Evaluating the performance of the board

Few employees escape the annual or twice-yearly performance review. (0) .....G......The answer is not a great number. And the smaller the company, the fewer checks there are on how well the directors are doing. Some of the largest companies formally assess the performance of their board, but very few new or growing companies have managed to get round to establishing any such procedure.

Many business experts believe, however, that it is important for all companies to review the performance of the board. (8) .............Another reason is that the board itself needs information on how well it is doing, just as much as other employees do. For the chief executive, appraisal of some sort is absolutely essential for his or her own sake and for the good of the company. Indeed, many of those who have reached this level remark on how lonely the job of chief executive is and how few opportunities they get to discuss issues relating to it.

There is some evidence to show that once smaller companies put a board appraisal process in place, they find this process relatively easy to operate. (9) .............Their counterparts in larger organisations, however, are often afraid that appraisals could be a challenge to their status.

So, how should companies assess their board? (10) .............At a very basic level,this could simply mean getting all the directors to write down what they have achieved and how they can improve on it. At the other end of the scale is the full '360-degree' appraisal. Here, each director is appraised in a systematic manner by a combination of the chairman and fellow directors.

In the largest companies there are many methods for assessing the board. A number of such companies have self-assessment schemes. The chairman may meet each board member individually to ask how things are going, in a fairly informal way. The whole board might also meet to talk about its progress in open session. (11).............These might ask for people's opinions on the board's main tasks or on how well the committees are working.

Research indicates there has been some improvement in the way the appraisal of board members is conducted. (12) .............The chairman will have been involved directly or indirectly in the appraisal of all members of the board. Whose job is it, then, to appraise the chairman?

A It is often the case that the directors of such companies are even happy to receive criticism, as this can prevent them from making basic mistakes.

B The rest of the workforce sees it as unfair if the directors are the only members of the company to escape appraisal.

C These are encouraging as they put a limit on the power of the chairman to assess fellow directors.

D Alternatively, questionnaires might be distributed to directors, forming the basis for future discussion.

E One issue remains, however, when all the others have been dealt with.

F It is generally agreed that it is the chairman's responsibility to ensure the regular appraisal of each member of the board.

G However, one wonders how many companies have in place a formal appraisal process for their board of directors.

解析：

《Evaluating the performance of the board》，評估董事局的表現。眾所周知一個公司里面是經常對員工的表現進行評估的，那么誰又來評估董事局的表現呢?這篇文章講了對董事局表現進行評估的重要性和一些方法。

第八題，前面說對董事局的表現進行評估是很重要的。空格后面的句子中有another reason，可見這個第八空應該填入對董事局表現進行評估原因的句子。B符合這一特點，為什么要進行評估，因為“如果決策層是公司唯一逃避評估的成員的話，其他的員工會視之為不公平。”

第九題，前面說小公司會發現這種評估過程更容易操作。空格后面一個however，說大公司的決策層會認為評估是對他們地位的一種挑戰。可見這個空格應該填入表示小公司愿意接受評估的句子。A符合這一特點：通常這些公司的決策層會很樂意接受批評，因為這可以防止他們犯錯誤。這里的such companies是個暗示，可以和前面的smaller companies對應上。

第十題，前面問怎樣對公司的董事局進行評估。那么很明顯，后面跟的句子應該和評估的方式方法有關。符合這一標準的只有F：一般認為確保對董事局里每個成員的定期評估是主席的責任。也就是說是依賴于主席進行評估。responsibility是個關鍵詞。

第十一題。第五段依然是講評估的方法，具體的過程。空格的前面說主席可以單獨會見董事局的每一個成員，或者是集體在一起談話。空格后面說這些可以詢問人們關于董事局主要任務以及委員會的工作進展情況的意見。ask for people’s opinion是個關鍵點，什么可以詢問人們的觀點?調查。選D，questionnaires是個關鍵的暗示：或者，也許可以給經理們分發調查問卷，形成未來討論的基礎。

第十二題，這一空前面說有調查顯示對董事局成員進行評估的方法有所改善。空格后面來了一個疑問，提出沒有人評估主席。可見第十二題有轉折的意思，選E，有關鍵的連詞however,而且E的one issue remains，正好對應最后一段最后一句話的一個問題。內容上也吻合。

Relevant link：

2012商務英語初級考試每日一練（8月7日）

（責任編輯：中大編輯）

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