首页
登录
职称英语
Though not the ideal shape for a Christmas stocking , this slim little volume
Though not the ideal shape for a Christmas stocking , this slim little volume
游客
2023-12-15
59
管理
问题
Though not the ideal shape for a Christmas stocking , this slim little volume could nevertheless make a welcome seasonal gift. Launched in Britain at the end of October, and covering just under 100 pages (with paragraphs inset almost to the middle of the page) , it is not much more than an extended essay. But it presents an interesting idea eloquently and clearly, offering digestible brain food amid a surfeit of turkey and television.
The author, Gerard Fairtlough, was a senior executive With Shell for many years before he left in 1980 to found a new biotechnology company called Celltech--recently bought by UCB, a Belgian group, for over
$ 2 billion. He knows how businesses are run--both well-established organisations, such as Shell, in which it can be hard to see an alternative to "the way things are done around here", and new start-ups, where the founders’ enthusiasm can evaporate if it has to be corralled into an organogram.
The author’s thesis is that we are all addicted to hierarchy--partly because that is how we are hardwired, as are our simian cousins, but also because we do not realise there are other ways to run organisations. "The hegemony of hierarchy, "writes Mr. Fairtlough, "makes us think the only alternative is disorganisation… we only compare hierarchy with anarchy or chaos."
There are, he says, two alternatives to hierarchy (hence the title of the book). One is heterarchy; the other, "responsible autonomy". Heterarchy is the form of structure commonly found in professional service firms, the partnerships of accountants or lawyers in which key decisions are taken by all the partners jointly. With responsible autonomy "an individual or a group has autonomy to decide what to do, but is accountable for the outcome of the decision. ""Accountability, " says Mr. Fairtlough, "is what makes responsible autonomy different from anarchy."
The author says that hierarchy is so entrenched it will take years before there is any significant change. But he perhaps gives too little credit to the many companies that have moved (and are still moving) along the spectrum from hierarchy to responsible autonomy. BP, for example, a huge multinational, has managed to devolve authority to much smaller units in recent years and has decimated the staff in its headquarters. Toyota, likewise, evolved towards greater autonomy as it discovered that the only effective way to carry out its famous" just-in-time" system of stock control was by delegating responsibility for ordering stock to the person closest to the coal face. The fact that these are among the most successful companies in the world today strengthens Mr. Fairtlough’s case.
The author has not just written a book, he has also set up a publishing firm to produce it. But Triarchy Press is not a vanity publisher. It exists because Mr. Fairtlough believes that traditional business-book publishers are too focused on engineering bestsellers. He wants Triarchy Press to provide a sort of transition, a way books can test the water, at tow cost, to see how the public responds. If they get a warm reception they can subsequently be given the full publishing treatment. The danger is that the public will not notice. For first they have to find their way to a website: www. TriarchyPress. co. uk. [br] The phrase "test the water" in the last paragraph probably means
选项
A、ask questions.
B、check answers.
C、have a try.
D、cross a river.
答案
C
解析
语义理解题。由题于定位至末段第四句,语义理解题需要联系上下文进行语义分析,因此需从首句着手,该句挺到Gerard为这本书成立了一家出版公司。第三句和第四句提到其初衷;他希望自己的出版公司能够担当一个过渡的角色,以低成本test the water,看看公众的反应如何。显然后面的不定式短语 to see how the public responds表目的,正是对test the water的解释,故[C]为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:http://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3276570.html
相关试题推荐
SomeProblemsFacingLearnersofEnglishAlthoughmanyE
SomeProblemsFacingLearnersofEnglishAlthoughmanyE
SomeProblemsFacingLearnersofEnglishAlthoughmanyE
SomeProblemsFacingLearnersofEnglishAlthoughmanyE
SomeProblemsFacingLearnersofEnglishAlthoughmanyE
Ingeneral,theancientRomanswerepracticalpeople.Theycaredlittleabou
Ingeneral,theancientRomanswerepracticalpeople.Theycaredlittleabou
Ingeneral,theancientRomanswerepracticalpeople.Theycaredlittleabou
Ingeneral,theancientRomanswerepracticalpeople.Theycaredlittleabou
Ingeneral,theancientRomanswerepracticalpeople.Theycaredlittleabou
随机试题
SomeprogrammesonTVarefullofviolence.Thisishavingquitesomenegati
[originaltext][5]/[6]TherecentlyreleasedreportfromtheInternationalAg
物质世界不一定是运动的。()
静态链表中指针表示的是()。A.内存地址 B.数组下标 C.下一元素地址
在EXCEL中,单元格B2中的值为10,单元格D2中的值为20。现在C3中输入公
女性,30岁。系统性红斑狼疮,长期大量服用糖皮质激素治疗。其不良反应是A、血糖降
共用题干 NaturalMedicinesSinceearliestda
患者,女,30岁。每次出门时,必要先向前走两步,再向后退一步,然后才走出门,否则
以下适用于2017版银皮书情况的是()。A.投标人没有足够时间或资料以仔细
资产负债表中的“期末余额”栏各项目的填列方法有()。A:根据总账账户的余额直接填
最新回复
(
0
)