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Unit 1 What Does It Take to Become a Successful Manager
Unit 1
Passage: What Does It Take to Become a Successful Manager?
[Para 1] Successful managers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and possess an equally wide variety of traits and skills. No sure–fire formula exists for getting to the top of the managerial ladder, but there are at least three general preconditions for achieving lasting success as a manager: ability (A), motivation to manage (M), and opportunity (O).Together, they constitute a basic formula for managerial success (S): S=A×M×O. Notice that success depends on a balanced combination of ability, motivation to manage, and opportunity. A total absence of one factor can cancel out strength in the other two. (Hence, the use of multiplication rather than addition signs.) For example, high ability and motivation are useless without opportunity.
1. Ability
[Para 2] As used here, the term managerial ability is the demonstrated capacity to achieve organizational objectives both effectively and efficiently. Actually, today's successful manager needs a whole package of conceptual, technical, and interpersonal abilities. According to recent work by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), an accrediting agency, business school graduates should be able to demonstrate certain skills and personal characteristics. AACSB's package of skills and characteristics can help everyone better understand the term ability to manage. They include
1. Leadership.
2. Oral communication and presentation skills.
3. Written communication.
4. Planning and organizing.
5. Information gathering and problem analysis.
6. Decision making.
7. Delegation and control.
8. Self-objectivity (being aware of one's strengths and limitations).
9. Disposition to lead (a willingness and desire to lead others in new directions).
2. Motivation to Manage
[Para 3] Uplifting stories about disabled persons and adventurers who succeed despite seemingly insurmountable odds are often summed up in one word: desire. The same force drives successful managers. All the ability in the world will not help a future manager succeed if he or she does not possess a persistent desire to move ahead. Linda Wachner, the only woman chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company (garment maker Warnaco), is an inspiring case in point. Fortune magazine calls her America's most successful businesswoman:
From the time she was 11 and growing up in Forest Hills, New York, Wachner knew she wanted to run something. That was the year she lay flat on her back, encased in a plaster cast from her head to her knees, the first step in a surgical procedure to correct severe scoliosis. Hardly able to move and facing the possibility that she would never walk again, Linda became determined that whatever she did in life, she would call the shots–––not doctors, or parents, or physical therapists. "The focus I have today comes from when I was sick," she says. "When you want to walk again, you learn how to focus on that with all your might, and you don't stop until you do it."
That brand of determination was evident from the first day Wachner hit the job market in 1966. After graduating at age 20 from the University of Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in business administration, she landed at Associated Merchandising Corp, the New York City buying arm of Federated and other department stores. Her pay: $ 90 a week....A former boss remembers her: “Linda used to come flying through my door every morning hitting me with ideas on how we could run the business better. She wanted to tell our manufacturers how they could do more business with the stores.”
[Para 4] Until the mid-1960s, this kind of desire was an intangible trait that could be measured only subjectively. Then a management researcher named John B. Miner developed a psychometric instrument to measure objectively an individual's motivation to manage. Miner's test, in effect, measures one's desire to be a manager.
[Para 5] The Seven Dimensions of Motivation to Manage. Miner's measure of motivation to manage is anchored to the following seven dimensions:
1. Favorable attitude toward those in positions of authority, such as superiors.
2. Desire to engage in games or sports competition with peers.
3. Desire to engage in occupational or work–related competition with peers,
4. Desire to assert oneself and take charge.
5. Desire to exercise power and authority over others.
6. Desire to behave in a distinctive way, which includes standing out from the crowd.
7. Sense of responsibility in carrying out the routine duties associated with managerial work.
The higher the individual scores on each trait, the greater is the motivation to manage. (Although the complete instrument is not given here, you can readily gauge your own motivation to manage as low, moderate, or high.) Miner's research indicates that this concept can accurately predict how fast and how far one will move up the hierarchy.
[Para 6] Motivation to Manage among Business Students. Miner and his colleagues went on to track motivation–to–manage scores for business students at two major U.S. universities over a twenty–year period and came to some interesting conclusions. First, although the steady decline of motivation to manage during the 1960s and early 1970s had stopped, students' motivation to manage still was very low. Generally speaking, students continued to show a distaste for authority, competitiveness, assertiveness, and routine managerial duties. Miner believed this situation foreshadowed a shortage of managerial talent over the coming years. A second conclusion was that female students no longer lagged behind their male counterparts in motivation to manage.
[Para 7] More recently, Miner's research has focused on international differences in motivation to manage. His student samples from Mexico, Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan all scored consistently higher than did his samples from the United States. Miner perceives this pattern as a potential threat to America's global competitiveness.
3. Opportunity to Manage
[Para 8] Judging from headlines in recent years about corporate downsizings, middle manager layoffs, and the dramatic scaling back of the U. S. defense industry, students might be tempted to throw up their hands in frustration over the prospect of ever landing a management position. Indeed, from the perspective of large American companies, the market for managers has tightened considerably since the 1980s. But the broader picture presented by Business Week, seemingly gloomy at first glance, offers hope for future managers:
In the U.S. some 13.5 million workers in private industry are classified as executives, administrators, and managers, and most are employed in the service sector --the focus of intensive restructuring in recent years. The upshot is that managerial jobs, which surged at a 5.6% annual rate from 1984 through 1989, have shown no net growth at all since then––eliminating about 2.25 million jobs that would have been created if the earlier growth trend had been maintained.
Even though the growth rate for the managerial slice of the U. S. labor pie slowed and even shifted into reverse during the early 1990s, it still is a huge slice: 13.5 million managers! Normal turnover–––through deaths, retirements, and career changes–––will open millions of managerial positions in the years ahead. Anticipated economic growth will create additional managerial opportunities.
[Para 9] Significantly, the statistics in the preceding quote tell only part of the story for managerial job seekers. Not counted among the 13.5 million are the millions of administrators and managers in military, government, and nonprofit organizations. Also, there is the mushrooming small-business sector. One quick way to become a manager is to start your own business.
[Para 10] Despite periodic ups and downs in job markets, there will continue to be a worldwide need for those with the right combination of ability and motivation to manage. The time to start working out your own S= A×M×O formula is now.
New Words
***
accredit [[5kredit]
vt.
委派出任
*
anchor [5ANk[]
n.
vt.
锚
抛锚；依靠
*
anticipate [An5tisipeit]
vt.
预见
*
assembly [[5sembl]
n.
集会
*
assertiveness [[5se:tivnis]
n.
断定
*
brand [brAnd]
n.
商标；烙印；印记
*
cast [kB:st]
n.
浇铸
***
collegiate [k[5li:dVit]
adj.
专科学校的；学院的；大学的
*
conceptual [k[n5septFu[l]
adj.
思维的，抽象的；概念的
*
counterpart [5kaunt[pB:t]
n.
对应的人（或物）
*
delegation [9deli5geiF[n]
n.
派遣
**
dimension [di5menF[n]
n.
度量方法
*
disposition [disp[5ziF[n]
n.
倾向
**
downsize [5daun9saiz]
v.
减小；减少
*
encase [in5keis]
vt.
包围；包裹
*
favorable [5fei[r[bl]
adj.
赞同的
**
foreshadow [fC:5FAd[u]
vt.
预示
*
frustration [frQs5treiF[n]
n.
灰心
*
garment [5gB:m[nt]
n.
服装
***
gauge [gedV]
vt.
估计，判断
n.
方法，手段；标准
*
gloomy [5glu:mi]
adj.
黑暗的，昏暗的
*
headline [5hedlain]
n.
标题
*
hierarchy [5hai[rB:ki]
n.
等级制度；领导层
***
insurmountable [9ins[5maunt[bl]
adj.
不能克服的
*
intangible [in5tAndV[bl]
adj.
无形的，无法接触的
*
interpersonal [9int[5p[:s[nl]
adj.
人际的；交际的
**
layoff [5lei9C:f]
n.
下岗，失业期间
**
merchandise [5m[:tF[ndaiz]
n.
vt.
商品；货品
劝人购物
*
motivation [9m[uti5veiF[n]
n.
动机；动力
*
multiplication [9mQltipli5keiF[n]
n.
乘法
**
mushroom [5mQFrum]
vi.
迅速生长
*
objectivity [9CbdVek5tiviti]
n.
客观
*
odds [Cdz]
n.
有可能出现的麻烦事
*
peer [pi[]
n.
同龄人；同等地位的人
*
perspective [p[5spektiv]
n.
观点，看法；视角；
*
plaster [5plB:st[]
n.
灰泥；石膏
*
presentation [9prezen5teiF[n]
n.
赠送；引见；介绍；呈现
*
psychometric [9saik[u5metrik]
adj.
心理测量的
***
restructuring [ri5strQktF[]
n.
重新组建
***
scoliosis [9skCli5[usis]
n.
脊柱侧凸
*
superior [sju:5pi[ri[]
n.
上级，长官
***
surefire [5Fu[fai[]
adj.
确定的
*
surge [s[:dV]
vi.
上升
*
surgical [5s[:dVik[l]
adj.
外科的
*
therapist [5Wer[pist]
n.
治疗者
*
trait [treit]
n.
特性，特征
*
turnover [5t[:n9[uv[]
n.
移交
*
uplifting [Qp5lift]
adj.
使人振奋的
*
upshot [5QpFCt]
n.
结局
注: *为基础词汇 **为常用的财经专业词汇 ***为非常用的基础和财经词汇，以下各课同
Special Terms
accrediting agency
授权机构
assert oneself
坚持自己的权利，显示自己的权威
business administration
企业管理
career changes
跳槽
chief executive officer
董事长
corporate downsizing
公司滑坡
defense industry
国防工业
dimensions of motivation to manage
管理动机的度量方法
disposition to lead
有领导倾向
favorable attitude
赞同态度
Fortune 500 company
500强企业
job market
劳务市场
job seeker
求职者
managerial position
管理岗位
motivation to manage
管理动机
nonprofit organization
非赢利组织
oral (written) communication
口头（书面）交流
organizational objective
管理目标
presentation skill
交际技巧
private industry
私人企业
self-objectivity
自知之明
sense of responsibility
责任感
show a distaste for
表现不喜欢…
A whole package of…
全面的…
Abbreviation(s)
AACSB the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business 美国盎瑟贝财经学院
Notes to the Passage
1. [Para 1] A total absence of one factor can cancel out strength in the other two.
管理成功的公式里共三个要素，如果其中的一个是零的话（即a total absence），那就会取消(cancel out)另外的两个要素的力量之和（strength in the other two）。
2. [Para 2] …the term managerial ability is the demonstrated capacity to achieve organizational objectives both effectively and efficiently.
本句中的effectively 和efficiently由于拼写、读音、意义三相近，因此很容易混淆。Effect, effective 和effectively表示的是“效果”，典型的如吃了某种药是否有effect。 而efficiency, efficient和efficiently表示的是“效率”。因此汉语的“成效”把effectively和efficiently两者都包括了。此句译成“用在这儿的管理能力这个概念要具体表现在有成效地实现组织目标的能力。”
3． [Para 2] …today's successful manager needs a whole package of conceptual, technical, and interpersonal abilities.
a package of…原义是“一包…”，这儿的 “a whole package of …abilities” 表示的是如今一个成功的管理者所需要的一组能力。
4. [Para 3] Fortune 500； Fortune magazine
Fortune magazine 是美国的著名的财富杂志，它每年都要根据销售量，排出500家销售量最大的工业企业，称作Fortune 500，即世界企业500强。
5. [Para 3] an inspiring case in point
case 为“例子”；in point为“恰当的”，“切题的”，即指前面说的一个人要取得成功其关键是不断进取的欲望
6. [Para 3] That was the year she lay flat on her back, encased in a plaster cast from her head to her knees, the first step in a surgical procedure to correct severe scoliosis.
本句讲的是Linda Wachner那年正是她为矫正她的严重的脊柱侧凸外科手术的第一步而让医生从头到膝盖打上了石膏。 “lie flat on one’s back” 意思是“平躺着”。
7. [Para 3] Linda became determined that whatever she did in life, she would call the shots–––not doctors, or parents, or physical therapists.
本句的难点是美国的非正式成语”call the shots”，它的意思是“to give orders; be in charge ; direct; control” 即“颁布命令；领导统御；指挥有道”。破折号后，讲call转向正常意思， “speak or shout sb.” 即“叫喊某人”，这是作者的语言技巧，巧妙地表现了Linda 决心从事管理，而不是有难题就叫大夫、父母或医务专家。
8. [Para 3] she landed at Associated Merchandising Corp, the New York City buying arm of Federated and other department stores.
“land at…”表示她落脚在这一家联合商业公司；buying arm 即buying department“采购部”；federated department store 即joint department store“联合百货商场”。
9. [Para 5] …you can readily gauge your own motivation to manage as low, moderate, or high.
“gauge … as …”的意思是“把…估定为…”，这儿说的是，尽管Miner的测定方法没有作全面介绍，但根据这七条，你已经可以自测一下自己的管理动机是弱、一般、还是很强。
10. [Para 8] Judging from headlines in recent years about corporate downsizings, middle manager layoffs, and the dramatic scaling back of the U. S. defense industry, students might be tempted to throw up their hands in frustration over the prospect of ever landing a management position.
本句开头的-ing形式讲的是大学生们不想定位管理岗位的判断的三个依据：一是最近几年大标题报道的公司滑坡的消息，二是中等企业的管理者的失业下岗，三是国防工业突然倒退。scale作动词可跟up, down 和back等使用，表示“上升、下跌和倒退”。主句中有一个成语 “throw up one’s hand in …” ，介词in后除了这儿的frustration（灰心），还可接despair, horror等，分别表示“失去希望”和“十分可怕”。本句讲的是大学生对从事管理管理工作丧失了希望。
11. [Para 8] … and most are employed in the service sector––the focus of intensive restructuring in recent years, …
前面讲到一千三百五十万人在私人企业从事管理工作，接着说其中的大多数受雇于服务部门(the service sector)，而这些服务部门这几年正是调整的重点（the focus of intensive restructuring），言外之意：此时暂时不会招人。
12. [Para 8] Even though the growth rate for the managerial slice of the U. S. labor pie slowed and even shifted into reverse during the early 1990s, it still is a huge slice: 13.5 million managers!
句中把全美国的劳动力大军比着pie (饼)，管理这一块就用了slice (片) 这个单词。全句讲的是“在整个就业队伍里，即使管理这一块增长的速度不快，甚至在九十年代初期减少了，它的从业人员还是占了很大一块。”
Comprehension Exercises to the Passage
[Ex.1] Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F) in relation to the information in the passage.
1. Successful managers come from a wide variety of backgrounds and possess an equally wide variety of traits and skills, so they have nothing in common. (F)
2. The use of multiplication rather than addition signs in formula for managerial success indicates that you should have a package of the three factors if you wanted to become a successful manager. (T)
3. In formula for managerial success “A” stands for managerial ability, which refers mainly to some skills. (F)
4. The author uses AACSB's package of skills and characteristics to explain in detail the term ability used in formula for managerial success.(T)
5. Motivation to manage is so important that even if a
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