Integrated Listening and Reading — 7

Источник задания: Всероссийская олимпиада школьников 2013/14, региональный этап

Read the text ‘Productivity and Rewards', then listen to a part of the lecture on the same topic. You will notice that some ideas coincide and some differ in them. Answer questions 11–25 by choosing A if the idea is expressed in both materials, B if it can be found only in the reading text, C if it can be found only in the audio-recording, and D if neither of the materials expresses the idea.

Now you have 7 minutes to read the text.

Productivity and Rewards

An important management principle is that when behavior is rewarded, it tends to be repeated. It follows that in many business enterprises, the approach to getting employees to work hard or improve productivity is to reward them with money or company stock. In addition, some enterprises use other forms of compensation such as special privileges or perhaps promotion or job reassignments or even company-paid luxury vacations and other bonuses in kind. All such rewards are usually tied in to some index of performance, which precisely calculates the relative amount of increased productivity.

Whatever the type of reward given, managerial consultants point out that the promise of such incentives improves employee attitudes, motivation and productivity. Typical business handbooks describing compensation methods advocate giving the greatest rewards to those who perform the best. For example, a well-known academic text on incentives points out that “the closer the link between job performance and rewards, the greater the motivational effect.”

Advocates of improving productivity through rewards tacitly accept that people are rather like physical bodies that require the application of some external motivating force to be set in motion. Furthermore, they argue that any such incentives must have a high perceived value to the employee and must also be perceived as within the reach of that person. If the productivity goal appears beyond the reach of the person striving for the reward, then the motivational effect will be lower and productivity may decline. But if the reward system is correctly structured, productivity experts argue, it is possible to persuade people to achieve remarkable results.

Now listen to a part of the lecture on the same topic and then do the task comparing the text above and the lecture. You will hear the lecture twice.

1. There is a belief that rewards increase productivity.


A

B

C

D

2. Not only money and job promotion but also company-paid holidays can be used as rewards.


A

B

C

D

3. Some books on the influence of rewards on productivity are written by lawyers.


A

B

C

D

4. Companies usually determine the size and form of rewards on the basis of measurements of increased productivity.


A

B

C

D

5. Productivity decreases if employees consider rewards unreachable.


A

B

C

D

6. People value respect more than financial bonuses.


A

B

C

D

7. There has been no reliable research to prove the long-term effectiveness of any reward scheme.


A

B

C

D

8. What's missing from the theory of rewards is genuine enthusiasm of employees.


A

B

C

D

9. Disappointment may result from not getting the bonus one has expected.


A

B

C

D

10. Reward and punishment principle in management is similar to that used in education.


A

B

C

D

11. Some employees feel as if they are controlled or manipulated through incentives.


A

B

C

D

12. Incentives can sometimes be counterproductive.


A

B

C

D

13. People can be persuaded to work better if the system of incentives is properly organised.


A

B

C

D

14. The most gifted employees should be rewarded regardless of their performance.


A

B

C

D

15. Concealing problems and not asking questions can be caused by a fear of negative ratings.


A

B

C

D

© Екатерина Яковлева, 2016–2022