BEP 94 – Communication: 解决冲突 (1)

People do not always get along, so dealing with conflict is part of any job. And as often as not, work disagreements get resolved as much as in informal discussions in the hallway, as they do in the conference room. So, in this two-part series on resolving conflict, we’ll be studying useful language for discussing and resolving disagreements.

We will be focusing not on major conflicts between companies or inside organizations, but rather on the everyday sort of disagreements that all of us have to deal with to be successful in our work.

在聆听中, Elegant is a company that designs and manufactures bathroom fixturessinks, toilets, 等等. Ben has recently joined Elegant as a training specialist. When he started, he was promised that Elegant would hire someone to help him with his work-load, but instead he is still doing almost everything by himself. He was also promised the opportunity to do some course design, but instead his manager, Gerry, insists on closely supervising all of Ben’s work. Ben feels like he is working harder than anyone else in the office: He is always the last one to leave the department in the evening. But he doesn’t feel that his hard work is getting recognized.

当你听, pay attention to the language that Gerry and Ben use to deal with this disagreement.

Listening Questions

1. Gerry says he wants to “sit down informally and thrash things out a little.”
2. What do you think this means? A strain is something that is tiring and, perhaps, irritating.
3. What does Gerry say is “getting to be kind of a strain?” What solution does Gerry propose?

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BEP 76 – 绩效评估: 设定目标 (2)

这是两部分中的第二部分 Business English Pod 上课 performance appraisals. In the first lesson, we covered giving feedback. 在这个 ESL播客, we will discuss setting goals.

The American poet Carl Sandberg once said, “Nothing happens unless first we dream.To this we can add the words of time management expert Diana Scharf Hunt: “Goals are dreams with deadlines.

To reach our dreams, it’s necessary to set goals. Without goals, there is no change, no development, no success. This is just as true for an individual as it is for an organization. 这就是为什么, along with feedback, goal setting is a very important part of the appraisal process. So in this follow-up podcast on job appraisals, we’ll be focusing on strategies and expressions for setting goals during the appraisal interview. Much of the language we’ll be learning in this lesson is also useful in any meeting where we need to discuss and set targets.

Wendy and Derrick, Wendy’s manager, have already discussed her progress and set goals for the areas of customer satisfaction and job training. As the listening continues, they turn to talking about two important productivity measurements.

Pay attention to the language Derrick uses to structure the conversation and to negotiate and agree goals with Wendy.

Listening Questions

1) What are the two important productivity measurements that Derrick discusses with Wendy?
2) How does Derrick feel about Wendy making one-off (that is, special) solutions for each customer?
3) What does Derrick advise Wendy to tell a customer who has not booked enough bandwidth?

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BEP 75 – 绩效评估: 提供反馈 (1)

绩效评估 – 有时称为工作绩效评估或评论 – 是开发员工潜力的有力方法. 这些技能不仅对 人力资源 (Human Resources) 专业人士, 但对于负责其他人员的经理或主管.

绩效考核成功, however, 必须以结构化的方式进行. 此外, 重要的是要运用技巧和外交来处理评估的两个主要任务 – 提供有效的反馈并设定目标.

因此,这是分为两部分的商务英语播客课程的第一部分,该课程侧重于结构, 绩效考核的技巧和外交. 在这个播客中, 我们将处理提供反馈. 在第二, 我们将处理设定的目标.

本集着重于提供有效的反馈,以创建积极的环境并建立信任. 这些反馈技巧不仅对绩效评估有用, 而且在任何需要对某人的工作发表重要评论的情况下.

温迪是ConStar视频会议呼叫中心的新员工. 她已经在那里工作了大约 10 月, 包括训练, 现在是时候进行她为期六个月的绩效评估了. 德里克, 运营部经理, 将对温迪进行评估.

作为一个 “电视会议协调员” 对于ConStar, Wendy的工作需要使用专用设备来建立和连接Fortune视频会议 500 客户. ConStar的客户在世界各地的多个地方定期举行远程会议. Wendy的工作是在地点之间建立联系,并解决客户致电服务台时遇到的问题.

德里克将给温迪什么样的反馈? 她真的很聪明, 但是她在压力下工作时容易在衣领下变热. 那意味着, 当她感到工作压力时,她会难过. 有时候她发脾气, 和她的同事对此抱怨.

Listening Questions

1) 目前,温迪每天要处理多少次会议?
2) Derrick希望向Wendy提供反馈的主要问题是什么?
3) 德里克给温迪提供什么建议来帮助她纠正问题?

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Business News 06 – 离岸

This Business English News podcast examines the topic of offshoring jobs. “离岸” means to move part of a company’s operations (usually supporting functions such as finance or HR) to another countryliterallyoff shore.Another commonly used term related to this topic isoutsourcing” – this means to use a different company to handle some supporting tasks. The key difference is that outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean the work is done in a different country.

The topic of offshoring, or outsourcing work overseas, is certainly a popular one these days, and many people in Western Europe and North America are quite concerned that this practice will lead to less job opportunities in their countries. However, our story details a report from a well know management consultancy that concludes these concerns may be exaggerated oroverblown.

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