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1、Unit OneWho Makes It to the TopWhat does it take to succeed in American business? Opinions vary widely. Given approximately equal qualifications and circumstances, some claim the success factor is largely a matter of luck - being in the right place at the right time. Others speak of utter devotion t
2、o work, combined with a degree of ruthlessness. Far-out theories abound. One expert maintains that its undoubtedly a matter of how much education your mother had.To get a better perspective* on who makes it to the top - and why I interviewed four men who should know - management consultants and exec
3、utive recruiters for some of the biggest corporations in the country. Here are their informed opinions.Thomas A. Buffum, bead of the executive recruiting firm of Thomas A. Buffum Associates in Boston: We hear about new technology making engineers obsolete. In the same way, new methods of management
4、can make executive obsolete. The men who rise the highest and stay there are those who never stop growing and learning. These flexible Fellows seldom stall7 on the corporate ladder or get shaken off.”A key test of this flexibility comes at the time of a merger or acquisition. Can you adapt to the ne
5、w management: framework - do things their way? or are you so used to your old methods that youll resent any changes?”The men who can truly answer yes to the first question and no to the second are the ones who never find themselves between jobs.Charles Ferguson, another consultant, agrees: How to co
6、pe with change - thats the key to success or failure for many business men.”“Changes come in several forms. One is the constant flux of the job itself, because of shifting conditions in the company and the industry. The late 1960s offered case after agonizing case of brash young go - go entrepreneur
7、s who put together littering conglomerates that they had no idea how to manage. Once the requirements of the job changes from pyramiding to mature management of an existing entity, they could cope no longer. A different set of skills was needed.”Executives must be able to handle change in broad segm
8、ents of industry, society, and government. But perhaps the change thats most challenging of all is that within themstlves. Many things cause executive metamorphosis family or financial change, declining health, age, burnout from overwork, perhaps even a certain complacency at having attained many of
9、 lifes goals. But the executive who realizes hes changing is the one who will be able to handle it.”William B. Beeson, manager of executive recruitment for Lawrence - Leiter &. Company in Kansas City, looked at it in another way: “It has been said of everyone from Robert McNamara to Edward Carlson (
10、the president of an airline) that their rise to the top of their companies came largely because they were at the right place at the right time. There may be some truth in that, but the question is why they were in the right place. I think their own career decisions must have had a lot to do with it.
11、”Have you ever drawn up an honest balance sheet on yourself - really put down what youre good at on one side, and what youre not so good at on the other? It isnt easy. Those weaknesses are hard to admit. But if youll make this painful self-analysis at least once every six months, youll be in a bette
12、r position to focus your energies toward the kind of position that will make you successful and happy. To make it big, executives must possess four basic skills: First, drive. Business success takes an unusual amount of energy. A successful executive - almost by definition - is a striver. According
13、to one industry psycholo Giest, 86.5 percent of top managers have a higher activityLevel than the average middle manager. Top men get tensewhen they are not striving.Second people sense. Some say being able to judgePeople is more important than a high IQ. The skill can beinstinctual. but in most cas
14、es its painstakingly learned. Third, communications ability. An executive gets things down through other people. That means his communications must come through loud and clear. Different executives make themselves understood in different ways. Some transmit ideas best face to face; others are master
15、s of the telephone call; still others are persuasive writers. One way or another, they all communicate clearly. Fourth, calm under pressure, or as Hemingway put it, grace under pressure. No businessman will get very far if he chokes up.An example: One unusually able vice president blew a chance for
16、the presidency because he froze while making an important product presentation to the chairman. The company had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in research and development, and tooling up for production would take millions. With so much at stake, the chairman had a great many hard question
17、s. Despite thorough knowledge of the subject, the vice-president became just a little unsure under questioning. A few months later, when the presidents job became vacant, someone else was chosen to Fill it.”And finally, John W. Silver, an executive recruiter in Milwaukee, puts it on a more basic lev
18、el. What it takes is guts,” he says. And, most of all, guts in dealing with subordinates. Time after time, our executive search people have been told, We realized long ago that Phil had to be replaced, but we didnt want to hurt his feelings. Or, We just couldnt bring ourselves to do it.The executive
19、 who is marked for success sets high standards for himself - and also for other people. If someone doesnt measure up after a proper trial period, he replaces him.It was said of one successful executive, He cant tolerate people who dont pull their weight. His philosophy is that he doesnt care who you
20、r friends are - can you produce? Thats not bad. If you insist on top performance from your subordinates, theyll insist on top performance from their subordinates, and so on down the table of organization. Thats the kind of attitude an executive had better have - if he plans to survive. Notesqualific
21、ation: sth. which modifies , restricts, or limitsruthlessness: cruelness; without pity; showing no mercyfar-out: extremely unconventional; very advanced, ahead of its timeperspective: apparent relation between different aspects of a problemexecutive recruiter: people responsible for hiring administr
22、ative personnelobsolete: no longer used: out of date stallstall: come to a stop or standstill merger: a joining of two or more companies or firms acquisition: gaining for oneself by skill or ability, by ones own efforts or behaviourresent: feel bitter, or angry atbetween jobs: out of a jobflux: cont
23、inual changebrash: hasty and too bold, especially from lack of experiencego-go: energeticentrepreneur: a person who starts a businessconglomerate: industrial group, industry associationpyramiding: process in which several companies are combined under one companymetamorphosis: a sharp and profound ch
24、angeburnout: exhaustion from overworkcomplacency: a feeling of self-satisfactionRobert McNamara: a former president of the Ford Motor Company who later served as U. S Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank, McNamara earned a reputation for efficiency and knowhow in business and governm
25、ent.make it big: become very successfulstrive: (strove, striven) make great effortstransmit: pass or hand on; send onchoke up: fill, partly or completely, a passage, space, etc. that is usually clearfreeze: (froze, frozen) become speechless or motionlessinvest: put money intool up: equip a plant, et
26、c. with the necessary tools, etc.; prepareat stake: in danger of being lostguts: courage; endurancesubordinate: person in less important position; person working under anothermeasure up: reach a certain standardpull ones weight: do ones share of the work or take ones share of responsibilityUnit TwoT
27、he Key to ManagementIf I had to sum up in one word the qualities that make a good manager, Id say that it all comes down to decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers in the world and you can gather all the charts and numbers, but in the end you have to bring all your information together, set
28、 up a timetable, and act.And I dont mean act rashly. In the press, Im sometimes described as a flamboyant leader and a hip-shooter, a kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants operator. I may occasionally give that impression, but if that image were really true, I could never have been successful in this
29、 business.Actually, my management style has always been pretty conservative. Whenever Ive taken risks, its been after satisfying myself that the research and the market studies supported my instincts. I may act on my intuition - but only if my hunches are supported by the facts.Too many managers let
30、 themselves get weighed down in their decision - making, especially those with too much education. I once said to Philip Caldwell, who became the top man at Ford after I left: The trouble with you, Phil, is you went to Harvard, where they taught you not to take any action until youve got all the fac
31、ts. Youve got ninetyfive percent of them, but its going to take yon an other six months to get that last five percent. And by the time you do, your facts will be out of date because the market has already changed. Thats what life is all about - timing.A good business leader cant operate that way. It
32、s perfectly natural to want all the facts and to hold out for the research that guarantees a particular program will work. After all, if youre about to spend $ 300 million on a new product, you want to be absolutely sure youre on the right track. .Thats fine in theory, but real life just doesnt work
33、 that way. Obviously, youre responsible for gathering as many relevant facts and projections as you possibly can. But at some point youve got to take that leap of faith. First, because even the right decision is wrong if its made too late. Second, because in most cases theres no such thing as certai
34、nty. There are times when even the best manager is like the little boy with the big dog waiting to see where the dog wants to go so he can take him there.What constitutes enough information for the decision-maker? Its impossible to put a number on it, but clearly when you move ahead with only 50 per
35、cent of the facts the odds are stacked against you. If thats the case, you had better be very lucky - or else come up with some terrific hunches. There are times when that kind of gamble is called for, but its certainly no way to run a railroad.At the same time, youll never know 100 percent of what
36、you need. Like many industries these days, the car business is constantly changing. For us in Detroit, the great challenge is always to figure out whats going to appeal to customers three years down the road. Im writing these words in 1984, and were already planning our models for 1987 and 1988. Som
37、e how I have to try to predict whats going to sell three and four years from now, even though I cant say with any certainty what the public will want next month.When you dont have all the facts, you sometimes have to draw on your experience. Whenever I read in a newspaper that Lee lacocca likes to s
38、hoot from the hip, I say to myself: Well, maybe hes been shooting for so long that by this time he has a pretty good idea of how to hit the target. To a certain extent, Ive always operated by gut feeling. I like to be in the trenches. I was never one of those guys who could just sit around and strat
39、egize endlessly.But theres a new breed of businessmen, mostly people with MBAs, who are wary of intuitive decisions. In part, theyre right. Normally, intuition is not a good enough basis for making a move. But many of these guys go to the opposite extreme. They seem to think that every business prob
40、lem can be structured and reduced to a case study. That may be true in school, but in business there has to be somebody around who will say: Okay, folks, its time. Be ready to go in one hour. When I read historical accounts of World War II and D-Day25, Im always struck by the same thought: Eisenhowe
41、r almost blew it because he kept vacillating. But finally he said; No matter what the weather looks like, we have to go ahead now. Waiting any longer could be even more dangerous. So lets move it!The same lesson applies to corporate life. There will always be those who will want to take an extra mon
42、th or two to do further research on the shape of the roof on a new car. While that research may be helpful, it can wreak havoc on your production plans. After a certain point, when most of the relevant facts are in, you find yourself at the mercy of the law of diminishing returns.Thats why a certain
43、 amount of risk - taking is essential. I realize its not for everybody. There are some people who wont leave home in the morning without an umbrella even if the sun is shining. Unfortunately, the world doesnt always wait for you while you try to anticipate your losses. Sometimes you just have to tak
44、e a chance - and correct your mistakes as you go along.Back in the 1960s and through most of the 1970s, things didnt matter as much as they do now. In those days the car industry was like a golden goose. We were making money almost without trying. But today, few businesses can afford the luxury of s
45、low decision-making whether it involves a guy whos in the wrong job or the planning of a whole new line of cars five years down the road.Despite what the textbooks say, most important decisions in corporate life are made by individuals, not by committees. My policy has always been to be democratic a
46、ll the way to the point of decision. Then I become the ruthless commander. Okay, Ive heard everybody, I say. Now heres what were going to do. You always need committees, because thats where people share their knowledge and intentions. But when committees replace individuals - and Ford these days has
47、 more committees than General Motors - then productivity begins to decline.To sum up; nothing stands still in this world. I like to go duck hunting, where constant movement and change are facts of life. You can aim at a duck and get it in your sights, but the duck is always moving. In order to hit t
48、he duck, you have to move your gun. But a committee faced with a major decision cant always move as quickly as the events its trying to respond to. By the time the committee is ready to shoot, the duck has flown away.Notecome down to: (can) be reduced to; mean in essencefancy: complexflamboyant: showy, given to displayhip-shooter: a person who acts rashlyfly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants: slang fly an airplane by feel and instinct rather than with the help of the instrumentssatisfy: persuadehunch: an intuitive feeling or guessweigh down: overburden; depressThats what lif