A few years ago, James Green began to dread work. He dragged himself out of bed every morning and plodded through New York’s Pen

admin2015-02-09  37

问题     A few years ago, James Green began to dread work. He dragged himself out of bed every morning and plodded through New York’s Penn Station, trying to manage a "game face" for his office at Giant Realm, an online advertising network. But Mr. Green wasn’t just any manager at the company; he was the CEO. And he was burned out on the job.
    Companies and managers are equipped to handle job fatigue among employees, but what happens when burnout—described as persistent fatigue, detachment or resentment triggered by excessive work and stress—strikes the top boss?
    More companies might soon find out. An uncertain economy, shareholder discontent and mounting expectations to deliver results have made the lives of chief executives more stressful, management experts say. And while few executives publicly acknowledge burnout, researchers studying the issue say it is more common than previously thought. In one study conducted by Harvard Medical School faculty, 96% of senior leaders reported feeling burned out to some degree, with one-third describing their burnout as extreme.
    Burned-out bosses complain of lost focus and mental clarity, and feelings that they’re always behind. Company performance can suffer as they struggle to make decisions or treat staff fairly, according to management and medical experts. Yet HR departments usually assume, wrongly, that CEOs and other senior executives "have it together."
    For Mr. Green, a turnaround specialist who spent a decade reviving struggling firms and preparing them for sale, firing hundreds of workers and answering investor demands left him feeling hollow. But he kept that to himself. "If you want to be a real leader, you can’t go around being emotionally unstable," he says. Eventually, the 51-year-old executive said he felt he "just had to check out."
    Taking time off to travel or sail is a common fantasy among executives, but leaves aren’t a sure fix for burnout, says Gabriela Cord, a psychiatrist and author of "Leading Under Pressure." Dr. Cora, who has treated some executive patients, generally recommends sleep, exercise and sometimes prescription medication, such as antidepressants.
    Preventing burnout is one focus of a recently launched Harvard Business School workshop for executives at a career crossroads. John Davis, an HBS management professor and faculty chair of the Crossroads Program, says many bosses lack "good thermostats" for gauging their levels of fatigue. What’s more, the executives say they simply can’t afford to step off the "treadmill" to solve the problem, he adds. But just as Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. says, "The energy comes from somewhere—you draw down from a bank, and at some point you have to put it back in."
We learn from the first 2 paragraphs that

选项 A、economic recession has made work dreadful for most CEOs.
B、the burnout scenario is not uncommon among senior leaders.
C、managers today are unable to deal with workers’ job fatigue.
D、the lives of CEOs are more stressful than those of employees.

答案B

解析 文章第一段主要通过叙事的方式陈述James Green的工作倦怠问题,第二段由Green的个人问题发问“如果公司高层感到工作倦怠,事情会怎么样?”从中可以猜测,倦怠现象不只是Green的个人问题,而是群体性问题。此外,考生还可以从文章第三段中两个数据96%和one-third得到证实,所以B项正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/ksMRFFFM
0

最新回复(0)