ESL Podcast 188 – Correcting Misunderstandings at Work

I work in our company’s Toledo office and I was meeting with my counterpart in our Raleigh office. I was trying to explain to her our new proposal to make some changes in the corporate¹ structure. But, it wasn’t going very well.

Rory: So, with the new plan, the managers would report directly to the CEO?

Dean: That’s not quite right. The local managers would report to the regional managers, and the regional managers would be supervised by the COO. That would give the COO more oversight² than he has now.

Rory: You’re saying, then, that the managers aren’t being well supervised now?

Dean: No, that’s not what I meant. We were actually thinking that the new plan would free up the CEO to work on attracting new business.

Rory: So, you think that the problem is with the CEO. He’s not doing his job.

Dean: No, that’s not it at all. What I’m trying to say is that we need this new plan because our office has expanded so much in the past year.

Rory: Well, I don’t really agree with you. I think that both the CEO and COO are doing a fine job now.

Dean: I think we may have our wires crossed. Let’s set up a meeting for next week to talk more about it.

Rory: Okay. That’s fine with me.


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。