ET NETERA NO BOSS, NO LOSS
MATERIÁLY PRO UČITELE
Et Netera is a Prague-based company. We started like 15 years ago at…originally, it was two-men show, two guys at the university, they realized they wanted to do something else than to be employees. So they started a company because they thought that it’s the time to work on the Internet. At that time Internet was just born in the Czech Republic. So they started to create websites and because they were good and there were only a couple of companies in the Czech republic who were providing this kind of services, they soon had managed to get very interesting clients like Siemens or Eurotel or Annonce – companies like that. And then time went and now Et Netera has 130 employees and the turnover for the last year was 130 million crowns. And Et Netera is still a company that creates websites. And it’s different intranets, extranets, e-shops and provides analyses and there’s a new business – we also provide companies with on-line marketing solutions. Throughout the history we managed to distinguish from our competitors by probably two main points. First was that we were always fair to the clients and it means when… everyone makes mistakes but if you admit that you made a mistake and you pay for it and then you are able to say:” OK, I made a mistake. Let’s sell it and let’s do some steps so that mistakes won’t happen again.” The clients will appreciate this attitude. So that was probably one thing and then the others, we didn’t make many mistakes. We always were trying to be close to the clients and help them to…help them with the business. Not just type some code and not just create a website, but we always tried to think what the website’s purpose is, what’s the meaning of it. You wanna do business or you wanna create…you don’t wanna have a website built. And that brought us to other areas of business like consultancy etc. We…throughout the history we built many e-shops, so we gained, we earned some knowledge of how to do business like that. Since the beginning, our company was never really bureaucratic runned company. We always liked freedom, it was built as a family, friendly company. We went out on a weekends, we do a lot of activities. Every year, we have…we had a weekend off all together and things like that. And…well for the last couple of months there were many changes. We…one of the owners came with an idea, with…he discovered an idea, discovered a book where was written an idea about the freedom at work and that’s the path we’re now following. It’s very adventurous way how to do the business because the first step we did was that we cancelled all the managers’ titles, all the managers. We don’t have managers at out company at the moment, at least not the managers in the way of…in the traditional way when someone is dedicated from someone else saying O.K. then comes in front of the people and say: “ O.K., this is your new boss and he’s going to tell you what you guys have to do.” So now it’s different. It means that instead of those formal dedicated managers, there are stronger personalities who said: “I wanna do this and this way and well, O.K, guys, if you wanna do it with me, let’s come, let’s do it together.” And people followed or didn’t follow. We realize that it’s kind of like a cake and someone likes the middle part and someone likes the edges and it’s only up to the every person what he or she is gonna choose. The whole concept of freedom at work has, of course, two sides of kind like all the things in the world. The one is, the pro is that you have a freedom not to go at work at this day, stay at home, work from home, that you have a freedom go to the bank or go to the doctor and don’t ask anything, you don’t have to ask the permission signed three times by someone else. But on the con is, the other side of the coin is that with the freedom comes the responsibility. You have to be responsible to the others, you have to…you have some contribution to the whole profit, to the whole business and you have to realize that if want to be a part of this show. You have to know what things are about and what… you have to start educate yourself not just in the way of being technically up-to-date, but you have to know what your value is, how much the company pays for you, what are the costs of just you sitting here.
Et netera sídlí v Praze. Začali jsme před 15 lety … původně na univerzitě ve dvou lidech, kteří si uvědomili, že chtějí něco jiného než být zaměstnanci. Takže založili firmu, protože si mysleli, že je ta správná doba pro práci na Internetu. V té době se v ČR internet teprve rodil. Takže začali dělat webové stránky, a protože byli dobří a bylo tu jen pár firem, které poskytovaly tento druh služeb, podařilo se jim záhy získat velmi zajímavé klienty jako Siemens, Eurotel nebo Annonce – takovéhle firmy. Čas běžel a teď má Et netera 130 zaměstnanců a za poslední rok měla obrat 130 milionů korun. Et netera je i nadále firma, která tvoří webové stránky. Děláme různé intranety, extranety, internetové obchody a poskytujeme analýzy. Nově poskytujeme zákazníkům on-line marketingová řešení. Po celou historii se nám dařilo odlišovat se od konkurence ve dvou bodech. Za prvé, že jsme se vždy chovali ke klientům fér. Každý dělá chyby, ale když je přiznáte a zaplatíte za ně, pak můžete říct: „Dobře, udělal jsem chybu. Pojďme to prodat a podnikněme kroky, aby se to neopakovalo.“ Klienti takový přístup ocení. Tak to byla patrně jedna věc a ta druhá byla, že jsme těch chyb neudělali moc. Vždy jsme se snažili být klientům blízko a pomáhat jim …pomáhat jim s obchody. Ne jen psát kódy a jen tvořit webové stránky. Vždy jsme se snažili přemýšlet o tom, na co ty stránky jsou, jaký mají smysl. Chcete dělat obchody nebo chcete vytvořit webové stránky… nechcete si nechat vytvořit webové stránky. A to nás přivedlo také k dalším odvětvím jako je poradenství atd. Za svou historii jsme vytvořili mnoho internetových obchodů, takže jsme získali znalosti, jak se takové obchody dělají. Od počátku nebyla naše firma vedena byrokraticky. Vždy jsme měli rádi svobodu, firma byla postavená jako rodinná a přátelská. Jezdili jsme spolu na víkendy každý rok apod. V poslední několika měsících proběhlo mnoho změn. Jeden z majitelů přišel s myšlenkou… objevil myšlenku, objevil knihu, kde byla myšlenka o svobodě v práci a to je stezka, po které jdeme. Je to velké dobrodružství dělat takhle byznys. Protože první krok byl, že jsme zrušili všechny manažerské tituly, všechny manažery. Momentálně ve firmě nemáme manažery, alespoň ne v tom tradičním smyslu, kdy je někdo někým určen a odsouhlasen a ten předstoupí pře lidi a řekne: „Tak tohle je váš nový šéf a řekne vám, co budete dělat.“ Takže to je jiné. Znamená to, že místo formálně určených manažerů máme silné osobnosti, které říkají:“ Chci dělat tohle a chci to dělat takhle. Jestli to chcete dělat se mnou, tak to pojďme dělat dohromady.“ A lidi na to buď slyší nebo ne. My si uvědomujeme, že je to trochu jako s koláčem. Někomu chutná prostředek a jiný má rád okraje a je to jen člověk od člověka, co si vybere. Celá myšlenka svobody v práci má, samozřejmě, dvě stránky jako vše na světě. Jedna je pozitivní v tom, že máte svobodu nejít ten den do práce, zůstat doma, pracovat z domova, že máte možnost jít do banky nebo k lékaři, aniž byste se někoho dovolovali a museli mít povolení s třemi podpisy. Ale druhá stránka mince je, že se svobodou přichází odpovědnost. Musíte být odpovědný vůči ostatním, musíte přispívat celkovému užitku, firmě jako celku a to si musíte uvědomit, když se celého toho podniku chcete účastnit. Musíte vědět, jak se věci mají… musíte se sami vzdělávat a to nejen, abyste byli technicky na výši, ale musíte znát vlastní hodnotu, kolik za vás firma platí, kolik stojí to, že tam už jen sedíte.
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EXERCISE 1 Discuss and share your answers to the following questions: 1. Try to make a profile of the perfect boss. What personal and professional qualities do you think the person should have? 2. Do you think you would make a good boss? Why or why not? If not, what would it take to become a good boss? 3. Can a company work without a boss? Explain your answer.
EXERCISE 2 Are these statements TRUE or FALSE? 1. Et Netera got interesting clients so quickly because there was practically no competition at that time. 2. Et Netera stopped creating websites and concentrates on marketing solutions. 3. Et Netera succeeded partly because they always admitted their mistakes. 4. Et Netera used to be run quite bureaucratically, but now the management style has changed. 5. The idea of freedom at work was inspired by a book. 6. Et Netera has no managers at the moment. 7. The speaker thinks that freedom cannot work without responsibility.
EXERCISE 3 Listen and fill in the missing text. 1. So they started to create websites and because they were good and there were only a couple of companies in the Czech republic who were providing this kind of services, they soon had managed to get very interesting clients like Siemens or Eurotel… 2. And then time went and now Et Netera has 130 employees and the turnover for the last year was 130 million crowns. And Et Netera is still a company that creates websites. And it’s different intranets, extranets, eshops and provides analyses and there’s a new business – we also provide companies with on-line marketing solutions. 3. Throughout the history we managed to distinguish from our competitors by probably two main points. First was that we were always fair to the clients and it means when… everyone makes mistakes but if you admit that you made a mistake and you pay for it and then you are able to say:” OK, I made a mistake. Let’s sell it and let’s do some steps so that mistakes won’t happen again.” The clients will appreciate this attitude. 4. And that brought us to other areas of business like consultancy etc. We…throughout the history we built many e-shops, so we gained, we earned some knowledge of how to do business like that. 5. We…one of the owners came with an idea, with…he discovered an idea, discovered a book where was written an idea about the freedom at work and that’s the path we’re now following. It’s very adventurous way how to do the business because the first step we did was that we cancelled all the managers titles, all the managers. 6. We realize that it’s kind of like a cake and someone likes the middle part and someone likes the edges and it’s only up to the every person what he or she is gonna choose.
EXERCISE 4 Match the following English expressions with their Czech equivalent. 1. PROS AND CONS
A) ROZLIŠIT, ODLIŠIT
9. TURNOVER
I) ZVLÁDNOUT
2. CONSULTANCY
B) KONKURENT
10. DISTINGUISH
J) OBRAT
3. MANAGE
C) PORADENSTVÍ
11. COMPETITORS
K) ZRUŠIT
4. CANCEL
D) DOBRODRUŽNÝ
12. THROUGHOUT
L) POVOLENÍ
5. PERMISSION
E) PRO A PROTI
13. ADMIT
M) PŘIZNAT
6. PROVIDE
F) VNITŘNÍ SÍŤ
14. APPRECIATE
N) PO CELOU DOBU
7. INTRANET
G) ZÍSKAT
15. GAIN
O) POSKYTOVAT
8. SOLUTION
H) ŘEŠENÍ
16. ADVENTUROUS
P) OCENIT
PHRASE BOOK Use the vocabulary list above to develop questions you could ask the Manager in a mock interview. With a partner, take turns being the Manager. Role play asking and answering your questions. ADMIT
An effort to be honest about a mistake or oversight which in the face of criticism or adversity, shows the strength of personal character.
CONSULTANCY
A professional service which provides information to individuals and companies to improve their organizational management structures, processes, and performance.
INTRANET
An internal communication network that connects the various members together and functions through network devices, servers, computers, software, and their systems.
MANAGE
The active form of management enacting a form of leadership to organize work tasks, personnel duties, and develop solutions to problems.
PROS AND CONS
A way of describing both positive and negative aspects of a situation or its possibilities.
PROVIDE
This terms refers to what information or service that a company offers or gives its customers and/or investors.
EXERCISE 5 GROUP DISCUSSION 1. Try to think of as many different leaders as you can. (e.g. president, general, boss, etc.) Make a list. 2. Discuss with your classmates what duties and responsibilities each of these people have. Turn the list into a chart. 3. Which of the leaders could we do without? Justify your point of view. 4. Can all the class agree on one leader that is indispensable? 5. If you cannot agree, what kinds of new leaders and their qualities do you recommend? Explain your position.
EXERCISE 6 GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX TEST 1. The speaker in the video said: “You admit that you made a mistake and you pay for it.” Which of the following alternatives could replace the underlined part? A) admit to make B) admit making C) admit to have made 2. Are the following sentences correct? A) I suggest taking a break. B) She avoids to answer my questions. C) The teacher insists on speaking English all the time. D) I don’t want to risk to make her angry. 3. Which sentences in Exercise 3 could include THAT? Try to rewrite them using THAT. 4. Look at the following verbs. Are they listed in the correct category? Verbs followed by TO+infinitive
Verbs followed by -ING
DECIDE
PERSUADE
AVOID
THREATEN
RISK
ADMIT
WANT
DENY
SUGGEST
CONVINCE
ASK
MIND
OFFER
MENTION
WOULD LIKE
IMAGINE
PROMISE
RESIST
5. Use all the verbs from exercise 4 that are followed by –ING in sentences.
WHILE YOU WATCH EXERCISE 2 1. TRUE, 2. FALSE, 3. TRUE, 4. FALSE, 5. TRUE, 6. TRUE, 7. TRUE
EXERCISE 3 1.
So they started to create websites and because they were good and there were only a couple of companies in the Czech republic who were providing this kind of services, they soon had managed to get very interesting clients like Siemens or Eurotel…
2.
And then time went and now Etenera has 130 employees and the turnover for the last year was 130 million crowns. And Etenera is still a company that creates websites. And it’s different intranets, extranets, e-shops and provides analyses and there’s a new business – we also provide companies with on-line marketing solutions.
3.
Throughout the history we managed to distinguish from our competitors by probably two main points. First was that we were always fair to the clients and it means when… everyone makes mistakes but if you admit that you made a mistake and you pay for it and then you are able to say:” OK, I made a mistake. Let’s sell it and let’s do some steps so that mistakes won’t happen again.” The clients will appreciate this attitude.
4.
And that brought us to other areas of business like consultancy etc. We…throughout the history we built many e-shops, so we gained, we earned some knowledge of how to do business like that.
5.
We…one of the owners came with an idea, with…he discovered an idea, discovered a book where was written an idea about the freedom at work and that’s the path we’re now following. It’s very adventurous way how to do the business because the first step we did was that we cancelled all the managers titles, all the managers.
6.
We realize that it’s kind of like a cake and someone likes the middle part and someone likes the edges and it’s only up to the every person what he or she is gonna choose.
7.
The one is, the pro is that you have a freedom not to go at work at this day, stay at home, work from home, that you have a freedom go to the bank or go to the doctor and don’t ask anything, you don’t have to ask the permission signed three times by someone else. But on the con is, the other side of the coin is that with the freedom comes the responsibility.
AFTER YOU WATCH EXERCISE 4 1E, 2C, 3I, 4K, 5L, 6O, 7F, 8H, 9J, 10A, 11B, 12N, 13M, 14P, 15G, 16D
AFTER YOU WATCH EXERCISE 6 1.B 2. A) CORRECT B) She avoids ANSWERING my questions. C) CORRECT D) I don’t want to risk MAKING her angry. 3. A) I suggest that we take a break. C) The teacher insists that we speak English all the time. D) I don‘t want to risk that I‘ll make her angry. 4.
Verbs followed by TO+infinitive Verbs followed by ‐ING DECIDE
AVOID
PERSUADE
SUGGEST
CONVINCE
ADMIT
WANT
DENY
THREATEN
RISK
ASK
MIND
OFFER
MENTION
WOULD LIKE
IMAGINE
PROMISE
RESIST
