In the last few years, managers throughout industry have seen more changes than many of them could have expected to see in their entire working lives having to communicate information which often leads to feelings of insecurity has become a key activity. From being regarded as relatively unimportant in many companies , management employee communication has become a central corporate need.

Concordia International provides a good example of a company that has adjusted well to the changing needs for communication . since 1995 , Concordia has been turned inside-out and upside-down, to ensure that it is a marketing –led, customer-responsive business, one that looks outwards at customers and competitors, rather than inwards at its own processes and the way things were done in the past. In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis, with further downsizing anticipated.

From being an engineering company, Concordia is now remaking itself as a service company. The role of employee communication in such a context is to build people’s self-confidence, to persuade them that, although it is inevitable that the changes will go ahead, they also bring with them new opportunities for employees. However, this is not an easy task. People tend to be skeptical of these claims and to feel that they are losing touch with the company they have worked for over many years. This is understandable, since many of the old certainties are being swept away , including the core activities of the company they work for. Above all , they have had to face up to the fact that they no longer have a job for life.

Research indicates that people respond to this predicament in a variety of ways. The bulk of employees fall into two main categories in terms of their response to the new situation: on the one hand there are the “ pragmatists” and on the other “ the highly anxious” the former see their job as a means to an end and have a relatively short-term perspective, with strong loyalty to their local term , rather than the company as a whole . The second category, usually the majority, may respond to threatened changes with a feeling of having been let down, and even feel anger at the company for what they see as changing the terms of their employment.

` The employee communication process needs to be capable of accurately directing its messages at a variety of employee groups and departments within the workforce . this is why middle managers and line managers are so key to communication. They are the people who know about the full rage of concerns among the workforce. The problem in the past was that this crucial area was often the responsibility of a separate, relatively isolated unit. Concordia puts responsibility for communication firmly on line managers. All their research points to the same conclusion: people prefer to get their information face-to-face from their line managers. That is the key relationship and where arguments and hearts and minds –are lost.

The general rule in company communication is to tell employees as much as you can as soon as you can. If you can’t provide details, then at least put the news in context and commit yourself to providing greater detail when it becomes available another rule of company communication is that there must be a fit between what the company is telling its employees and what it is telling its shareholders.15 In the last eight years, Concordia has

A made over 80.000 employees reduncdant

B completed a period of downsizing

C reduced its workforce of 80.000 by 35%

D given 35% of departing employees voluntary redundancy

16 From Concordia’s point of view, the role of communication is to

A win employee support before going ahead with the changes

B change the company’s core activities.

C emphasise the positive aspects of the changes

D explain the need for the changes

17 what does research show about most employees’ response to change?

A they expect it to have a bad effect on the company

B they feel completely powerless

C they become less loyal

D they fell they have been treated unfairly

18 Concordia’s communication process mainly relies on

A printed communication

B departmental heads

C personal communication

D a separate, specialized unit

19 According to the writer, what is the guiding principle about giving information within an organization?

A Never make promises about future developments

B Give people an overall view at the earliest possible stage

C always include plenty of hard information

D Hold back until all the details can be provided

20 which of the following would be the most suitable title for the article?

A employee attitudes to company communication

B making company communication more effective

C Researching company commmucation

D Making employees feel less powerless

文章取材自一本管理手冊，說的是一個(gè)組織里的有效溝通問題。這套題目有些特別，不像之前的閱讀的第三部分，六道題目分別依次對應(yīng)文章的六個(gè)段落，這題的答案稍微分散了些。

15題，答案很明顯，但是選項(xiàng)很有迷惑性。答案是第二段的最后一句：In the last eight years, Concordia has reduced its workforce by more than 80.000 people - or 35% -on a voluntary basis, with further downsizing anticipated.減少了80000員工(或者說減少了35%的員工)，預(yù)期還會減少更多。A選項(xiàng)是對的，made redundant是前面某套題目閱讀的第五部分考過的詞組;B不對，沒有完成(completed)，因?yàn)轭A(yù)期還會裁減更多(with further downsizing anticipated);C也不對，迷惑性最大，reduced its workforce of 80.000，用了介詞of，所以這句的意思是一共就80000員工，而實(shí)際情況是減少了80000員工;D不對，35%的員工被裁減，都是在自愿的基礎(chǔ)上的，而不是離開的人中有35%是自愿的。

16題，問根據(jù)此人的觀點(diǎn)，溝通的角色是什么。也就是問溝通的目的或者作用是什么。答案在第三段。溝通是為了幫助人樹立自信，說服他們雖然要面臨一些變化，但是同樣也會擁有一些新的機(jī)會。說白了，就是鼓勵(lì)這些被裁的人。答案選C，強(qiáng)調(diào)變化的積極方面。這里的positive aspects是對前面說的bring with them new opportunities的一個(gè)概括。(想起了電影《在云端》，up in the air，里面那個(gè)老男人的工作就是職業(yè)裁員專家，專門對被裁的人說些這樣的話。)

17題，問調(diào)查顯示大多數(shù)人對change的反應(yīng)是什么。這題在答案中也很明顯，但是選項(xiàng)很糾結(jié)。都有點(diǎn)似是而非。The second category, usually the majority, may respond to threatened changes with a feeling of having been let down.,and even feel anger at the company for what they see as changing the terms of their employment.大多數(shù)員工的反應(yīng)就是很失望，甚至?xí)軕嵟?。個(gè)人覺得這題出的不夠嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)，沒有哪個(gè)選項(xiàng)能嚴(yán)格從原文中提煉出來。對比下D要好點(diǎn)，因?yàn)閷臼蛻嵟褪怯X得受到了不公正的待遇。此題有待高手補(bǔ)充更完美的理由。

18題，問溝通過程主要依賴于什么。答案是第五段的這句：people prefer to get their information face-to-face from their line managers。喜歡面對面的從直屬經(jīng)理那里獲取信息。所以選C，個(gè)人的交流。

19題，問組織內(nèi)部提供信息的指導(dǎo)準(zhǔn)則是什么。最后一段的第一句就是：The general rule in company communication is to tell employees as much as you can as soon as you can。盡可能的快，盡可能的多。不能提供細(xì)節(jié)的，至少給個(gè)大致的背景消息(put the news in context)。時(shí)機(jī)成熟了，再告知更多。選B：在可能的最早的階段讓人有個(gè)總體的印象。

20題，給文章選標(biāo)題。這種題在BEC的閱讀里還真不多見。選標(biāo)題，就是要挑選文章的最主要意思，從整體上把握文章的main ideas。這篇文章通篇說的就是communication，前面介紹了溝通的背景：裁員;接著說了員工對裁員的反應(yīng);然后最后兩段，一段說員工喜歡什么樣的溝通方式，一段說溝通的原則是什么。綜合起來，就是關(guān)于怎樣進(jìn)行有效溝通的問題。選B。A不對，片面了，只是文中某部分的內(nèi)容，并且這部分內(nèi)容是為后面做背景介紹，不是主要的;C不對，不是簡單的research，research僅僅是介紹狀況，文章還有關(guān)于實(shí)現(xiàn)措施的。

Relevant link：

2012商務(wù)英語高級考試每日一練（8月3日）

（責(zé)任編輯：中大編輯）

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