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ALEXANDRA: Excuse me, Dr Thompson. May I speak to you for a minute?
MR THOMPSON: Of course. Please come in.
ALEXANDRA: I’m Alexandra Jones. I’m studying Business here at the university and for my assignment I have to carry out a survey of people who own their own organisations. I heard that you are the founder of your own company, and I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about it.
MR THOMPSON: Yes, of course, please fire away.
ALEXANDRA: OK great, we’ll get started! Did you encounter any problems whilst you were starting your company?
MR THOMPSON: Actually it was not as hard as I anticipated. I started out with very clear objectives, so I knew exactly what I wanted my corporate identity to be. It was very difficult to find the correct premises as the property market in London is so competitive, but eventually I found the perfect site. [21]The hardest part was structuring the business, as I had no formal template so I had to create it myself.
ALEXANDRA: Yes, that is very impressive. Was it difficult dealing with staff?
MR THOMPSON: It’s always tricky trying to satisfy a group of people with varying interests, however, I didn’t encounter many problems. I found it very important to make the staff feel appreciated, so I hosted a staff day where we could all introduce ourselves and get to know each other as individuals. I was also able to talk to them about the type of work that they would be doing and [22]gave them the opportunity to share with me the issues they had with the allocation of the work.
ALEXANDRA: OK. Did you hire a management team or did you take on the role of the manager?
MR THOMPSON: Oh no, I already had enough tasks to take care of. I employed someone else to take on the role of the manager, [23]however, he never consulted me before making decisions so I was forced to let him go and hire someone else.
ALEXANDRA: And what did the other staff think of the new manager?
MR THOMPSON: They had a great deal of respect for him. It definitely helped that I consulted with them before hiring him. [24]They were surprised that he has been so successful in his role at the company, despite the longer meeting hours.
ALEXANDRA: Since the company opened, has it had any great achievements?
MR THOMSON: There are many aspects of the company that I am pleased with, however, there is one achievement of which I am particularly proud. I wanted a mural painted to brighten up our entrance area, so I decided it would be a great idea to invite the local primary school to create one for us. [25]The youngsters had a great time and I know they were thrilled to be included.
ALEXANDRA: Oh, that’s lovely.
ALEXANDR: Have you encountered any major problems since you opened the company?
MR THOMPSON: Yes, we are always encountering issues with employment because it is very hard to find people who are qualified for the roles that we were offering, but unfortunately there is no [26]solution to this. One of our administrators also recently left to go on maternity leave, which put us in a tricky situation, however, we have managed to find a temporary replacement for her. It’s also now approaching the period when we must carry out our financial training so I need to find a venue with enough space to hold everyone. It will be interesting trying to organise that event!
ALEXANDRA: Oh gosh, I can imagine. I find it hard enough to organise myself!
MR THOMPSON: Organisation is a difficult thing to master, but it is also essential for success! Whilst I was learning how to stay organised, I realised that the [27]role of motivation is essential.
ALEXANDRA: OK, that’s great!
MR THOMPSON: I also suggest that you visit the library, as there is a section on [28]culture that will have some very valuable material on how to develop your organisation skills.
ALEXANDRA: OK, I’ll head to the library when we’re finished.
MR THOMPSON: I think you will find it very useful. They also have a collection of documentaries on the subject of personal organisation and I suggest that you look up the literature on [29]management of change. I personally found these sources incredibly useful. Articles are also a valuable resource and we have a whole collection of them in our university library. I advise that you look at Section 2 where you will find articles on the [30]nature of volunteering.
ALEXANDRA: That’s great, thank you so much for your help.
MR THOMPSON: No problem.