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Файл:Устные темы. Учебное пособие по английскому языку для инженерных специальностей ИТТСУ ТИУ, ТМН, ТПВ, ТПЛ, ТПТ разных форм обучения
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Text 1
How the management trap hurts innovation
The behaviors that drive management success are quite
different from those needed for innovation. Management is
about controlling resources to produce predictable results. Innovation, on the other hand, is about inspiring resources to
create new and unpredictable outcomes. Granted, top-ranking
companies such as Amazon and Apple may also be considered innovative. Yet I would argue that as these organizations
have become better managed, they have also become less in-
novative.
As organizations implement the practices necessary to
perfect execution, they sacrifice the behaviors required to innovate. To prevent this management trap and promote innovative behaviors instead, start with these three strategies.
1. Empower the rule breakers.
From an early age, most of us were taught to follow the rules.
We were trained to exercise self-control, avoid mistakes, and
minimize risk, sometimes at any cost. As a result, rather than
learning from failure and building up resilience, we were
conditioned to play it safe and, in essence, settle for the status
quo.
Similarly, most managers operate by the book—prioritizing
safety and predictability over taking risks and trying new
things. They think, “If I screw up, I’ll get fired. But if I stay
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in line, I’ll get promoted.” The result is a team that executes
well—and innovates poorly. So how do you get people to innovate in a world that rewards predictability? Simple: Empower the rule breakers. You know the ones—the mavericks
driven to do the right thing, not do things right. Rather than
fall in line, they buck the system and prioritize success over
any rules or norms. They aren’t afraid to be unpopular or,
when the stakes are high, to even go rogue. They figure, “So
what if I get fired?” In their mind, it’s a price worth paying to
be able to create, innovate, and succeed.
2. Change your metrics.
The late Eliyahu Goldratt, an Israeli business management
guru and the author of the best-selling business novel The
Goal, said: “Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you
how I will behave.” Today, this paradigm applies to teams
and organizations, too. That is, what they measure is how
they behave.
So ask yourself, in a workplace setting, which one of these
two options would most people be likely to choose: 1) commit to 3 percent growth and deliver 5 percent; or 2) commit to
20 percent growth and deliver 10 percent.
In most companies, Option 1 would be considered the “bet-
ter” choice. After all, people who top their target are regarded
as more effective. But the problem is that the business would
actually be better off with Option 2.
To incentivize innovative behaviors, you need to change
your metrics. You have to inspire people to choose Option 2
because people rarely accomplish something great unless they
set out to do it in the first place. And if they miss such a
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stretch goal? Evaluate them according to what they actually
accomplished—not a given metric.
One reason that startups tend to take on stretch goals is that
their primary metric is the company’s success. Likewise, their
employees commonly accept a lower salary combined with a
potential future upside, such as equity. This creates a real incentive for people to go all in and work to achieve something
really big as opposed to just small, incremental goals.
3. Optimize the most critical functions.
In almost any organization, there is an unspoken chart that
dictates which functional areas have the most power. On top
is the CEO and, after that, come the functions that control the
resources or set the rules. More often than not, this leads to
over-empowered finance, legal, and HR teams, and worse, a
palpable management bias that limits innovation.
To really innovate, you have to optimize the functional areas most critical to developing new ideas, solving customer
problems, and creating value—not sitting in meetings, writing
reports, or crunching numbers. These resources are the constraint in an innovation organization, so maximize them by
putting R&D at the top and, right on its heels, sales and marketing, as well as manufacturing.
Everyone else in the organization—yes, even the CEO—
ranks lower in priority since they exist to support and optimize these other, more critical functions. This way, innovation doesn’t take a back seat as it typically does in the traditional org chart.
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Inevitably, the management trap will stall the innovation
engine that allowed a team or organization to be successful in
the first place. But by empowering the rule breakers, changing your metrics, and optimizing the most critical functions,
you will prevent the trap—and promote innovative behaviors
instead.
Text 2
Why nations fail is one of the main political economy best-
sellers of recent times. The authors ask a question that has
troubled historians, economists, and philosophers for centuries: what are the origins of global inequality and why is
global wealth distributed so unevenly across countries and
regions? The answer to this question is given at the intersection of history, political science and Economics, with the involvement of an unusually extensive historical material from
all areas and from all continents, which turns the book into a
real encyclopedia of advanced political economic thought.
The authors contrast two types of institutions: extractive, that
is aimed at excluding the majority of society from the process
of political decision—making and income distribution, and
inclusive-aimed at including the widest possible segments of
society in economic and political life.
The mechanism for forming extractive or inclusive institutions is as follows:
Over a long period of time (decades, centuries, and sometimes millennia), peoples accumulate minor changes in the
level of complexity of society and the social mechanisms operating in it, which may differ slightly even among geographically neighboring peoples.
At some historical moment, there is a large-scale change in
the external environment (for example, geographical discoveries create huge trade opportunities, or, say, colonists who
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landed on new lands face a completely new natural, climatic
and ethnographic environment).
Some societies are able not just to accept these challenges,
but to adapt and integrate them into their culture through the
inclusive institutions that are being born at this moment,
while for others, the same process of development goes
through the strengthening of previously existing extractive
institutions. This is how divergence begins – the divergence
of States that are close in terms of development, sometimes
neighboring, on different historical trajectories. It is not always immediately obvious which of the options gives a longterm result. For example, the Spanish colonization of Latin
America led to a powerful flow of gold to the country, in contrast to the English colonization of North America. However,
it was this flow of gold that increased the extractivity of the
Spanish state, and the separation of the growing Spanish
crown (which had, as we would say now, a monopoly).
Text 3
Internet company structure
Each company's different growth history, different business structures and different management styles have created
their different company structures. Today, let us analyze the
current more common Internet company structure models and
the main functional requirements of each position.
Under normal circumstances, companies will adopt different
organizational structures according to their own circumstances.
Some companies will choose to use a flat organizational
structure, that is, each functional unit is independent, and they
solve various problems through frequent communication and
response between managers and department employees;
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Some companies choose a project-based organizational structure, centering on the project, and concentrating the personnel
needed for the project in one Team;
There are also companies that adopt a hybrid organizational
structure, with one part adopting project group management
and the other part adopting flat management.
But no matter how the organizational structure is adjusted,
people still have to do things or those things. In the early
stage of a company's business, the scale of personnel may be
relatively small, and there are often situations where one person holds multiple jobs. However, a small number of people
does not mean that you can "get it." At the early stage of development, a more reasonable company organization structure
is formulated, and some temporarily unoccupied or part-time
positions can be temporarily vacated for subsequent recruitment and filling by positions. A good company structure benefits the follow-up development of a startup company a lot.
With the expansion of the scale of personnel, if the company
wants to continue to develop continuously, there will inevitably be a need to change the organizational structure.
The organizational structure serves the company's development, and the organizational structure produced in each
period is to meet the needs of the company's development.
Let's first take a look at what positions are usually available in
an Internet company:
Management positions: CEO, COO, CFO, CTO, CIO, etc.
CEO: The title of Chief Executive Officer (Chief Executive
Officer) is the highest administrative officer in charge of daily
affairs in an enterprise. It is in charge of corporate administrative affairs, so it is also called the chief executive officer,
chief executive officer, general manager or chief executive
officer.
COO: Chief Operating Officer (Chief Operating Officer,
abbreviated as COO, Chief Operating Officer), also known
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as: Director of Operations, is the position to formulate the
long-term strategy of the company and supervise the execution of the work of the general manager of each branch.
Mainly responsible for the company's daily operations, assisting the CEO's work. Responsible to the CEO and responsible
for the operation and management of the company. COOs also serve as presidents in some companies, but they are usually
executive or senior vice presidents.
CFO: Chief Financial Officer-CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is an inevitable product of the development of corporate
governance structure to a new stage. A governance structure
without a chief financial officer is not a perfect governance
structure in the modern sense. From this perspective, China's
governance structure should also set up positions such as
CFO.
CTO: Chief Technology Officer is the administrative manager of technical resources. The English name is Chief Technical Officer or Chief Technology Officer, CTO for short. Its
responsibilities are to formulate a vision and strategy related
to technology, grasp the overall technical direction, supervise
the activities of technology research and development (R&D),
guide and check on technology selection and specific technical issues, and complete the various technical tasks assigned
to it. project. Usually only high-tech companies, R&D units,
production units, etc. establish CTO positions. This position
is a bit similar to the chief engineer we often say, and his job
needs to be responsible for the corporate CEO (CEO).
CIO: Chief Information Officer (also known as CIO, is the
abbreviation of Chief Information Officer) Chinese means
chief information officer or information director, is a senior
official responsible for all areas of a company's information
technology and systems. They support the company's goals
by guiding the use of information technology. They have
knowledge of both technology and business processes, have
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multi-functional concepts, and are often the best candidates to
closely integrate the organization's technology deployment
strategy and business strategy. The CIO originally referred to
the chief information officer in the government management
department. As the information system developed from the
auxiliary tool of the rear office to the powerful means of directly participating in the enterprise, the CIO came into being
in the enterprise and became a pivotal figure. The chief information manager of a US company is equivalent to the deputy general manager and is directly responsible to the highest
decision maker.
Chief Information Officer is a relatively new position. Currently, positions are only established in some of the world's
top 500 companies, such as Coca Cola (Coca Cola), DSM
(DSM) and so on. However, with the multi-polar competition
and development in the business field, more and more companies have begun to use the concept of Innovation as the
driving force and competitive advantage for their sustainable
development. CIOs will become the most important position
leaders in the future one.
Product lines: product managers, product assistants, designers, etc.
Operational lines: product operation, event planning,
member operation, data operation, (new) media operation,
content planning, editing, etc.
Technical lines: architects, front-end engineers, development engineers, test engineers, operation and maintenance
engineers, etc.
Market lines: channels, promotion, business cooperation,
etc.
Administrative lines: HR, administration, etc.
For large companies, dedicated personnel and special posts
require more "professional talents", while for small compa-
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nies, more "composite talents" may be needed. The following
is the personnel structure of a startup company:
Product department
Product manager
Not just anyone can be a "product manager". He needs to
understand users and life. It is a position that requires experience and precipitation. The role of product manager is completely different in large companies and small companies.
In large companies, there will be a lot of transactional work,
product documentation, data flow and other transactional
work will be completed by the "product assistant". In small
companies, the position of "product manager" may not exist
independently, but is often taken care of by positions such as
design and development.
The specific functions of "product manager" are based on a
deep understanding of user needs, and through logical thinking and experience optimization to meet customer needs. Under this premise, the position of "Product Manager" will require:
1. Empathy and understanding of users
2. Concentration, must be deep into the product
3. Sensibility, the pursuit of product experience, but can more
sensitively discover the possibility that needs to be enhanced
4. Communication and stress resistance
5. Logical thinking ability
Product Assistant
Usually "product assistant" is a job that only appears in large
companies.
The original intention of this position is to liberate the product manager, free the product manager from complicated
meetings, wrangling, and document writing, and concentrate
on demand analysis and product design. If you want to become a "product assistant", you may need to have:
1. Good communication skills
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2. Strong resistance to pressure
3. Flexible mind and quick reaction ability
4. Diligent
If you are a recent graduate and want to do product work,
then you can consider starting from a "product assistant" in a
large company. Of course, if you have different talents, I
think it's good to be a "product manager" directly. It's just that
there are few people with this kind of talent.
Designer.
In the early years, there was no such high-end title as "designer," and it was called "artist." Later, with the development
of the Internet, there was a very detailed redistribution of the
functions of positions. As a result, there are various "designers", UI, UE, interaction, animation... and even design icons
and logos. Therefore, for a position such as a "designer", everyone needs to look at the specific business responsibilities
before posting. For designers, several abilities are important:
1. Aesthetics, Somebody or smth that is good-looking
2. Master the design effect of at least one medium. Graphic
design and web design are really different, and the design of
the PC and the design of mobile applications are also different. Can be mastered, not much.
3. Time concept.
4. The pursuit of high-quality goods.
operation department
Operation is a brick, and move it wherever it is needed.
Product Operations
This work is mainly to carry out operations around the product. Briefly summarize the main work content: pull new, retain, and promote (monetize)
Event planning
This is mainly for activities, which belong to specialized positions. This position appears more in industries involving
consumer loyalty, mainly to maintain member users, retain
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