职场新概念英语：反复无常的老板最可怕

1、职场新概念英语：反复无常的老板最可怕By far the most difficult boss I' ve ever had was aninspiring, morally upstanding man. I respected him and learnt a lot from him. The problem was that I could never predict how he would respond to anything.迄今为止，我遇到过的最难相处的老板是一位能够启发他人、为人正 直的男士。我很尊敬他，也从他那里学到了很多。问题在于我永远没 有办法预测他对任何事

2、情的反应。Sometimes he would sidle past and say something sarcastic about a piece I 'd written. At other times he would bound up, full of praise. Occasionally he would perch on the edge of my desk and talk as if he valued my opinion. The following day he would revert to glowering and ignore me entire

3、ly.有时候他会悄悄经过，对我写的某篇文章挖苦几句。有时候他会跳起 来，对我赞不绝口。偶尔他会坐在我的办公桌沿和我聊天，话里话外 好像很看重我的观点似的。第二天他又回到怒目而视的状态，完全无 视我的存有。The very sight of him advancing down the corridor was enough to make me feel anxious. When he was being nice, his face looked the same as when he was horrid and so I started to wonder if his praise

4、was ironic. It was most disconcerting.仅仅看到他从走廊上走过来我就会紧张。他友好的时候和凶恶的时候 脸上的表情是一模一样的，这让我开始怀疑他的称赞其实是讽刺。这 是最让人难堪的。I thought of him the other day when I read a piece of research from the University of Michigan suggesting we would far rather have a manager who was horrible all of the time, than one who was

5、horrible only some of it. When it comes to our bosses, it seems we can cope with more or less anything save unpredictability.不久前，当我读到密歇根大学 (University of Michigan) 的一篇研究 论文时，我又想起了他。这篇论文认为，比起一个在某些时候很可怕 的管理者，我们宁愿要一个总是很可怕的管理者。对于老板，不论什 么事情我们似乎多多少少总能应付除了反复无常。The researchers conducted a series of experime

6、nts in which they divided students into three groups and gave them all a job to do. The first group was subjected to constant compliments; the second to constant abuse and the third to a mix of the two. The first group wasn't stressed at all; thesecond was mildly so, while the third the group th

7、atdidn 't know if they were going to get sticks or carrotswas by far the most stressed and least happy.研究人员实行了一系列实验，他们将学生分成三组并指派所有人做一 项工作。第一组持续地受到表扬；第二组持续地受到责骂；第三组表 扬和责骂兼而有之。第一组完全没有压力；第二组感到一点压力；不 知道自己接下来得到的是大棒还是胡萝卜的第三组则是压力、最不快 乐的一组。This experiment, written up in the American Academy of Managemen

8、t, reminds me of an earlier study in which rats were given electric shocks. One group heard a bell ring to herald each shock; a second group had shocks with no warning. The first group of rats fared more or less fine. The second group, who could not predict the timing of the shocks, developed stomac

9、h ulcers. Workers and rats have a lot in common.这篇由美国管理学会 (American Academy of Management) 发表的实验 报告让我想起了一个更早的实验，那是一个大鼠受到电击的实验。第 一组大鼠每次受到电击前都会听到一声铃响；第二组受到电击前则没 有任何警示。第一组大鼠的状况总的来讲还好。而那些无法预测电击 时机的第二组大鼠则患上了胃溃疡。员工与大鼠有很多相似之处。Yet this idea that consistency is important is nowhere in the leadership literatu

10、re. Predictability is considered boring and unglamorous, in a world that reveres creativity and disruption.但在相关领导力的文献中，相关行为一致性很重要的观点无处可寻。 在这个崇尚创造力和 * 的世界，可预测性被视为一种无趣和缺乏魅力的 特质。A couple of weeks ago the Harvard Business Review published a blog about the most important traits of leaders, as reported by

11、 195 global leaders themselves. These turned out to be a more or less soppy list of“competencies ” including“strong ethics ”, “nurtures growth ”, “has the flexibility to change opinions ” and “is committed to ongoing training”And so on. Predictability was nowhere on the list.几周前，哈佛商业评论 (Harvard Business Review) 发布了一篇 博文，内容是 195 名世界自己提出的最重要的特质。这是一张多少有 点乏味的“素质”列表，包括“道德观点强”、“注重增长”、“能 够灵活改变观点”和“致力于持续培训”等等。可预测性并不在这份 列表上。