《管理英语4》Unit 1 Reading2

导语

管理有照管、料理的意思，同时包含着一定程度的约束性。有了管理，组织才能进行正常有效的活动。优秀的管理者能恰当地运用管理职能，为企业营造良好的工作氛围。

阅读文章，分析“诺基亚的失败”，学习如何做优秀管理者。

Who Killed Nokia?

谁杀了诺基亚？

　　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. 

　　诺基亚的执行官们试图用三个因素解释诺基亚为何从智能手机的金字塔顶端跌落至谷底：1）诺基亚的技术比苹果公司逊色；2）诺基亚公司自以为是；3）诺基亚的领导者没能预见苹果手机的入市会给他们带来毁灭性的冲击。

　　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. 

　　也有人认为不是上述原因。诺基亚输掉智能手机战，完全是因为公司里中高层管理者中普遍存在的不同的恐惧，它导致全公司的不作为，致使诺基亚在与苹果的较量中无力回击。

　　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.

　　根据深入的调查结果和对76名中高层管理人员、工程师和外部专家的采访，研究人员发现了易怒的领导者引起了恐惧文化，使中层管理人员害怕说实话。

　　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. Second, top managers were afraid of the external environment and not meeting their quarterly targets, which also impacted how they treated middle managers.

　　僵化公司里的恐惧来自两个地方。首先，公司的高层管理人员有着骇人的声誉。诺基亚董事会和高层管理人员的一些成员被描述为“暴脾气”，他们经常“声嘶力竭”地朝人喊叫。告诉他们那些他们不想听的东西是非常困难的。其次，高层管理人员恐惧外部环境，也担心达不到季度目标，这也影响了他们对待中层管理人员的方式。

　　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.

　　因此，高层管理人员使得中层管理人员害怕令他们失望。中层管理人员被告知，他们没有足够的壮志雄心去达成高层管理人员的目标。

　　Fearing the reactions of top managers, middle managers remained silent or provided optimistic, filtered information. 

 Thus, middle managers directly lied to top management.

　　中层管理人员害怕刺激高层管理人员，只好保持沉默，或者报喜不报忧。

　　What was worse, a culture of status inside Nokia made everyone want to hold onto inside Nokia made everyone want to 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. 

　　更糟糕的是，诺基亚内部的等级观念致使每个人都想守住既得利益，害怕如果自己传达了坏消息，或者表现出不够勇敢或缺乏雄心壮志去承担挑战性的任务，那么自己手中的资源就会被分配到其他地方。

　　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”.

　　除了言语压力之外，高层管理人员在人事选择方面，通过施加压力来更快地见到成效。。这导致了中层管理者过度承诺和行动不足。一位中层管理人员告诉我们：“你可以通过早做承诺或者夸下海口来获得资源。这是销售工作。”

　　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 dialog, Internal coordination and feedback to understand the true emotion in the organization.

　　虽然适度的畏惧有益于内部激励，但是，对其滥用就像用药过度一样，会有产生有害的副作用的风险。为了减少这种风险，领导应该协调工作人员的不同情绪。诺基亚的高层管理人员应该鼓励安全对话、内部协调和反馈，以了解组织中的真实情感。