2015-08-21
391
There’s a scene in the classic 1956 film, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, when Frederic March’s driven CEO is informed that his estranged daughter has eloped. The CEO’s wife, far from seeking her husband’s comfort at this distressing moment, instead announces that their chilly marriage is over. In a wave of bitterness and self-pity, the boss tells junior executive Gregory Peck the “big successful businesses aren’t built by men like you – 9 to5 and home and family.” They are built by workaholics like me, he explains. The personal toll is obvious. “My mistake,” he adds sadly, addressing his glass of Scotch, “was in being one of those men”.
We are still stuck between the extremes depicted in the movie. Either you are a maniacal workaholic who ruins the world – or you are a Gilbert, punching a clock with little power and authority. Too many businesspeople think that’s just the way of the world. “You can’t have it all,” they say. But let’s be very clear on what “all” is. People want to work at the level they are capable of and still have time for things outside work that nourish them. They don’t expect to be as rich or accomplished as Bill Gates or Jeff Immelt while also being the perfect parent. They’re saying that most of us lucky enough to have the talent and ambition to tackle top jobs while being blessed with people or things that give us sustenance should be able to combine both.
To say this is “wanting it all” is like saying people should have to choose between food and water. They need both. As Dean Baquet of the L.A. Times argues, “The top shouldn’t be reserved only for people who can work 18 hours a day.” Obviously these are lucky problems to have. But why should America’s professionals be the only elites in human history who don’t set things up to get what they want? If they did, America would be the better for it.
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I. Find in the text:
Причина для озабоченности, недостаток талантливых руководителей, выполнимые работы, реструктурировать руководящие должности, провокационный случай. Перегрузка, неэффективность, люди с взаимно-дополняющими качествами, подниматься по карьерной лестнице, перевесить затраты, послужной список, «голубые фишки», индивидуальные механизмы приспособления, предлагать альтернативные пути карьерного роста, люди с более высокими зарплатами.
II. Explain the following. What did the author mean by saying:
1. At the age of 45, with 4-and 6- year-old boys at home, he often found himself wondering whether the sacrifices were worth it.
2. Men are willing to talk about these things in ways that were inconceivable less than ten years ago. (Why? What’s happened?)
3. It’s a lesson corporate America needs to learn before an entire generation of senior talent melts down or decides to stay home.
4. “Every time a top job open up, a phalanx of “24/7” people is waiting in line to take it”. Is it really so? Who says it?
5. A revolt of talent is brewing.
6. “Businesses need to be 24/7, individuals don’t”.
7. Of course, there’s a roadblock to reform: fear.
8. Many senior managers have undoable jobs.
9. Everyone has individual coping mechanisms.
10. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.
11. Organisations will look less like a pyramid and more like a puzzle.
12. Start viewing efforts to humanize senior jobs as a competitive advantage and business necessity, not as one-time accommodations for the CEOs' pets.
13. I like the idea of them having exposure to things other than just the newsroom and the news in the moment."
14. Declaring your interest in a human-sized job is like announcing a disease.
15. The biggest challenge in humanizing work may be not how to get the work done but how to persuade corporate leaders to view the desire for a complete life as legitimate.
16. "There'll never be a mark against you because you asked for something."
17. Innovative job design is a way to keep great people.
III. Answer the questions:
1. What is the text about?
2. What is said about Slager’s work?
3. How did he spend his vacations?
4. Does he have time for his family? What does the author say about it?
5. What did Slager decide to do to change the situation?
6. What lesson does corporate America need to learn according to the author? Why?
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7. Are there many talented leaders to take top positions? Why?
8. What four things do business leaders need to do?
9. What does the Fortune survey of senior male executives show?
10. What is the road block to reform? Why?
11. What does the author say about the efficiency of work? What is said about the complexity in business?
12. What did Peter Chernin do to humanise the work? What is the result? Why? What are the benefits?
13. How did it affect their family lives?
14. How did they manage to get on?
15. How did they view their relationship?
16. Is it hard to manage two presidents?
17. What does the author say about this labour division?
18. Are there other examples in the text?
19. Are there many companies willing to make changes in top positions?
20. What are the ideas to humanise top jobs?
21. What is the biggest challenge in humanising work?
22. What is said about productivity and output per person in America?
23. What example does the author give to compare the ways of working in India, China and Hungary? What does he want to emphasize by this? Which of them do you think is the most effective?
24. What does the author want to show by giving a scene from a Hollywood film?
25. What does the author say in the conclusion?
IV. Comment on the statements:
1. It's a lesson corporate America needs to learn before an entire generation of senior talent melts down or decides to stay home.
2. The 60-hour weeks once thought to be the path to glory are now practically considered part-time.
3. Not everyone thinks there is cause for concern or room to maneuver.
4. Rethinking senior jobs and careers can help solve that.
5. A revolt of talent is brewing.
6. Quit defining the desire for doable jobs as a "women's issue." Men meant this too.
7. Companies can offer alternative career paths in which executives choose the speed of their promotions.
8. Employers have to give senior people the freedom to define what they mean by success in their lives.
9. Those who "place a high premium on work-life balance" are called as second-tier workers.
10. People ‘knew’ a century ago, for example, that a “weekend” or a “minimum wage” would spell the nation’s ruin.
11. To say this is “wanting it all” is like saying people should have to choose between food and water
V. Speak on the points:
1. Long working hours is cause for concern.
2. Success means different things for different people.
3. Some people have to keep their B-ness a secret and suffer in silence.
4. Restructuring senior management jobs can help people achieve work-life balance.
5. Offering alternative career paths can help companies find and retain talent.
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