5901 Week 1 Matsushita Article Task

5901 LAL Language & Communication

for Business & Commerce

5901LAL/Week1/Student Task Matsushita Article Task

1 of 5

WEEK 1: MATSUSHITA ARTICLE TASK

Task 1 Read and Understand the Text

Using the glossary below to help you, read the article on the next page:

Japanese Firms Want English Competency – Fluency is Seen as Way to Internationalize Industry.

You will need to understand this article in order to discuss it in Tutorial 2.

Glossary

Word Meaning Word Meaning

veteran somebody who is considerably

experienced in something sluggish inactive and moving slowly or very

little

labyrinth a place with a lot of crisscrossing

or complicated passages,

tunnels, or paths in which it

would be easy to become lost conglomerate a large business organization that

consists of a number of companies

that deal with a variety of different

business, manufacturing, or

commercial activities

command thorough knowledge of

something potent symbol A powerful sign

abysmal Extremely bad or severe fiscal Relating to financial matters

reverting To go back or return to mono- single

instill To put into somebody’s mind rank and file Ordinary members of an

organisation (eg workers)

ranks people belonging to a particular

group or category traumatic Frightening or shocking

stodgy lacking originality, flair, or

imagination- boring linguistic facility Language learning ability

controversial creating strong disagreement or

disapproval insular concerned only with local matters

and not interested in new ideas or

different cultures

edict a formal command intermediaries somebody who tries to help people

reach an agreement

policy shift a new or different program of

actions adopted by management ultimately in the end; finally

radical

departure completely different direction lulled To soothe or calm

corporate

culture the values, customs, and

traditions of a particular

company, usually a large

corporation linguistic divide The communication gap between

different languages

mindset a set of beliefs or a way of

thinking that influences

somebody's behavior and

outlook

staid Very proper or dull habits or

ways of doing things

5901 LAL Language & Communication

for Business & Commerce

5901LAL/Week1/Student Task Matsushita Article Task

2 of 5

Voigt, K. (2001, June 11). Japanese Firms Want English Competency – Fluency is Seen as Way to

Internationalise Industry. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), New York, p. B.7.A.

OSAKA, Japan -- Kazuo Shibayama can't find his way to the train station. While the 20 other students in

the weekly English class at Matsushita Corp. easily navigate through the imaginary labyrinth of post

offices, stores and bus stops to get to the final destination, Mr. Shibayama arrives dead last. "My English

is too poor," he confesses.

Even so,

the 52-year-old Mr.

Shibayama represents the hopes of Matsushita in more ways than one.

The 30-year veteran has been chosen for a five-year assignment to run a television-tuner manufacturing

division in the Slovak Republic. He is to leave in three weeks. Matsushita, the world's largest seller of

consumer electronics, is

betting that Mr. Shibayama will return not only with a better command of

English, but with something even more essential: an understanding of the global business environment

in which the company operates. Despite his abysmal English, he is excited about the challenge, one

which many colleagues his age wouldn't choose.

"They

like

to be relaxed

and feel secure," he says,

reverting to Japanese. "But even in a big company like Matsushita, unless we change, we don't survive."

That is the type of attitude the 83-year old company, the maker of Panasonic and National brands, is

trying to instill throughout its ranks. To achieve that goal, the company is taking aim at its stodgy culture

with an unlikely weapon: the English language.

Last year, Matsushita issued a controversial edict: All managers would be required to pass an English-competency test in order to be promoted. Suddenly, verb tenses were as important to career

advancement as seniority. The policy shift was a radical departure for a large Japanese firm and sent

shock waves through the employee ranks.

That is exactly

what Matsushita claims it wanted. "We are trying to change employees mindset,

basically," explains Noriaki Tsuchiya, head of human resources for overseas employees, and one of the

architects of the new policy. The company feels it is losing competitive ground in the global market. Part

of the problem, Matsushita concluded, was its own corporate culture, which had become too staid, too

sluggish and too exclusively Japanese.