55.办公室政治
The office was in a bustle.
办公室里一片忙乱。
As each person conferred with the other, they finally agreed that a compromise with the management needed to be made: they would take shorter lunch breaks so that they could all get new computer terminals!
大家互相交换意见,最后一致认为应该和管理部门妥协:他们将缩短午休时间,以便大家都能使用新的计算机终端!
The old machines were no longer compatible with the newest software and people were tired of complaining about all the system crashes!
那些老机器与最新软件无法兼容,大家对没完没了的死机都抱怨得不耐烦了!
This was only happening because Mr. Warrens had one day decided to conduct a census on what could be improved in the office.
这件事情的发生是因为沃伦斯先生有一天决定就办公室的改进做一次调査。
When it was clear that concerns about coffee brands and the coke machine were not the only issues to be dealt with, the office people decided to select a team composed of the most respected members and send them to the headquarters.
当他们弄清楚要解决的问题不仅仅是对咖啡品牌和咖啡机的关心之后,办公室里的人决定选出一个由德髙望重的人组成的小组,把他们派往总部。
But management was not impressed. They didn’t want a union in their organization!
可是管理部门并没有被感动。他们根本不希望在公司里建立工会!
But mostly they were just concerned over giving too much power to the employees.
一般来说他们只担心给员工的权力太多了。
Before any concessions to the employees were made, therefore, they made sure that everyone was complying with other management procedures.
因此,在向员工做出任何让步之前,他们一定要保证每个人都遵守其他管理程序。
It was rough for a while, and some employees didn't like the new atmosphere where they felt like they were competing against one another, but the rewards given by management eventually compensated for the more disciplined approach.
一时间大家闹得很不愉快,有些员工不喜欢这种新的氛围,因为他们觉得相互之间是在竞争,但是管理部门给的奖励最终还是对这种更守纪律的做法进行了补偿。
Now that the new computers had arrived, each person became concerned again with his or her own performance.
现在新计算机已经到了,每个人又开始关心起自己的表现来。
Each wanted to show that they were competent enough for promotion.
每个人都想证明自己有足够的能力获得提升。
They therefore concentrated more than ever on work.
因此他们对工作比以前更专心了。
Management couldn't have been more pleased!
管理部门这下可髙兴坏了!