BEC閱讀考試真題詳解(3)

Inthelastfewyears,managers

throughout

industry

haveseenmorechangesthanmanyofthem

couldhave

expected

tosee

in

their

entire

working

lives

having

to

communicateinformation

which

often

leads

to

feelings

of

insecurity

hasbecomeakeyactivity.From

being

regarded

as

relativelyunimportant

in

many

companies

,

management

employeecommunication

hasbecome

a

central

corporate

need.

Concordia

International

provides

a

good

example

of

acompany

that

has

adjusted

well

tothe

changingneeds

for

communication

.since

1995

,Concordia

has

been

turned

inside-outandupside-down,toensurethatitisamarketing

–

led,customer-responsivebusiness,onethatlooksoutwardsat

customers

and

competitors,

ratherthan

inwards

at

its

own

processesandthewaythingsweredoneinthepast.Inthelast

eightyears,Concordiahasreduceditsworkforcebymorethan

80.000

people

-or

35%

-on

a

voluntarybasis,

with

further

1

downsizinganticipated.Frombeinganengineeringcompany,Concordiaisnowremakingitselfasaservicecompany.Theroleofemployeecommunicationinsuchacontextistobuild

people’sself-confidence,topersuadethemthat,althoughitis

inevitable

that

the

changes

will

goahead,

they

also

bring

withthemnew

opportunities

for

employees.

However,

thisis

notaneasytask.Peopletendtobeskeptical

ofthese

claims

andtofeelthattheyarelosingtouchwiththecompanythey

haveworkedforovermanyyears.Thisisunderstandable,since

manyoftheoldcertainties

are

beingswept

away

,including

the

coreactivities

ofthe

company

they

workfor.Above

all,

theyhavehadtofaceuptothefactthattheynolongerhavea

jobforlife.Researchindicates

that

people

respond

to

this

predicament

inavariety

of

ways.The

bulk

ofemployees

fall

intotwomaincategoriesintermsoftheirresponsetothenew

situation:ontheonehandtherearethe

“pragmatists

”and

ontheother

“thehighlyanxious

”theformerseetheirjobas

a

means

to

an

end

and

have

a

relatively

short-terrm

perspective,withstrongloyaltytotheirlocalterm,ratherthan

the

company

asawhole.Thesecond

category,

usually

the

majority,mayrespondtothreatenedchangeswithafeelingof

havingbeenletdown,andevenfeelangeratthecompanyfor

2

whattheyseeaschangingthetermsoftheiremployment.The

employee

communication

process

needs

to

be

capable

of

accurately

directing

itsmessages

at

a

variety

of

employee

groups

and

departments

within

the

workforce

.

this

is

whymiddle

managers

and

line

managers

are

so

key

to

communication.Theyarethepeoplewhoknowaboutthefull

rage

of

concernsamong

the

workforce.

The

problem

in

the

pastwasthatthiscrucialareawasoftentheresponsibilityofa

separate,

relatively

isolated

unit.

Concordia

puts

responsibilityfor

communication

firmly

on

line

managers.

All

theirresearchpointstothesameconclusion:peoplepreferto

gettheir

information

face-to-face

from

their

line

managers.

That

isthe

keyrelationshipand

where

arguments

and

hearts

and

minds

–are

lost.

The

general

rule

in

company

communication

is

to

tell

employees

asmuch

asyou

can

as

soonasyoucan.Ifyoucan’tprovidedetails,thenatleastput

thenewsincontextandcommityourselftoprovidinggreater

detailwhenitbecomesavailable

another

rule

ofcompany

communication

isthat

there

mustbe

a

fit

between

what

the

company

is

telling

its

employees

and

what

it

is

telling

itsshareholders.15

In

the

last

eight

years,Concordia

hasA

made

over

80.000

employees

reduncdant

B

completed

a

3

periodofdownsizingCreduceditsworkforceof80.000by

35%Dgiven35%ofdepartingemployeesvoluntary

redundancy16FromConcordia’spointofview,theroleof

communicationistoAwinemployeesupportbeforegoingaheadwiththechangesBchangethecompany’scoreactivities.CemphasisethepositiveaspectsofthechangesDexplaintheneedforthechanges17whatdoesresearchshow

aboutmostemployees’responsetochange?AtheyexpectittohaveabadeffectonthecompanyBtheyfeelcompletelypowerlessCtheybecomelessloyalDtheyfelltheyhavebeen

treated

unfairly

18

Concordia

’scommunication

process

mainly

relies

on

A

printed

communication

B

departmental

headsCpersonal

communication

D

a

separate,

specialized

unit19Accordingtothewriter,whatistheguidingprinciple

about

giving

information

within

anorganization?

A

Never

makepromisesaboutfuturedevelopmentsBGivepeoplean

overall

view

atthe

earliest

possible

stage

Calways

include

plentyofhardinformationDHoldbackuntilallthedetailscan

beprovided

20

which

of

the

fol