Thursday, March 19, 2020

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: BOTTOM UP

TODAY'S BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY IS Bottom  Up.

French translation could be "une approche en profondeur" or "une approche ascendante".



Hello Darlings!

It is 01:31 in the morning and I am up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, working like a dog on the Business English Paris blog. No, I did not work all day and night. Don't worry.  I actually didn't do much during the day yesterday because the confinement was getting to me and I did not feel productive. But later in the afternoon, after a long nap and a long talk with myself, I got a second wind. And since late afternoon, I have been working on this or the other thing, including a new YouTube video for the yesterday's word of the day: UNCONVENTIONAL. If you are ever curious about my videos, you can check my Instagram or Youtube all of which should be displayed in the sidebar, assuming that you have a browser that does not rearrange my blog (which would be very maddening, to be honest.)

So. I chose a crazy word for the day  today at Business English Paris. BOTTOM UP. It is crazy because even in English, it is not a word I use. I am not really an expert on this word. When I think of BOTTOM UP, I think of management styles. You can have either a Bottom up or a Top down management style. What that means is you either have a leadership system where the top management makes all the decisions (top down) or a leadership system where lower level employees as well as upper executives share in the decision-making process of the company (bottom up).

That's about all I know about BOTTOM UP and TOP DOWN.  I did do a quick research, though, and discovered that it pertains to more than just management. These terms can be used in various contexts including investing, design, forecasting, budgeting, economics, finance, and construction.

My question for you is how is your company structured? Is it BOTTOM UP or TOP DOWN? 

If it is BOTTOM UP, then there is a lot of collaboration and communication between departments and sectors in order to make decisions. All employees have a voice and a say in the decision-making process and they often feel valued, and they have a sense of ownership of the outcomes for the company.  In a bottom up company, the managers focus on building morale. Is this the type of company you work for? Can you give specific examples of why you think so?

On the other hand, you may not feel so valued by upper management in your company. You may feel like you have no say in the company's goal setting and macro decision making. Can you talk to me about that? Are high level CEOs the ones to make all the decisions and set the goals for the company? Do they delegate down the ladder to lower level employees? Do they adapt a "Big Picture" approach to decision-making? Do they delegate tasks to lower level employees? Is there a clear hierarchical character to your company where authority figures determine the larger goals of the company and then delegate tasks to the lower level employees?

What group do you belong to in your company? Are you one of the upper level executives or are you one of the lower level employees? Do you think that your company's leadership structure and system is the appropriate one for the company? Why or why not?

Note: During this time, I am offering strictly telephone conversation courses to respect the order of President Emmanuel Macron who has issued a directive as you know that French population must remain under curfew for the next 15 days. If you would like to start or continue with English conversation lessons therefore, it will be strictly by telephone. I look forward to speaking with you, que même.


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