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文章的六個段落，這題的答案稍微分散了些。

15題，答案很明顯，但是選項很有迷惑性。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)，預期還會減少更多。A選項是對的，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)，因為預期還會裁減更多(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，都是在自愿的基礎上的，而不是離開的人中有35%是自愿的。

16題，問根據此人的觀點，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會。說白了，就是鼓勵這些被裁的人。答案選C，強調變化的積極方面。這里的positive aspects是對前面說的bring with them new opportunities的一個概括。(想起了電影《在云端》，up in the air，里面那個老男人的工作就是職業裁員專家，專門對被裁的人說些這樣的話。)

17題，問調查顯示大多數人對change的反應是什么。這題在答案中也很明顯，但是選項很糾結。都有點似是而非。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.大多數員工的反應就是很失望，甚至會很憤怒。個人覺得這題出的不夠嚴謹，沒有哪個選項能嚴格從原文中提煉出來。對比下D要好點，因為對公司失望和憤怒，就是覺得受到了不公正的待遇。此題有待高手補充更完美的理由。

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理那里獲取信息。所以選C，個人的交流。

19題，問組織內部提供信息的指導準則是什么。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。不能提供細節的，至少給個大致的背景消息(put the news in context)。時機成熟了，再告知更多。選B：在可能的最早的階段讓人有個總體的印象。

20題，給文章選標題。這種題在BEC的閱讀里還真不多見。選標題，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;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，就是關于怎樣進行有效溝通的問題。選B。A不對，片面了，只是文中某部分的內容，并且這部分內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，文章還有關于實現措施的。

Relevant link：

2012商務英語高級考試每日一練（8月3日）

（責任編輯：中大編輯）