Just watch an employee who must deal with countless other people because his or her job isat some central point in a communications network:a salesman at a busy counter, a stock broker on the phone, a customer representative. They will tell you how much skill and experience it takes to answer countless questions and handle various kinds of personalities every hourof the day. Not everyone can interact with such persistence and over long hours, but those who do, pride themselves on a distinctive ability that contributes mightily to the running ofthe organization.
试看一位因其工作处于某个通信网络的中心位置而必须与无数的其他人打交道的雇员:一个繁忙柜台上的售货员,一个手不离电话的股票经纪人,或是一个客户代理人,他们会告诉你,每时每刻回答无数个问题以及应付各种各样的人物该需要怎样的本领和经验。不是每个人都能以这样的韧性长时间地与人周旋的。但是能够这样做的人,都为自己具有出众才能,能对所在单位的运转作出巨大贡献而感到自豪。
But work is more than accomplishment and pride in being able to command the job, because except for a few craftsmen and artists most work takes place"out in the world," with and through other people.
但是工作不光是成就和能够胜任工作的自豪,因为除了少数工匠和艺术家的工作之外,大 部分工作是在“外面”进行的,是与别人合作或通过别人来完成的。
Esprit de corps
团体精神
Perhaps an example will make the point :
或许一个例子就能把这点说明白。
I remember viewing a half dozen men in a chair factory whose job it was to bend several pieces of steel and attach them so that a folding chair would result. While there were ten or twelve of these"teams" that worked together, one in particular was known for its perfect coordination and lightning-like efforts. The men knew they were good. They would work in spurts for twenty or thirty minutes before taking a break — to show themselves, bystanders andother groups what it was to be superbly skilled and self-controlled, to be the best in the factory.
我记得曾在一家椅子厂见过6个工人,他们的工作是将几根钢管弯曲并组成一把折椅。 虽然同在一起工作的有10个或20个这样的“组”,有一个组因配合默契、动作神速而特别有名。这班人深知自己能干。他们常常要猛干二三十分钟才肯休息一会儿——以便向自己、向旁观者以及向其他班组展示技术高超、善于自我克制的全厂最佳的班组是一个什么样儿。
When I talked with them, each expressed enormous pride in being a part of the fastest, best team. And this sense of belonging to an accomplished work group is one of the distinctivesatisfactions of the world of work.
当我与他们交谈时,他们每个人都为自己是最快最好的班组一员而深感自豪。这种自己属于一个有娴熟技巧的班组的意识,是工作带来的最突出的满足感之一。