CXC English A exam: Past paper type summary writing question 3

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CXC English A past papers

The excerpt below is the transcript of part of an interview aired in the program ON THE ROAD. The excerpt presents a discussion on one of the many topics discussed on the program.

Read the excerpt. Write a summary of what the interviewees said about The Workplace. Your summary should not be more than 110 words and should NOT be in the form of a dialog.

Interviewer: 

Interviewer: 

Ms. Grant, this matter of people being afraid that they will lose their jobs. We were speaking about it while we waited…is it really as worrying as people say? What are your reactions?

Ms. Grant: 

It is a worrying matter and we are at present not able to do anything about it. We are now looking at other things…things we can really attack. We are not forgetting the fact that people are losing their jobs…it is serious…but we are working with the worker in a different way.

The workplace is not the same as it used to be. Things have changed so much. We have to look at it again.

Interviewer: 

You mean you have decided to work with those who continue to have jobs. Ha! ha!...You say you are now giving some attention to the workplace. Tell us what you mean.

Ms. Grant: 

Yes, everyday we see situations in which changes in the workplace cause changes in the way workers relate to each other and to their employers…Changes in the way they behave to each other.

Interviewer: 

Mr. Persaud, as a representative of this unique partnership of employees and employers, do you think Ms. Grant is doing the right thing? Is this matter of how people relate to each other at the workplace something that really needs attention?

Mr.Persaud: 

I agree entirely with Ms. Grant. We want to improve the way people behave to each other. That is why our Union was formed. We found that we had to make changes at the workplace. We had to change some job names and sometimes even what workers had to do.

Ms. Grant: 

And changes like those often cause problems.

When we tried to look at how well people did their work, that was a really big problem. We said we wanted to rate how they worked and there were all kinds of disagreements.

Interviewer:

Ms. Grant, is this part of the concern you expressed earlier? Could you explain for our listeners?

Ms. Grant: 

Mr. Persaud speaks very knowledgeably when he says how people get on with each other is as important as the jobs they do. People sometimes get a little tense when they know they are being rated. Feelings run higher if they think they might lose their jobs because their rating is not good. And we know the side effects from bad feelings.

Mr.Persaud: 

Yes. When people know that keeping their position can be affected by their rating they get very anxious.

Ms. Grant: 

It is tense. It means that people can hardly plan to make their job a career. They may have to leave one place and make a fresh start somewhere else. That makes them “edgy”. They may feel threatened by other employees or even by their employers.

Interviewer: