A group of exchange students from Europe were
attending a lecture by Professor Lee at a university
in Hong Kong. After a while, one of the exchange
students put up her hand. Professor Lee didn’t seem
to notice her at first and the local students looked a bit
awkward. After a fewminutes, Professor Lee noticed
her and she asked him to clarify something. Then other
exchange students started asking more questions and the
professor appeared to be uneasy. He hadn’t encountered
so many questions before. Then some of the exchange
students started to challenge the professor’s point of view.
The atmosphere was quite strange. The local students
preferred to be more reserved and wanted everyone to
showmore respect towards the professor.
A group of clinical researchers for an international
pharmaceutical company weremeeting inMoscow to
discuss the studies they were running all over theworld. Most of
the researchers were Chinese and Russian but the group leader
was American. Some of the researchers were unhappy because
the group leader called everyone by their first names and forgot
to use their titles. Although he tried to be friendly, hewas not
polite and had a very relaxed tone and stance and dressed very
casually. In fact, some of the group said they would never forget
seeing himattend onemeetingwearing shorts. He seemed to
think that what was saidwas more important than how it was
said and he never seemed to pay attention to body language.
8.2
GLOBAL SKILLS
78
LISTENING AND VOCABULARY
ABSTRACT NOUNS
1
Work with a partner to discuss the questions.
1
Would you like to work for an international company
that employs people in many different countries?
2
Would you like to work or travel abroad? Why?/Why not?
3
What problems could arise when people from different
countries have to work together in a global team?
4
What skills do you think you need to work in a
global team?
2
a
Match words 1–5 with their meanings a–e.
1
adaptability
2
curiosity
3
consensus
4
sensitivity
5
intuition
a
the desire to know about something
b
the ability to change and be successful in different
situations
c
agreement between everyone in a group
d
the feeling that you know something is correct or true
even if you don’t know why
e
thinking about how other people will feel about
something
2
b
Complete the sentences with words from Exercise 2a.
1
My
told me not to trust him.
2
He definitely has
– he could live in any country.
3
All team members need to have a
about the
country they are going to.
4
The team leader’s rude comments show a lack of
.
5
The team failed to reach a
on the issue.
3
8.2
Listen to four international managers giving
advice to young people who want to work for global
companies. Decide which speaker does the following.
a
gives an example of how to adjust to someone with a
different communication style
b
talks about a number of skills needed to work globally
c
talks about cultures with different ideas about the
individual and the team
d
talks about what employers want
4
Listen again and complete the notes using one word
in each gap.
READING
5
Scan the texts quickly. Which countries or continents
are mentioned in each one?
My notes
Global employers want people who:
• are willing to work with people from different
1
and
2
• take an active
3
in the world around
them
• have a global
4
• treat people as
5
and don’t
6
them
When dealing with someone who has a more indirect
communication style to you, you should:
• pay more attention to how you
7
things
• make sure
8
and information don’t
come across too directly
• speak to them in
9
Individual-focused cultures:
• value an individual’s contributions and
10
• like focused,
11
only meetings
Team-focused cultures:
• think deciding something
12
is a vital step
in decision-making
• like to make the person look
13
B
A
