节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-08-27
难易度:High
关键字:kernel, abide by, lament, magnitude, head-on
We're on the second day of the article Managing Difficult Workers.
And today Ben and his Uncle Bob are discussing how to make this difficult
employee situation into a win-win situation so that both sides will be happy.
Now we've heard a lot of words of wisdom that had a kernel of truth in it from
Uncle Bob.
And we have a lot more to learn from this conversation in the next part of our
reading.
Let's get started.
(Music).
Managing Difficult Workers.
OK, so I need a plan.
That's a start, but don't just sit around lamenting the situation and planning a
response.
Once the rules and consequences have been communicated, the main thing is to
confront problems head-on.
And if problems continue?
Make sure that consequences match the magnitude of the problem.
And ultimately, I need to act in the best interest of my business.
Right.
And a time may come when it's no longer worth tolerating the problem.
Then you'll have to let him go.
Thanks for the advice.
Well, I hope things work out.
(Music).
All right.
Let's go to the beginning of this conversation.
And Uncle Bob had just told Ben about enforcing rules.
If you have someone who breaks the rules, you should probably enforce the rules
even more.
So Ben... how does Ben respond, Carolyn?
Well, he says: OK, so I need a plan.
That's a start, but don't just sit around lamenting the situation and planning a
response.
Well, let's take a look at that word from our Word Bank: to lament something.
That means to just feel sorry for yourself about something.
That's right.
So you really aren't doing anything to improve the situation.
You're just sitting there feeling sad and wishing something could be done.
It's true.
This reminds me of a word we learned earlier, the word: mourn.
We talked about how Jenny Webb at the elephant foundation... the Jumbo
Foundation Elephant Orphanage, they mourned for Moses.
You could also say that they were lamenting Moses's death.
That's right.
So you can use this word in a few different ways.
But here... uh, Uncle Bob says that Ben should not lament the situation.
This should not be a problem because he can't come up with a plan.
Now Uncle Bob, how do you continue?
All right.
Once the rules and consequences have been communicated, the main thing is to
confront problems head-on.
OK. So once these things have happened, you want to confront problems head-on.
Confrontation is not easy, is it, Carolyn?
That is very true.
It can be very difficult to point out problems to other people.
You worry about how they will react.
Especially if the employee is already a difficult person to work with, it could
turn into an even bigger problem.
But Uncle Bob's advice is to confront it head-on, to not go around the situation
and just kind of pretend that maybe something is happening that shouldn't be but
to just say it directly.
That's right.
It's good to be direct, not indirect, in the situation.
OK. Ben, Uncle Bob said confront the problem head-on.
And if the problems continue?
Hmm, make sure that consequences match the magnitude of the problem.
They're good advice here, Uncle Bob.
The magnitude of the problem.
"Magnitude" is from our Word Bank as well.
It's a very big word.
Actually, it's talking about the size of something.
The magnitude of something.
Yes. So that is how big something is.
You don't use this word to describe how small something is.
It's only for large things.
So the magnitude of the problem.
If the problem is very large, then the consequence should match it.
But if it's not too big of a problem, then it shouldn't be as harsh of a
consequence.
That's good.
Of course, some things should have harsh consequences.
We don't know what the situation is for Ralph.
Well, Ben has the next line here.
What does he say?
Oh, yes.
And ultimately, I need to act in the best interest of my business.
And that is great, to act in the best interest of somebody.
Let's take a look at that phrase.
If you're doing something for someone's best interest, that means you really
have them in mind.
It's not just for yourself, it's not selfish.
It's doing it for someone else's best interest.
In this case, Ben is talking about the best interest of his business.
That's right.
And it's very true because while Ralph is important, he is a person, he is one
of Ben's employees, the business is Ben's most important priority right now.
That's what he wants to focus on.
It's true.
So Uncle Bob, what does he say?
Right. And a time may come when it's no longer worth tolerating the problem.
Then you'll have to let him go.
And terminate him.
Oh. Well, "let him go." That is an interesting phrase right there.
And Steve and Ken are going to talk to us all about it in the Information Cloud.
In the context of an employer/employee relationship, "to let someone go" is, in
fact, a euphemism for dismissing that person.
And there are two possible ways of being let go.
One is getting fired, and the other is getting laid off.
When a company doesn't have enough work for their employees, it may decide to
lay people off.
Layoffs can be temporary or permanent.
If the company anticipates positive changes in the future with more work and
opportunities, employees who are laid off may be called back.
But when an employee is let go because of poor work performance, repeated
tardiness or other reasons, he's being fired.
And how is a person fired?
When the company decides that an employee should leave, it will give that person
a discharge notice called pink slip.
Why is it pink, Steve?
Well, Ken, in the old days, when employees were paid in cash, the paymaster came
around and handed out envelopes with money in them.
If an employee was being let go, a discharge notice was included in the pay
packet.
And it was often printed on pink paper so it wouldn't get thrown away as junk
mail.
The term "getting a pink slip" has outlived the actual practice.
Nowadays, the discharge notice is most likely white, not pink.
(Chinese).
Well, that is some very good advice, I think, from Uncle Bob about maybe letting
him go.
And Ben says in his next line: Thanks for the advice.
Well, Ben is always thanking his Uncle Bob for some kind of advice, right?
This is a great way to thank someone for the suggestions they gave.
Uncle Bob says: Well, I hope things work out.
Well, I hope things work out for Ben as well.
This is a very important company from both Ben and his wife Sandy.
So I hope that everything will turn out just fine.
And right now it's time for us to enjoy a review skit.
And then we can learn something with Michelle in the Language Lab.
(Music).
Hello, Uncle Bob.
I need your opinion on something.
Well, my door is always open.
Thanks.
You know I hired new employees last month.
Yes.
How is that working out?
Two of them are great, but one isn't.
Does he have the requisite skills?
Yes. He's quite talented.
The problem is his attitude.
Ooh, I see.
He's chronically late and always has dubious excuses.
Hmm, anything else?
He won't follow instructions.
Others have to redo his work.
Oh. Well, you have grounds to terminate him.
Yes. But I really need the help.
What can I do?
Hmm... oh! Make this a win-win situation.
But... but how?
Maybe he uses his bad behavior to get what he wants.
There's a kernel of truth in that.
So don't let him do it.
He needs to follow the rules.
Yes. And if he doesn't abide by them, there are consequences.
So should I confront the problem head-on?
Yes. That's my advice.
Thanks, Uncle Bob.
Yeah. Well, remember, my door is always open.
Right.
So, would you please close the door on the way out?
Oh... sure.
OK.
(Chinese).
And now we have to get back to our teachers.
Well, I want to talk about something that Uncle Bob said here in today's
conversation.
Once the rules and consequences have been communicated for someone like Ralph,
the main thing is to confront problems head-on.
Carolyn, do you think that people all around the world find this an easy thing
to do or maybe difficult?
What do you think?
Well, I think it's very difficult to confront problems head-on.
But if a manager or the owner of a company is very concerned about the success
of their business, then they're not going to tolerate these problems.
They aren't just going to let them go.
But they're going to talk about them very directly, very straight with their
employees so that it is clear that their behavior is not acceptable.
It's true.
Confrontation is not an easy thing, but it is very important to learn how to
confront people with problems head-on and not just be indirect about it.
I know that's not easy for people of every culture in the world, but it's
something we should learn how to do.
Right now it's time for us to say goodbye.
But of course, we will see you next time right here on Studio Classroom.
See you then.