首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a journalist at The Times, shows in a new book, Black
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a journalist at The Times, shows in a new book, Black
admin
2019-09-23
23
问题
Embracing failure is a cliche of the business world. But as Matthew Syed, a journalist at The Times, shows in a new book, Black Box Thinking, in practice a "
stigmatizing
attitude toward error" pervades everyday life. This has big implications.
Success brings its own rewards, but the world comes down hard on those who are deemed failures. The desire to avoid such opprobrium prompts people to cover up mistakes, argues Mr. Syed. Police fail to drop cases against people accused of committing a crime, even after clear evidence emerges of their innocence. Politicians plough on with policies even when it is obvious they are not working. All are psychological strategies to avoid admitting fault.
Fear of failure can have devastating consequences, as Mr. Syed shows in a story about United Airlines. In 1978, as a plane approached its destination, the pilot worried that the landing gear had not come down. Desperate, he tried to establish what was wrong, becoming blinded to the plane’s dwindling fuel reserves. Eventually the tank was empty, and the plane crashed. The worry of making a mistake — subjecting the passengers to a bumpy landing — blinded him to bigger problems.
The story is a metaphor. Investors hold on to losing stocks longer than they should. Unable to face the shame of a bad return, they end up with a much bigger loss. Fred Goodwin of RBS, a bank, fretted about the color of the carpets at head office while his firm collapsed under the weight of the financial crisis. The medical profession is especially intolerant of mishaps, says Mr. Syed. This means that mistakes are not scrutinized and people do not learn from them. Small wonder that blunders are pervasive. According to one study of acute care in hospitals, one in 10 patients "is killed or injured as a consequence of medical error or institutional shortcomings".
What to do? One solution is making it easy for people to own up or speak up, as the airline industry has learned to do better than any other. Mr. Syed’s more
novel
suggestion, though, is the rigorous testing of business strategies. This forces people to make improvements. The gold standard is the "randomized control trial" (RCT), in which a treatment group is compared with a control group. Capital One, a credit-card company, has used RCTs obsessively — over the fonts it uses, for example, and the scripts at its call-centers — to assess which initiatives fail and which do not. James Dyson, a technology entrepreneur, and Google are other cheerleaders for this hyperrational school of management.
This approach may also hold benefits for governments. David Halpern is the boss of the British government’s Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), known as the "nudge unit," which uses RCTs to improve policy.
Identifying points of failure and making small changes, he argues, reaps
disproportionate gains
. By including a message on a car-tax form appealing to people’s sense of humanity, the BIT sharply boosted organ donations.
Much still needs to be done. Between 2010 and 2012 the BIT saved the British government only £ 300 million ($457 million), a negligible proportion of GDR Few businesses incorporate RCTs as extensively as Capital One. Much more could be done. Hospitals could subject doctors to RCTs, identify the mistake-prone and then help them. Civil servants could randomly test the economic impact of policies, such as changes to income tax, before rolling them out. It sounds extreme, but confronting failure rationally would bring huge rewards.
What does the phrase "disproportionate gains" underlined in Paragraph 7 mean?
选项
A、Some rewards seem to be negligible.
B、Small actions will bring big returns.
C、Small changes can lead to failure.
D、Some initiatives can be boosted.
答案
B
解析
语义题。第7段第2句用具体案例(通过在汽车税单上加印激发人性的信息,英国政府的“行为研究小组”极大促进了器官捐赠),证明这种不成比例的收益是指“付出极小收获极大”,故选B(小小的行动将带来巨大的回报)。注意D(有些刚发起的行动得到推进)易误选,这只是例证巨大回报的具体表征。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ENMO777K
本试题收录于:
CATTI二级笔译综合能力题库翻译专业资格(CATTI)分类
0
CATTI二级笔译综合能力
翻译专业资格(CATTI)
相关试题推荐
TheblackpeopledidnotvoteinAmericain1941.
Mymotherwasatypicalhousewife,whocaredforherfamily.
A、Thesectionsactivatedbymenandwomen’svoicesaredifferent.B、Women’svoicesaremoreeasilytoidentifyandlistento.C、
A、printingandlookingcarefullyatthehundredsofpapersontheinternetB、searchingmanywebpagesandcomparingwordsusedC
A、Hishorseflewoverthetreetopsbelow.B、Hishorsenearlyfellintothedeepvalley.C、Hishorseracedacrossthevalleyeasi
A、43.B、35.C、70.D、6.A数字信息的找寻和判断。根据原文Hisownmarriage,happily,haslasted43years可知他婚姻幸福,结婚已有43个年头。由此可见,A项与原文相符,因此该项为正确答案。
A、isfreeofpropagandaB、iscontrolledbybigbusinessinterestsC、separatesfactandopinionD、operatesaccordingtoacodeof
BusinessasUsualVocabularyandExpressionsTuvalupiqueevacuationmarineecosystemKiribatilatchont
Weunderstandourspecialcalling;Thisgreatrepublicwillleadthecauseoffreedom.
随机试题
以下药物中可以清热安胎的是
检验检测机构对于口头的形式表达的投诉也应及时处理,可以不记录和归档。
中国香港于:1997年颁布了(),标志着中国香港房地产经纪纳入了法治化管理的轨道。
关于建筑防火分隔的做法,下列选项中不符合规范要求的有()。
甲公司与乙公司均为增值税一般纳税人。甲公司经与乙公司协商,以其拥有的用于经营出租的一幢公寓楼与乙公司持有的可供出售金融资产交换。甲公司的公寓楼符合投资性房地产的定义和确认条件,甲公司对投资性房地产采用成本模式进行后续计量。在交换日,该幢公寓楼的账面原价为8
按茶叶的外形色泽和汤色命名来分类,可将茶叶分为()。
皮亚杰提出儿童的道德发展经历从自律道德阶段到他律道德阶段的发展过程。()
这里不仅仅是旅游胜地,其手工艺品也可以称得上__________,独一无二。填入画横线部分最恰当的一项是()。
coverttranslation
A、Peoplewhorestoreoldhouses.B、Peoplewhosellhouses.C、Peoplewhodesignnewhouses.D、Peoplewhowanttobuyahouse.A
最新回复
(
0
)