"黑即是白"新潮流,"似是而非"管理学新论

The third idea is another new trend being pushed in an article by consultant Jordan Cohen on the HBR website. He argues that telling workers what to do – another essential principle underpinning organisational life – is a bad idea and we shouldn't do it. He proceeds to “prove” this with a cute anecdote and then with neuroscience: when people are told what to do, he says, “the brain's emotional response center can actually cause a decrease in cognitive functioning”.
第三个“黑即是白”观点，见于咨询顾问乔丹??科恩(Jordan Cohen)在《哈佛商业评论》网站上发表的一篇文章。该文章鼓吹的是另一股新潮流。科恩认为，给员工下指令（支撑组织运作的另一个重要原则）是不好的，我们不应该这样做。接着，他先用一则有趣的轶事来“证明”这一点，然后又搬出了神经科学。他说，当人们遵循指令行事的时候，“大脑情绪反射中枢事实上会促使人的认知机能下降”。

I'm always suspicious of non-neuroscientist writers who use the science as a way of bullying me into submission. All they are saying is: here is something I don't understand and neither do you, but I'm ordering you to accept it because a neuroscientist told me.
我对非神经科学家使用神经科学为论据始终表示怀疑，在我看来，这不过是一种虚张声势。他们其实只不过是在说：这里有一个我不懂、你也不懂的理论，但我命令你接受这个理论，因为有一位神经科学家是这样告诉我的。

Thanks, but I'd rather stick with what I have observed to be the case after decades of paying attention: that most employees need instruction, although what they don't need is micromanaging. I also can't help thinking that if Mr Cohen found himself in hospital having an operation on one of the “response centers” in his brain, he might not like it if the hospital staff were told: cut into this man's brain in whatever way feels right for you.
多谢了，但我还是宁愿坚守我经过多年观察得出的结论：大多数员工需要指令，不过他们确实不需要事无巨细的指导。我还忍不住设想，假如科恩发现自己躺在医院里，他大脑的某个“反射中枢”正在接受手术，而医院员工已得到指示，自己觉得怎么合适就怎么切开他的大脑，那么，科恩大概不会乐意。

The final example is described in an article being plugged on LinkedIn, called: “How to Retain Talent? Teach Them to Leave, Says KBS+.” It tells how KBS+, a New York advertising agency, is teaching staff how to start their own businesses and – guess what? – some are taking the opportunity and quitting to do just that. But never mind: KBS+ insists this is a great way of keeping staff motivated. It sounds a pretty far-fetched way of keeping people to me. Making their jobs more interesting and saying the odd “thank you” might be a better – and cheaper – way of doing it.
最后一个例子是LinkedIn上疯传的一篇文章。这篇文章名为：“KBS+说：留住人才的方法就是教他们自立门户”。这篇文章讲述纽约广告代理公司KBS+如何教员工创业。猜猜怎么着？有些员工利用这个机会真的辞职创业去了。但没关系：KBS+坚持认为，这是保持员工积极性的绝佳办法。在我看来，这种留住员工的方法实在莫名其妙。让员工的工作变得更有趣，和小小的一句“多谢”，可能是留住员工更好、也更便宜的方法。

So white isn't the new black, after all. Black is black, white is white, and any company that has a mathematical symbol as part of its name is sending a clear sign to the world that it dispensed with logic a long time ago.
所以，说到底，黑仍然没有变成白。黑就是黑，白就是白，而任何在名称中加入数学符号的企业，都在向世人发出一个明确的信号：自己早已摒弃了逻辑。