PART TWO
Questions9–14
Read the text ， which describes the experience of a company that hasmade big changes in its office procedures
Choose the best sentence from theopposite page to fill each of the gaps.
For each gap 9– 14， mark one letter（A-H） on your Answer Sheet.
Do not use any letter more thanonce.
There is an example at the beginning.（0）
The Danish electronics manufacturer， Oticon， is a leader in themove towards the paperless office， In their cafeteria a huge glass pipe runsfrom ceiling to floor. When the mail comes in， it is immediately scanned intothe computer， shredded， and thrown down the tube to the general cheers of theemployees. （0） Having all mail and memos available only as computer files to beread on the screen makes it easy to dispense with large physical storage spacesfor people who work at desks （9）
Changing over to the paperless officerequired a rapid increase in computer literacy， but rather than set up acorporate training programme they turned the problem over to employees. Eightmonths before the system was installed ， they offered each employee a powerfulpersonal computer for use at home in exchange for training themselves to use it.（10）
The big change was not the move from paper memos to computer messages.Oticon realised that the more radical transformation is from written to verbalcommunication.（11） that adds up to a large number of face-to-face exchanges， abig improvement over memos and the occasional multi-hour sit-down consultationtypical of the old culture. People do not send each other memos， they talk. Asthe CEO puts it， “ We have jumped through the memo wall and gone right toaction.”
On the eighth of August 1991 ， the company left their oldwood-panelled offices .（12） Since then they have cut in half the “ time tomarket” on new products. The following year， sales and profits grew more thanever before. （13） in fact， despite a downsizing of 15 per cent employeesatisfaction is hitting record highs.
Oticon has created an organizationalpattern that supports great freedom iof action for individuals and terms. Theyhave tied it together with a minimum hierarchy.
The first clear results toshow up were in the greater efficiencies generated by the fact that less timeneeded to be spent on management activities . （14） they also have someinvestment in the success of the project they choose. Oticon has succeeded inbreaking the mould mould and taking a lead in non-bureaucratic organizationaldesign.
Example ：
A This saving was possible because when peoplehave real choice in the nature of their jobs， they commit themselves to beingresponsible for their areas of choice.
B They were headed for a newbuilding and a new era in communication.
C Instead， they have large privateareas on their hard disks for their correspondence.
D In spite of this， thephysical office layout at Oticon is one of its most charming features.
E Over 90 per cent accepted ， and they organized a club to help one anotherlearn.
F To facilitate this， the on-site coffee bars have now become thevenue for about twenty meetings a day， averaging ten minutes and 2.7participants each.
G So， are people happy with the change“
H Onlyabout ten documents a day， items like legal contracts， escape this treatment. |
