2023年经济学人 中层管理者的潜力和困境

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比专栏

Overloaded¹ overseers

不堪重负的管理者

A new paper illuminates² the potential and the plight³ of middle managers.

一篇新论文阐明了中层管理人员的潜力和困境。

Nothing turns on management theorists more than conflicting incentives⁵.

没有什么比相互冲突的激励更能激起管理理论家的兴趣了。

(If the idea of an aroused management theorist has ruined your breakfast, sorry.)

(如果想到兴奋的管理理论家让你吃早餐时没了胃口，那么在此说句对不起。)

They ruminate⁶ on financial motives—the adverse⁷ impact that individual bonus schemes might have on team collaboration⁸, say.

比如，他们会认真思考金钱激励，个人奖金机制可能会对团队合作产生不利影响。

They churn out studies and books on the competing interests of shareholders⁹ and the executives who act on their behalf.

他们发表许多研究和书籍，论述股东和代表股东行事的高管之间的利益冲突。

A new paper, published by Achyuta Adhvaryu of the University of California, San Diego, and Emir Murathanoglu and Anant Nyshadham of the University of Michigan, casts fresh light on the problem.

加州大学圣地亚哥分校的阿曲塔·阿德瓦律以及密歇根大学的埃米尔·木拉塔纳古和阿南特·纳沙德姆发表的一篇新论文，对这个问题提出了新的见解。

It shows that clashing incentives are not always financial, and that conflicts can occur even between different levels of management.

论文表明，相互冲突的激励并不总是金钱上的，在不同的管理层之间也可能出现这种冲突。

In the process it underlines that a much-mocked group deserves to be taken far more seriously.

在论述过程中，论文强调，一个备受嘲笑的群体应该得到更严肃的对待。

The authors examined the decisions of middle managers at Shahi Exports, one of India’s largest garment-makers.

作者研究了印度最大的服装制造商之一沙希出口公司的中层管理人员的决策。

The firm has about 70 factories, where multiple teams of cutters, sewers¹⁰ and finishers produce clothing.

该公司拥有约70家工厂，工厂中有裁剪、缝制和最终加工等团队来生产服装。

In their study the academics tracked which team supervisors¹¹ were being recommended for soft-skills training by their own managers, and then looked at the effect of that training on productivity and retention¹².

在他们的研究中，学者们跟踪了哪些团队主管被自己的经理推荐，去接受软技能培训，然后考察了培训对工作效率和留任率的影响。

What they found was curious.

他们的发现非常奇特。

On average the training worked.

平均而言，培训奏效了。

Teams whose supervisors had been through the course saw big productivity gains compared with control groups.

与对照组相比，那些接受过培训课程的主管，其团队的工作效率有了很大提高。

But these advances were distributed unevenly¹³.

但这些提高的分布并不均匀。

Teams whose supervisors were most highly recommended by middle managers for training experienced no productivity gains; the benefits were concentrated on supervisors who were less recommended.

那些最受中层经理推荐进行培训的主管，其团队的工作效率没有提升，效率提升的好处集中在那些不太受推荐的主管身上。

The pattern for retention was the reverse: there was a big drop in subsequent quit rates among supervisors who had been highly recommended by their managers, and little change among less recommended ones.

留任模式则与之相反：在经理强烈推荐的主管中，其随后的离职率大幅下降，而在不太受推荐的主管中，离职率几乎没有变化。

Mr Adhvaryu et al look at a variety of explanations for this strange pattern and conclude that it reflects a deliberate calculation: managers were nominating those supervisors whom they regarded as flight risks.

阿德瓦律等人研究了对这种奇怪模式的各种解释，并得出结论，这反映了一种刻意的计算：经理们提名了那些他们认为有跑路风险的主管。

That did not necessarily suit the interests of the company’s senior leaders.

这并不一定符合该公司高层领导的利益。

But it did suit the interests of middle managers, who bear the burden of filling in for missing supervisors and training new ones.

但这确实符合中层管理人员的利益，他们承担着主管离职后补缺和培训新主管的重担。

Losing workers, in short, makes their lives a lot harder.

简而言之，失去员工会让他们的日子更加难过。

Retention matters more to them than productivity.

对他们来说，留住员工比提高工作效率更重要。

The paper provides three lessons, beyond the hoary¹⁴ one that incentives matter.

除了激励很重要这个老掉牙的道理之外，这篇论文还提供了三个教训。

The first is that agency problems can occur wherever power is delegated.

首先，只要有权力下放，就可能出现代理问题。

A decentralised organisation¹⁵ often makes a ton of sense, but it also risks introducing layers of competing interests.

组织去中心化通常都很合理，但这也有引入层层利益冲突的风险。

Another recent paper by Ingrid Haegele, then of the University of California, Berkeley, found that German managers at a big manufacturing company tried to hoard¹⁶ the best workers for their own teams.

加州大学伯克利分校的英格丽德·黑格勒最近的一篇论文发现，德国一家大型制造公司的经理试图为自己的团队囤积最好的工人。

When managers are themselves about to move into new positions, they have less incentive⁴ to discourage good employees from job-hopping.

当经理们自己即将担任新的职位时，他们就没有那么多的动力去阻止优秀员工跳槽。

Ms Haegele found that workers’ applications for internal promotions¹⁷ more than doubled during these temporary periods of selflessness.

黑格勒发现，在经理的这段短暂的无私时期，员工申请内部晋升的数量增加了一倍以上。

The second lesson is that middle managers deserve respect more than ridicule¹⁸.

第二个教训是，中层管理人员更值得被尊重，而不是被嘲讽。

The type of behaviour observed by the academics is possible because these managers have valuable private information: they know who is thinking of leaving the company and who is worth keeping.

学者们观察到的行为是可能的，因为这些经理拥有宝贵的私人信息：他们知道谁在考虑离开公司，谁值得留住。

People in corner offices and boardrooms are usually too distant from the action to have this kind of insight.

坐在角落办公室和董事会议室中的人通常离这些行动太远，无法获得这种洞见。

All of which means that middle managers can have a hugely beneficial effect on the performance of the workforce¹⁹ if the incentives are right.

所有这些都意味着，如果激励措施得当，中层管理人员可以对员工的表现产生巨大的有益影响。

The third lesson from Shahi Exports is that money is not always the root problem.

沙希出口公司的第三个教训是，问题的根源并不总是钱。

Its middle managers were making their training recommendations to avoid the extra work that comes from higher churn.

该公司的中层管理人员推荐人选参加培训，目的是避免更高的员工流动性带来额外工作。

That might make them sound lazy.

这可能会让他们听起来像在偷懒。

In fact, they are suffering from a common problem.

事实上，他们正遭受着一个共同的问题。

“Power to the Middle” is a forthcoming book on middle managers by Emily Field, Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger, a trio of consultants²⁰ at McKinsey.

麦肯锡的三位咨询师艾米丽·菲尔德、布莱恩·汉考克和比尔·沙宁格即将出版一本关于中层管理者的书，名为《给中层以力量》。

It argues that a lack of time and resources bedevils these unfortunate souls everywhere.

这本书认为，缺乏时间和资源困扰着各个地方的不幸的中层管理者。

A survey of 700 middle managers conducted for the book finds that they are spending one full day a week on administrative²¹ tasks.

这本书对700名中层管理人员进行了一项调查，发现他们每周有一整天的时间花在行政任务上。

Replacing good workers is never fun, but it is a lot worse if a manager is already running on empty.

找人接替优秀的员工从来都不是什么有趣的事情，但如果一个经理的位置已经是空着的，那情况就更糟了。

You don’t need to be a theorist to work that out.

就算你不是理论家，也能想通这个问题。

1 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

2 illuminates   

v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 )；照亮；装饰；说明

参考例句：

• The light shines on from over there and illuminates the stage. 灯光从那边照进来，照亮了舞台。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sun illuminates the sky. 太阳照亮了天空。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

4 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

5 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 ruminate   

v.反刍；沉思

参考例句：

• It is worth while to ruminate over his remarks.他的话值得玩味。
• The cow began to ruminate after eating up grass.牛吃完草后开始反刍。

7 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

8 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

9 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

10 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

12 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

13 unevenly   

adv.不均匀的

参考例句：

• Fuel resources are very unevenly distributed. 燃料资源分布很不均匀。
• The cloth is dyed unevenly. 布染花了。

14 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。

15 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

16 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

17 promotions   

促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传

参考例句：

• All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
• He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。

18 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

19 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

20 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

21 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。