出自:国家开放大学-管理英语4
Who Killed Nokia?
Nokia executives attempted to explain its fall from the top of the smartphone pyramid with three factors: 1) that Nokia was technically inferior to Apple, 2) that the company was complacent and 3) that its leaders didn.t see the disruptive iPhone coming.
It has also been argued that it was none of the above. Nokia lost the smartphone battle because of divergent shared fears among the company.s middle and top managers which led to company-wide inertia that left it powerless to respond to Apple.s game.
Based on the findings of an in-depth investigation and 76 interviews with top and middle managers, engineers and external experts, the researchers discovered a culture of fear due to temperamental leaders and that frightened middle managers were scared of telling the truth.
The fear that froze the company came from two places. First, the company.s top managers had a terrifying reputation. Some members of Nokia.s board and top management were described as “extremely temperamental” and they regularly shouted at people “at the top of their lungs”. It was very difficult to tell them things they didn.t want to hear. Secondly, top managers were afraid of the external environment and not meeting their quarterly targets, which also impacted how they treated middle managers.
Top managers thus made middle managers afraid of disappointing them. Middle managers were told that they were not ambitious enough to meet top managers. goals.
Fearing the reactions of top managers, middle managers remained silent or provided optimistic, filtered information. Thus, middle managers directly lied to top management.
Worse, a culture of status inside Nokia made everyone want to hold onto vested power for fear of resources being allocated elsewhere if they delivered bad news or showed that they were not bold or ambitious enough to undertake challenging assignments.
Beyond verbal pressure, top managers also applied pressure for faster performance in personnel selection. This led middle managers to over promise and under deliver. One middle manager told us that “you can get resources by promising something earlier, or promising a lot. It.s sales work.”
While modest fear might be healthy for motivation, abusing it can be like overusing a drug, which risks generating harmful side effects. To reduce this risk, leaders should coordinate with the varied emotions of the staff. Nokia.s top managers should have encouraged safe dialogue, internal coordination and feedback to understand the true emotion in the organization.
操作提示：正确选T，错误选F。
1. Nokia lost the smartphone battle because its technology is not as good as that of Apple.回答
2. Nokia.s middle managers were frank to tell the truth, but the top ones didn.t listen to them.回答
3. Nokia.s top managers were too moody to hear anything good but harsh.回答
4. Middle managers in Nokia delivered results more than they promised earlier.回答
5. Nokia.s top managers should have had better conversation techniques to encourage internal coordination and truth.回答
Communication Failure
The meaning of “communication” goes a lot deeper than people often think. Communication is about conceiving, sending, receiving, and interpreting messages as well as confirming reception of these messages. A failure at any point in this chain can result in ineffective communication.
Ineffective communication can be disastrous. There is a famous story of a British Army Commander who sent the message “Send reinforcements, we.re going to advance.” back to his Command Center, through a long chain of subordinates. When the message finally reached the Command Center, it had “mutated” to become -- “Send three and four-pence, we.re going to a dance.” The reinforcements never arrived.
You can demonstrate this same principle, albeit on a less dramatic scale, by trying to play Chinese Whispers with more than 20 people. It is highly unlikely the same message you started with will be the one you end with.
In a business, there are three main types of communication failure. Each has its own indicative signs.
•The first type is known as allocative failure. This occurs when a firm is not gathering enough intelligence about its market or (most often), the information is not reaching the right points. The firm will not be allocating resources in step with the shifts in demand. If demand is rising but the firm is suffering from allocative communication failure, then stocks will fall and there will be understaffing. If the inverse happens, there will be a surplus of stocks and overstaffing.
•The second type is executive failure, where communication to trigger specific events/actions is either late, lacking or in error. The symptoms of this are a general loss of direction in the company or departments, a loss of co-ordination and an increase in complaints from customers as things happen late or not at all.
•The final type is human failure. This occurs when the general culture of a business or the relationships between particular individuals or departments do not foster effective communication. This leads to alienated staff, an increase in staff turnover, an increase in absenteeism and general frustration among staff. Creativity, especially that which takes place across departmental boundaries, is likely to suffer hugely as team synergy slips.
操作提示：通过题目后的下拉选项框选择正确答案。
1. Confirming reception of the sent messages means 回答
.
A. the messages are sent to right receivers
B. the messages are correctly understood
C. the messages are correctly understood by right receivers
2. In the famous British Army Commander story, which step probably did NOT go wrong in the communication chain?回答
A. Conceiving.
B. Sending.
C. Receiving.
3. What is Chinese whispers?回答
A. Who whispers in Chinese.
B. A game to pass message around in a whisper.
C. Chinese people who don.t normally talk very loudly.
4. Allocative failure does NOT happen when 回答
.
A. the right information goes to the right place
B. a company gathers false information
C. the correct information is not received by the right department or person
5. According to the passage, which of the following cases does NOT belong to human failure?回答
A. Decreasing creativity across departments.
B. Inadequate communication between departments.
C. Increasing customer complaints.
Tips for Team Building
When you think of team building, do you immediately picture your group off at a resort playing games or hanging from ropes? Traditionally, many organizations approach team building in this way but, then, they wonder why that wonderful sense of teamwork that had been displayed at the retreat or the seminar fails to impact long term beliefs and actions back at work.
I.m not averse to retreats, planning sessions, seminars and team building activities — in fact I lead them — but they have to form part of a much larger teamwork effort. You will not build teamwork by “retreating” as a group for a couple of days each year, instead you need to think of team building as something you do every single day.
• Form teams to solve real work issues and to improve real work processes. Provide training in systematic methods so the team expends its energy on the project, not on trying to work out how to work together as a team to approach the problem.
• Hold department meetings to review projects and progress, to obtain broad input, and to coordinate shared work processes. If there is friction between team members, examine the work processes they mutually own — the problem is not usually their personalities; instead, it is often the fact that the team members haven.t agreed on how they will deliver a product or service, or the steps required to get something done.
• Build fun and shared occasions into the organization.s agenda — hold pot luck lunches, take the team to a sporting event, sponsor dinners at a local restaurant, go hiking or go to an amusement park. Hold a monthly company meeting, sponsor sports teams and encourage cheering team fans.
• Use ice breakers and teamwork exercises at meetings — these help team members get to know each other, share details about each others lives, and have a laugh together.
• Celebrate team successes publicly. There are many ways you could do this, for instance by buying everyone the same T-shirt or hat, putting team member names in a draw for company merchandise and gift certificates. The only thing limiting you is your imagination.
If you do the types of teamwork building listed above, you.ll be amazed at the progress you will make in creating a teamwork culture, a culture that enables individuals to contribute more than they ever thought possible — together.
操作提示：正确选T，错误选F。
1. Team building event is traditionally related to playing games at resort.回答
2. The author claims that playing games together is as important as form teams to solve real work issues and to improve real work processes for team building.回答
3. “Retreat” in the first paragraph means withdrawal of troops after a defeat.回答
4. Ice breaking motivates team members compete with each other.回答
5. A good teamwork culture enables individuals make more efforts together.回答
How to Handle a Bad Performance Review
Getting a bad performance review can make you feel angry, unappreciated, defeated, and hopeless. But it.s not the end of the world. Remember that the way you respond to this appraisal can make all the difference in the next one. Even if you believe that the review is inaccurate and that your boss is completely wrong, you will benefit by reacting in a mature, adult manner. Here are some suggestions:
Stay calm. Relax. Breathe. Do not overreact and be objective. Especially, do not say things that will likely be regretted later. Besides, the person giving the performance review may or may not be the one who has written the bad review.
What to Do When Receiving a Bad Performance Review
It.s best to listen attentively. And make comments or remarks only when asked for them. Besides, during the performance review, you will be given the chance to respond and may disagree.
What to Do After Receiving a Bad Performance Review
Don.t be intimidated by the bad performance review and want to quit the job; instead, learn from it. Also, if the organization allows their employees to make a written statement on their own behalf, do make one. It is important for the worker to show why she does not agree with the bed performance review; for instance, an employee may express their different understanding and, at the same time, a willingness to comply with any constructive suggestions.
Ways to Improve a Bad Performance Review
A way to improve a bad performance review is to set self-reviews, that is, establish performance standards. Another way to improve a bad review is to learn more about what the manager, supervisor, or boss wants or expects from his/her employees. Learning what it was that caused a bad performance review helps to improve professional growth and encourages as well as motivates the worker to do better in order to receive a good review next time.
操作提示：通过题目后的下拉选项框选择正确答案。
1. What should you do when you are given a bad performance review?回答
A. Argue with your boss.
B. Make immediate remarks.
C. Stay calm and listen carefully.
2. What should you do after you are given a bad performance review?回答
A. Quit your job immediately.
B. Insist on making comments.
C. Learn from the review.
3. What should you do if you do not agree with the bad performance review?回答
A. Tell the boss directly that you do not agree with the review.
B. Make a written statement on your own behalf if it is allowed.
C. Do not express your different understanding in a written statement.
4. How do you improve a bad performance review?回答
A. Understand the established performance standards.
B. Learn more about what the employee wants or expects.
C. Learn what the person who gives the review may think.
5. Why should we understand the cause of a bad performance review?回答
A. Because it helps the employee to get promoted immediately.
B. Because it encourages and motivates the worker to do better.
C. Because it prevents the employee from professional growth.
Jack Welch Leading Organizational Change at GE
When Jack Welch, the Chairman and CEO at General Electric (GE) retired in 2001, he could look back at a very successful career. He became CEO in 1981 at the age of 45. At that time, GE had a very complex organizational structure with considerably bureaucratic rules.
One of his first changes was to initiate a strategy formulation process with the guideline that each of the businesses should be number 1 or 2 in their respective areas. If this was not the case, managers had the options of fixing the problem, selling their particular business, or closing it. In an effort to streamline the organization, Welch removed the sector level and eliminated thousands of salaried and hourly employee positions.
The restructuring was followed by changing the organizational culture and the managerial styles of GE.s managers. One such program was the Work-Out（群策群力）.Groups of managers were assembled to share their views openly in three-day sessions. At the beginning of the meetings, the superior presented the challenges for his or her organizational unit. Then the superior had to leave, requesting the groups to find solutions to the problems. Facilitators (会议主持人) helped these discussions. On the last day, the superior was presented with proposed solutions. He or she then had three choices: to accept the proposal, not to accept it, or to collect more information. This process put great pressure on the superior to make decisions.
Another program to improve effectiveness and efficiency was Best Practices. The aim was to learn from other companies how they obtained customer satisfaction, how they related to their suppliers, and in what ways they developed new products. This helped the GE people to focus on the processes in their operations that would improve the company.s performance.
Jack Welch was personally involved in developing managers at GE.s training center in Crotonville. Leaders, Welch suggested, are not only those who achieve results but also those who share the values of the company.
操作提示：正确选T，错误选F。
1. Jack Welch retired at the age of 65.回答
2. Jack Welch insisted that each of the businesses should be at least number 3 in their respective area.回答
3. If the business could not meet Welch.s change requirements, its manager had 3choices.回答
4. The restructuring went before changing the organizational culture and the managerial styles of GE.s managers.回答
5. The Work Out lasted a week.回答
How Do You Create a Culture of Innovation?
Have you noticed the courage buried in the word encourage? To create a culture in which innovation flourishes takes courage. Determined innovators are always courageous enough to establish a culture in which innovation is greatly encouraged and rewarded. Here are three ways to do that.
Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message. Think of innovation strategy as a pyramid: big bets at the top, a few projects in development in the middle, and a broad base of continuous improvements, lasting contributions, and early-stage new ideas at the bottom.
Define jobs around innovation. Make it a job prerequisite. Consider 3M’s move to become one of the first companies to tell professionals that they could spend 15 percent of their time on projects of their own choosing. Now many high-tech companies know that they can’t get the best talent without providing this kind of flexibility. And some of those self-selected, self-organized projects might even result in a blockbuster product or line of business. For 3M, it was the Post-it note.
Recognize innovation in every part of the company. To build a culture of creativity and innovation, Gillette developed an innovation fair in which every unit could show off its most promising new concepts. It shows that everyone has a role to play in a culture of innovation.
To go from idea to successful innovation requires a great deal of support and collaboration. When people are surrounded by constant communication and encouragement, they can find the courage to try, fail, redo, and try again.
操作提示：通过题目后的下拉选项框选择正确答案。
1. What is necessary in creating innovation culture?回答
A.communication
B.courage
C.immitation
2. How does 3M create its innovation culture?回答
A. Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message.
B. define jobs around innovation.
C. Recognize innovation in every part of the company.
3. The word prerequisite in “Make it a job prerequisite” means 回答
.
A. required as a prior condition
B. going after
C. prior to request
4. How does Gillette create its innovation culture?回答
A. Put innovation at the heart of strategy, and persist it in every message.
B. define jobs around innovation.
C. Recognize innovation in every part of the company.
5. The formation from idea to innovation needs 回答
.
A. discussion and revise
B. failure and courage
C. support and cooperation