Business
商业
Bartleby -- Purpose and the employee
巴托比专栏——目标与员工
Some people want to change the world. But not everyone.
有些人想要改变世界,但不是每个人都这么想。
What is the meaning of mayonnaise?
蛋黄酱存在的意义是什么?
For Unilever, a consumer-goods giant whose products are all meant to stand for something, the purpose of its Hellmann's brand is to reduce food waste by making leftovers tasty.
对于消费品巨头联合利华来说,它的所有产品都代表着某种东西,其好乐门品牌的目标就是,通过让剩菜变得好吃来减少食物浪费。
For Terry Smith, a fund manager fed up with Unilever's dipping share price, this is crazy.
特里·史密斯觉得这简直是疯了。这位基金经理受够了联合利华不断下跌的股价。
"The Hellmann's brand has existed since 1913," he wrote earlier this month.
“好乐门这一品牌自1913年就已存在,”他在本月早些时候写道。
"So we would guess that by now consumers have figured out its purpose (spoiler alert -- salads and sandwiches)."
“所以我们猜,消费者现在已经弄清楚了它的用途(剧透警告——沙拉和三明治)。”
Mr Smith's concern is the financial performance of Unilever (in the face of investor disquiet, the firm is now planning management cuts and an overhaul of its operating model).
史密斯先生担心的是联合利华的财务表现(面对投资者的不安,该公司正计划削减管理人员并彻底改革其运营模式)。
But his underlying point, that doing the obvious job well can be purpose enough, is one that has much wider application.
但他的基本观点的适用范围要广泛得多,即把一件平平无奇的工作做好就已经足够有意义了。
For it is true of colleagues as well as condiments.
因为这个道理不仅适用于调味品,也适用于工作中的同伴。
The very idea of a purposeful employee conjures up a specific type of person.
一提到有目标的员工,人们就会联想到一种特定类型的人。
They crave a meaningful job that changes society for the better.
他们渴望一份能让社会变得更好的有意义的工作。
When asked about their personal passion projects, they don't say "huh?" or "playing Wordle".
当他们被问及有什么个人很热衷的事情时,他们不会说“这是什么?”或“玩字谜”。
They are concerned about their legacy and almost certainly have a weird diet.
他们关注自己的遗产,几乎肯定还有一个奇怪的饮食习惯。
Yet this is not the only way to think about purpose-driven employees.
然而,目的驱动型员工并不是只有这一种。
New research from Bain, a consultancy, into the attitudes of 20,000 workers across ten countries confirms that people are motivated by different things.
贝恩咨询公司对来自10个国家的2万名员工的态度进行的一项新研究证实,人们的动机是不同的。
Bain identifies six different archetypes, far too few to reflect the complexity of individuals but a lot better than a single lump of employees.
贝恩公司确定了六种不同的典型,虽然样本数太少,无法反映出个体的复杂性,但还是比单一的员工群体要好得多。
"Pioneers" are the people on a mission to change the world; "artisans" are interested in mastering a specific skill; "operators" derive a sense of meaning from life outside work; "strivers" are more focused on pay and status; "givers" want to do work that directly improves the lives of others; and "explorers" seek out new experiences.
“先驱者”是那些以改变世界为使命的人;“工匠”对掌握一种特定的技能感兴趣;“经营者”从工作之外的生活中获得意义;“奋斗者”更关注薪水和职位;“给予者”想要从事能直接改善他人生活的工作;而“探险者”则寻求新的体验。
These archetypes are unevenly distributed across different industries and roles.
这些典型在不同的行业和角色中分布不均。
Pioneers in particular are more likely to cluster in management roles.
尤其是先驱者更有可能在管理岗位上扎堆。
The Bain survey finds that 25% of American executives match this archetype, but only 9% of the overall us sample does so.
贝恩公司的调查发现,25%的美国高管符合这一典型,而整个美国样本中只有9%的人符合这一典型。
Another survey of American workers carried out by McKinsey, a consulting firm, in 2020 found that executives were far likelier than other respondents to say that their purpose was fulfilled by their job.
咨询公司麦肯锡在2020年对美国员工进行的另一项调查发现,高管们比其他受访者更有可能表示,他们通过工作实现了自己的目标。
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