陳豪在北京的ABC美國公司工作。他有事去找美國同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
A:Hi Chen Hao, how are you?
C:我有個問題,要請教你。你有時間嗎?
A:Sure. I don't have anything on my calendar for another hour. What's the matter?
C:我們正在做一個新項目,宣傳最新的客戶服務(wù)計劃。
A:That sounds like a good idea. We can always improve customer service. Why is that a problem?
C:我們成立了一個小組,包括三男三女,以前互不相識,結(jié)果溝通上出現(xiàn)了問題,影響了項目進度。
A:What kind of communication issues?
C:事先聲明,我可沒有大男子主義,但我覺得那三個女的浪費了很多時間。
A:How?
C:她們喜歡談私事。好不容易談到主題了,她們又沒完沒了,直到大家都對方案滿意了才肯罷休。
A:It's good to be sure that you are all in accord.
C:可凡事都要有節(jié)制啊。有幾次我為了推動進度,打斷了她們,結(jié)果她們特不高興。
A:I understand what is happening. You have a gender issue.
C:什么?性別問題?
A:This is going to take a bit more time to explain. Can we continue our conversation over lunch?
******
Amy和陳豪午飯時繼續(xù)上午的話題。
C:我想了一上午,怎么也想不通早上我們說的事怎么會跟性別有關(guān)。
A:Remember that you started off by telling me that there were some problems in the group and you immediately zeroed in on the women.
C:沒錯,進度慢,就是那幾個女同事的責(zé)任。
A:Men and women have different approaches to communication that both need to understand.
C:男性和女性交流的方式,可能是不一樣。我們幾個男的都覺得可以行動了,但那幾個女的老覺得太倉促。
A:As with all conflict, you need to take time to address this. You should talk about what is happening, attempt to understand each other and resolve the issue in a cooperative manner.
C:加深相互理解?那具體該怎么做呢?
A:Tell the women you appreciate their opinions and expertise. Ask them to focus more on business conversation and less on personal. Next consider how you men are behaving.
C:難道說我們這些男的也有做錯的地方嗎?
A:You admitted that you interrupted in an effort to move things along. I bet that you are also trying to dominate and give the women as little chance as possible to speak up.
C:我承認,我們確實有控制會議之嫌。一般情況下,聽完她們的意見,我們就不再去看她們,生怕她們沒完沒了地說下去。
A:To avoid additional strife and accommodate each other, you need to stop interrupting and trying to dominate.
C:我知道了,男性希望馬上找到解決問題的辦法,而女性喜歡先花時間,建立關(guān)系,因此雙方就會出現(xiàn)矛盾。