新编剑桥商务英语高级第三版 第Module7-Module 8

7.1 Strengths and weaknesses (page 67)

1I admire my boss a lot. He’s very capable;he knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty,not like some managers who think they’re above it all. The one problem is that he takes on too much. I don’t think it’s because he doesn’t trust us to do a good job--it’s because he likes to be involved in everything. He ‘s a bit of control freak. The result is that he spreads himself very thin, when he could hand more work out to others, and he’s often overloaded and stressed.

2 Cheryl’s not particularly brilliant, but she knows that. She knows her own limitations, which is certainly one of her strengths. In fact, I don’t think you have to be particularly bright to be a manager-- that’s more a quality you need in a leader. A manager’s job is to bring order to the workplace and the team, so that people are clear about what they should be doing and when they should be doing it. Cheryl is very good at getting everyone working in the most efficient way and that makes our working environment much less stressful.

3 He’s not an easy guy to work for. He has very high expectations of his staff and he can be rude and too direct. Sensitivity is not his strong point. He often puts you on the spot: ‘What makes you think this will work?’‘Have you thought about the cost of this?’and so on . You have to be prepared to justify your actions a lot. Some people can’t stand being challenged like this all the time, but you can’t deny that he gets the most out of his staff. People do perform.

4 There are people who listen to what you are saying, and people who hear what you are saying. Paul is one of the former. He does try to listen to other people’s ideas, but his mind has often moved onto the next thing, and he doesn’t take on board what you’re saying. It’s the same thing when he’s expressing his own ideas and wishes. He kind of takes it for granted that everyone has reached the same point in their thinking that he has, when often they’re still two or three steps behind. Don’t get me wrong, he’s very nice guy--kind and clever, and he has lots of great ideas and vision for the company--but because of these communication difficulties, he can be very frustrating to work for.

5 The financial rewards in our company are not so huge, but in spite of that, in my team we all stay very motivated because our boss really appreciates our work. She’s actually very protective of her own people. She gives us a lot of praise. Other people in the company say she’s a maverick, a kind of a loner. They say she’s difficult to get on with and doesn’t really have the company’s interests at heart. But I wouldn’t known about that really, because it’s not the side of her that we see. What we get is 100% loyalty and encouragement.