gmatmba

谢谢！~~~

myice

客气了，呵呵

myice

66. “Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products are safe. If a product injures someone, for whatever reason, the manufacturer should be held legally and financially accountable for the injury.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
“制造商对保证他们的产品的安全负责。如果一个产品伤害了某人，不论什么原因，制造商都应该对伤害负法律和经济责任。”
1.        Manufactures are resposible for providing the consumers with safe and reliable products and they are also responsible for supplying clear and detailed instrctions. That is the basic requirement for a qualified manufacture.
2.        To satisfy the need of the consumers for convenient and user-friendly product will benefit the manufacture at the same time. Because during the process in pursue of the consumers' satisfaction the manufactures have to make innovations and a lot of P&D, which will enhance the manufactures and make them competetive in the rival with others.
3.        However, if the manufacture has already done well to provide excellent and safe product plus clear and detailed instructions and it is the consumers' misconduct that should be blamed for the incidence, then the manufacture is not responsible for the injury.

View1: safe is one of the most important features of products
View2: the extremely strict standard of safe liability is costly and unfair to the manufacturers.
Evidence: this standard force manufactures to do excessive safety testing, and defending liability law suits, Consumers are then damaged by ultimately bearing these costs in the form of higher prices.
nothing can be absolutely safe if used inappropriately. while manufacturers have given clear guide on how to keep and use their product, it is still impossible for manufactures to ensure their products being under proper use. More over, a large number of victims are not direct customers but second-hand users, who can not receive all instructions and guidance.

In determining whether manufacturers should be accountable for all injuries resulting from the use of their products, one must weigh the interests of consumers against those of manufacturers. On balance, holding manufacturers strictly liable for such injuries is unjustifiable.
Admittedly, protecting consumers from defective and dangerous products is an important and worthwhile goal. No doubt nearly all of us would agree that health and safety should rank highly as an objective of public policy. Also, compelling a high level of safety forces manufacturers to become more innovative in design, use of materials, and so forth. Consumers and manufacturers alike benefit, of course, from innovation.
However, the arguments against a strict-liability standard are more compelling. First, the standard is costly. It forces manufacturers to incur undue expenses for overbuilding, excessive safety testing, and defending liability law suits. Consumers are then damaged by ultimately bearing these costs in the form of higher prices. Second, the standard can be unfair. It can assign fault to the wrong party; where a product is distributed through a wholesaler and/or retailer, one of these parties may have actually caused, or at least contributed to, the injury. The standard can also misplace fault where the injured party is not the original consumer. Manufacturers cannot ensure that second-hand users receive safe products or adequate instructions and warnings. Finally, where the injured consumer uses the product for a purpose or in a manner other than the intended one, or where there were patent dangers that the user should have been aware of, it seems the user, not the manufacturer, should assume the risk of injury.
In sum, despite compelling interests in consumer safety and product innovation, holding manufacturers accountable for all injuries caused by their products is unjustifiably costly to society and unfair to manufacturers.

myice

68. “Since the physical work environment affects employee productivity and morale, the employees themselves should have the right to decide how their workplace is designed.”
“由于物理工作环境影响雇员的生产力和士气，雇员自身应该有权决定如何设计他们的工作场所。”
1.        brings creativity and coziness
2.        makes colleagues more closely and companionate
3.        Admittedly, some companies such as consulting/consultant? company must avoid too much decoration.
However, no matter the employee or the employer, as for the environment is considered, compromise should be made from time to time.

View1:work character have great influence on the design of workplace.
Evidence: consulting company must avoid too much decoration in order to appear professionally and dependably. To some creative work such as AD agency and fashion design, the decorating of workplace is important not only for simulating inspirations but also for showing creative abilities.
View2: also, the designment of workplace should be compromise to company culture.
Evidence: Consider the influence it has done to co-workers and the harmony in work place.


I agree that physical workspace can affect morale and productivity and that, as a result, employees should have a significant voice in how their work areas are designed. However, the speaker suggests that each employee should have full autonomy over his or her immediate workspace, I think this view is too extreme, for it ignores two important problems that allowing too much freedom over workspace can create.
On the one hand, I agree that some aspects of workspace design are best left to the individual preferences of each worker. Location of personal tools and materials, style and size of desk chair, and even desk lighting and decorative desk items, can each play an important role in a worker’s comfort, psychological wellbeing, concentration, and efficiency. Moreover, these features involve highly subjective preferences, so it would be inappropriate for anyone but the worker to make such choices.
On the other hand, control over one’s immediate workspace should not go unchecked, for two reasons. First, one employee’s workspace design may inconvenience, annoy, or even offend nearby coworkers. For example, pornographic pinups may distract some coworkers and offend others, thereby impeding productivity, fostering ill-will and resentment, and increasing attrition—all to the detriment of the company. Admittedly, the consequences of most workspace choices would not be so far-reaching. Still, in my observation many people adhere, consciously or not, to the adage that one person’s rights extend only so far as the next person’s nose. A second problem with affording too much workspace autonomy occurs when workspaces are not clearly delineated—by walls and doors—or when workers share an immediate workspace. In such cases, giving all workers concurrent authority would perpetuate conflict and undermine productivity.
In conclusion, although employees should have the freedom to arrange their work areas, this freedom is not absolute. Managers would be well-advised to arbitrate workspace disputes and, if needed, assume authority to make final decisions about workspace design.

myice

75. “There are essentially two forces that motivate people: self-interest and fear.”
“有两种驱使人们的基本力量：自私和恐惧。”
Self-interest an fear are two important forces that motivate people. But I can not totally agree with the author's assertion that the above-mentioned two forces are the only forces that motivate people.
1.        Fear and other survival instinctions can motivate people to do some basic and essential activities such as eating, drinking, living with others, and so on so forth.
2.        Self interest is the initiative for people to do some further explortions. That is the motivation for us to study, to hold a certain type of expertise or technology, etc.
3.        However, the author ignore the other aspect of mankind other than the selfish nature--altruism.

1.        不能否认的是，人们做很多行为都出自这两种天性。a, 人们努力工作，为了赚足够的钱养活自己，support the family，人们接受education and training to make sure that he or she can grasp the up to date knowledge and skills for the purpose to avoid being supplanted by others. 因为恐惧。b, 人们遵守社会规范，有时也是为了赢得reputation。
2.        但是，如果说人的一切行为都root in these only two factors, 这就过于one-sided的说法。忽略了other aspects of the natural humanity。比如人性中的很多美德，都表现了人们克服了selfishness and fear取得的成就。a, 科学家为了address the problem of starvation, 花一生的精力去研究the better rice breed. b, anonymous charitarian donate huge amount of money to the school and hospital…people can hardly be persuaded to believe that the anonymous charitarian doing so are only motivated by the intention of gaining reputation.
3.        过于片面。

Optional words:
Motivate/ provoke/ stimulate/ excite/ prompt/ arouse/ encourage/ incite/ inspire
Fear/dread/ alarm/ terror/ scare
Thesis sentence: While self-interest and fear are two important forces that motivate people, they are not the only forces that motivate people. the speaker oversimplifies human nature, ignoring the important motivating force of altruism.
View1: On the one hand, I agree that most of our actions result in large part from self-
interest and from our survival instincts, such as fear.
Evidence: educational and vocational lives are motivated by interest in ensuring our livelihood, safety, health and so on.
View2: On the other hand, the assertion that all of our actions are essentially motivated by self-interest and fear is based on the belief that human beings are essentially selfish, or egoistic. Thus, overemphasize one aspect of human nature. Humans are also altruistic—that is, we act to benefit others, even though doing so may not in be in our own interest.
Evidence:

The speaker claims that people are motivated only by fear and self-interest. This claim relies on the belief that human beings are essentially selfish, or egoistic. In my view, the speaker oversimplifies human nature, ignoring the important motivating force of altruism.
On the one hand, I agree that most of our actions result in large part from self-interest and from our survival instincts, such as fear. For example, our educational and vocational lives are to a great extent motivated by our interest in ensuring our own livelihood, safety, health, and so on. We might perpetuate bad personal relationships because we are insecure—or afraid—of what will happen to us if we change course. Even providing for our own children may to some extent be motivated by selfishness—satisfying a need for fulfillment or easing our fear that we will be alone in our old age.
On the other hand, to assert that all of our actions are essentially motivated by self-interest and fear is to overemphasize one aspect of human nature. Humans are also altruistic—that is, we act to benefit others, even though doing so may not be in our own interest. The speaker might claim that altruistic acts are just egoistic ones in disguise—done to avoid unpleasant feelings of guilt, to give oneself pleasure, or to obligate another person. However, this counter argument suffers from three critical problems. First, some examples of altruism are difficult to describe in terms of self-interest alone. Consider the soldier who falls on a grenade to save his companions. It would be nonsensical to assert that this soldier is acting selfishly when he knows his action will certainly result in his own immediate death. Second, the argument offends our intuition that human motivation is far more complex. Third, it relies on a poor assumption; just because we feel good about helping others, it does not follow that the only reason we help is in order to feel good.
In sum, the speaker oversimplifies human nature. All human motivation cannot be reduced to fear and self-interest. We can also be motivated by altruism, and the pleasure we might take in helping others is not necessarily an indication that our actions are selfish.

myice

81. “No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or ‘get rich’ in business by conforming to conventional practices or ways of thinking.”
“没有人能在遵循传统的实践和思维方式的情况下达到任何真正的持久的成功或在做生意中‘变富’（get rich）。”
1.        A conformist can achieve any real success especially lasting success. Real and lasting success needs innovation and hard work. Just to conform does not make any sense. Through imitating others, one can only become an artisan-painter rather than an artist; without any innovation, a scientific worker can never be acknowledged as a scientist.
2.        Likewise, no one can "get rich" in business merely conform to the existing practices.
3.        However, what I mentioned above does not mean that conventions have no value at all. We should not only know the conventions but also have a deep insight of it, thus getting the information of the domain that indicates what kind of innovation can be made and how make.

1，        Eternal truths will be neither true nor eternal unless they have fresh meaning for every new social situation. (Franklin Roosevelt, American president)
2，        Growth and change are the law of all life. Yesterday's answers  are inadequate for today's problems ----just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow. (Franklin Roosevelt, American president)　
以上是两个很有用的名言！都是Franklin Roosevelt：As President Franklin Roosevelt said, “…”
1，        的确在很多情况下，merely!!遵循旧的方法，很难保持long-lasting success。在很多consumer-driven industries, 顾客们追求innovative and different products。比如，一个it is ridiculous for a abacus manufactory cannot compete with the calculator factory by producing better abaci. 必须创新，才能keep up with the development of the market.
2，        但是在有一些为了financial achievement的一些business principles. 比方说，a, 追求efficiency, 降低cost是永恒的需要——所以要追求新技术，创造不同的产品；b, 比如保持企业的reputation，吸引充足的consumer. ——制造质量好的产品。c, 企业作为社会的一分子，不能单纯地追求利益最大化，也应该carry some responsibility for the whole community。

Thesis sentence: Whether a conformist can achieve lasting success or "get rich" in business depends primarily on the type of business involved. Iconoclasts rise to the top in newer industries and in those where consumer demand is in constant flux. Conformists ultimately prevail, however, in traditional service industries ensconced in systems and regulations.
View1: In consumer-driven industries, innovation, product differentiation, and creativity are crucial to lasting success
Evidence: retail and media sectors. And in technology, companies that fail to break away from last year's paradigm are soon left behind by the competition.

View2: However, in traditional service industries—such as finance, accounting, insurance, legal services, and health care—lasting success and riches come not to nonconformists but rather to those who can deliver services most effectively within the confines of established practices, policies, and regulations.
Evidence: CitiBank gain high reputation for its insistence in comprehensively considerate services

Whether a conformist can achieve lasting success or “get rich” in business depends primarily on the type of business involved. Iconoclasts rise to the top in newer industries and in those where consumer demand is in constant flux. Conformists ultimately prevail, however, in traditional service industries ensconced in systems and regulations.
In consumer-driven industries, innovation, product differentiation, and creativity are crucial to lasting success, in the retail and media sectors, for example, unconventional products and advertising are necessary to catch the attention of consumers and to keep up with the vagaries of consumer tastes. Those who take an iconoclastic approach tend to recognize emerging trends and to rise above their peers. For example, Ted Turner’s departure from the traditional format of the other television networks, and the responsiveness of Amazon.com to burgeoning Internet commerce, propelled these two giants to leadership positions in their industries. And in technology, where there are no conventional practices or ways of thinking to begin with, companies that fail to break away from last year’s paradigm are soon left behind by the competition.
However, in traditional service industries—such as finance, accounting, insurance, legal services, and health care—lasting success and riches come not to nonconformists but rather to those who can deliver services most effectively within the confines of established practices, policies, and regulations. Of course, a clever idea for structuring a deal, or a creative legal maneuver, may play a role in winning smaller battles along the way. But such tactics are those of conformists who are playing by the same ground rules as their peers; winners are just better at the game.
In conclusion, while non-conformists tend to be the wildly successful players in technology-driven and consumer-driven industries, traditionalists are the winners in system-driven industries pervaded by policy, regulation, and bureaucracy.

myice

87. “As technologies and the demand for certain services change, many workers will lose their jobs. The responsibility for those people to adjust to such change should belong to the individual worker, not to government or to business.”
“当某项特定服务的技术和需求改变时，很多工人将失业。适应这种改变的责任属于每个工人而不是政府或企业。”

1，        The government should be responsible for the adjustment of the workers. If all the citizens should be responsible for themselves, there is no use for the government to exist.
2，        The government should also force the business to involve in the project. Because the government itself is incapable of doing so without concrete knowledge of each certain industry. In the long run, doing so will also benefit the business.
3，        Admittedly, the workers should not rely on others to help them to adjust to varying situations. They themselves should adapt their skills and knowledge to the change of the industry and of the society.

job obsolescence  assume some of the responsibility
1，        个人确实应该首先take the chief responsibility of their job obsolescence. 因为对自己的生活负责的人，首先是自己。现在的社会也提供了机会：很多学校提供短期的培训，人们可以参加保持自己keep up with the changes of the technologies and new direction of businesses。第二，只有个人采取主动，才能从根本上解决问题。否则merely rely on the help coming from government or business，人们会变得消极become passive and lose enterprise. 长期以来，对整个社会都有negative impact on the further development of one society.
2，        但是，这不是说企业不应该负责。after all, 是企业作出了创新和改变，并且造成了这些改变——并且造成了job obsolescence。应该为这些负责任。比如，为员工提供opportunity of training for the new technique…，这样也可以节约重新培训totally new employee的cost。
3，        Moreover, 政府也应该采取一些行动。政府作为一个社会的管理者supervisor，有责任保证全社会的well being. 应该帮助个人完成适应adjustment. 可以通过提供一些insurance for unemployment, advice for the occupational choice, necessary information of the new trend of business…

Thesis sentence: While individuals have primary responsibility for learning new skills and finding work, both industry and government have some obligation to provide them the means of doing so
View1: l agree that individuals must assume primary responsibility for adjusting to job obsolescence, especially since our educational system has been preparing us for it
View2: However, industry should bear some of the responsibility as well. It is industry, after all, that determines the particular directions technological progress and subsequent social change will take. Moreover in the long run, doing so will also benefit the business.
View3:         Government should also assume some of the responsibility, since it is partly government money that fuels technological progress in industry. Moreover, government should help because it can help—for example, by ensuring that grants and federally insured student loans are available to those who must retool in order to find new work. Government can also help by observing and recording trends in worker displacement and in job opportunities, and by providing this information to individuals so that they can make prudent decisions about their own further education and job searches.

As technology and changing social needs render more and more jobs obsolete, who is responsible for helping displaced workers adjust? While individuals have primary responsibility for learning new skills and finding work, both industry and government have some obligation to provide them the means of doing so.
l agree that individuals must assume primary responsibility for adjusting to job obsolescence, especially since our educational system has been preparing us for it. For decades, our schools have been counseling young people to expect and prepare for numerous major career changes during their lives. And concerned educators have recognized and responded to this eventuality with a broader base of practical and theoretical coursework that affords students the flexibility to move from one career to another.
However, industry should bear some of the responsibility as well. It is industry, after all, that determines the particular directions technological progress and subsequent social change will take. And since industry is mainly responsible for worker displacement, it has a duty to help displaced workers adjust—through such means as on-site training programs and stipends for further education.
Government should also assume some of the responsibility, since it is partly government money that fuels technological progress in industry. Moreover, government should help because it can help—for example, by ensuring that grants and federally insured student loans are available to those who must retool in order to find new work. Government can also help by observing and recording trends in worker displacement and in job opportunities, and by providing this information to individuals so that they can make prudent decisions about their own further education and job searches.
In conclusion, while individuals should be prepared for future job changes, both government and industry shoulder obligations to provide training programs, funding and information that will help displaced workers successfully retool and find new employment.

myice

100. “If a nation is to ensure its own economic success, it must maintain a highly competitive educational system in which students compete among themselves and against students from other countries.”
“如果一个国家要确保它的经济成功，它必须保持有高度竞争力的教育系统，在其中学生们相互竞争，还和国外的学生进行竞争。”
1，        advantage: make students better prepared for the future competition, etc.
2，        disadvantages:very pressure and stressful
3，        a refined educational system is preferred

View1: education play a very important part in determine a nation’s economic success.
Employees, government regulation strategies, corporate management level, technology—competitive power of products  
View2: as the development of open market and global economy, education is also required to face international challenge.
Although sometimes competition might produce desired results such as efficiency and productivity, I still believe that our national economic success will be better promoted by an educational system that encourages cooperative learning among students, and with students from other countries.
being competitive fixes our focus externally, on marking and beating the progress of others with whom we compete. Such external motivation can direct our attention away from creative solutions to our problems, and away from important human values like cooperation and fair play. Indeed, a highly competitive environment can foster cheating and ruthless back-stabbing within an organization, and ill-will and mistrust among nations. In the extreme case, competition between nations becomes war.

I don’t think it is a good idea to design an educational system that focuses mainly on competition. For although a little competition might produce desired results, in the long run too much competition will be destructive. Instead, I believe that our national economic success will be better promoted by an educational system that encourages cooperative learning among students, and with students from other countries.
Granted, competitiveness is an important aspect of human nature. And, properly directed, it can motivate us to reach higher and produce more, not to mention meet deadlines. But being competitive fixes our focus externally, on marking and beating the progress of others with whom we compete. Such external motivation can direct our attention away from creative solutions to our problems, and away from important human values like cooperation and fair play. Indeed, a highly competitive environment can foster cheating and ruthless back-stabbing within an organization, and ill-will and mistrust among nations. In the extreme case, competition between nations becomes war.
On the other hand, an environment of cooperation encourages us to discover our common goals and the best ways to achieve them. At the national and international levels, our main interests are in economic wellbeing and peace. In fact, economic success means little without the security of peace. Thus, global peace becomes a powerful incentive for developing educational models of cooperative learning, and implementing exchange programs and shared research projects among universities from different countries.
Moreover, research suggests that cooperative settings foster greater creativity and productivity than competitive ones. This has been shown to be the case both in institutions of higher learning and in business organizations. If true, it seems reasonable to argue that national economic success would be similarly tied to cooperative rather than competitive effort.
In conclusion, competition can provide an effective stimulus to achievement and reward. Even so, I believe it would be unwise to make competition the centerpiece of our educational system. We stand to reap greater benefits, including economic ones, by encouraging cooperative learning.

myice

106. “All archeological treasures should remain in the country in which they were originally discovered. These works should not be exported, even if museums in other parts of the world are better able to preserve and display them.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
“所有考古文物应该保存在他们原本被发现的那个国家里。这些物品不应该被出口，哪怕世界其他地区的博物馆可以更好的保护和展示他们也不行。”
1，        对该国的尊重也可以让人更好的理解这些文物因为有相应的文化背景
2，        如果没有能力保护的时候应该另想办法
3，        要有完善的体系支撑上述思想，最终目的是更好的保护文物让全人类受益

View1: generally speaking, original countries is best place to preserve and display their antique treasures.
Evidence: cultural recognition, historical integrity , show respect to the original counties. Examples: It’s a great shame and pity for all Chinese to see our antique treasures, which originally belonged to the palace of Qing dynasty and be robbed during the First World War, displaying in the Great British museum.
View2: However, under some circumstance, it could be better to transport the antiques to other places for better preservation.
Evidence: war, the authority ignore the value of certain antiques or lack the ability to properly preserve it: skills,
But when condition permitting, the treasures should be returned to their mother country.  

Whether archaeological treasures should remain in the countries where they are found is a complex and controversial issue. I sympathize with the view that antiquities should remain in the country of their discovery. But given real-word considerations, it is sometimes best to place archaeological treasures wherever they will be safe and well-preserved.
Recent antiquities laws throughout the world reflect my point of view that the ancient treasures of a place should remain there. It seems outrageous that Greeks or Egyptians must visit the British Museum to see the best remnants of their distant past; and this link is grounds for a vague but justified claim to ownership.
However, cultural ownership is only one consideration. Historically, ancient treasures have been most interesting to two groups: scholars and robbers. Admittedly, the two are sometimes indistinguishable, as when Schliemann stole out of Turkey with an immense trove of what he mistakenly thought was King Priam’s treasure. Schliemann eventually placed his collection in the relatively safe hands of national museums, where it took the vicissitudes of war to destroy part of it. But none of Schliemann’s find would be available to the Turkish people or the world if plunderers had got there first.
Often, the plunderers do get there first. When Carter found the tomb of Tutankhamen, tomb-robbers, largely Egyptian, had carried off the treasures from bombs of other pharaohs. The fact that the world, including the Egyptians, have the exhaustively cataloged and well-preserved wonders of the Tutanhkamen find is owing to Carter and his associates. This, then, becomes the only argument for exporting ancient treasures to safer locations: it is a lesser evil than not having the treasures at all.
In sum, it is usually best to leave archaeological treasures within the country of their discovery. Even so, it is sometimes necessary to relocate them. This, however, leaves open two important and related issues: which specific situations justify relocation; and, whether there is ever an obligation to restore collections to the country where they were found.

myice

107. “The most effective way for managers to assign work is to divide complex tasks into their simpler component parts. This way, each worker completes a small portion of the task but contributes to the whole.”
“经理指派工作的最有效的方法是把负责的工作分成比较简单的组成部分。这样的话，每个工人完成工作的一小部分但对整体都有贡献。”
1，        每个员工都目标明确因此更有效率
2，        缺乏全局观念也可能出现协调上的困难
3，        好的leader好的分配是前提和保证

case by case.
1，        有些庞大的工程big and complex project，需要人们把工作细分，a, 单独的人没有力量完成，会take much more time，团队之间合作更有利于完成整个任务。b, 每个人可以做自己最擅长的工作。each member can choose the part that she or he are good at. 这样就整体上eliminate the total amount of time to complete the whole task.
2，        但很多工作不适合仅仅literally divide拆分。在要求连贯的coherent reasoning. 各个部分之间close related. 所以，第一，需要整个小组的人进行有效的communication，第二，需要对团队整个collective goal的adequate comprehension，第三，保证这两条的必要条件prerequisite to meet the two needs is 团队合理的人数，不能过多，也不能过少。第四，要有一个team leader，负责指挥和协调工作provide effective guide and lead the team to adhere to the collective goal (common purpose).
phrases: fragment work into small units; Distinct divisions of labor; stifle creativity; undermine self-motivation and pride in one’s work; collaboration=cooperation;
Of course, unproductive employees can be replaced. But replacement is costly; and high employee turnover is bad for organizational morale.-----用在对员工缺乏效率时的补充，很有用！！

View1: work division and assignment is an efficient way to get things done. However, merely dividing work among workers can not assure the final accomplishment of the task.
Evidence:   fragmenting work into small units leads to employee alienation, Those responsible for only a detailed component of a project can easily lose sight of larger organizational goals and their own importance in achieving them. then become less committed to their work, and less productive. In addition, the lack of overall conception may lead to adjusting difficulties. Moreover, Compartmentalizing tasks can stifle cooperation.   
View2: However, team work is not to simply add one component to another, but to organically conform all components together.

The stated opinion is that the most effective way for managers to assign work is to divide complex tasks into their simpler component parts. This strategy is probably cost-effective in many situations. However, I think that it works against important organizational values over time.
Distinct divisions of labor are efficient for a number of reasons. First of all, workers with few highly specific skills are usually cheaper to hire than those with broader education and experience. Secondly, it is less expensive to train employees in narrow areas. Finally, strict compartmentalization of tasks makes it easier for managers to control employees, and, therefore, to control and increase productivity. But however profitable this strategy might be in the short run, it can ultimately work against the organization.
To begin with, fragmenting work into small units leads to employee alienation. Those responsible for only a detailed component of a project can easily lose sight of larger organizational goals and their own importance in achieving them. Research indicates that they then become less committed to their work, and less productive. Of course, unproductive employees can be replaced. But replacement is costly; and high employee turnover is bad for organizational morale.
In addition, compartmentalizing tasks can stifle creativity, as well as undermine self-motivation and pride in one’s work. With little collaboration or even communication between discrete work units, larger creative insights are lost. And, cooperative efforts usually foster a series of common purpose and pride in accomplishment.
Of course, diversifying jobs and increasing worker participation in larger projects could lead to lower productivity. But the experience of large manufacturing corporations like General Motors shows just the opposite. When GM facilities implemented these and other strategies to improve work-place quality, they reported that productivity increased.
In conclusion, I believe that organizing work into discrete tasks will compromise important organizational values like creativity, self-motivation, commitment and pride in accomplishment. So, although there are times when small divisions of labor will be necessary, generally work should be diversified, and workers should have greater involvement in projects overall.