POLI2aula5_exemplo1

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TEXT: RICARDO SEMLER’S BUSINESS 
Ricardo Semler, author and business manager, is celebrated as a role model of a 
Chief Executive who breaks all the traditional rules and succeeds, massively. Semler 
eliminated what he called 'corporate oppression" from his company, Semco: time 
clocks, dress codes, security procedures, privileged office spaces and perks, they 
all went. There were to be no receptionists or secretaries. He set up 'factory 
committees' to run the plants, in an attempt to get more worker involvement and 
Semler guaranteed that no-one could be fired while serving on the committees or for 
at least a year afterwards. Ricardo then introduced profit-sharing schemes for all 
the workers. The thought that they could directly influence their own pay 
encouraged the committees to look for savings and to question any procedures or 
layers of management that didn't seem to add value. Managers were hired and fired 
by their own employees. More than that, the units were now inventing new 
businesses for themselves. And so Semco grew, entirely due to the initiatives of its 
workers. The workers have unrestricted access to all corporate records and are 
taught how to read financial reports; they set their own wages and their own 
production quotas. When the number of people in a Semco unit hits the 100 to 200 
mark it is split in two, like it or not. 
Semler lists six principles that guide his always experimental company: 
1. don't increase business size unnecessarily 
2. never stop being a start-up 
3. don't be a nanny to your workers 
4. let talent find its place 
5. make decisions quickly and openly 
6. partner promiscuously, you can't do it all yourself. 
 
 
CHECK THE VOCABULARY 
celebrated - well-known, famous 
role model - a person whose behavior is copied or is likely to be copied by 
others 
breaks all the rules - somebody or something which goes against an accepted 
principle which says how things are to be done 
time clocks - machines which record when a worker arrives for work and 
punches his card 
dress codes - rules which tell workers what to wear on the workplace 
security procedures - a set of actions necessary to protect an organization or 
its employees against violence, lawbreaking etc. 
perks - extra items given by a company to workers in addition to their salaries 
(such as company cars, private health insurance etc.) 
plants - large factories 
worker involvement – action or direct connection on the part of the workers 
with something 
fired - dismissed from a job 
profit-sharing schemes - arrangements where workers get a share of the 
profits of the company they work for 
hired - employed, given a job 
unrestricted access – to be able to obtain, reach, see something without limits 
production quotas - fixed amount of products which should be produced 
a start-up - a new company just beginning to do business 
partner promiscuously - to share business with lots of different people or 
organizations