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让职员敢于说不
“I don’t ask questions. I simply comply with the instructions given to me.” So said Malusi Gigaba, South Africa’s new finance minister, after Jacob Zuma, the country’s president, appointed him to the job last month after firing Pravin Gordhan.
Far from obeying Mr Zuma’s instructions, Mr Gordhan had asked questions, persistently, about corruption and what he saw as inappropriate government spending. Rating agencies greeted the dismissal of Mr Gordhan and the appointment of Mr Gigaba by cutting South Africa’s credit rating to junk. Tens of thousands of South Africans took to the streets in protest at Mr Zuma.
The protesters, and the rating agencies, understood that a country whose senior officials ask no questions when confronted with dubious behaviour is heading for ruin. The same is true of companies. Arthur Andersen, Enron and Lehman Brothers all crashed because people inside them, seeing their organisations taking wrong turns, did not ask their superiors: “Why are we doing this?”
By contrast, when Jes Staley, Barclays’ chief executive, ordered staff to find out who had sent two uncomplimentary letters about a newly hired employee, they did not run off to do his bidding. They pushed back. Barclays’ compliance department had classified the letters as whistleblowing and told Mr Staley that any attempt to track down the writer was not allowed.
When Mr Staley tried a second time to find the letter writer, enlisting a US law enforcement agency, someone inside the company reported him to the board. Mr Staley is now under investigation by regulators in the UK and US. Barclays’ board has formally reprimanded him and plans a substantial cut to his bonus.
Whatever the outcome of this murky saga — it is not yet clear whether this was a true case of whistleblowing or anonymous malice — the Barclays system seems to have worked. An attempt by the boss to brush aside the rules failed.
After a series of scandals, most damagingly over Libor manipulation, there are Barclays staff prepared to say: “However senior you are, what you are asking me to do is wrong and I am not going to do it.” Righteous disobedience of this sort is seldom career-enhancing, but it can help ensure the company’s health and even survival.
Most employees seldom confront such stark “really, must I?” orders from their bosses. But many face everyday managerial boneheadedness — instructions that, in their needless rigidity, damage the company, its customers and its reputation.
Last week’s order to United Continental cabin crew to remove four passengers from an aircraft about to take off from Chicago was an excellent example. Having failed to find volunteers to leave the plane to make way for United employees travelling to take charge of another flight, the airline nominated four passengers to leave and, in videos seen around the world, called in airport security staff who dragged out and injured the most recalcitrant, a Vietnamese-American doctor.
It is harder to persuade passengers off a flight after they have boarded it than when they check in, or at the gate. But airlines have more at their disposal than the $800 United was offering passengers to leave the plane. They could have told passengers their next flight would be business class, or that they could have a free flight in addition to the next day’s one. If there were still no takers, they could have offered free return flights to Paris or Bangkok .
There are enough passengers, even those already on the plane — or “boarded and luggaged and situated”, as Oscar Munoz, United’s chief executive, put it — who are ready give up their seats if the price is right.
Mr Munoz, who issued a series of badly received statements, now says he understands that his flight attendants need more freedom to act sensibly. “We do empower our frontline folks to a degree, but we need to expand and adjust those policies to allow a little bit more common sense,” he said.
It will take a determined effort, and a long time, to implant that culture in the company. Employees need more than empowerment. They need to feel they have the right to say no, as Mr Gordhan and some at Barclays did. Blind obedience may please the boss. But those who demand it do not deserve to be in charge.
译文
“我不会问问题。我只服从命令,”南非新任财政部长马卢西?吉加巴是这么说的。前一阵子,南非总统雅各布?祖马在炒掉普拉温?戈登后,任命他接任财长。
此前戈登没服从祖马的命令,他问了一个接一个问题,内容涉及腐 败与他所觉得的不适当的政府开支。对于戈登被解职与吉加巴被任命,评级机构的回话是把南非的信用评级降至垃圾级。数万名南非人走上街头抗 议祖马。
抗 议者和评级机构都了解,假如一个国家的高 官们在面对可疑行为时不闻不问,这个国家注定要毁灭。公司也是这样。安达信、安然和雷曼兄弟破产是什么原因,都是内部人士看到公司做出错误之举后没询问他们的上级:“大家为何要这么做?”
相比之下,当巴克莱首席实行官杰斯?斯特利命令职员追查是哪个寄出了两封批评一位新聘职员的信件时,他们没积极实行他的命令。他们进行了抵制。巴克莱合规部门此前已把这类信件列为举报,并告诉斯特利,追查写信者的任何企图都是遭到禁止的。
当斯特利第二次试图追查写信者,还请来美国的一个执法部门时,该公司内部人士把他告上了董事会。斯特利目前正在同意美国和英国监管机构的调查。巴克莱董事会已正式对他提出批评,并计划大幅削减他的奖金。
不管这个诡异的故事结果怎么样(尚不了解这是真实的举报还是匿名的恶意行为),巴克莱的规范好像发生了用途。老板试图漠视规定的企图失败了。
在历程了一系列丑闻后(紧急的是伦敦银行间同业拆借利率操纵丑闻),巴克莱职员敢于说:“不管你的级别多么高,假如你需要我做的事情是错的,我就不会照做。”这种正义的违抗命令极少有益于事业的晋升,但它能够帮助确保企业的健康,甚至存活。
多数职员极少会遇见老板发出这种叫人为难的命令。但不少人会遭遇平时的管理愚蠢——僵硬得毫无必要的指令,对公司及其顾客和声誉都有损害。
近联合国内机组职员接到命令,需要让4名乘客离开一架马上从芝加哥起飞的飞机,这就是一个非常不错的例子。航空公司未能找到自愿下机的乘客为实行另一个航班的职员让座,于是随机挑选了4名乘客下机。在全世界都看到的视频中,他们叫来了机场保安,把叛逆的一位越南裔美籍大夫强行拖离飞机并致其受伤。
在乘客登机后说服乘客下机,要比在他们办理登记手续或者在登机口等待时更难。但与美联航向乘客提出的800USD下机补偿相比,航空公司应该有更多的方法。他们本可以告诉乘客他们的下次航班将升级为商务舱,或者除去搭乘第二天的航班,他们还可以获得一张免费机票。假如仍然没自愿下机的乘客,他们可以提供到巴黎或曼谷的免费返程机票(反正他们可以限制志愿者在本来就一定有空座的旅游淡季才能用这种机票)。
假如价格适合,就会有足够多的乘客,甚至那些已经登机的乘客(或者就像美联航首席实行官奥斯卡?穆尼奥斯所说的那样,“已登机、放好行李和就座的乘客”)想舍弃座位。
穆尼奥斯发布了一系列反响糟糕的声明,他目前表示,他认识到,他的空乘职员需要更多的自由去采取理智行动。他表示:“大家确实给予大家的一线职员肯定权限,但大家需要扩大并调整这类政策,为常理稍微多留一些空间。”
要在该公司打造这种文化,需要坚持不懈的努力和很久。职员需要的不止是授权。他们需要了解自己有权利说不,就像南非前财长戈登和巴克莱的一些职员所做的那样。盲目服从可能会取悦上司。但需要这么做的人不配担任管理职位。
怎么样不断退路的辞去工作
Looking for a job is a job in and of itself. You have to search for the right gig, update your résumé, write some cover letters, and then go on interviews - all without any guarantees. So when you get that coveted offer, it seems inevitable that youll accept. But how do you decline when it turns out the opportunity isnt quite right?
Getting that far in the interview process likely means you have at least some fond feelings for the company youre about to turn down; you may even want to work for them at some point in the future. So, you need to make sure you decline graciously.
Santone suggests following up after you decline with a handwritten note that expresses your gratitude again, and extends an offer to stay in touch. Then, youre expanding your network, she explains. Just because you didnt take a job with them doesnt mean that you cant have a relationship.
Part of the job-search process is, in fact, declining offers, says Mark Gasche, a career management leader at the loan-refinancing company at SoFi. The two main mistakes he says people make: leaving a voicemail thats brief, difficult to interpret, and leaves no room for dialogue; or writing an email that feels impolite and can be forwarded around.
People usually go with the route of least resistance out of fear of confrontation. Instead, the best thing to do is contact the person who has worked with you most during the process and ask if they have time to discuss where you are. That might not always be someone from HR, Gasche says. Call whoever it is on the phone and be honest, he suggests - but not too honest. For example, if your reason for saying no is that the manager you interviewed with rubbed you the wrong way and youd really prefer not to report to them, you might want to keep that to yourself.
If there was something that you viewed as negative, I wouldnt go there. Theres just no point, he says.
译文
找工作这件事本身就是一份工作。你需要搜索适合的工作,更新我们的简历,写一些求职信,然后去面试--而这所有都没保证。所以当你收到梦寐以求的工作机会时,同意这份工作好像理所当然。但当你发现这一工作机会并不合适你时,你又该怎么样拒绝呢?
面试过程进入到后几轮非常可能说明你至少是有点喜欢这家你马上拒绝的企业的;甚至你可能想将来在这家公司工作。所以,拒绝的时候必须要语气亲切。
圣托内建议在拒绝工作机会后,手写一封便签,第三表达我们的感激之情,然后注明期望能维持联系。如此你就扩大了我们的互联网,她讲解道。你没同意他们的工作邀请并不意味着你们之间不可以打造友情。
事实上,找工作的过程之一就是拒绝工作机会,索菲贷款再筹资企业的职业管理负责人马克·加舍说道。他说大家主要犯的两个错误就是:只给他们发送一条简短的、很难解析的语音留言,不留任何对话空间;或是写一封给人看起来不礼貌且可以转发的邮件。(你可不想你那简洁/尴尬的拒绝变成红极办公室的网络红人吧。)
因为害怕对峙,大家一般会采取温和的方法。然而,好的方法就是联系面试中和你联系多的那个人,询问他们是不是有空闲探讨你的职位问题。这个人并未必一直人事,加舍说道。他建议:打电话给任何在线员工,诚实的说清状况,但也不要太过诚实。譬如,你拒绝是什么原因面试你的经理惹恼了你,你情愿不向他报到,那你好还是把这类话憋在心里。
假如你感觉有的事情非常负面,那好也别说。由于说了也没意义,他说道。