首页
登录
职称英语
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a j
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a j
游客
2025-01-20
9
管理
问题
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a journalist at The Times, shows in a new book, Black Box Thinking, in practice a "
stigmatizing
attitude toward error" pervades everyday life. This has big implications.
Success brings its own rewards, but the world comes down hard on those who are deemed failures. The desire to avoid such opprobrium prompts people to cover up mistakes, argues Mr. Syed. Police fail to drop cases against people accused of committing a crime, even after clear evidence emerges of their innocence. Politicians plough on with policies even when it is obvious they are not working. All are psychological strategies to avoid admitting fault.
Fear of failure can have devastating consequences, as Mr. Syed shows in a story about United Airlines. In 1978, as a plane approached its destination, the pilot worried that the landing gear had not come down. Desperate, he tried to establish what was wrong, becoming blinded to the plane’s dwindling fuel reserves. Eventually the tank was empty, and the plane crashed. The worry of making a mistake — subjecting the passengers to a bumpy landing — blinded him to bigger problems.
The story is a metaphor. Investors hold on to losing stocks longer than they should. Unable to face the shame of a bad return, they end up with a much bigger loss. Fred Goodwin of RBS, a bank, fretted about the color of the carpets at head office while his firm collapsed under the weight of the financial crisis. The medical profession is especially intolerant of mishaps, says Mr. Syed. This means that mistakes are not scrutinized and people do not learn from them. Small wonder that blunders are pervasive. According to one study of acute care in hospitals, one in 10 patients "is killed or injured as a consequence of medical error or institutional shortcomings".
What to do? One solution is making it easy for people to own up or speak up, as the airline industry has learned to do better than any other. Mr. Syed’s more
novel
suggestion, though, is the rigorous testing of business strategies. This forces people to make improvements. The gold standard is the "randomized control trial" (RCT), in which a treatment group is compared with a control group. Capital One, a credit-card company, has used RCTs obsessively — over the fonts it uses, for example, and the scripts at its call-centers — to assess which initiatives fail and which do not. James Dyson, a technology entrepreneur, and Google are other cheerleaders for this hyperrational school of management.
This approach may also hold benefits for governments. David Halpern is the boss of the British government’s Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), known as the "nudge unit," which uses RCTs to improve policy.
Identifying points of failure and making small changes, he argues, reaps
disproportionate gains
. By including a message on a car-tax form appealing to people’s sense of humanity, the BIT sharply boosted organ donations.
Much still needs to be done. Between 2010 and 2012 the BIT saved the British government only £ 300 million ($457 million), a negligible proportion of GDR Few businesses incorporate RCTs as extensively as Capital One. Much more could be done. Hospitals could subject doctors to RCTs, identify the mistake-prone and then help them. Civil servants could randomly test the economic impact of policies, such as changes to income tax, before rolling them out. It sounds extreme, but confronting failure rationally would bring huge rewards. [br] We can infer from Paragraph 4 that______.
选项
A、businessmen are concerned about financial problems
B、investors are brave enough to endure bigger loss
C、patients are subject to institutional mistakes
D、doctors are careful about their profession
答案
C
解析
推断题。第4段最后一句,根据一项针对医院急症护理的研究,每十位患者中就有一位“由于医疗事故或制度缺陷身亡或受伤”。故选C。干扰项D是对第4句“医疗行业对于小错误尤其难以容忍”的过度解读。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3920659.html
相关试题推荐
ProfitshaveburgeonedfortheInternet-basedretailbusiness,drivingmanyfami
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
Chinaisthetopsourcecountryofinternationalstudentsintheworld.Recen
随机试题
Amongherfellowastronomers,VeraRubinisknownasanexpertobserveroft
A.吗啡 B.地西泮 C.甲氧氯普胺 D.西咪替丁 E.东莨菪碱有助于预
甲公司采用总额法核算政府补助,采用直线法分摊政府补助。2020年与政府补助相关的
A.湿肺 B.肺出血 C.肺透明膜病 D.感染性肺炎 E.胎粪吸入性肺炎
银行的很多创新在本质上是()的创新。A.风险管理方式 B.金融工具 C.业
共用题干 李伟,男。56岁;刘翠,女,55岁,二人均早年丧偶,李伟的儿子丁丁,
试验时,应注意环境温度的影响,对油浸式变压器、电抗器及消弧线圈,应以被试物(
2020年12月,我国网民规模达9.89亿,较2020年3月增长8540万。其中
下表显示部分省、市2007、2008年度财政收入情况(单位:万元)。根据表中数据
采用简易计税方法时,建筑业增值税征收率为()。A.5% B.9% C.3%
最新回复
(
0
)