. Taylor believed that all
workers were motivated by money, so he promoted the idea of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s
work.” In other words, if a worker did not achieve enough in a day, he did not deserve to be paid
as much as another worker who was highly productive. With a background in mechanical
engineering, Taylor was very interested in efficiency. For example, selecting the right people for
the job was an important part of workplace efficiency. Taking what he learned from workplace
experiments, Taylor developed four principles of scientific management. Taylor’s four principles of
Scientific Management are as follows:

                    I.        Replace working by “rule of thumb,” or simple habit and common sense, and
instead use the scientific method to study work and determine the most efficient way to perform
specific tasks.

                  II.        Rather than simply assign workers to just any job, match workers to their jobs
based on capability and motivation, and train them to work at maximum efficiency.

                III.        Monitor worker performance, and provide instructions and supervision to ensure
that they are using the most efficient ways of working.

                 IV.        Allocate the work between managers and workers so that the managers spend
their time planning and training, allowing the workers to perform their tasks efficiently.

Also, there is another theorist who influenced the modern concepts of management was Henri
Fayol, a French mining engineer and director of mines who developed a general theory of business
administration. He developed 14 Management Principles:

                    I.        DIVISION OF WORK: Work should be divided among individuals and groups to
ensure that effort and attention are focused on special portions of the task. Fayol presented work
specialization as the best way to use the human resources of the organization.   

                  II.        AUTHORITY: The concepts of authority and responsibility are closely related.
Authority was defined by Fayol as the right to give orders and the power to exact obedience.
 Responsibility involves being accountable and is therefore naturally associated with authority.
Whoever assumes authority, also assumes responsibility.

                III.        DISCIPLINE: A successful organization requires the common effort of workers.

Penalties must be applied judiciously to encourage this common effort.

                 IV.        UNITY OF COMMAND: Workers should receive orders from only one manager.

                   V.        UNITY OF DIRECTION: The entire organization should be moving towards a

common objective in a common direction.

                 VI.        SUBORDINATION OF INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS TO THE GENERAL INTERESTS: The

interests of one person should not take priority over the interests of the organization as a whole.

               VII.        REMUNERATION: Many variables, such as cost of living, supply of qualified

personnel, general business conditions, and success of the business.

             VIII.        CENTRALIZATION: The degree to which centralization or decentralization should be

adopted depends on the specific organization in which the manager is working.

                 IX.        SCALAR CHAIN: Managers in hierarchies are part of a chain like authority scale.
Each manager, from the first line supervisor to the president, possesses certain amounts of
authority. The President must possess the most authority; the first line supervisor the least. Lower
level managers should always keep upper level managers informed of their work activities

                   X.        ORDER: For the sake of efficiency and coordination, all materials and people
related to a specific kind of work should be treated as equally as possible.

                 XI.        EQUITY: All employees should be treated as equally as possible.

               XII.        STABILITY OF TENURE OF PERSONNEL: Retaining productive employees should

always be a high priority of management. Recruitment and Selection Costs, as well as increased
product-reject rates are usually associated with hiring new workers.   

             XIII.        INITIATIVE: Management should take steps to encourage worker initiative, which is
defined as new or additional work activity undertaken through self-direction.

              XIV.        ESPRIT DE CORPS: Management should encourage harmony and general good
feelings among employees.

English for Economics and Business, (2014)

 2. From the text, identify sentences where the following ‘Modal verbs’ were used. Place them in
the next c

Modal verb Sentence that includes that Modal verb Use/ Function

Can  , People have been managing work for   You are indicating a skill
hundreds of years, and we can trace formal
management ideas to the 1700s, but the most
significant developments in management
 theory emerged in the 20th century

Must   . The President must possess the most  It is indicating a duty
authority; the first line supervisor the least

Penalties must be applied judiciously to

encourage this common effort.

Should   Retaining productive employees should

always be a high priority of management.You are indicating an
Management should encourage harmony and opinion/recommendation
general good feelings among employees.

hart, and write the use or function of that ‘Modal verb’ in that specific sentence: 

3. Look for the definitions of the following words. Remember to include all the details and
elements that constitute a definition:

Ø Authority: getting people to do the manager's will voluntarily, that is, because they have been
asked to do so and not because they have been threatened but do so

Ø Discipline: is the development of knowledge on a specific topic, which is thought or

researched

Ø Initiative: it is a personality trait that drives an individual to start something they see as
necessary, usually in the face of the social environment in which they move.

4. Using the information previously read, create your own sentences w

here you use the following elements:  

a. To show ‘addition’, create a sentence using the word “AND”:

the administration has 4 processes: planning, organization, execution and control.

b. To show ‘clarification’, create a sentence using the word “IN OTHER WORDS”:
The economic plan in the face of the crisis has not yielded results; in other words,
another strategy will have to be chosen.

c. To show ‘contrast’, create a sentence using the word “HOWEVER”:

The jury gave its verdict however; public opinion did not agree with the ruling.

d. To show ‘exemplification’, create a sentence using the word “FOR EXAMPLE”:

The Spanish language is a language rich in verbal conjugations, for example we have
verbal conjugations in past, present, future, among other verbal conjugations.
 5. In the previous text, find and highlight sentences where the following tenses are used and
classify them in the next chart. Also, you need to write the complete sentence where that tense
was used, and the use or function of that tense in the sentence found:

Tense Sentence where that tense was used Use/ function of the tense in the
sentence found

a) Present simple:  we can trace formal management ideas  an idea or event that is happening
to the 1700s

b) Past simple:  He started the Scientific Management  Describes an action that happened at
movement, a particular time in the past but is
over.

c) Present perfect:  People have been managing work for  it tells us about an event that
hundreds of years occurred between the present and the
past.

6. What was the text about? Write in detail using your own words, at least 15 lines.

He talks about the way of working in the company, the evolution of

management, and the first theorists of this. the contributions of each of them
for the administration process, also the creation of the tapas.
He talks about motivation for workers and created the idea of "a fair payday
for a fair day's work." Because if they did not work much it was not obligatory
that they were remunerated financially.
Fayol considered that these principles should not be taken as inflexible
guidelines, which should be that of rules capable of adapting to all needs and
situations.
it tells us about the efficiency of a worker, and how to select a good
employee to have a better result in the company. He explains the four
principles of scientific management that Taylor developed throughout his
experience and the knowledge he acquired as an administrator.