简答
-A)Teams have become the basic unit of organizations. Recruitment ads always call for “team players”. Business schools grade their students partly on their performance in group work. Office managers knock down walls to encourage team building. Teams are as old as civilization.
-B)A new report, based on a survey of more than 7,000 managers in over 130 countries, suggests that the call for teamwork has reached a new high.
-C)Though team spirit is highly appreciated, it is also time to ask questions. Leigh Thompson of Kellogg School of Management in Illinois (伊利诺伊州) warns that, “Teams are not always the answer. They may provide deep understanding, creativity and knowledge. A person working alone cannot own these. But teamwork may also lead to uncertainty and poor decision-making.”
-D)In addition, Richard Hackman of Harvard University (哈佛大学) once said, “When you have a team, it’s very likely that it will bring magic by producing something amazing … But don’t rely too much on it.”
-E)Hackman pointed out that teams are sometimes prevented by problems of working together and getting motivated. High-flyers (有能耐的人) are forced to work in teams and their abilities may be less valued. Free-riders (搭便车的人) can get more benefits from their teams. Groupthink (集体决策) may be impossible to avoid. In a study of 120 teams of managers, he discovered that less than 10% of their team members agreed on who was on the team. If it is hard enough to tell a team’s membership, agreeing on its purpose is even harder.
-F)On the other hand, great changes in team members are making teams more difficult to manage. Teams work best if their members have a strong common culture. This is hard to reach when a large part of team members are temporary workers. And this is now the case in many big companies.
-G)Teamwork improves with time. America’s National Transportation Safety Board found that 73% of something unpleasant happened on a crew’s first day of flying together. Organizations use “team” as a verb more and more: they form teams for certain purposes and then quickly break them up.
-H)At least, it can be concluded that companies need to think harder about managing teams. They need to get rid of sentimentalism (感情用事) from their minds. The most successful teams have leaders who are able to set a general direction and take immediate action. They need to keep teams small and focused.
-I)A new study of 12,000 workers in 17 countries finds that in order to make sure workers are “engaged”, the best way is to give them more control over where and how they do their work. It may mean freeing them from having to do everything working with others.
-J)However, organizations need to learn something bigger than how to manage teams better. They need to be in the habit of asking themselves whether teams are the best tools for the job. Employees in badly-managed teams often complain that they can’t get their work done because they are forced to spend too much time in meetings or forced to work in noisy offices. Even in the age of open-plan (开放式的) offices and social networks some work is best left to the individual.
-61.Some scholar thinks teamwork may not always be reliable though it’s likely to work wonders.
-62.Teamwork is most effective when team members share the same culture.
-63.Members of poorly-managed teams often can’t fully focus on their work.
-64.According to a report, teamwork is becoming increasingly popular among companies.
-65.Although teams can offer greater understanding, innovation and useful information, they may also make poor decisions.
-66.Some team members find it hard to agree on questions like membership and the team’s purpose.
-67.Teams are the basic building block of any organization and have a very long history.
-68.Companies form teams for a specific objective and then quickly disband them.
-69.Successful team leaders know exactly where the team should go and are able to take quick action.
-70.To ensure employees’ dedication, it is advisable to give them more flexibility as to where and how they work.
选词
In spring, chickens start ( 36 ) again, bringing a welcome ( 37 ) of protein at winter’s end. So it’s no surprise that many cultures around the world celebrate spring by ( 38 ) the egg.Some traditions are simple, like the red eggs that get baked into Greek Easter breads. Others make the egg an elaborate (精致的) art, like the heavily jewel-covered “eggs” that are ( 39 ) by the Russians.One ( 40 ) form of egg art comes from Ukraine (乌克兰). For centuries, Ukrainians have been drawing elaborate ( 41 ) on Easter eggs, which could date back over ten centuries.Modern artists have followed this tradition to create eggs that speak to the ( 42)of our age: Life is ( 43 ), and delicate. Eggs are, too. “There’s something about their delicate ( 44 ) that gets me,” says New Yorker cartoonist Emily. “I’ve broken eggs from the very beginning to the very, very end. There’s a horror of knowing you’re walking on the ( 45 ) with this, that I kind of like, knowing that it could all fall apart at any second.”I.anxieties J.laying
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