myice

 

 19  (黄金64)   

The following appeared in a memorandum from the director of human resources to the executive officers of Company X:

“Last year, we surveyed our employees on improvements needed at Company X by having them rank, in order of importance, the issues presented in a list of possible improvements. Improved communications between employees and management was consistently ranked as the issue of highest importance by the employees who responded to the survey. As you know, we have since instituted regular communications sessions conducted by high-level management, which the employees can attend on a voluntary basis. Therefore, it is likely that most employees at Company X now feel that the improvement most needed at the company has been made.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

人力资源经理给X公司的经营主管的备忘录：
去年，我们向员工调查他们认为X公司应该进行的改进，让他们把改进按重要性排列。结果列印为一张可能的改进的表格。根据调查中员工的反应，“加强员工和管理层的沟通”最具重要性，稳居调查表之首。如你所知，那以后我们建立了由高层管理人员组织，雇员可以自愿参加的常规交流会。因此，看来X的多数员工认为最应该进行的改进已经完成了。

1.         The result of a last year's survey does not necessarily represent the improvement most needed of this year.

2.         How was the survey held has not been illustrated by the author, thus making the conclusion groundless.

3.         Whether the implement of the mentioned resolution is right or wrong is still unkonwn, it is still too early to say the improvement has been made.

 

1，    调查的可信性：是否anonymous，如果要named，很可能并不是他们最想要的改进。

改进方法是否充分？是否交流会有很好交流，并且采纳accept意见

 

20

买奢侈品的零售商为了提高profits决定减少他的员工以及展示品和试用装之类的东西以缩减成本，还要和有相同经营对象的咖啡店合作。

21(2次)

The following appeared in an article in the health section of a newspaper.

“There is a common misconception that university hospitals are better than community or private hospitals. This notion is unfounded, however: the university hospitals in our region employ 15 percent fewer doctors, have a 20 percent lower success rate in treating patients, make far less overall profit, and pay their medical staff considerably less than do private hospitals. Furthermore, many doctors at university hospitals typically divide their time among teaching, conducting research, and treating patients. From this it seems clear that the quality of care at university hospitals is lower than that at other kinds of hospitals.”

报纸的健康板块上的文章：
有一种普遍的错误观念认为大学医院比社区或私人医院更好。这个想法是无根据的，我们地区的大学医院较之私人医院，少雇15%的医生，对患者的治愈率要低20%，总体利润要小得多，给一户员工的待遇比私人医院低很多。而且，很多大学医院的医生将他们的时间分为教学，直到研究和看病几部分。从此可明显看出大学医院的服务质量比其他医院低。

1，       从一个医院的情况就推广到整个太草率

2，       治愈率低可能是因为接受的患者得的病都比较罕见等原因造成的

3，       工资低，总体利润低，时间分配给教学都不能一定说明质量差。可能其他福利好，接受的病人少，教学研究有助于进步

 

1.     首先，医生的人数与质量之间没有必然的因果原因。profit跟质量也无关系。很可能treating price is significantly lower。

2.     成功率不能说明问题。缺乏其他的证据，忽略了他因：比如因为质量高，所以很多serious illness的，而送往其他医院的一般都是common cases.

时间不能代表问题。因为那些医生所做的研究很可能帮助他们进行治疗。

myice

 

22

“The Easy Credit Company would gain an advantage over competing credit card services if we were to donate a portion of the proceeds from the use of our cards to a well-known environmental organization in exchange for the use of its symbol or logo on our card. Since a recent poll shows that a large percentage of the public is concerned about environmental issues, this policy would attract new customers, increase use among existing customers, and enable us to charge interest rates that are higher than the lowest ones available.”

 

23（3次）

AA：是說一間軟體設計公司連續三年(五年?)沒賺錢，所以該公司準備要學一些自動化的產業一樣裁減正職員工，改用臨時工人來降低人事成本，比如薪資紅利等等，文章最後說該公司打算把25%的員工改成臨時工。

Jet Software design company 应该向auto industry学习，通过减少full-time员工的人数转来雇佣更多part-time员工的方式来减少人工成本，然后引用汽车公司成功的前例，这些公司通过这种方法已经大大减少了成本，所以这个computer company应该采用这种方法，减少25%的full-time员工，他们的labor cost会大大降低随之利润会大幅上升。.

24
 “The Largo Piano Company has long been known for producing carefully handcrafted, expensive pianos used by leading concert pianists. During the past few years, however, our revenues have declined; meanwhile, the Allegro Musical Instrument Company introduced a line of inexpensive digital pianos and then saw its revenues increase. In order to increase Largo’s sales and in fact outsell Allegro, we should introduce a line of digital pianos in a variety of price ranges. Our digital pianos would be likely to find instant acceptance with customers, since they would be associated with the prestigious Largo name.”

myice

 

28

The following appeared as part of an article in the business section of a local newspaper:
“The owners of the Cumquat Café evidently made a good business decision in moving to a new location, as can be
seen from the fact that the Café will soon celebrate its second anniversary there. Moreover, it appears that businesses
are not likely to succeed at the old location: since the Café’s move, three different businesses—a tanning salon, an
antique emporium, and a pet-grooming shop—have occupied its former spot.”

29

The following appeared in a memorandum from the CEO of a consumer electronics manufacturing firm to the head of the company's human resources department, who is responsible for hiring new employees:

“Eight years ago, our firm’s profits were increasing with each new employee we added. We discovered that each employee had the skills and motivation to generate more revenue for the firm than his or her salary cost us. However, for the past two years, our profit margin has been falling, even though we have continued to add employees. Thus, our newer employees are not generating enough revenue to justify their salaries. We must not be hiring new employees with the same level of skills and motivation as those we used to attract. Clearly, then, failures in the human resources department account for our falling profits.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

说一个公司的ceo写给hrd的信，过去八年总是新招员工，招了新员工，员工的产出总是高于员工的工资，而目前这2年新招了员工，但公司的margin profit在falling，所以说公司利润下滑是hr的问题。

myice

 

26

一个定位于高端客户的grocery store，想通过消减成本提高利润。所以建议每个store裁掉10个雇员，并不再设昂贵的展示品和免费的小样。另外，某个survey表明，该store和某个Cafe shop定位的客户群一样，所以建议和这家店建立partnership，即在商店中设一个coffee counter。

可以说的点有很多

27

 

The following appeared in a letter from a part-owner of a small retail clothing chain to her business partner:

“Commercial real estate prices have been rising steadily in the Sandida Heights neighborhood for several years, while the prices in the adjacent neighborhood of Palm Grove have remained the same. It seems obvious, then, that a retail space in Sandida Heights must now be much more expensive than a similar space in Palm Grove, which was not the case several years ago. So, it appears that retail spaces in Sandida Heights are now overpriced relative to those in Palm Grove. Therefore, it would be in our financial interest to purchase a retail space in Palm Grove rather than in Sandida Heights.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

myice

 

30

The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper.

“In the first four years that Montoya has served as mayor of the city of San Perdito, the population has decreased and the unemployment rate has increased. Two businesses have closed for each new business that has opened. Under Varro, who served as mayor for four years before Montoya, the unemployment rate decreased and the population increased. Clearly, the residents of San Perdito would be best served if they voted Montoya out of office and reelected Varro.”

地方性报纸的编者按：
在Montoya当San Perdito市长的头4年里，人口下降而失业率上升。每当一个新企业开业，就有两个旧的关门。而在Montoya之前Uarro当市长的4年里，失业率下降人口增长。很明显，San Perdito的居民重新选举Varro而非Montoya会得到更好的服务。

1.        It is fallacious reasoning unless other possible casual explanations have been considered and ruled out. recession depression downturn低迷时期 is part of a picture of ... mayor

2.        set the stage for Yet another possibility is that Varro enjoyed a period of economic stability and Varro's own administration set the stage for the unemployment and the decline in population .

3.        availability emotionally intentionally specific specifically anger angry citizen thereby bypass

4.        cast one's vote for sb. eliminate abolish casual emotional appeal

 

1，    缺乏standard ratio of the closed business to new business in the whole country, 不能说两个倒闭一个开就是坏事，很可能淘汰eliminate through selection or contest了out of date的企业，建立了更多具有competitive advantages 的企业。也是好事。

未排除他因造成了不同。很可能是因为在P在任期间，全国的经济不景气，造成了事业更增加。而不是两个市长的不同。假定过去和现在一样，也是个错误！recession depression downturn低迷时期

31

The following appeared as part of a business plan created by the management of the Take Heart Fitness Center.

“After opening the new swimming pool early last summer, Take Heart saw a 12 percent increase in the use of the center by members. Therefore, in order to increase the number of our members and thus our revenues, which depend on membership fees, we should continue to add new recreational facilities in subsequent years: for example, a multipurpose game room, a tennis court, and a miniature golf course. Being the only center in the area offering this range of activities would give us a competitive advantage in the health and recreation market.”

Take Heart健身中心的管理者起草的商业计划：
去年夏天开了新的游泳池以后，TH发现会员对中心的使用率增加了12％。因此，为了增加我们的会员数量和决定于会员费的收入，我们应该在以后几年中继续增加新的娱乐设施：比如，一个多功能游戏室，一个网球场，一个迷你高尔夫球场。作为本地唯一一家提供各种活动的健身中心，我们将在健身和娱乐市场建立竞争优势。

1.    忽略他因。

2.    错误类比。

3.    收入和支出

 

1.    causal oversimplification

2.    a benefit-cost analysis should be given

3.    Whether the proposed recreational facilities are popular among the people of this area is unknown.

32

“Over the past decade, the price per pound of citrus fruit has increased substantially. Eleven years ago, Megamart charged 5 cents apiece for lemons, but today it commonly charges over 30 cents apiece. In only one of these last eleven years was the weather unfavorable for growing citrus crops. Evidently, then, citrus growers have been responsible for the excessive increase in the price of citrus fruit, and strict pricing regulations are needed to prevent them from continuing to inflate prices.”

myice

 

33

说S国贸易赤字。所以S准备提高sugar的sales，sugar是该国出口的主要部分。S打算降低sugar价钱，这样就能更好地与其他sugar出口国竞争。通过降低sugar价钱，sales aboad将提高，该国的贸易赤字将缓解

34

“Employers should have no right to obtain information about their employees’ health or other aspects of their personal lives without the employees’ permission.”

“没有雇员的同意时，雇主应该没有权力去了解他的雇员的健康状况和其他的私人生活方面的信息。”

1， 员工的私人生活状况，很可能影响工作效率。productivity and turnover，所以雇主有理由关心。比如，健康问题，良好的健康状况显然是保障正常稳定生产的基础，雇主付出相同的钱，expect to get certain productivity. 而员工隐瞒健康状况，造成的低效率高成本，会使公司suffer。在雇佣时拥有对称的信息，很重要。

2， 同时，员工的私人状况，如果会危害到其他员工，那么应该有权得这知。比如，健康状况，犯罪的历史等等重大事件。健康，会infect other employee/ 暴力 history of crimes violence 很可能会对其他的员工造成伤害。这些都是必须要知道的。

3，  但有一些其他的私人生活，与工作效率无关，而且不是threat to others。employer 没有权力获取。比如，婚姻状况marital status, religion, race…这些都应该是员工自愿提供的with permission，而不能强制获得force。

View1: as human resources is one of the most important fortunes to a company, companies should know the health conditions of their employees. Decide whether a worker is competent for a job, decide cost on medical cares, ensure productivity

View2: other aspects of employees’ personal life, if not directly related to work performance, are not need to expose to employers.

35

The following appeared as part of an article in a magazine devoted to regional life.

“Corporations should look to the city of Helios when seeking new business opportunities or a new location. Even in the recent recession, Helios’s unemployment rate was lower than the regional average. It is the industrial center of the region, and historically it has provided more than its share of the region’s manufacturing jobs. In addition, Helios is attempting to expand its economic base by attracting companies that focus on research and development of innovative technologies.”

一份面向地方生活的杂志上的一篇文章：

企业在寻找新的商机或位置时应该去Helios城。甚至在最近的衰退中，Helios的失业率也比地区平均水平低，它是地区的工业中心，历史上它提供的比它在地区制造业工作中分享的份额中更多。而且，Helios正试图通过吸引研究和发展革新技术的公司来扩张它的经济基础。

 

1.        作者认为应该到该地区建厂理由是这里的失业率很高。但是却没有给出因果关系。从常理来看这是没有道理的因为失业率高的地方可能更难雇佣到雇员从而使成本增加。

2.        作者认为该地区会鼓励研发，所以应该到该地区投资。但事实上就象作者说的那样该地区是制造业中心怎么可能有很多对技术和科研很熟练的人员。

 

1，         因为H地区industrial and manufacturing比较attractive，所以那里的工人很可能只适合做这类的，如果缺乏能够做innovative technologies and research的工人labor pool，那么很可能导致失败。

2，         H的低失业率更可能成为坏处。因为比如有less available work force。企业必须提高wage才能吸引他们。提高了COST。

错误的假设过去的成功能够代表未来。比方说已经饱和的资源、过分的竞争、以及可能出现的错误政策，都可能导致H地区的经济不再发达。

myice

 

36

说2年前George开了在sallon小镇上开了一个餐厅，sales很高，他准备在nearby towns再开３个，并且派３个原来的店里的员工去新店做ｍａｎａｇｅｒ．结论是他们他的ｐｏｒｆｉｔ会比现在的多三倍

37

Blastcom公司宣称，由于世界采矿技术的需求降低，公司将从新的策略中收益，公司的科学家们应该从现在的采矿技术的研究转换到可再生能源的技术研究。过去的几年中，已经有一些公司在太阳能，风能等可再生能源的市场分享中获得了成功。通过转换到可再生能源的研究，Blastcom将从中获利，并且防止股价在未来下跌。