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2008年ESL之商务英语 20 Delegating Work

时间:2013-12-04 06:38来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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20 Delegating1 Work 

GLOSSARY 

to delegate2 – to give other people part of the work that one is supposed to do; to ask or tell other people to help with one’s work; to give people who work for you work that you are responsible for completing 

* When Charlotte had to write a 20-page report, she delegated3 the research to Sayid and the editing4 to Carlotta. 

control freak – a person who likes to be in control of everything and does not like to let other people help 

* She is such a control freak that she won’t even let herhusband cut vegetables for dinner because she wants it done only her way. 

to end up – to be in a certain situation after many other things have happened, especially if it was not what one expected 

* After seven years of medical school, he ended up working as a piano teacher instead of a doctor. 

to redo – to do something again, usually because it was not done the right way the first time 

* Tara put the wrong price on the books we’re selling, so I had to redo all of them. 

timesaver – something that allows one to do something in less time than usual; something that helps one work faster than usual 

* Washing machines are a timesaver because they can wash clothes much more quickly than we can wash them by hand. 

worth the trouble – worthwhile; having benefits and advantages that are greater than the work needed to do something 

* It took them almost five hours to make that apple pie and it wasn’t worth the trouble since they could have just bought one at the store. 

to assign – to tell someone to do something; to give someone something to do 

* The teacher assigned math homework to her students. 

explicit5 – clear, obvious, and easy to understand, without anything being hidden or confusing 

* My mother advised us to be explicit when we explain why we are angry with our children. Otherwise they might not understand. 

measurable – something that can be measured; something that one canknow how big or small it is or how much there is 

* Are there any measurable results for the program, showing how it is helping6 children learn to read? 

goal – objective7; aim; something that one wants to achieve or accomplish; the reason that one is doing something 

* Their goal is to finish building the bridge within 18 months.

to let (someone) down – to disappoint someone; to not meet someone’s expectations; to not do what someone was hoping that onewould do 

* Ethan let his business partner down when he failed toappear for their big sales presentation. 

to report back to (someone) – to give someone an update on what one has done; to tell someone how well or poorly one is doing on a project 

* They’re supposed to report back to their supervisor8 every week to let her know what they’re working on. 

periodically9 – happening occasionally, evenly spaced out over time, such as every week or every month 

* The store raises its prices periodically. 

to get results – to be able to do what one wants to do; to meet one’s goals 

* When planting a garden, you have to start early to get results. 

progress report – written or spoken information about how well one is doing on something, or how quickly one is finishing a project 

* We were very pleased to read in the three-month progress report that the project was almost finished. 

on the right track – doing something the right way; making progress on something and doing it right, even though one is not finished with it yet 

* Phinneus studies all the time and is on the right track to succeed in college. 

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS 

1. Why did Anya have to redo all the work herself? 

a) Because she didn’t delegate. 

b) Because it was a timesaver. 

c) Because the employees didn’t do it correctly. 

2. According to Estevan, what should Anya do to get her work done? 

a) She should ask other people to help her with it. 

b) She should be more controlling. 

c) She should report back periodically. 

______________ 

WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN? 

to end up 

The phrase “to end up,” in this podcast, means to be in a certain situation after many other things have happened, especially if it was notwhat one expected: “They looked at houses for months and then ended up buying an apartment instead.” The phrase “to end in (something)” means toend or be completed in a certain way: “Her birthday party ended in tears when thelittle boy broke her new toy.” The phrase “the (something) to end all (something)” is used to talk about the best, worst, or most important of something: “It was the party to end all parties, with more than 3,000 guests.” Finally, the phrase “to end it all” means to commit suicide10 or to kill oneself: “The man decided11 to end it all by jumping off a high bridge.” 

to assign 

In this podcast, the phrase “to assign (someone) to (something)” means to tell someone to do something or to give someone something todo: “Who has been assigned to the Brookings account?” The verb “to assign” can also mean to be told to work in a particular area: “Three policemen were assigned to that neighborhood.” The verb “to assign” is often used to attach a value or an amount of time or money to something: “We assigned a value of $1,600 to the car.” Finally, the phrase “to assign (something) to (someone)”can mean to give someone something to use, like tools or equipment: “The new vice-president of marketing12 and sales was assigned the large office on the top floor.” 

CULTURE NOTE 

When there is too much work to do, delegating is a great way to get other people to help. But delegation13 has many “pitfalls14” (things that often go wrong). 

Fortunately, you can “avoid” (not have problems with) these pitfalls if you know what to “look out for” (be careful about). 

First, it is important to provide all the right information when delegating. Telling people what you need them to do is important, but itis just as important to tell them how often they should tell you about their “progress” (how quickly or how well they are working), when the project is “due” (whenit must be finished), and how their work will be “evaluated” (how you will decidewhether they have done their work well). 

When we delegate, it is important to give the other person enough freedom to decide how to do something. If you “micro-manage,” giving too many detailed15 instructions, the other person will not want to work on the project. 

It is also important to delegate to people who have enough knowledge and experience to do the work well. If you delegate a project to someone who is not qualified16 or doesn’t have enough time to do it well, then you are “setting that person up for failure,” or making it almost impossible for that person to succeed. 

As other people are doing the work, it is important inAmerican businesses to “praise” employees for their good work, letting them know that they are doing things right and that you “appreciate” (are thankful for) them and their work. When people don’t feel appreciated, they might become “resentful” (feeling angry), thinking that they’re doing your work for you. It is also expected in American companies that employers “give credit” to peoplefor their work, making sure that everyone knows who worked on the project. 

______________ 

Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – c; 2 – a 

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT 

Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 404: Delegating Work. 

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode17 404.  I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California. 

Visit our website at eslpod.com and download a Learning Guide for this episode to help you improve your English even faster. 

This episode is called “Delegating Work.” It’s a dialogue between Anya and Estevan talking about how you give other people work when you are a boss or a manager. It uses a lot of vocabulary that you might use in talking about how you are giving other people work. Let’s get started. 

[start of dialogue] 

Anya: I don’t know how I’m going to get all of this work done before I go on vacation. 

Estevan: What you need to do is to delegate. Stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work. 

Anya: I’ve tried to delegate before, but I ended up having to redo the work myself. It was no timesaver at all. It definitely wasn’t worth the trouble. 

Estevan: That’s because you have to delegate in the right way. You can’t just assign a project to one of your employees. You have to give them explicit instructions and measurable goals. 

Anya: I did that. I gave my employee detailed instructions and she still let me down. 

Estevan: I bet you didn’t ask her to report back to you periodically, did you? To get results, you have to tell your employees to give you progress reports. That way, you can make sure she’s on the right track. See what Imean? 

Anya: Okay, maybe you’re right. I know one thing. If I don’t get some help soon, I’ll be spending my vacation at my desk! 

[end of dialogue] 

Our dialogue begins with Anya saying, “I don’t know how I’m going to get all of this work done before I go on vacation.” Estevan says, “What you need to do is to delegate.” To “delegate” means to give other people part of the work that you are supposed to do; asking other people, in other words,to help you with your work – to give them things to do. 

Estevan says, “Stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work.” The expression “control freak” (freak) describes a person who likes to be in control of everything, someone who doesn’t like other people helping them. A control freak is usually considered a negative description of someone, although some people say, “Well, I’m a control freak. Iwant everything to be done just the way I like it,” which means you have to do it all yourself, usually. 

Anya says, “I’ve tried to delegate before, but I ended up having to redo the work myself.” To “end up” is a phrasal verb that means to bein a certain situation after or because of other things that have happened, usually things that you didn’t expect to happen. So for example: “After studying to be a doctor for seven years, he ended up running a website instead.” You would expect after studying to be a doctor that he would eventually then become a doctor, but instead something unexpected happened: he ended up working as awebsite operator. I actually read a story in the newspaper the other day about a doctor who did just that. 

Anya said she had to “redo,” meaning to do something again, usually it’s something that wasn’t done right in the first place. She had to redo the work herself. She said, “It was no timesaver at all.” A “timesaver” (one word) is something that allows you to do something in less time than usual. For example, a washing machine is a timesaver; you don’t have to wash the clothes by hand. A microwave oven can be a timesaver; it takes less time to cook something in the microwave than it does in a regular oven. Of course, it usually doesn’t taste as good either, but that’s one of the “compromises,” that’s one of the things we give up for something that saves us time. Anya says, “It definitely wasn’t worth the trouble.” To be “worth the trouble” means to have benefits or advantages that are greater than the work you needed to do something. So for example, if it takes you five hours to make an apple pie, you may say, “Well, it wasn’t worth the trouble” – it wasn’t that good, it wasn’t worth my time. We might just say, simply, it wasn’t “worthwhile.” 

Estevan says, “That’s because you have to delegate in the right way,” in the correct manner. “You can’t just assign a project to one of your employees,” he says. To “assign,” here, means to tell someone to do something; it’s what a boss will do with his or her workers. It’s what a teacher does to his or her students: she assigns homework to her students. I used to assign to my students at the university when I taught there. Of course, they never actually did the homework, but I did assign them to do it! “Assign” has a couple ofdifferent meanings; take a look at our Learning Guide for some additional explanations. 

Estevan says, “You have to give (your employees) explicit instructions and measurable goals.” Something that is “explicit” (explicit) is something that is clear, obvious, and easy to understand; something that is very specific without anything being hidden or assumed. To give someone “measurable goals” means to give them an “objective,” something you want them to achieve or accomplish that can be measured – you know how they are doing on it. Anything that is “measurable” is something that you know how big or small, or how much of that thing there is. A “goal” is an objective, an “aim,” wemight say. 

Estevan tells Anya that she has to give her employees explicit instructions and measurable goals. Anya says, however, “I did that. I gavemy employee detailed instructions and she let me down.” To “let someone down” is a phrasal verb meaning to disappoint someone, not to meet someone’s expectations. “My students let me down when they handed in their homework” – it was not as good as I was hoping it would be. 

Estevan says, “I bet you didn’t ask her to report back to you periodically, did you?” To “report back” to someone means to give someoneinformation about how you are doing – how you are progressing, how much work you are getting done. To report back means to give someone an “update,”recent, current information about how they are doing. Estevan says that Anya probably didn’t ask her employee to report back to her periodically. “Periodically” means at a certain time, evenly spaced, for example every week or every month or every two months; something happens on a regular schedule, you could say. He says, “To get results, you have to tell your employees to give you progress reports. To “get results” means to be able to do what you want to do, to“meet your goals,” we would say. A “progress report” is written or spoken information about how you are doing, how well you are doing. It’s similar to anupdate – a “progress report,” how much have you done. “That way,” Estevan says, if you get progress reports, “you can make sure she’s on the right track.” To “be on the right track” (track) means to do something the correct way – the right way – to make progress on something and to be doing it correctly. You’re not finished yet, but you are “making good progress,” we would say. You are getting things done when you should be getting them done, and moving closer to your goal – your objective. 

Anya says, “Okay, maybe you’re right. I know one thing. If I don’t get some help soon, I’ll be spending my vacation at my desk!” Remember,she’s going on vacation and she needs someone to help her with her work.I feel this way all the time – except, I never get a vacation! 

Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed. 

[start of dialogue] 

Anya: I don’t know how I’m going to get all of this work done before I go on vacation. 

Estevan: What you need to do is to delegate. Stop being a control freak and get other people to help you with your work. 

Anya: I’ve tried to delegate before, but I ended up having to redo the work myself. It was no timesaver at all. It definitely wasn’t worth the trouble. 

Estevan: That’s because you have to delegate in the right way. You can’t just assign a project to one of your employees. You have to give them explicit instructions and measurable goals. 

Anya: I did that. I gave my employee detailed instructions and she still let me down. 

Estevan: I bet you didn’t ask her to report back to you periodically, did you? To get results, you have to tell your employees to give you progress reports. That way, you can make sure she’s on the right track. See what Imean? 

Anya: Okay, maybe you’re right. I know one thing. If I don’t get some help soon, I’ll be spending my vacation at my desk! 

[end of dialogue] 

The script for this episode was written by someone who always gets results – but is not a control freak! Dr. Lucy Tse. 

From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan. Thank you for listening. Come back and listen to us next time on ESL Podcast. 

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse, hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan. This podcast is copyright 2008. 


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 delegating 989eb82b109d6432375d23dda1021f32     
委派代表(delegate的现在分词形式)
参考例句:
  • Managers are constantly being told to spend more time planning and delegating. 管理者经常被告知应在计划工作和授权方面多花些时间。
  • The nurse uses judgement regarding individual competence when accepting and delegating responsibility. 护士根据个人能力接受或授权责任。
2 delegate 8xxxQ     
n.代表,会议代表;vt.委派...为代表,授权
参考例句:
  • They drafted her to serve as their delegate.他们选她当代表。
  • The Chinese people delegate their power to the People's Congress.中国人民授权人民代表大会。
3 delegated 6bed422cacc5c4193b1434bd6f624056     
授与的
参考例句:
  • The states delegated some of their rights to the nation. 那些州把他们的部分权利转给了国家。
  • The routine office work had all been delegated to his executive staff. 一般的办公室工作都已经交给了他的执行人员。
4 editing 3f86cc36e1df1334da973da6771b8160     
adj.编辑的
参考例句:
  • The processing of data in random order,not subject to preliminary editing or sorting.未经预先编辑或分类,以任意次序对数据进行的处理的做法。
5 explicit IhFzc     
adj.详述的,明确的;坦率的;显然的
参考例句:
  • She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
  • He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。
6 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
7 objective CHBxY     
adj.客观的;n.目标,目的
参考例句:
  • He tried to take an objective view of the situation.他试图对形势有个客观的看法。
  • The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
8 supervisor RrZwv     
n.监督人,管理人,检查员,督学,主管,导师
参考例句:
  • Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说,我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
  • He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。
9 periodically ElzzvQ     
ad.周期性地,定期地
参考例句:
  • The geyser erupts periodically. 间歇泉周期性地喷发。
  • Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
10 suicide ssAwA     
n.自杀,自毁,自杀性行为
参考例句:
  • The number of suicide has increased.自杀案件的数量增加了。
  • The death was adjudged a suicide by sleeping pills.该死亡事件被判定为服用安眠药自杀。
11 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
12 marketing Boez7e     
n.行销,在市场的买卖,买东西
参考例句:
  • They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
  • He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。
13 delegation NxvxQ     
n.代表团;派遣
参考例句:
  • The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
  • We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。
14 pitfalls 0382b30a08349985c214a648cf92ca3c     
(捕猎野兽用的)陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 ); 意想不到的困难,易犯的错误
参考例句:
  • the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
  • Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。
15 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
16 qualified DCPyj     
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
参考例句:
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
17 episode Titzy     
n.(作品的一段)情节,插曲,系列事件中之一
参考例句:
  • The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
  • This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。
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