Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

1

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

L i nói đ u:

T v ng là ph n ch y u c n tr b n đ n v i đi m s IELTS mong mu n. a ph n các cu n
sách v vocabulary hi n t i dành cho IELTS ch list ra nh ng t “h c thu t” theo ch đ , ít ví d
v cách dùng, ít ho c khơng có các t đ ng ngh a v i nh ng t v ng h c thu t đó. Ph n thi u sót
có l l n nh t c a các cu n sách t v ng hi n t i là “collocations” và topic vocabulary, đây là
các c m t hay đi cùng nhau và dùng đ c bi t trong cách topic nh t đ nh.
Vi c thi u t đ ng ngh a s làm b n đ c hi u r t khó vì t v ng dùng trong bài đ c th
paraphrase trong câu h i đ ki m tra đ c đ r ng và m c đ hi u c a ng i h c.

ng đ

c

Ngoài ra vi c thi u collocations s làm b n di n đ t vơ cùng khó kh n và thi u t nhiên khi vi t
ho c nói. Nh ng t trình đ <8.0 thì l i khó nh n ra nh ng collocations nào nên h c. Do đó cu n
sách này, mình đư tr c ti p highlight t t c các collocations hay, hay g p và có giá tr dùng l i r t
nhi u trong q trình nói và vi t c a các b n. Sau khi h c xong 6 cu n trong b “LEAN

VOCABULARY”, ch c ch n b n s nh n bi t đ c m t l ng collocations đ l n đ có th
nghe hi u, đ c hi u t t và nh t là dùng đ c t t khi nói và vi t.

h c t t cu n sách:
B c 1: Ch n 1 bài đ c b t kì, t p trung đ c hi u và xem ph n “synonym ậ t đ ng ngh a” c a
các t đ c in đ m, đây là các t nh h ng tr c ti p đ n m c đ hi u c a b n khi đ c 1 câu
v n.
B c 2:
dùng.

c l i th t k và chú ý các “c m t đ

c g ch chân” ậ đây là các collocations hay

B c 3: Ch n 3-5 c m TH T S
N T NG và luy n nói ho c vi t b ng cách đ t câu hoàn
ch nh. Các câu đ t c n đ m b o: Là câu đ n và ít b thay đ i so v i câu g c nh t, có liên quan
đ n b n thân nh t. (Nên có bút highlight đ l u l i nh ng c m đó)
B

c 4:

c l i 1 l n vào ngày hôm sau tr

c khi h c bài m i.

(Sách có 210 bài đ c chia thành 6 ch đ l n: Technology (30), Health & Sports (30),
Environment (45), Education (45), Business & Economy (45), Science (45), nên v i các b n còn
th i gian (6 tháng), hãy ch n ch đ mình y u t v ng nh t, ho c t cu n d nh t: Education 
Business  Health  Evironment  Tech  Science - h c ít nh t 1 bài 1 ngày và ít nh t 30

bài, h c th t sâu và đ c hi u. V i các b n còn 3 tháng thì có th h c 1 ngày 3 bài, nh ng nên
chia ra 3 l n h c, không nên h c 1 lúc 2 bài)
Không c n làm đ nhi u. Ch c n 1 tháng làm 1 đ đ ki m tra l i kh n ng ti ng Anh. S có
nh ng collocations các b n th y có highlight nh ng khơng hi u, khi đó hưy đánh d u nháy nháy
và c m đó lên google: “…………” thì s có ví d và gi i ngh a c a nó.

2

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

L ic m n

Công s c c a các b n s giúp nhi u, r t nhi u các b
Nguy

Đ

à

à

à

c m c tiêu.


H nh Khóa 9 - UNETI

Hồn thành highlight t v ng h c thu t, gi i thích và synonym
à
à45 à c cho Vol.6 - Environment c a b LEAN
VOCABULARY.

Nguy n Thu Loan: K58 NEU
Hoàn thành highlight t v ng h c thu t, gi i thích và synonym
cho 30 à c cho Vol.1 - Education - c a b LEAN
VOCABULARY.

H

P

L

: Du h c sinh Úc

Hoàn thành highlight t v ng h c thu t, gi i thích và synonym
à
à45 à c cho Vol.5 - Science - c a b LEAN
VOCABULARY

V T

Ba: K57 - FTU

Hoàn thành highlight t v ng h c thu t, gi i thích và synonym cho

30 à c cho Vol.2 Sports and Health - c a b LEAN
VOCABULARY

Nguy

T

P

K

- NEU

Hoàn thành highlight t v ng h c thu t, gi i thích và synonym
à
à30 à c cho Vol.3 Business & Economy c a b LEAN
VOCABULARY
3

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

L à
L ic

à

Vol. 2 Business and Economy


u: .................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
à

.................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

Topic 1: The way the brain buys ..................................................................................................... 6
Topic 2: Motivating Employees under Adverse Conditions ................................................... 9
Topic 3: NATURAL CHOICE Coffee and chocolate ................................................................. 13
Topic 4: White mountain, green tourism ................................................................................... 17
Topic 5: Recovering a damaged reputation .............................................................................. 20
Topic 6: IMPLEMENTING THE CYCLE OF SUCCESS: A CASE STUDY .......................... 24
Topic 7: UK companies need more effective boards of directors ..................................... 27
Topic 8: Change in business organisations ................................................................................. 31
Topic 9: Motivating Drives ............................................................................................................... 33
Topic 10: The Sweet Scent of Success ........................................................................................ 37
Topic 11: Stress of Workplace ........................................................................................................ 41
Topic 11: The Impact of Wilderness Tourism........................................................................... 45
Topic 13: A Workaholic Economy ................................................................................................. 49
Topic 14: Delivering The Goods ..................................................................................................... 52
Topic 15: Measuring Organisational Performance ................................................................. 56
Topic 16: Advantages of public transport ................................................................................. 60
Topic 17: Makete Integrated Rural Transport Project ........................................................ 64
Topic 18: Roller coaster .................................................................................................................... 69
Topic 19: Martin Luther King ........................................................................................................ 73
Topic 20: Beyond the blue horizon............................................................................................... 75
Topic 21: The Motor Car .................................................................................................................. 79
Topic 22: Keep a Watchful Eye on the Bridges ....................................................................... 82

4


Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 23: BAKELITE - The birth of modem plastics ............................................................ 85
Topic 24: The Problem of Scarce Resources ............................................................................. 89
Topic 25: Trends in the Indian fashion and textile industries .......................................... 92
Topic 26: Sustainable growth at Didcot .................................................................................... 95
Topic 27: Micro-Enterprise Credit for Street Youth ............................................................ 98
Topic 28: Reducing electricity consumption on the Isle of Eigg ..................................... 102
Topic 29: Pottery production in ancient Akrotiri................................................................ 108
Topic 30: A Theory of Shopping.................................................................................................. 110

5

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 1: The way the brain buys

Supermarkets take great care over the way the
goods they sell are arranged. This is because

they know a lot about how to persuade people to
buy things.
When you enter a supermarket, it takes some
time for the mind to get into a shopping mode.
This is why the area immediately inside the
entrance of a supermarket is known as the
‘decompression zone’. People need to slow down
and take stock of the surroundings, even if they
are regulars. Supermarkets do not expect to sell
much here, so it tends to be used more for
promotion. So the large items piled up here are
designed to suggest that there are bargains
further inside the store, and shoppers are not
necessarily expected to buy them. Walmart, the
world’s biggest retailer, famously employs
‘greeters’ at the entrance to its stores. ɑ friendly
welcome is said to cut shoplifting. It is harder to
steal from nice people.
Immediately to the left in many supermarkets is a
‘chill zone’, where customers can enjoy browsing
magazines, books and DVDs. This is intended to
tempt unplanned purchases and slow customers
down. But people who just want to do their
shopping quickly will keep walking ahead, and the
first thing they come to is the fresh fruit and
vegetables section. However, for shoppers, this
makes no sense. Fruit and vegetables can be
easily damaged, so they should be bought at the
end, not the beginning, of a shopping trip. But
psychology is at work here: selecting these items

makes people feel good, so they feel less guilty
about reaching for less healthy food later on.
Shoppers already know that everyday items, like
milk, are invariably placed towards the back of a
store to provide more opportunity to tempt
customers to buy things which are not on their

persuade /p swe d/: to make somebody do
something by giving them good reasons for doing
it
Synonyms: argue, bring, bring around, convert,
convince, induce, prevail (on or upon), talk (into)
promotion /pr m n/: activities done in order to
increase the sales of a product or service; a set of
advertisements for a particular product or service
Synonyms: advancement, ascent, creation,
elevation, preference, preferment, rise, upgrade,
upgrading
Regulars: a regular customer or member, for
example of a bar, store, or team
Bargains: a thing bought or offered for sale more
cheaply than is usual or expected.
synonyms: good buy, cheap buy;
(good) value for money
guilty / lti/: feeling ashamed because you have
done something that you know is wrong or have
not done something that you should have done
Synonyms: ashamed, shamed
at work: in action
invariably / n ve ri bli/: always

Synonyms: always, consistently, constantly,
continually, ever
tempt /tempt/: to attract somebody or make
somebody want to do or have something
Synonyms: allure, bait, beguile, betray, decoy,
entice, lead on, lure, seduce
6

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

shopping list. This is why pharmacies are also
generally at the back. But supermarkets know
shoppers know this, so they use other tricks, like
placing popular items halfway along a section so
that people have to walk all along the aisle looking
for them. The idea is to boost ‘dwell time’: the
length of time people spend in a store.
Having walked to the end of the fruit-andvegetable aisle, shoppers arrive at counters of
prepared food, the fishmonger, the butcher and
the deli. Then there is the in-store bakery, which
can be smelt before it is seen. Even small
supermarkets now use in store bakeries. Mostly
these bake pre-prepared items and frozen
ingredients which have been delivered to the
supermarket previously, and their numbers have

increased, even though central bakeries that
deliver to a number of stores are much more
efficient. They do it for the smell of freshly baked
bread, which arouses people’s appetites and thus
encourages them to purchase not just bread but
also other food, including ready meals.
Retailers and producers talk a lot about the
‘moment of truth’. This is not a philosophical
idea, but the point when people standing in the
aisle decide to buy something and reach to get it.
At the instant coffee section, for example, branded
products from the big producers are arranged at
eye level while cheaper ones are lower down,
along with the supermarket’s own label products.
But shelf positioning is fiercely fought over, not
just by those trying to sell goods, but also by
those arguing over how best to manipulate
shoppers. While many stores reckon eye level is
the top spot, some think a little higher is better.
Others think goods displayed at the end of aisles
sell the most because they have the greatest
visibility. To be on the right-hand side of an eyelevel selection is often considered the very best
place, because most people are right-handed and
most people’s eyes drift rightwards. Some
supermarkets reserve that for their most
expensive own-label goods.
Scott Bearse, a retail expert with Deloitte
Consulting in Boston, Massachusetts, has led
projects observing and questioning tens of
thousands of customers about how they feel

about shopping. People say they leave shops
empty- handed more often because they are
‘unable to decide’ than because prices are too
high, says Mr Bearse. Getting customers to try

arouse / ra z/: to make somebody have a
particular feeling or attitude
Synonyms: awake, rouse, wake
philosophical / f l s f kl/: having a calm
attitude towards a difficult or disappointing
situation

manipulate /m n pjule t/: to control or influence
somebody/something, often in a dishonest way so
that they do not realize it
Synonyms: exploit, play (upon)
own-label: used to describe a product that has
the name of thestore where you buy it, rather than
a name used by the company that made it

empty-handed / empti hænd d/: without getting
what you wanted; without taking something to
somebody
7

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
something is one of the best ways of getting them

to buy, adds Mr Bearse. Deloitte found that
customers who use fitting rooms in order to try on
clothes buy the product they are considering at a
rate of 8% compared with 58% for those that do
not do so.
Often a customer struggling to decide which of
two items is best ends up not buying either. In
order to avoid a situation where a customer
decides not to buy either product, a third ‘decoy’
item, which is not quite as good as the other two,
is placed beside them to make the choice easier
and more pleasurable. Happier customers are
more likely to buy.

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

struggle / str l/: to try very hard to do
something when it is difficult or when there are a
lot of problems
Synonyms: effort, exertion, labor, pains, trouble,
work

adapted from The Economis

8

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary


Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 2: Motivating Employees under Adverse
Conditions

THE CHALLENGE
It is a great deal easier to motivate employees
in a growing organisation than a declining one.
When organisations are expanding and adding
personnel, promotional opportunities, pay rises,
and the excitement of being associated with a
dynamic organisation create feelings of
optimism. Management is able to use the
growth to entice and encourage employees.
When an organisation is shrinking, the best and
most mobile workers are prone to leave
voluntarily. Unfortunately, they are the ones the
organisation can least afford to lose - those with
the highest skills and experience. The minor
employees remain because their job options are
limited.
Morale also suffers during decline. People fear
they may be the next to be made redundant.
Productivity often suffers, as employees spend
their time sharing rumours and providing one
another with moral support rather than focusing
on their jobs. For those whose jobs are secure,
pay increases are rarely possible. Pay cuts,
unheard of during times of growth, may even be

imposed. The challenge to management is how
to motivate employees under such
retrenchment conditions. The ways of meeting
this challenge can be broadly divided into six
Key Points, which are outlined below.
KEY POINT ONE
There is an abundance of evidence to support
the motivational benefits that result from
carefully matching people to jobs. For example,

motivate / m t ve t/: to make somebody want to
do something, especially something that involves
hard work and effort
Synonyms: inspire, stimulate, encourage, provoke,
influence, prompt
personnel / p s nel/: the people who work for
an organization or one of the armed forces
Synonyms: force, labor force, manpower, staff,
workforce
dynamic /da næm k/: having active strength of
body or mind
Synonyms: energetic, flush, red-blooded, robust,
vigorous, forceful
optimism / pt m z m/: a feeling that good things
will happen and that something will be successful;
the tendency to have this feeling
Synonyms: bullishness, sanguinity
entice / n ta s/: to persuade somebody/something
to go somewhere or to do something, usually by
offering them something

Synonyms: persuade, allure, bait, beguile
prone /pr n/: likely to suffer from something or to
do something bad
Synonyms: apt, given, inclined, tending
morale /m r l/: the amount of confidence and
enthusiasm

9

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

if the job is running a small business or
an autonomous unit within a larger business,
high achievers should be sought. However, if
the job to be filled is a managerial post in a
large bureaucratic organisation, a candidate
who has a high need for power and a low need
for affiliation should be selected.
Accordingly, high achievers should not be put
into jobs that are inconsistent with their needs.
High achievers will do best when the job
provides moderately challenging goals and
where there is independence and feedback.
However, it should be remembered that not
everybody is motivated by jobs that are high in

independence, variety and responsibility.

redundant /r d nd nt/: without a job because
there is no more work available for you in a
company
Synonyms: laid off, out of work, out of a job,
jobless, dismissed, fired, terminated

KEY POINT TWO

abundance / b nd ns/: a large quantity that is
more than enough
Synonyms: plenty, wealth, profusion

The literature on goal-setting theory suggests
that managers should ensure that all employees
have specific goals and receive comments on
how well they are doing in those goals.
For those with high achievement needs, typically
a minority in any organisation, the existence
of external goals is less important because high
achievers are already internally motivated.
The next factor to be determined is whether the
goals should be assigned by a manager
or collectively set in conjunction with the
employees. The answer to that depends on
perceptions of goal acceptance and the
organisation's culture. If resistance to goals is
expected, the use of participation in goal-setting
should increase acceptance. If participation is

inconsistent with the culture, however, goals
should be assigned. If participation and the
culture are incongruous, employees are likely
to perceive the participation process as
manipulative and be negatively affected by it.
KEY POINT THREE
Regardless of whether goals are achievable or
well within management's perceptions of the
employee's ability, if employees see them as
unachievable they will reduce their
effort. Managers must be sure, therefore, that
employees feel confident that their efforts can
lead to performance goals. For managers, this
means that employees must have the capability
of doing the job and must regard the appraisal
process as valid.

impose / m p z/: to introduce a new law, rule,
tax, etc.; to order that a rule, punishment, etc. be
used
Synonyms: assess, charge, exact, fine, lay, levy,
put
retrenchment /r trent m nt/: the policy of
spending less money; a deliberate reduction of
costs

autonomous / t n m s/: able to govern itself or
control its own affairs
Synonyms: free, freestanding, independent, selfgoverning, self-ruling, separate
managerial / mæn d

work of a manager

ri l/: connected with the

bureaucratic / bj r kræt k/: relating to the
business of running an organization, or
government
affiliation / f li e n/: a person’s connection with
a political party, religion, etc.
inconsistent with / nk n s st nt/: not matching
a set of standards, ideas, etc.
Synonyms: clashing, conflicting, disagreeing,
discordant
collectively /k lekt vli/: in a way that is done or
shared by all members of a group of people; in a
way that involves a whole group or society
Synonyms: collaborative, conjunct, cooperative,
joint, public, shared, united
conjunction /k n d
k n/: a combination of
events, etc., that causes a particular result
Synonyms: confluence, convergence

KEY POINT FOUR

10

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.



Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Since employees have different needs, what
acts as a reinforcement for one may not for
another. Managers could use their knowledge of
each employee to personalise the rewards over
which they have control. Some of the more
obvious rewards that managers allocate include
pay, promotions, autonomy, job scope and
depth, and the opportunity to participate in goalsetting and decision-making.

perception /p sep n/: the way you notice things,
especially with the senses
Synonyms: discernment, insight, perceptiveness,
wisdom, awareness

KEY POINT FIVE

appraisal / pre zl/: a judgement of the value,
performance or nature of somebody/something
Synonyms: appraisement, assessment, estimation,
evaluation, judgment

Managers need to make rewards contingent on
performance. To reward factors other than
performance will only reinforce those other
factors. Key rewards such as pay increases
and promotions or advancements should be

allocated for the attainment of the employee's
specific goals. Consistent with maximising the
impact of rewards, managers should look for
ways to increase their visibility. Eliminating the
secrecy surrounding pay or openly
communicating everyone's remuneration,
publicising performance bonuses and allocating
annual salary increases in a lump sum rather
than spreading them out over an entire year are
examples of actions that will make rewards
more visible and potentially more motivating.
KEY POINT SIX
The way rewards are distributed should be
transparent so that employees perceive that
rewards or outcomes are equitable and equal to
the inputs given. On a simplistic
level, experience, abilities, effort and other
obvious inputs should explain differences in
pay, responsibility and other obvious outcomes.
The problem, however, is complicated by
the existence of dozens of inputs and outcomes
and by the fact that employee groups
place different degrees of importance on them.
For instance, a study comparing clerical
and production workers identified nearly twenty
inputs and outcomes. Clerical
workers considered factors such as quality of
work performed and job knowledge near the top
of their list, but these were at the bottom of the
production workers' list. Similarly,

production workers thought that the most
important inputs were intelligence and personal
involvement with task accomplishment, two
factors that were quite low in the importance
ratings of the clerks. There were also important,
though less dramatic, differences on the

incongruous / n k
ru s/: strange, and not
suitable in a particular situation
Synonyms: odd, improper, inappropriate, incorrect,
unsuitable, wrong, strange, incompatible

allocate / æl ke t/: to give something officially to
somebody/something for a particular purpose
Synonyms: allow, apportion, assign, distribute
contingent /k n t nd nt/: depending on
or influenced by something else
Synonyms: dependent
reinforce / ri n f s/: make a feeling, an idea, etc.
stronger
Synonyms: strengthen, bolster, support
attainment / te nm nt/: success in achieving
something
Synonyms: accomplishment, achievement,
success
equitable / ekw t bl/: fair and reasonable; treating
everyone in an equal way
Synonyms: fair, equal, reasonable, impartial,
justifiable


accomplishment / k mpl m nt/: an impressive
thing that is done or achieved after a lot of work
Synonyms: achievement, acquirement, attainment

11

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

outcome side. For example, production workers
rated advancement very highly, whereas clerical
workers rated advancement in the lower third of
their list. Such findings suggest that one
person's equity is another's inequity, so an ideal
should probably weigh different inputs and
outcomes according to employee group.

12

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy


Topic 3: NATURAL CHOICE Coffee and
chocolate

What's the connection between your
morning coffee, wintering North American
birds and the cool shade of a tree? Actually,
unite a lot, says Simon Birch.
When scientists from London’s Natural History
Museum descended on the coffee farms of the
tiny Central American republic of El Salvador,
they were astonished to find such diversity of
insect and plant species. During 18 months'
work on 12 farms, they found a third more
species of parasitic wasp than are known to
exist in the whole country of Costa Rica. They
described four new species and are aware of a
fifth. On 24 farms, they found nearly 300
species of tree when they had expected to find
about 100.
El Salvador has lost much of its natural forest,
with coffee farms covering nearly 10% of the
country. Most of them use the ‘shade-grown’
method of production, which utilises a seminatural forest ecosystem. Alex Munro, the
museum’s botanist on the expedition, says:
‘Our findings amazed our insect specialist.
There’s a very sophisticated food web
present. The wasps, for instance, may depend
on specific species of tree.’


descend /d send/ : to come or go down from a
higher to a lower level
Synonyms: decline, dip, drop, fall, plunge, sink
astonished / st n t/: very surprised
Synonyms: amazed, astounded, surprised,
overwhelmed, shocked

sophisticated /s f st ke t d/: clever and complicated
in the way that it works or is presented
Synonyms: complex, high-level, clever, advanced

13

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
It's the same the world over. Species diversity
is much higher where coffee is grown in shade
conditions. In addition, coffee (and chocolate)
is usually grown in tropical rainforest - regions
that are biodiversity hotspots. ‘These habitats
support up to 70% of the planets plant and
animal species, and so the production methods
of cocoa and coffee can have a hugely
significant impact,' explains Dr Paul Donald of
the Royal Society for the. Protection of Birds.
So what does ‘shade-grown’ mean, and why is
it good for wildlife? Most of the world's coffee is
produced by poor farmers in the developing

world. Traditionally they have grown coffee
(and cocoa) under the shade of selectively
thinned tracts of rain forest in a genuinely
sustainable form of farming. Leaf fall from the
canopy provides a supply of nutrients and acts
as a mulch that suppresses weeds. The
insects that live in the canopy pollinate the
cocoa and coffee and prey on pests. The trees
also provide farmers with fruit and wood for
fuel.
Bird diversity in shade-grown coffee plantations
rivals that found in natural forests in the same
region.’ says Robert Rice from the Smithsonian
Migratory Bird Center. In Ghana, West Africa one of the world's biggest producers of cocoa 90% of the cocoa is grown under shade, and
these forest plantations are a vital habitat for
wintering European migrant birds. In the same
way, the coffee forests of Central and South
America are a refuge for wintering North
American migrants.
More recently, a combination of the collapse in
the world market for coffee and cocoa and a
drive to increase yields by producer countries
has led to huge swathes of shade-grown
coffee and cocoa being cleared to make way
for a highly intensive, monoculture pattern of
production known as ‘full sun’. ɒut this system
not only reduces the diversity of flora and
fauna, it also requires huge amounts of
pesticides and fertilisers. In Cote d’Ivoire, which
produces more than half the world's cocoa,

more than a third of the crop is now grown in
full-sun conditions.

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

genuinely / d enju nli/: truly; in a way that is exactly
what it appears to be and is not artificial
Synonyms: actually, authentically, certifiably, really,
truly
sustainable /s ste n bl/: involving the use of natural
products and energy in a way that does not harm the
environment
Synonyms: defendable, defensible, justifiable,
maintainable, supportable, tenable
mulch /m lt /: material, for example, decaying leaves,
that you put around a plant to protect its base and its
roots, to improve the quality of the soil or to stop
weeds growing
suppress /s pres/: to prevent something from
growing, developing or continuing
Synonyms: burke, cover (up), hush (up)
pollinate / p l ne t/: to put pollen into a flower or
plant so that it produces seeds
refuge / refju d /: a place, person or thing that
provides shelter or protection for
somebody/something
Synonyms: asylum, sanctuary, sanctum, shelter
collapse /k læps/: to fall down or fall in suddenly,
often after breaking apart
Synonyms: exhaustion, ruining, crash, disruption

swathe /swe ð/: a long strip of land, especially one
on which the plants or crops have been cut
intensive / n tens v/: aimed at producing as much
food as possible using as little land or as little money
as possible
Synonyms: concentrated, thorough, rigorous
monoculture / m n k lt (r)/: the practice of growing
only one type of crop on a certain area of land

The loggers have been busy in the Americas
too, where nearly 70% of all Colombian coffee
is now produced using full-sun production. One
14

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
study carried out in Colombia and Mexico
found that, compared with shade coffee, fullsun plantations have 95% fewer species of
birds.
In El Salvador, Alex Munro says shade-coffee
farms have a cultural as well as ecological
significance and people are not happy to see
them go. But the financial pressures are great,
and few of these coffee farms make much
money. ‘One farm we studied, a cooperative of
100 families, made just $10,000 a year, $100
per family and that's not taking labour costs
into account.’

The loss of shade-coffee forests has so
alarmed a number of North American wildlife
organisations that they are now harnessing
consumer power to help save these threatened
habitats. They are promoting a ‘certification'
system that can indicate to consumers that the
beans have been grown on shade plantations.
Bird-friendly coffee, for instance, is marketed
by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. The
idea is that the small extra cost is passed
directly on to the coffee farmers as a financial
incentive to maintain their shade-coffee farms.
Not all conservationists agree with such
measures, however. Some say certification
could be leading to the loss not preservation
of natural forests. John Rappole of the
Smithsonian Conservation and Research
Center, for example, argues that shade-grown
marketing provides ‘an incentive to convert
existing areas of primary forest that are too
remote or steep to be converted profitably to
other forms of cultivation into shade-coffee
plantations’.
Other conservationists, such as
Stacey Philpott and colleagues, argue the case
for shade coffee. But there are different types
of shade growing. Those used by subsistence
farmers are virtually identical to natural forest
(and have a corresponding diversity), while
systems that use coffee plants as

the understorey and cacao or citrus trees as
the overstorey may be no more diverse than
full-sun farms. Certification procedures need to
distinguish between the two and
Ms.Philpott argues that as long as the process
is rigorous and offers financial gains to the
producers, shade growing does benefit the
environment.

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

labour / le b (r)/:work, especially physical work
incentive / n sent v/: something that encourages you
to do something
Synonyms: inducement, motivation, encouragement,
enticement
preservation / prez ve n/: the act of keeping
something in its original state or in good condition
Synonyms: protection, conservation, defense
steep /sti p/: rising or falling quickly, not gradually
Synonyms: sheer, vertical, sharp
convert /k n v t/: to change or make something
change from one form, purpose, system, etc. to
another
Synonyms: change, adapt, alter, transform, transfer
profitably / pr f t bli/: in a way that gives somebody
an advantage or a useful result
Synonyms: lucratively, cost-effectively, gainfully,
beneficially, advantageously
subsistence /s b s st ns/: the state of having just

enough money or food to stay alive
virtually / v t u li/: almost or very nearly, so that any
slight difference is not important
Synonyms: almost, nearly
identical /a dent kl/: similar in every detail
Synonyms: same, equal, indistinguishable, alike

rigorous / r r s/: done carefully and with a lot of
attention to detail
Synonyms: exact, thorough, precise, careful, accurate

15

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 4: White mountain, green tourism

The French Alpine town of Chamonix has been
a magnet for tourists since the 18th century.
But today, tourism and climate change are
putting pressure on the surrounding
environment. Marc Grainger reports.
A
The town of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc sits in a
valley at 1,035 metres above sea level in the

Haute-Savoie department in south-eastern
France. To the northwest are the red peaks of
the Aiguilles Rouges massif; to the south-east
are the permanently white peaks of Mont
Blanc, which at 4,810 metres is the highest
mountain in the ɑlps. It’s a typical ɑlpine
environment, but one that is under increasing
strain from the hustle and bustle of human
activity.
B
Tourism is Chamonix’s lifeblood. Visitors have
been encouraged to visit the valley ever since it
was discovered by explorers in 1741. Over 40
years later, in 1786,
Mont ɒlanc’s summit was finally reached by a
French doctor and his guide, and this gave
birth to the sport of alpinism, with Chamonix at
its centre. In 1924, it hosted the first Winter
Olympics, and the cable cars and lifts that were
built in the years that followed gave everyone
access to the ski slopes.

strain /stre n/: pressure on somebody/something
because they have too much to do or manage, or
something very difficult to deal with; the problems,
worry or anxiety that this produces
Synonyms: stress, nervous, worry, anxiety,
pressure, burden
hustle and bustle : A large amount of activity and
work, usually in a noisy surrounding.

alpinism / ælp n z m/: the sport of climbing high
mountains, especially the Alps

C
Today, Chamonix is a modern town, connected
to the outside world via the Mont Blanc Road
Tunnel and a busy highway network. It receives

via / va /: by means of a particular person,
system, etc.
Synonyms: by, through
16

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
up to 60,000 visitors at a time during the ski
season, and climbers, hikers and extremesports enthusiasts swarm there in the summer
in even greater numbers, swelling the town’s
population to 100,000. It is the third most
visited natural site in the world, according to
Chamonix’s Tourism Office and, last year, it
had 5.2 million visitor bed nights - all this in a
town with fewer than 10,000 permanent
inhabitants.

Vol. 2 Business and Economy
swarm /sw m/: a large group of people, especially
when they are all moving quickly in the same

direction
Synonyms: group, horde, crowd
swelling / swel /: the condition of being larger or
rounder than normal
Synonyms: bulge, distension, growth

D
This influx of tourists has put the local
environment under severe pressure, and the
authorities in the valley have decided to take
action. Educating visitors is vital. Tourists are
warned not to drop rubbish, and there are now
recycling points dotted all around the valley,
from the town centre to halfway up the
mountains. An internet blog reports
environmental news in the town, and the
‘green’ message is delivered with all the tourist
office’s activities.
E
Low-carbon initiatives are also important for
the region. France is committed to reducing its
carbon emissions by a factor of four by 2050.
Central to achieving this aim is a strategy that
encourages communities to identify their
carbon emissions on a local level and make
plans to reduce them. Studies have identified
that accommodation accounts for half of all
carbon emissions in the Chamonix valley.
Hotels are known to be inefficient operations,
but those around Chamonix are now cleaning

up their act. Some are using low-energy
lighting, restricting water use and making
recycling bins available for guests; others have
invested in huge projects such as furnishing
and decorating using locally sourced materials,
using geothermal energy for heating and
installing solar panels.

influx / nfl ks/: the fact of a lot of people, money
or things arriving somewhere
Synonyms: arrival, invasion, entry, inflow
severe /s v (r)/: extremely bad or serious
Synonyms: harsh, strict, serious, awful
vital / va tl/: necessary or essential in order for
something to succeed or exist
Synonyms: important, fundamental, essential,
crucial, necessary
initiative / n t v/: a new plan for dealing with a
particular problem or for achieving a particular
purpose
Synonyms: wits, plan, idea
by a factor of: t ng or gi m bao nhiêu l n
strategy / stræt d i/: a plan that is intended to
achieve a particular purpose
Synonyms: plan, scheme, policy
geothermal / d i
ml/: connected with the
natural heat of rock deep in the ground

F

Chamonix’s council is encouraging the use of
renewable energy in private properties too, by
making funds available for green renovations
and new constructions. At the same time,
public- sector buildings have also undergone
improvements to make them more energy
efficient and less wasteful. For example, the
local ice rink has reduced its annual water

efficient / f nt/: doing something well and
thoroughly with no waste of time, money or energy
Synonyms: effective, proficient, well-organized,
competent
17

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

consumption from 140,000 cubic metres to
10,000 cubic metres in the space of three
years.
G
Improving public transport is another feature of
the new policy, as 80 percent of
carbon emissions from transport used to
come from private vehicles. While the Mont

Blanc Express is an ideal way to travel within
the valley - and see some incredible scenery
along the route - it is much more difficult to
arrive in Chamonix from outside by rail. There
is no direct line from the closest airport in
Geneva, so tourists arriving by air normally
transfer by car or bus. However, at a cost of 3.3
million euros a year, Chamonix has introduced
a free shuttle service in order to get people out
of their cars and into buses fitted with particle
filters.

shuttle / tl/: a plane, bus or train that travels
regularly between two places
Synonyms: transport, vehicle

H
If the valley’s visitors and residents want to
know why they need to reduce their
environmental impact, they just have to look
up; the effects of climate change are there for
everyone to see in the melting glaciers that
cling to the mountains. The fragility of the
Alpine environment has long been a concern
among local people. Today, 70 percent of the
805 square kilometres that comprise
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc is protected in some
way. But now, the impact of tourism has led the
authorities to recognise that more must be
done if the valley is to remain prosperous: that

they must not only protect the natural
environment better, but also manage the
numbers of visitors better, so that its residents
can happily remain there.

fragility /fr d l ti/: the fact of being weak and
uncertain or easily destroyed or spoilt
Synonyms: brittleness, tenuousness, delicacy
comprise /k m pra z/: to have
somebody/something as parts or members
Synonyms: include, consist, contain
prosperous / pr sp r s/: rich and successful
Synonyms: wealthy, rich, well-off, flourishing

18

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 5: Recovering a damaged reputation

In 2009, it was revealed that some of the
information published by the University of East
ɑnglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in the
UK, concerning climate change, had been
inaccurate. Furthermore, it was alleged that

some of the relevant statistics had been
withheld from publication. The ensuing
controversy affected the reputation not only of
that institution, but also of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with which
the CRU is closely involved, and of climate
scientists in general. Even if the claims of
misconduct and incompetence were
eventually proven to be largely untrue, or
confined to a few individuals, the damage was
done. The perceived wrongdoings of a few
people had raised doubts about the many.
The response of most climate scientists was to
cross their fingers and hope for the best, and
they kept a low profile. Many no doubt hoped
that subsequent independent inquiries into the
IPCC and CRU would draw a line under their
problems. However, although these were likely
to help, they were unlikely to undo the harm
caused by months of hostile news reports and
attacks by critics.
The damage that has been done should not be
underestimated. As Ralph Cicerone, the
President of the US National Academy of
Sciences, wrote in an editorial in the
journal Science: ‘Public opinion has moved
toward the view that scientists often try to
suppress alternative hypotheses and ideas
and that scientists will withhold data and try to
manipulate some aspects of peer review to


inaccurate / n ækj r t/: not exact or accurate; with
mistakes
Synonyms: imprecise, inexact, mistaken, incorrect,
wrong
withhold /w ð h ld/: to refuse to give something to
somebody
Synonyms: refuse, deny, suppress
ensuing / n sju /: that happens after or as a result
of another event
Synonyms: resultant, subsequent, following
controversy / k ntr v si/: public discussion and
argument about something that many people
strongly disagree about, disapprove of, or are
shocked by
Synonyms: disagreement, argument, debate,
dispute
misconduct / m s k nd kt/ : unacceptable
behaviour, especially by a professional person
Synonyms: bad behavior, misbehavior
perceive /p si v/: to notice or become aware of
something
Synonyms: observe, detect
doubt /da t/: a feeling of being uncertain about
something or not believing something
Synonyms: hesitation, uncertainty, distrust,
disbelief, suspicion
draw a line under: resolve not to engage in further
discussion or consideration of (a difficult or
distressing issue or situation).

19

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
prevent dissent.’ He concluded that ‘the
perceived misbehavior of even a few scientists
can diminish the credibility of science as a
whole.’
An opinion poll taken at the beginning of 2010
found that the proportion of people in the US
who trust scientists as a source of
information about global warming had
dropped from 83 percent, in 2008, to 74
percent. Another survey carried out by the
British Broadcasting Corporation in February
2010 found that just 26 percent of British
people now believe that climate change is
confirmed as being largely human-made,
down from 41 percent in November 2009.
Regaining the confidence and trust of the public
is never easy. Hunkering down and hoping for
the best - climate science’s current strategy makes it almost impossible. It is much better to
learn from the successes and failures of
organisations that have dealt with similar blows
to their public standing.
In fact, climate science needs professional help
to rebuild its reputation. It could do worse than
follow the advice given by Leslie Gaines-Ross, a

‘reputation strategist’ at Public Relations (PR)
company Webef Shandwick, in her recent
book Corporate Reputation: 12 Steps to
Safeguarding and Recovering
Reputation. Gaines-Ross’s strategy is based on
her analysis of how various organisations
responded to crises, such as desktop-printer
firm Xerox, whose business plummeted during
the 1990s, and the USɑ’s National ɑeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) after the
Columbia shuttle disaster in 2003.
The first step she suggests is to ‘take the heat leader first’. In many cases, chief executives
who publicly accept responsibility for corporate
failings can begin to reverse the freefall of their
company’s reputations, but not always. If the
leader is held at least partly responsible for the
fall from grace, it can be almost impossible to
convince critics that a new direction can be
charted with that same person at the helm.
This is the dilemma facing the heads of the
IPCC and CRU. Both have been blamed for
their organisations’ problems, not least for the
way in which they have dealt with critics, and
both have been subjected to public calls for their
removal. Yet both organisations appear to

Vol. 2 Business and Economy
subsequent / s bs kw nt/: happening or coming
after something else
Synonyms: following, ensuing, consequent, later

underestimate / nd r est me t/: to not realize how
good, strong, determined, etc. somebody really is
Synonyms: undervalue, underrate, misjudge
alternative / l t n t v/: a thing that you can
choose to do or have out of two or more possibilities
Synonyms: other, another, substitute, different
hypothesis /ha p
s s/: an idea or explanation
of something that is based on a few known facts but
that has not yet been proved to be true or correct
Synonyms: theory, premise, guess
dissent /d sent/: the fact of having or expressing
opinions that are different from those that are
officially accepted
Synonyms: opposition, disagreement, conflict
diminish /d m n /: to make somebody/something
seem less important than they really are
Synonyms: reduce, lessen, moderate
carry out : to do and complete a task
Synonyms: perform, do, complete, accomplish
hunker down : to prepare yourself to stay
somewhere, keep an opinion, etc. for a long time
blows: an unexpected event that has
a damaging effect on someone or something
reputation / repju te n/: the opinion that people
have about what somebody/something is like,
based on what has happened in the past
Synonyms: standing, status
plummet / pl m t/: to fall suddenly and quickly from
a high level or position

Synonyms: fall, plunge, drop
convince /k n v ns/: to make somebody/yourself
believe that something is true
Synonyms: persuade, prove, influence, convert,
assure
dilemma /d lem /: a situation in which very difficult
choice between things of equal importance must be
made.
20

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary
believe they can repair their reputations without
a change of leadership.
The second step outlined by Gaines-Ross is to
‘communicate tirelessly’. Yet many climate
researchers have avoided the media and the
public, at least until the official enquiries have
concluded their reports. This reaction may be
understandable, but it has backfired.
Journalists following the story have often been
unable to find spokespeople willing to defend
climate science. In this case, ‘no comment’ is
commonly interpreted as an admission of
silent, collective guilt.
Remaining visible is only a start, though; climate
scientists also need to be careful what they say.
They must realise that they face doubts not just

about their published results, but also about
their conduct and honesty. It simply won’t work
for scientists to continue to appeal to the weight
of the evidence, while refusing to discuss the
integrity of their profession. The harm has been
increased by a perceived reluctance to admit
even the possibility of mistakes or wrongdoing.
The third step put forward by Gaines-Ross is
‘don’t underestimate your critics and
competitors’. This means not only recognising
the skill with which the opponents of climate
research have executed their campaigns
through Internet blogs and other media, but also
acknowledging the validity of some of their
criticisms. It is clear, for instance, that climate
scientists need better standards of
transparency, to allow for scrutiny not just by
their peers, but also by critics from outside the
world of research.
It is also important to engage with those critics.
That doesn’t mean conceding to unfounded
arguments which are based on prejudice rather
than evidence, but there is an obligation to help
the public understand the causes of climate
change, as well as the options for avoiding and
dealing with the consequences.
To begin the process of rebuilding trust in their
profession, climate scientists need to follow
these three seeps. But that is just the start.
Gaines-Ross estimates that it typically takes

four years for a company to rescue and restore
a broken reputation.

Vol. 2 Business and Economy
backfire / bæk fa (r)/: to have the opposite effect
to the one intended, with bad or dangerous results
Synonyms: go wrong, miscarry, fail
interpret / n t pr t/: to explain the meaning of
something
Synonyms: explain, clarify
conduct /k n d kt/: to organize and/or do a
particular activity
Synonyms: control, manage, run, organize
integrity / n te r ti/: the quality of being honest and
having strong moral principles
Synonyms: honesty, truth, honor, reliablility
reluctance /r l kt ns/: the feeling of being unwilling
to do something and hesitating before you do it,
because you do not want to do it or because you
are not sure that it is the right thing to do
Synonyms: unwillingness, disinclination, hesitancy
acknowledge / k n l d /: to accept that something
is true
Synonyms: admit, recognize, accept, concede
validity /v l d ti/: the state of being legally or
officially acceptable
Synonyms: legality, authority, legitimacy
scrutiny / skru t ni/: careful and thorough
examination
Synonyms: examination, inspection, analysis

engage / n e d /: to succeed in attracting and
keeping somebody’s attention and interest
Synonyms: attract
prejudice / pred ud s/: an unreasonable dislike of
or preference for a person, group, custom, etc.,
especially when it is based on their race, religion,
sex, etc.
Synonyms: bias, preconception, prejudgement
consequence / k ns kw ns/: a result of something
that has happened
Synonyms: result, effect
21

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Winning back public confidence is a marathon,
not a sprint, but you can’t win at all if you don’t
step up to the starting line.

22

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary


Vol. 2 Business and Economy

Topic 6: IMPLEMENTING THE CYCLE OF
SUCCESS: A CASE STUDY

Within Australia, Australian Hotels Inc (AHI)
operates nine hotels and employs over 2000
permanent full-time staff, 300 permanent parttime employees and 100 casual staff. One of its
latest ventures, the Sydney Airport hotel (SAH),
opened in March 1995. The hotel is the closest
to Sydney Airport and is designed to provide
the best available accommodation, food and
beverage and meeting facilities in Sydney's
southern suburbs. Similar to many international
hotel chains, however, AHI has experienced
difficulties in Australia in providing long-term
profits for hotel owners, as a result of the
country's high labour-cost structure. In order to
develop an economically viable hotel
organisation model, AHI decided to implement
some new policies and practices at SAH.
The first of the initiatives was an organisational
structure with only three levels of management
- compared to the traditional seven. Partly as a
result of this change, there are 25 per cent
fewer management positions, enabling a
significant saving. This change also has other
implications. Communication, both up and
down the organisation, has greatly improved.

Decision-making has been forced down in
many cases to front-line employees. As a
result, guest requests are usually met without

permanent / p m n nt/: lasting for a long time or
for all time in the future; existing all the time
Synonyms: enduring, lasting, constant, stable
beverage / bev r d /: any type of drink except water
Synonyms: drink

viable / va bl/: that can be done; that will be
successful
Synonyms: possible, practical, workable, worthwhile
implement / mpl ment/: to make something that has
been officially decided start to happen or be used
Synonyms: apply, execute, carry out

implication / mpl ke n/: a possible effect or result
of an action or a decision
Synonyms: effect, insinuation, inference

23

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy


reference to a supervisor, improving both
customer and employee satisfaction.
The hotel also recognised that it would need a
different approach to selecting employees who
would fit in with its new policies. In its
advertisements, the hotel stated a preference
for people with some 'service' experience in
order to minimize traditional work practices
being introduced into the hotel. Over 7000
applicants filled in application forms for the 120
jobs initially offered at SAH. The balance of
the positions at the hotel (30 management and
40 shift leader positions) were predominantly
filled by transfers from other AHI properties.
A series of tests and interviews were
conducted with potential employees, which
eventually left 280 applicants competing for the
120 advertised positions. After the final
interview, potential recruits were divided into
three categories. Category A was for applicants
exhibiting strong leadership qualities,
Category C was for applicants perceived to be
followers, and Category B was for applicants
with both leader and follower qualities.
Department heads and shift leaders then
composed prospective teams using a
combination of people from all three categories.
Once suitable teams were formed, offers of
employment were made to team members.
Another major initiative by SAH was to adopt a

totally multi-skilled workforce. Although there
may be some limitations with highly technical
jobs such as cooking or maintenance,
wherever possible, employees at SAH are able
to work in a wide variety of positions. A multiskilled workforce provides far greater
management flexibility during peak and quiet
times to transfer employees to needed
positions. For example, when office staff are
away on holidays during quiet periods of the
year, employees in either food or beverage or
housekeeping departments can temporarily.
The most crucial way, however, of improving
the labour cost structure at SAH was to find
better, more productive ways of providing
customer service. SAH management
concluded this would first require a process of
'benchmarking'. The prime objective of the
benchmarking process was to compare a range
of service delivery processes across a range of
criteria using teams made up of employees

minimize / m n ma z/: to reduce something,
especially something bad, to the lowest possible
level
Synonyms: lessen, reduce
initially / n li/: at the beginning
Synonyms: at first, originally, firstly, primarily
predominantly /pr d m n ntli/: mostly; mainly
Synonyms: mainly, mostly, largely, chiefly, principally
potential /p ten l/: that can develop into something

or be developed in the future
Synonyms: possible, hypothetical, likely, probable
exhibit / z b t/: to show clearly that you have or
feel a particular feeling, quality or ability
Synonyms: display, show, demonstrate
prospective /pr spekt v/: expected to do something
or to become something
Synonyms: potential, future, probable, likely

limitation / l m te n/: a rule, fact or condition that
limits something
Synonyms: drawback, imperfection, shortcoming
flexibility / fleks b l ti/: the ability to change to suit
new conditions or situations
Synonyms: suppleness

crucial / kru l/: extremely important, because it will
affect other things
Synonyms: vital, important, essential, fundamental,
necessary

24

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.


Th y Kiên iFIGHT Lean Vocabulary

Vol. 2 Business and Economy


from different departments within the hotel
which interacted with each other. This process
resulted in performance measures that greatly
enhanced SAH's ability to improve productivity
and quality.
The front office team discovered through this
project that a high proportion of AHI Club
member reservations were incomplete. As a
result, the service provided to these guests was
below the standard promised to them as part of
their membership agreement. Reducing the
number of incomplete reservations greatly
improved guest perceptions of service.
In addition, a program modelled on an earlier
project called 'Take Charge' was implemented.
Essentially, Take Charge provides an effective
feedback loop horn both customers and
employees. Customer comments, both positive
and negative, are recorded by staff. These are
collated regularly to identify opportunities for
improvement. Just as importantly, employees
are requested to note down their own
suggestions for improvement. (AHI has set an
expectation that employees will submit at least
three suggestions for every one they receive
from a customer.)

Collated: compare and analyze (texts or other data).

Employee feedback is reviewed daily and

suggestions are implemented within 48 hours,
if possible, or a valid reason is given for nonimplementation. If suggestions require analysis
or data collection, the Take Charge team has
30 days in which to address the issue and
come up with recommendations.
Although quantitative evidence of AHI's
initiatives at SAH are limited at present,
anecdotal evidence clearly suggests that these
practices are working. Indeed AHI is
progressively rolling out these initiatives in
other hotels in Australia, whilst numerous
overseas visitors have come to see how the
program works.

anecdotal / æn k d tl/: possibly not true or
accurate
Synonyms: subjective, unreliable, untrustworthy
progressively /pr res vli/: steadily and
continuously
Synonyms: increasingly, gradually

25

Th y Kiên cùng team làm sách c a IELTS iFIGHT chúc b n thành công.