新职业英语2unit2

ReadTAe-2xitng A
2 Part of the problem at such meetings is that the leader has not set clear objectives or an agenda, and didn’t assign pre-meeting preparation tasks. Instead, the leader seems to hope that magic will occur, producing solutions to the problems. Of course, that doesn’t happen.
ReadTAe-4xitng A
4 I used to be the disengaged participant—one who had good ideas about how to solve a problem, but didn’t contribute. I now take a more active role, aiming to make meetings more effective. Here are three simple principles I use. First, whoever calls a meeting should be explicit about its objectives. This means specifying tangible goals and assigning responsibilities. Second, everyone should think carefully about the costs of a meeting: How many participants are really needed? How long should the meeting last? Finally, after meetings, assign credit or blame to the person in charge. If people have records of leading ineffective meetings, they are not allowed to lead future sessions.
1 The meeting spills over into its second hour. We are discussing a productivity initiative. At this moment, our most talkative member chimes in with the idea that we need some kind of system to reward employees. This is the same solution he offers for every problem at every meeting. Then, another member cuts in with a long story—just to make the point that we are not the proper entity to recommend the kinds of changes we are proposing. I, meanwhile, contribute nothing useful. Finally, the woman who set the meeting calls it quits and tells us we’ll continue next week. We drift back to our offices, wondering how to make up for the wasted time. This meeting occurred many years ago, but similar ones happen at companies everywhere every day.
ReadTAe-3xitng A
3 The main reason we don’t make meetings more productive is that we don’t value our time properly. The people who call meetings and those who attend them are not thinking about time as their most valuable resource. But time is the most perishable good in the world. You can’t earn an extra hour to use on a busy day. Nonetheless, we usually have a vague feeling that there is plenty of time—somewhere in the future—so we waste it now and carelessly steal time from our families, friends or ourselves.
新职业英语
Unit 2
Conte nts
1
Warming-up
2
Reading A
3
Readinபைடு நூலகம் B
4 Listening & Speaking
5
Writing
6
Mini-project
7
Language Lab
78
ELnantegrutaignemLeanbt
Wa rm1
Task Work in pairs. Read the following list of the tasks at different stages of a business meeting. Discuss with your partner and match each task with its corresponding stage.
Meeting Management Tasks
Wa rm1
3，5，6，8，9，10 2， 4， 7 1，11， 12
ReadRngeiaAdni g A
Text Task 1 Task 2 Business Know-how
ReadTAe-1xitng A
Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time