将人类学派上用场(对译).doc

Using Anthropology This article was adapted from The Shrink-Wrap Solution: Anthropology and Business, by David W. McCurdy and Donna F. Carlson in Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology, 5th ed. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983). It was written especially for this volume. Copyright 1990 by David W. McCurdy.David W. McCurdy Some disciplines, such as economics, have an obvious relationship to the nonacademic world. Economic theory, although generated as part of basic research, may often prove useful for understanding the real economy. Anthropology, on the other hand, does not seem so applicable. In this article, David McCurdy discusses some of the professional applications of anthropology and argues that there is a basic anthropological perspective that can help anyone cope with the everyday world. He uses the case of a company manager to illustrate this point, asserting that ethnographic qualitative research is an important tool for use in the nonacademic world. Recently, a student, whom I had not seen for fifteen years, stopped by my office. He had returned for his college reunion and thought it would be interesting to catch up on news about his (and my) major department, anthropology. The conversation, however, soon shifted from college events to his own life. Following graduation and a stint in the Peace Corps, he noted, he had begun to study for his license as a ships engineer. He had attended the Maritime Academy, and worked for years on freighters. He was finally granted his license, he continued, and currently held the engineers position on a container ship that 将人类学派上用场戴维W麦克柯蒂 有些学科跟学术界以外的世界的联系是显而易见的，经济学就是这样的学科之一。虽说经济学学科理论的产生离不开基础研究，但是，一经产生，它就有助于对现实的经济生活的理解，这是屡经证明了的事实。与此形成鲜明对照的是人类学。人类学似乎没有经济学这样明显的应用性。然而，本文的作者麦克柯蒂在文中讨论了人类学的职业化应用问题，他指出了这样一个基本的人类学观点，即人类学可以帮助任何人应付日常生活中的种种问题。他以一位公司管理人员的事例来说明他的这个看法，认为民族志的定性研究方法是应对世俗社会各种事务和问题的有用工具。不久前，一位有十五年不曾谋面的学生，因为返回母校参加同学聚会，来到我的办公室。他原本想，如果能够了解他受业的人类学系（我自己也是这个系毕业的）这些年来的变化，一定会很有意思，所以就找到了我。不过，我们的话题很快就从学校转到他个人经历上。他说，大学一毕业，曾在维和部队（the Peace Corps）干过不长一段时间，随后就为考船舶工程师执照作准备。在此之前，他已经加入了海事学会，并且在货运船上干了几年。后来拿到了执照，最近又在一艘定期往返于西雅图和阿拉斯加的集装箱船舶上得到了一个工程师的职位。不久他将成为总工程师，迎来他职业生涯的颠峰时刻。他在聊天当中提到了自己对人类学的看法，听起来有些出人意表。他说，人类学这一专业背景给他助益良多，包括处理日常工作，维护船上的发动机和各种机械，协调与船上员工的关系，以及处理与基地管理部门的关系，等等。made regular trips between Seattle and Alaska. He soon would be promoted to chief engineer and be at the top of his profession. As he talked, he made an observation about anthropology that may seem surprising. His background in the discipline, he said, had helped him significantly in his work. He found it useful as he went about his daily tasks, maintaining his ships complex engines and machinery, his relationships with the crew, and his contacts with land-based management. And his is not an unusual case. Over the years, several anthropology graduates have made the same observation. One, for example, is a community organizer who feels that the cross-cultural perspective he learned in anthropology helps him mediate disputes and facilitate decision making in a multiethnic neighborhood. Another, who works as an advertising account executive, claims that anthropology helps her discover what products mean to customers. This, in turn, permits her to design more effective ad campaigns. A third says she finds anthropology an invaluable tool as she arranges interviews and writes copy. She is a producer for a metropolitan television news program. I have heard the same opinion expressed by many others, including the executive editor of a magazine for home weavers, the founder of a fencing school, a housewife, a physician, several lawyers, the kitchen manager for a catering firm, and a high school teacher.The idea that anthropology can be useful is also supported by the experience of many new Ph.D.s. A recent survey has shown, for the first time, that more new doctorates in anthropology find employment in professional settings than in college teaching or scholarly research, and the list of nonacademic work settings revealed by the survey is remarkably broad. There is a biological anthropologist, for example, who conducts research on nutrition for a company that manufactures infant 这个学生所说的这些情况并不是一个特例。这些年来，好些毕业生也都有类似的感受。比如，有一个在社区管事的学生谈到，他从人类学这门学科当中学到的跨文化研究方法，在他所在的那个多元文化的社区里，无论是在调节邻里纠纷方面，还是在推进决策进程方面，都非常有用。另一个从事广告发布员业务的学生说，人类学训练使她更敏锐地注意到消费者对于产品的理解方式，而这又帮助她去设计出更有效的广告宣传方案。一个在都市电视新闻节目当制片人的学生也说，人类学训练对于她做访谈节目和整理访谈记录具有难以估量的价值。还有许许多多其他人，包括一家专门为家庭纺织工创办的杂志的一位执行编辑，某剑术学校的创办人，一名家庭妇女，一名医生，好几个律师，一家餐饮公司的一名厨师长，一名高中教师，（尽管他们的职业背景各式各样，但是）他们在谈到人类学的好处时（却）几乎众口一词。很多刚毕业的人类学博士的就业经历也表明，人类学的确是有实用价值的。最近的一项调查发现，取得了人类学博士头衔的毕业生更多选择了高校教学或研究工作以外的其他职业岗位，而且这些与学术无关的职业岗位所涉及的领域非常宽泛。这样的发现对人类学而言还是头一次。举例来说，有一位生物人类学家，他在一家生产婴儿套餐的公司从事营养学研究；一位文化人类学家在一家重要的汽车生产企业工作，任务是研究诸如雇员如何适应海外工作环境，又如何formula. A cultural anthropologist works for a major car manufacturer, researching such questions as how employees adapt to working overseas, and how they relate to conditions on domestic production lines. Others formulate government policy, plan patient care in hospitals, design overseas development projects, run famine relief programs, consult on tropical forest management, and advise on product development, advertising campaigns, and marketing strategy for corporations.This new-found application of cultural anthropology comes as a surprise to many Americans. Unlike political science, for example, which has a name that logically connects it with practical political and legal professions, there is nothing in the term anthropology that tells most Americans how it might be useful. The research subject of anthropology also makes it more difficult to comprehend. Political scientists investigate political processes, structures, and motivations. Economists look at the production and exchange of goods and services. Psychologists study differences and similarities among individuals. The research of cultural anthropologists, on the other hand, is more difficult to characterize. Instead of a focus on particular human institutions, such as politics, law, and economics, anthropologists are interested in cross-cultural differences and similarities among the worlds many groups.This interest produces a broad view of human behavior that gives anthropology its special cross-cultural flavor. It also produces a unique research strategy, called ethnography, that tends to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Whereas other social sciences moved toward quantitative methods of research designed to test theory by using survey questionnaires and structured, repetitive observations, most anthropologists conduct qualitative research designed to elicit 与国内生产线的状况保持联系。此外，他们有的参与制定政府政策，有的在医院帮助设计陪护计划，有的设计海外开发项目，有的负责减缓饥荒灾情的工作，还有做热带雨林管理项目咨询，做产品开发顾问，做广告宣传、做企业的市场策划，等等。对于很多美国人来说，关于人类学应用价值的新发现有些出乎意料。因为人类学不像政治科学这样一些学科，学科名称本身就能够从逻辑上使人一目了然，知道它与现实的政治和法律工作有着密切的关联。大多数美国人在看到人类学这个学科名称时，很难想像出它究竟是干什么的、能有什么用场。人类学的研究内容使人们对它感到更加费解。政治科学的学者们研究的是政治过程、政治结构和政治动机；经济学家探讨的是商品和服务的生产与交换；心理学家则研究社会个体之间的相似点与不同点。可是文化人类学呢？它探究的内容就没有这么明确和易于把握。它并不专注于人类某一个特定的方面，比如政治、法律或者经济，而是对全球许多文化之间的相似性和差异性感兴趣。这样的研究旨趣所带来的广阔视野，赋予了人类学一种独有的跨文化特质。同时，这种研究旨趣也促成了一种被称为“民族志”的独具特色的研究策略，这是一种大而化之的质性研究方法，不是精微准确的量化研究方法。方法上的差别使人类学家和其他社会科学学者的研究取向大异其趣。大部分人类学家以质性研究方法为手段，试图去概括和把握他们想要了解的民族的文化知识；而其他社会科学研究者则用调查问卷、结构化和重复性的观察等定量研究方法，对理论假设进行验证。当人类学家进行民族志研究the cultural knowledge of the people they seek to understand. To do this, anthropologists often live and work with their subjects, called informants within the discipline. The result is a highly detailed ethnographic description of the categories and rules people consult when they behave, and the meanings that things and actions have for them.It is this ethnographic approach, or cultural perspective, that I think makes anthropology useful in such a broad range of everyday settings. I particularly find important the special anthropological understanding of the culture concept, ethnographic field methods, and social analysis. To illustrate these assertions, let us take a single case in detail, that of a manager working for a large corporation who consciously used the ethnographic approach to solve a persistent company problem. THE PROBLEMThe manager, whom we will name Susan Stanton, works for a large multinational corporation called UTC (not the companys real name). UTC is divided into a number of parts, including divisions, subdivisions, departments, and other units designed to facilitate its highly varied business enterprises. The company is well diversified, engaging in research, manufacturing, and customer services. In addition to serving a wide cross-section of public and private customers, it also works on a variety of government contracts for both military and nonmilitary agencies.One of its divisions is educational. UTC has established a large number of customer outlets in cities throughout the United States, forming what it calls its customer outlet network. They are staffed by educational personnel who are trained to offer a variety of special courses and enrichment programs. These courses and programs are marketed 时，他们通常与研究对象一起生活、共同劳动。这些研究对象在人类学中被称为“报道人”。通过这样的研究，人类学家在民族志作品中不仅可以对研究对象在日常行动中所遵循的逻辑、规则进行非常详尽的描述，而且还可以很细致地分析各种情形和种种行为对研究对象的意义。我认为，正是这种民族志方法或者说是文化的视角，使得人类学能够在如此宽广的日常生活领域都有用武之地。而且在我看来，人类学对于文化概念、民族志田野方法以及社会分析的独到理解，是尤其关键之点。为了说明这些看法，下面我们来详尽分析一个个案，该个案所聚焦的，是一家大公司的一位经理，她在成功解决任何公司都会遇到的一个痼疾性的问题时，自觉地使用了民族志方法。管理学上的企业问题我们给这位经理起一个名字，就叫苏森斯丹滕吧，她所服务的是一家大型的跨国公司，我们也起个名字，叫UTC（这不是公司的真实名称）。UTC作为一家大型公司，它下边还有很多分支机构，包括公司、分公司、部门，以及为了更好地推动公司各不相同的种种业务而设立的其他摊子。公司分工严密，有的从事研究，有的进行生产，有的则向客户提供售后服务。它的服务对象不仅分为私人客户和属于公共部门的各种单位客户，而且它的业务还超越了民用范围，即它同时接受政府的军用订单和非军事性的合同。UTC有一个教育方面的分支机构。这家公司在全美各城市建立了数量可观的向消费者输出服务的通道，这众多的通道构成了它称之为“消费者服务网”的服务输出体系。这个体系中的职员主要是一些受过训练的教员，他们所接受的训练使他们能够讲授各种不同的课程，执行大量的项目计划。所开设课程和实施的计划主要是针对其他mainly to other businesses or to individuals who desire special training or practical information. For example, a small company might have UTC provide its employees with computer training, including instruction on hardware, programming, computer languages, and computer program applications. Another company might ask for instruction on effective management or accounting procedures. The outlets courses for individuals include such topics as how to get a job, writing a resume, or enlarging your own business. To organize and manage its customer outlet network, UTC has created a special division. The division office is located at the corporate headquarters and is responsible for developing new courses, improving old ones, training customer outlet personnel, and marketing customer outlet courses, or products as they are called inside the company. The division also has departments that develop, produce, and distribute the special learning materials used in customer outlet courses. These include books, pamphlets, video and audio tapes and cassettes, slides, overlays, and films. These materials are stored in a warehouse and are shipped, as they are ordered, to customer outlets around the country.It is with this division that Susan Stanton first worked as a manager. She had started her career with the company in a small section of the division that designed various program materials. She had worked her way into management, holding a series of increasingly important positions. She was then asked to take over the management of a part of the division that had the manufacture, storage, and shipment of learning materials as one of its responsibilities.But there was a catch. She was given this new management position with instructions to solve a persistent, although vaguely defined, problem. Improve the service, they had told 商家或者是需要专门培训或实用知识的个人而确定的。例如，可能会有一家小公司来请UTC为它的雇员提供计算机培训，包括电脑硬件、编程、计算机语言以及计算机程序运用等方面的知识和技能培训。也可能会有些公司要求为它们提供高效管理或财会方面的培训。针对个人的课程培训也很多，比如：如何求职，如何写个人履历，或怎样把自己的业务做大，等等。为了组织和管理好这个消费者服务输出系统，UTC成立了一个专门的分支机构。机构的办公室设在公司总部，其职责是开发新课程，改进旧课程，培训服务系统的员工，并把这些面向消费者的课程推向市场，用他们自己在公司内部的话说，就是把自己的 “产品”（课程）销售到市场上去。该机构下面也有自己的各种分工不同的部门，分别负责这个庞大的培训系统各类课程所用的专门教材的编写、印制、发送等工作。这些教材包括书本、小手册、录像带、磁带、幻灯片、电影等。这些教学资料平时就存放在仓库里，需要的时候，则由相关部门把它们运送到全美各地的教学点去。正是在这家公司的这个服务机构当中，苏森斯丹滕破天荒成了一名经理。她主管的这个公司只是该分支机构下属一个小部门的一个公司而已，负责设计各种项目的教材。但她却从此与管理打上了交道，而且在接下来的日子里，承担了一系列越来越重要的职务。后来，公司让她把这个分支机构的好几项业务的管理工作都担当起来，其中包括教学资料的生产、储藏、运输等。她所负责的这些工作乍一看似乎没什么内在联系，其实不然。她被任命到这样一个管理岗位，是奉命去解决一个由来已久却谁也难以说清的难题。公司领导层对她说：her, and get control of tile warehouse inventory. In this case, service meant the process of filling orders sent in by customer outlets for various materials stored in the ware-house.The admonition to improve the service seemed to indicate that service was poor, but all she was told about the situation was that customer outlet personnel complained about the service; she did not know exactly why or what poor meant.In addition, inventory was out of control. Later she was to discover the extent of the difficulty.We had a problem with inventory. The computer would say we had two hundred of some kind of book in stock, yet it was back ordered because there was nothing on the shelf. We were supposed to have the book but physically there was nothing there. Im going, Uh, we have a small problem. The computer never lies, like your bank statement, so why dont we have the books? If inventory was difficult to manage, so were the warehouse employees. They were described by another manager as a bunch of knuckle draggers. All they care about is getting their money. They are lazy and dont last long at the job. Strangely, the company did not view the actions of the warehouse workers as a major problem. Only later did Susan Stanton tie in poor morale in the warehouse with the other problems she had been given to solve.MANAGEMENT BY DEFENSEAlthough Stanton would take the ethnographic approach to management problems, that was not what many other managers did. They took a defensive stance, a position opposite to the discovery procedures of ethnography. Their major concern-like that of many people in positions of leadership and responsibility-was to protect their authority and their ability to “你要想办法把服务水平提高上去，同时呢，要把仓库的流水账管好了。”所谓“服务”，就她所在的这个岗位上的工作而言，就是要确保仓库库存能够满足各个服务输出端口汇集上来的客户需求。既然上面叮嘱要搞好服务，言下之意似乎是说现在的服务水平很糟糕。可据她从其他人那里听到的情况，并不是客户对服务有什么抱怨，而是在服务输出端工作的内部员工对服务啧有怨言。这使她有些闹不明白，究竟服务“差”指的是什么。不仅如此，上头说要管好账，似乎仓库每天货物进出的流水账也出了问题。那么，接下来，她将怎样去揭开这些谜底，了解这个难题究竟有多难呢？她要面对的难题之一是库存问题。经常有这样的情况：电脑显示某种图书还有200册的库存量，但是你想要提取这些书的时候，要求却被回绝了，原因是架子上什么也没有。也就是说，电脑上的显示让人误以为库存还真的有货，而实际上那只是一个错误的数据显示。当遇到这种情况的时候，我们可能会想：“呃，这里面有问题！电脑是不会出问题的，就像银行显示我们的储蓄额时不可能会出错一样。可那些书究竟到哪儿去了呢？”如果库存都不容易搞清楚的话，那管理那些仓库员工就更不是一件简单的事。有一位经理这样描绘这些仓库员工：“他们是一群没有任何主动性和积极性的懒虫，慵懒怠惰，满脑子想的就是拿钱，你说一次他们才动一下，一到下班时间立马走人，从不肯多干哪怕一分钟。”奇怪的是，公司管理层并不把仓库员工的这种表现看得有多严重，直到后来苏珊斯丹滕把这种低落的士气与她奉命去解决的其他问题联系到一起，这个问题才引起了人们的重视。防卫性的管理模式尽管斯丹滕愿意采用民族志方法来处理工作当中遇到的各种问题，但是大多数管理人员却并不这么做。管理人员一般所习惯采取的是一种防卫性的姿态，而这种姿态恰恰与揭示问题的民族志方法的要求背道而驰的。在防卫性的心态之下，管理人员所关manage and to get things done. Indeed, Stanton also shared this need.But their solution to maintaining their position was different from hers. For them, claiming ignorance and asking questions-the hallmark of the ethnographic approach-is a sign of weakness. Instead of discovering what is going on when they take on a new management assignment, they often impose new work rules and procedures. Employees learn to fear the arrival of new managers because their appearance usually means a host of new, unrealistic demands. They respond by hiding what they actually do, withholding information that would be useful to the manager. Usually, everyones performance suffers.Poor performance leads to elaborate excuses as managers attempt to blame the troubles on others. Stanton described this tendency. When I came into the new job, this other manager said, Guess what? You have got a warehouse. You are now the proud owner of a forklift and a bunch of knuckle draggers. And I thought, managements perception of those people is very low. They are treating them as dispensable, that you cant do anything with them. They say the workers dont have any career motives. They dont care if they do a good job. You have to force them to do anything. You cant motivate them. Its only a warehouse, other managers were saying. You cant really do that much about the problems there so why dont you just sort of try to keep it under control.Other managers diminished the importance of the problem itself. It was not poor service that was the trouble. The warehouse was doing the best it could with what it had. It was just that the customers-the staff at the customer outlets-were complainers. As Susan Stanton noted:心的是如何维护他们自身的权威，如何防止他们的管理能力受到削弱，如何把任务完成了。这也是那些处在领导者和负责人的位置上的人普遍抱持的一种心态。斯丹滕当然也不例外。不过，虽然同样是为了维护作为管理者的地位和权威，一般人的做法和斯丹滕的做法却不一样。对于受过人类学训练的斯丹滕来说，承认无知并向人请教是民族志方法的特点和要求，是再自然不过的事情。而对于别的人而言，承认自己无知并求教于人则是一种向人示弱的做法，是他们很不情愿做的事。因此，每次奉命到新的岗位上任，人们惯常的做法不是去了解自己的前任是怎么做事的，手下人习惯于怎么做事，哪些做法效果好；相反，初来乍到，情况不明，他们就急于制定新规则，非要把固有的程序变一变。好像只有这样才能显示出自己的权威和地位。也正因为如此，做手下的都担心换领导，因为新领导的到来就意味着会有许多新的、不切实际的想法和要求。作为一种回应和对策，手下人对新领导往往也会当面一套背后一套，他们会把有价值的信息闷在心里而不会说给新领导听。在这种情况下，结局通常都是谁也不落好，大家都遭罪。当出现这种难堪的僵局的时候，做领导的为了推卸责任，总是会编出一些冠冕堂皇的理由来为自己辩解，而把过错推给别人。对于这种做法，斯丹滕给我们做了这样的描述：我刚刚走马上任的时候，我的那位搭档对我说：“你不会想到吧？你得到了一间仓库！现在你是一部升降叉车的主子，你将领导一帮像串起来的拖网渔船一样推不走、拉不动的懒虫。”听了这位搭档的话，我心想：这种人的管理意识太差了。他们把自己的员工看成是可有可无的，觉得跟员工在一起简直一事无成。在他们眼里，员工们毫无事业心，根本不在乎自己做的是好是坏，怎么激励都是白搭。所以，当这些人接手这个部门的时候，他们见物不见人，只是看到了仓库，而把员工都忽视了。他们说，这个部门存在的库存问题、员工怠惰问题等等，没有什么好的解决办法，只能听之任之；唯一能做的The people providing the service thought that outlet staff were complainers. They said, Staff complain about everything. But it cant be that way. We have checked it all out and it isnt that bad.Making excuses and blaming others lead to low morale and a depressed self-image. Problems essentially are pushed aside in favor of a lets just get by philosophy.ETHNOGRAPHIC MANAGEMENT By contrast, managers take the offensive when they use ethnographic techniques. That is what Stanton did when she assumed her new managerial assignment over the learning materials manufacturing a