为什么指责于事无补 老板却乐此不疲(上)

责怪他人是很自然的：把混乱局面归咎于别人，而不是自己承担责任，这种做法极具诱惑力。但指责也具有破坏性。相互指责会削弱团队凝聚力。

双语精读

Faulty Reasoning: Why pointing fingers is unhelpful and why bosses do it more than anyone

错误推理：为什么指责于事无补，为什么老板乐此不疲

Casting blame is natural: it is tempting to fault someone else for a snafu rather than taking responsibility yourself. But blame is also corrosive. Pointing fingers saps team cohesion.

责怪他人是很自然的：把混乱局面归咎于别人，而不是自己承担责任，这种做法极具诱惑力。但指责也具有破坏性。相互指责会削弱团队凝聚力。

It makes it less likely that people will own up to mistakes, and thus less likely that organisations can learn from them. Research published in 2015 suggests that a Shaggy culture ("It wasn't me") shows up in share prices.

这使得人们不太可能承认错误，因此组织也不太可能从错误中吸取教训。2015年发表的一项研究表明，甩锅文化(“不是我干的”)会反映在股价上。

Firms whose managers pointed to external factors to explain their failings underperformed companies that blamed themselves.

有些公司的经理用外部因素来解释业绩不佳，这些公司的表现逊于那些责怪自己的公司。

Some industries have long recognised the drawbacks of fault-finding. The proud record of aviation in reducing accidents partly reflects no-blame processes for investigating crashes and close calls.

一些行业很早就意识到了挑错的弊端。航空业在减少事故方面取得骄人成绩，这在一定程度上反映了调查坠机和侥幸脱险事故时不问责的做法。

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents in America, is explicit that its role is not to assign blame or liability but to find out what went wrong and to issue recommendations to avoid a repeat.

负责调查事故的美国国家运输安全委员会明确表示，它的职责不是把责任归咎于某一方，而是找出哪里出了问题，并提出建议，避免重蹈覆辙。

There are similar lessons from health care. When things go wrong in medical settings, the systems by which patients are compensated vary between countries.

医疗保健方面也有类似的教训。当出现医疗问题时，赔偿患者的制度因国家而异。

Some, like Britain, depend on a process of litigation in which fault must be found. Others, like Sweden, do not require blame to be allocated and compensate patients if the harm suffered is deemed "avoidable".

有些国家，比如英国，依赖必须找出过错的诉讼过程。其他国家，如瑞典，不要求把责任归给某一方，如果所遭受的伤害被认为是“可以避免的”，那么就对患者进行赔偿。

A report published by a British parliamentary committee last year strongly recommended moving away from a system based on proving clinical negligence: "It is grossly expensive, adversarial and promotes individual blame instead of collective learning."

英国议会的一个委员会去年发布了一份报告，强烈建议放弃基于证明临床疏忽的制度：“这种制度代价高昂，具有对抗性，鼓励个人指责，而不是集体学习。”

The incentives to learn from errors are particularly strong in aviation and health care, where safety is paramount and lives are at risk. But they also exist when the stakes are lower.

从错误中吸取教训的动机在航空和医疗保健领域尤为强烈，在这些领域，安全至上，生死攸关。但当风险较低时，这种动机也会存在。

That is why software engineers and developers routinely conduct "blameless postmortems" to investigate, say, what went wrong if a website crashes or a server goes down.

这就是软件工程师和开发人员经常进行“免责事后调查”的原因，比如，如果网站崩溃或服务器宕机，问题出在哪里。

词汇预习

• individual [高考]

  美[ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒuəl] | 英[ˌɪndɪˈvɪdʒuəl]

  adj. 单独的；一个人的；独有的 n. 个人；个体

• issue [高考]

  美[ˈɪʃuː] | 英[ˈɪʃuː]

  n. 问题，议题，争论点；（报纸、杂志等的）期刊号；发放，分配；（新股票或邮票等的）发行；子女，后嗣；流出，发出 v. 发表，颁布；分发，分配；正式发行；流出，发出；由……产生，由…得出

• particularly [高考]

  美[pərˈtɪkjələrli] | 英[pəˈtɪkjələli]

  adv. 特别；尤其；详细地

• assign [高考]

  美[əˈsaɪn] | 英[əˈsaɪn]

  vt. 分配；指定；指派；归因；确定 n. 受让人

• investigate [高考]

  美[ɪnˈvestɪɡeɪt] | 英[ɪnˈvestɪɡeɪt]

  v. 调查；研究

• collective [高考]

  美[kəˈlektɪv] | 英[kəˈlektɪv]

  adj. 集体的；共同的 n. 集体

• server [高考]

  美[ˈsɜrvə(r)] | 英[ˈsɜ:və(r)]

  n. 服务器；侍者；辅祭者；发球者；托盘

• liability [高考]

  美[ˌlaɪəˈbɪləti] | 英[ˌlaɪəˈbɪləti]

  n. 责任；债务；倾向；可能性；不利因素

• avoidable [高考]

  美[əˈvɔɪdəbl] | 英[əˈvɔɪdəbl]

  adj. 可避免的

• external [高考]

  美[ɪkˈstɜːrnl] | 英[ɪkˈstɜːnl]

  adj. 外来的；外部的；外面的；表面的 n. 外观；外部；外界事物

• conduct [高考]

  美[kənˈdʌkt] | 英[kənˈdʌkt]

  n. 行为；举动；品行 v. 引导；指挥；管理 vt. 导电；传热

• thus [高考]

  美[ðʌs] | 英[ðʌs]

  adv. 这样；如此；因此；从而

• fault [高考]

  美[fɔːlt] | 英[fɔːlt]

  n. 缺点；故障；过错；[地]断层 v. 找 ... 错误

• software [高考]

  美[ˈsɔːftwer] | 英[ˈsɒftweə(r)]

  n. 软件

• committee [高考]

  美[kəˈmɪti] | 英[kəˈmɪti]

  n. 委员会

• compensate [高考]

  美[ˈkɑːmpenseɪt] | 英[ˈkɒmpenseɪt]

  v. 补偿；赔偿；付报酬

• explicit [高考]

  美[ɪkˈsplɪsɪt] | 英[ɪkˈsplɪsɪt]

  adj. 明确的；清晰的；清楚的；露骨的

• go wrong [高考]

  美[ɡo rɔŋ] | 英[ɡəu rɔŋ]

  出错； 发生故障

• finding [高考]

  美[ˈfaɪndɪŋ] | 英[ˈfaɪndɪŋ]

  n. 调查(或研究)的结果；[律] 裁决

• lower [高考]

  美[ˈloʊər] | 英[ˈləʊə(r)]

  adj. 低的；下级的；下层的 v. 降低；减弱；跌落

• vary [高考]

  美[ˈveri] | 英[ˈveəri]

  v. 改变；变化；使多样化

• paramount [高考]

  美[ˈpærəmaʊnt] | 英[ˈpærəmaʊnt]

  adj. 极为重要的；至高无上的 n. 最高统治者 n. 派拉蒙(美电影公司)

• where [高考]

  美[wer] | 英[weə(r)]

  adv. 在哪里；在那个地方 conj. 在 ... 地方

• aviation [四级]

  美[ˌeɪviˈeɪʃn] | 英[ˌeɪviˈeɪʃn]

  n. 航空；飞机制造业

• routinely [四级]

  美[ruˈtinlɪ] | 英[ru:'ti:nlɪ]

  adv. 日常地；通常地；例行公事地

• clinical [四级]

  美[ˈklɪnɪkl] | 英[ˈklɪnɪkl]

  adj. 临床的；冷静的

• up to [四级]

  美[ʌp tu] | 英[ʌp tu]

  胜任；直到；多达；该由 ... 决定

• based on [六级]

  美[best ɑn] | 英[beɪst ɔn]

  以 ... 为基础； 基于

• tempting [专四]

  美[ˈtɛmptɪŋ] | 英[ˈtemptɪŋ]

  adj. 诱惑人的

• negligence [专四]

  美[ˈneɡlɪdʒəns] | 英[ˈneɡlɪdʒəns]

  n. 疏忽；不修边幅；渎职

• learning [专八]

  美[ˈlɜːrnɪŋ] | 英[ˈlɜːnɪŋ]

  n. 学问；学识；学习

• parliamentary [考研]

  美[ˌpɑrləˈmentri] | 英[ˌpɑ:ləˈmentri]

  adj. 议会的；国会的；议会制定的

• corrosive [托福]

  美[kəˈroʊsɪv] | 英[kəˈrəʊsɪv]

  adj. 腐蚀的；腐蚀性的；蚀坏的 n. 腐蚀物；腐蚀药

• pointed [托福]

  美[ˈpɔɪntɪd] | 英[ˈpɔɪntɪd]

  adj. 尖的；尖锐的；直截了当的；有针对性的

重点讲解

Faulty Reasoning: Why pointing fingers is unhelpful and why bosses do it more than anyone

错误推理：为什么指责于事无补，为什么老板乐此不疲

rather than 而不是

【例】I think I'll have a cold drink rather than coffee.

我想要冷饮，不要咖啡。

【例】Rather than go straight on to university why not get some work experience first?

与其直接上大学，为什么不先取得一点工作经验呢？

cohesion   n.

1. 团结，凝聚力

【例】a sense of community and social cohesion

社区意识和社会凝聚力

2. （句子、文章两部分之间的）连贯，衔接

【例】The coherence and cohesion part is great, because it is clearly organized thanks to the outline.

连贯和衔接部分都很棒，因为多亏了提纲，它的结构清晰明了。

Casting blame is natural: it is tempting to fault someone else for a snafu rather than taking responsibility yourself. But blame is also corrosive. Pointing fingers saps team cohesion.

责怪他人是很自然的：把混乱局面归咎于别人，而不是自己承担责任，这种做法极具诱惑力。但指责也具有破坏性。相互指责会削弱团队凝聚力。

rather than 而不是

【例】I think I'll have a cold drink rather than coffee.

我想要冷饮，不要咖啡。

【例】Rather than go straight on to university why not get some work experience first?

与其直接上大学，为什么不先取得一点工作经验呢？

cohesion   n.

1. 团结，凝聚力

【例】a sense of community and social cohesion

社区意识和社会凝聚力

2. （句子、文章两部分之间的）连贯，衔接

【例】The coherence and cohesion part is great, because it is clearly organized thanks to the outline.

连贯和衔接部分都很棒，因为多亏了提纲，它的结构清晰明了。

It makes it less likely that people will own up to mistakes, and thus less likely that organisations can learn from them. Research published in 2015 suggests that a Shaggy culture (“It wasn’t me”) shows up in share prices.

这使得人们不太可能承认错误，因此组织也不太可能从错误中吸取教训。2015年发表的一项研究表明，甩锅文化(“不是我干的”)会反映在股价上。

own up 承担责任；认错

【例】Why don’t you just own up and hope she forgives you?

你为什么不认错并希望她原谅你呢？

【例】No one owned up to breaking the window.

没人承认打破了窗子。

Firms whose managers pointed to external factors to explain their failings underperformed companies that blamed themselves.

有些公司的经理用外部因素来解释业绩不佳，这些公司的表现逊于那些责怪自己的公司。

own up 承担责任；认错

【例】Why don’t you just own up and hope she forgives you?

你为什么不认错并希望她原谅你呢？

【例】No one owned up to breaking the window.

没人承认打破了窗子。

Some industries have long recognised the drawbacks of fault-finding. The proud record of aviation in reducing accidents partly reflects no-blame processes for investigating crashes and close calls.

一些行业很早就意识到了挑错的弊端。航空业在减少事故方面取得骄人成绩，这在一定程度上反映了调查坠机和侥幸脱险事故时不问责的做法。

crash  n. & v.

1.作名词

（1）撞车，相撞

【例】a car/plane crash

汽车撞车事故；飞机失事

（2）碰撞声，破裂声

【例】The tree fell with a great crash.

那棵树哗啦一声倒了。

（3）暴跌，破产，崩溃

【例】a crash in share prices股价暴跌

【例】a computer crash计算机瘫痪

2. 作动词

（1）碰撞，撞击

【例】I was terrified that the plane would crash.

飞机可能会失事，我吓坏了。

（2）（突然）贬值，倒闭，暴跌

【例】We were badly affected when the stock market crashed in 2008.

当2008年股市崩盘时，我们受到了严重影响。

（3）入睡；（在不常睡觉的地方）睡着

【例】I was so tired I crashed out on the sofa.

我累极了，在沙发上就睡着了。

close call 侥幸避免事故；幸免于难

【例】Joe had a close call when his motorbike nearly collided with a lorry.

乔的摩托车差点同卡车相撞, 他侥幸地躲过了。

【拓展】on call （尤指紧急情况下）随叫随到

【例】The doctor had been on call for 24 hours and was exhausted.

医生待命了24小时，筋疲力尽。

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents in America, is explicit that its role is not to assign blame or liability but to find out what went wrong and to issue recommendations to avoid a repeat.

负责调查事故的美国国家运输安全委员会明确表示，它的职责不是把责任归咎于某一方，而是找出哪里出了问题，并提出建议，避免重蹈覆辙。

liability    n.

1. （法律上对某事物的）责任，义务

【例】The company cannot accept liability for any damage caused by natural disasters.

该公司对自然灾害造成的任何损失概不承担责任。

2. 惹麻烦的人/事物

【例】Since his injury, Jones has become more of a liability than an asset to the team.

琼斯负伤以来，与其说他是全队的骨干倒不如说他已成为队里的累赘。

3. 负债，债务

【例】There is enough money to cover existing liabilities.

有足够的钱偿还现有负债。

issue   v. & n.

1. 作动词

（1）宣布；公布

【例】They issued a joint statement denying the charges.

他们发表联合声明否认指控。

（2）（正式）发给，供给

【例】New members will be issued with a temporary identity card.

新成员将获发临时身份卡。

（3）发行，发表

【例】They issued a special set of stamps to mark the occasion.

他们特别发行了一套纪念邮票。

2. 作名词

（1）争论的问题，忧虑

【例】Teacher education has become a political issue.

教师教育已成为一个政治问题。

（2）一期；期号

【例】The article appeared in issue 25.

该文发表在第 25 期。

There are similar lessons from health care. When things go wrong in medical settings, the systems by which patients are compensated vary between countries.

医疗保健方面也有类似的教训。当出现医疗问题时，赔偿患者的制度因国家而异。

clinical   a.

1. 临床的；临床诊断的

【例】She regarded her patients from a purely clinical standpoint.

她纯粹从医治的角度来对待病人。

2. 冷淡的；无动于衷的；无同情心的

【例】How can you be so cold and clinical about your son’s accident?

你怎么能对你儿子的事故这么冷漠？

3. 简陋的；无装饰的

【例】The walls were painted a clinical white.

墙壁被漆上朴素的白色。

negligence   n. 疏忽；失职

【例】The doctor was sued for medical negligence.

这名医生因玩忽职守被起诉。

【拓展】neglect  v. & n.

1. 作动词

（1）忽略，忽视

【例】She has neglected her studies.

她忽视了她的学习。

（2）疏于照料，疏忽

【例】The building has been badly neglected.

这栋大楼严重疏于维护。

2. 作名词：疏忽，忽略

【例】The whole district had an air of abandonment and neglect.

整个地区有一种萧条落寞的感觉。

Some, like Britain, depend on a process of litigation in which fault must be found. Others, like Sweden, do not require blame to be allocated and compensate patients if the harm suffered is deemed “avoidable”.

有些国家，比如英国，依赖必须找出过错的诉讼过程。其他国家，如瑞典，不要求把责任归给某一方，如果所遭受的伤害被认为是“可以避免的”，那么就对患者进行赔偿。

clinical   a.

1. 临床的；临床诊断的

【例】She regarded her patients from a purely clinical standpoint.

她纯粹从医治的角度来对待病人。

2. 冷淡的；无动于衷的；无同情心的

【例】How can you be so cold and clinical about your son’s accident?

你怎么能对你儿子的事故这么冷漠？

3. 简陋的；无装饰的

【例】The walls were painted a clinical white.

墙壁被漆上朴素的白色。

negligence   n. 疏忽；失职

【例】The doctor was sued for medical negligence.

这名医生因玩忽职守被起诉。

【拓展】neglect  v. & n.

1. 作动词

（1）忽略，忽视

【例】She has neglected her studies.

她忽视了她的学习。

（2）疏于照料，疏忽

【例】The building has been badly neglected.

这栋大楼严重疏于维护。

2. 作名词：疏忽，忽略

【例】The whole district had an air of abandonment and neglect.

整个地区有一种萧条落寞的感觉。

A report published by a British parliamentary committee last year strongly recommended moving away from a system based on proving clinical negligence: “It is grossly expensive, adversarial and promotes individual blame instead of collective learning.”

英国议会的一个委员会去年发布了一份报告，强烈建议放弃基于证明临床疏忽的制度：“这种制度代价高昂，具有对抗性，鼓励个人指责，而不是集体学习。”

clinical   a.

1. 临床的；临床诊断的

【例】She regarded her patients from a purely clinical standpoint.

她纯粹从医治的角度来对待病人。

2. 冷淡的；无动于衷的；无同情心的

【例】How can you be so cold and clinical about your son’s accident?

你怎么能对你儿子的事故这么冷漠？

3. 简陋的；无装饰的

【例】The walls were painted a clinical white.

墙壁被漆上朴素的白色。

negligence   n. 疏忽；失职

【例】The doctor was sued for medical negligence.

这名医生因玩忽职守被起诉。

【拓展】neglect  v. & n.

1. 作动词

（1）忽略，忽视

【例】She has neglected her studies.

她忽视了她的学习。

（2）疏于照料，疏忽

【例】The building has been badly neglected.

这栋大楼严重疏于维护。

2. 作名词：疏忽，忽略

【例】The whole district had an air of abandonment and neglect.

整个地区有一种萧条落寞的感觉。

The incentives to learn from errors are particularly strong in aviation and health care, where safety is paramount and lives are at risk. But they also exist when the stakes are lower.

从错误中吸取教训的动机在航空和医疗保健领域尤为强烈，在这些领域，安全至上，生死攸关。但当风险较低时，这种动机也会存在。

stake  n. & v.

1. 作名词

（1）股本；股份

【例】a 20 percent stake in the business

持有公司20％的股份

（2）（在公司、计划等中的）重大利益，重大利害关系

【例】She has a personal stake in the success of the play.

这出戏成功与否对她个人有重大利害关系。

（3）赌注

【例】How much was the stake (= how much did you bet)?

下了多少注？

2. 作动词：（就某事）以…打赌，拿…冒险

【例】She staked her political career on tax reform, and lost.

她把自己的政治前程押在税制改革上，结果赌输了。

postmortem  n.

1. 验尸；尸体解剖

【例】The post-mortem on the child revealed that she had been poisoned.

验尸证明这孩子是被人毒死的。

2. 事后反思（或剖析）

【例】a post-mortem on the company’s poor results

对公司业绩不佳进行的反思

That is why software engineers and developers routinely conduct “blameless postmortems” to investigate, say, what went wrong if a website crashes or a server goes down.

这就是软件工程师和开发人员经常进行“免责事后调查”的原因，比如，如果网站崩溃或服务器宕机，问题出在哪里。

stake  n. & v.

1. 作名词

（1）股本；股份

【例】a 20 percent stake in the business

持有公司20％的股份

（2）（在公司、计划等中的）重大利益，重大利害关系

【例】She has a personal stake in the success of the play.

这出戏成功与否对她个人有重大利害关系。

（3）赌注

【例】How much was the stake (= how much did you bet)?

下了多少注？

2. 作动词：（就某事）以…打赌，拿…冒险

【例】She staked her political career on tax reform, and lost.

她把自己的政治前程押在税制改革上，结果赌输了。

postmortem  n.

1. 验尸；尸体解剖

【例】The post-mortem on the child revealed that she had been poisoned.

验尸证明这孩子是被人毒死的。

2. 事后反思（或剖析）

【例】a post-mortem on the company’s poor results

对公司业绩不佳进行的反思

课后练习

• One of the negative impacts of pointing fingers is that ____.

  A. the team would be too afraid to take risks

  B. the reason for mistakes would be hidden

  C. the competition would be overly fierce

  D. managers would be unmotivated at work

• The aviation industry’s no-blame processes show that ____.

  A. problem prevention is more important than problem-solving

  B. tolerance for mistakes is good for workers’ long-term growth

  C. attention should be given to problem analysis rather than punishment

  D. workers are more prone to mistakes when they are under pressure

• What did a British parliamentary committee recommend?

  A. The person to blame must be found.

  B. Patients should be fully compensated.

  C. Avoidable mistakes should be punished.

  D. The focus should be shifted away from blaming.

• The article elaborates on the problem of pointing fingers by ____.

  A. comparing different views

  B. giving specific examples

  C. analyzing the cause and effect

  D. listing relevant statistics