NAME: DATE: 25/02

1º Comercio 2nd TERM MARK:

READING

LOOKING TO WIKIPEDIA FOR ANSWERS

To understand how large-scale work was organised during the past 100 years, the best models were traditional
hierarchical organisations such as General Motors, IBM and Wal-Mart. But to understand how large scale work
will be organised in the future, we need to look at newer examples such as Wikipedia, eBay and Google.

In Wikipedia, for instance, thousands of people from across the globe have collectively created a large
and surprisingly high-quality intellectual product – the world’s largest encyclopaedia – and have done so with
almost no centralised control. Anyone who wants to can change almost anything, and decisions about what
changes are kept are made by a loose consensus of those who care. Wikipedia is a remarkable organisational
invention that illustrates how new forms of communication, such as the Internet, are making it possible to
organise work in new and innovative ways.

Of course, new ways of organising work are not desirable everywhere. In many cases, traditional
hierarchies are still needed to capture economies of scale or to control risks. But in an increasing number of
cases, we can have the economic benefits of large organisations without giving up the human benefits of small
ones – freedom, flexibility, motivation and creativity.

These human benefits can provide decisive competitive advantages in knowledge-based and innovation-
driven work. During the coming decades, we can expect to see such ideas in operation in more and more parts
of the economy. These new practices have various names, but the phrase I find most useful is ‘collective
intelligence’.

What if we could have any number of people and computers connected to, for instance, care for patients
in a hospital? Or designing cars. Or selling retail products. We might find that the best way to do a task that
today is done by five full-time people would be to sue one part-time employee and a host of freelance
contractors each working for a few minutes a day.

One important type of collective intelligence is ‘crowd intelligence’, where anyone who wants to can
contribute. Sometimes, as in the case of Wikipedia or video-sharing website YouTube, people contribute their
work for free because they get other benefits such as enjoyment, recognition or opportunities to socialise with
others. In other cases, such as online retailer eBay, people get paid to do so.

These changes will not happen overnight, but the rate of change is accelerating, and businesspeople a
hundred years from now may find the pervasive corporate hierarchies of today as quaint as we find the feudal
farming system of an earlier era.
WRITING

To: donald.summer@instep.com
From: meredith.quincy@instep.com
Donald – This is to let you know the outcome of discussions at our European head office in Paris last week
about the possible move to Beauchamp.

Views of managers were very divided on moving to Beauchamp, but following discussions with them, I feel
we can go ahead and make the move. (As you can imagine, some were unhappy at the idea of leaving Paris,
but many – more than I expected – could see the personal benefits for them and their families.)

However, the company's needs are the most important thing, of couse, and the benefits, including the tax
incentives offered by Beuchamp town council, are too good to walk away from.

We can make an official announcement very soon. I will ask our European HR Manager in Paris, Sylvie
Juliénas, to draw up an action plan/schedule for the move in the next few weeks.

Meredith.

You are Paolo Marchese, the Italian manager at Instep's European subsidiary. In discussing the move
with others at Instep, you said, 'I am absolutely against it. It will upset families and cause a lot of
problems for some staff. I will have to sell my apartment if we move. I only bought it last year, so I will
probably lose a lot of money – I don't think I will get any compensation for that, do you?'

Write an email to Silvie Juliénas, HR Manager at Instep's European subsidiary, saying that you are
against the company's move. Give your reasons – the one above, giving details, and two other. Think
carefully about the register that you are going to use.
NAME: DATE: 25/02
1º Comercio 2nd TERM MARK:

READING

1. Lood through the whole article and find:

a) three traditional companies:

b) four internet companies:

2. Read paragraph 2 and decide if these statements are true or false and write the part where you found
the evidence for your answer.

Wikipedia...
_____ a) entries can only be changed by the person who wrote them
___________________________________________________________________________________
_____ b)has no central control at all.
___________________________________________________________________________________
_____ c)is the pargest encyclopaedia in the world.
___________________________________________________________________________________
_____ d) is of high quality.
___________________________________________________________________________________
_____ e) copies existing ways of working.
___________________________________________________________________________________

3. Look at paragraph 3 and find:

a) two benefits of large organisations:

b) four benefits of small ones:

4. Now match the expressions in Exercise 3 to their definitions

a) when people have new ideas: _________________
b) the ability to work 'as your own boss': _____________________
c) to limit the effect of unexpected events: ____________________
d) when people work with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose: _____________________
e) the ability to work when and where you want to: ________________________
f) when high levels of productions result in lower costs per unit produced: _____________________
5. Read paragraph 4. In which areas will the benefits of small organisations be most useful?

6. Find the name the writer prefers for this new way of working in paragraph 4.

7. Which of these areas is not mentioned in paragraph 5 in relation to the potential apllication of
collective intelligence?

a) healthcare b) wholesale c) retail d) design

8. What three benefits do people get from contributing to crowd intelligence websites, apart from
money? (paragraph 6)

9. Use correct forms of expressions from paragraph 7 to complete these statements.

a) If something exists in a lot of different places, it is ____________.

b) A social system with aristocrats and almost powerless farmers is ______________.
c) If something doesn't happen immediately, it doesn't happen __________________.
d) Something that is strange and old-fashioned is ________________.
e) If a process speeds up, it _______________
NAME: DATE: 25/02
1º Comercio 2nd TERM MARK:
GRAMMAR
Simple Present or Present Continuous?
1. Look! It ___________ (snow). We are going to have a white Christmas.
2. They _______________ (usually/travel) to the mountains, but this summer they _____________
(travel) to the beach.
3. Bob _______________ (watch) the news on TV every morning.
4. I have to go now. It _________________ (get) dark.
5. Online courses ___________________ (require) self-discipline.
6. They ________________ (have) a great time at today's party.
7. Who _________________ (he/wait for?) I guess for his mother.
8. How often ________________ (you/eat out)? Not very often. Once a month.
9. Would you like some chocolate? No, thanks. I ______________ (hate) chocolate.
10. Who ______________ (do) the dishes every day in your house? My sister.

Expressing future: will, going to, present continuous, or present simple.

1. The train _____________ Detroit at 9pm tonight. 6. They can't play tennis with you tomorrow. They
a) leaves _____________.
b) is leaving a) work
c) will leave b) are working
d) is going to leave c) will work
d) are going to work
2. Mary ___________ her music exam next year.
a) takes 7. We ___________ what we can do to help you.
b) is taking a) see
c) will take b) are seeing
d) is going to take c) will see
d) are going to see
3. Tomorrow ________ Thursday.
a) is 8. John ________ work next week.
b) is being a) starts
c) will be b) is starting
d) is going to be c) will start
d) is going to start
4. There's a cloud in the sky. It__________.
a) rains 9. We__________ to the theatre on Friday.
b)is raining a) go
c) will rain b) are going
d) is going to rain c) will go
d) are going to go
5. People _________ to Mars in the next decade.
a) goes 10. Jo has won the lottery. He says he_________ go
b) is going to Tahiti.
c) will go a) go
d) is going to go b) is going
c) will go
d) is going to go
Complete the sentences with the present perfect or the past simple of the verbs in brackets (affirmative,
negative and interrogative:

1. She __________(put on) a lot of weight recently.

2. ________you ever________ (have) a pet? Yes, I _________(have) a dog when I lived with my parents.
3. My parents __________(live) in Paris for ten years and then they moved to Hamburg. They
___________(live) in Hamburg for five years now.
4. Lady Di _________(visit) a lot of poor countries. The Queen ________(visit) a lot of poor countries,
too.
5. When you ____________(give up) smoking? Oh, a long time ago. I think I _____________(not smoke)
since 2000.
6. My great-grandfather ____________(die) forty years ago. I never ____________(meet) him.
7. I don't know Jane's fiancé. I never __________(meet) him.
8. When we were on holiday, the weather _____________(be) awful. Since we came back, the weather
_________ (be) great.
9. How long you ____________(study) English? For five years now. I ____________(start) when I
finished university.
10. My bicycle is not here anymore. Someone ____________(take) it.

Match a word from box A with a word from box B to complete the sentences below. There are two extra
noun combinations.

A B

computer commercials
government fair
information force
labour policy
research project
trade technology
TV virus

1. This new ________________ could wipe all the data off your hard disk.
2. Several organisations are strongly opposed to the use of children in advertising in general, and in
_____________________ in particular.
3. Going to an international ______________________ is often an excellent opportunity for
networking.
4. Advances in _______________________ have revolutionised the way people communicate and do
business.
5. GVC Steelworks already have a __________________________ of 1,500, and they are still
recruiting.