单选题 Much has been written about the potential for management to become isolated from customers and employees. This phenomenon often occurs not just within top management, but also within middle management.
I've seen this isolation phenomenon in many companies. The symptoms are quite apparent: Managers spend a great deal of time talking to themselves and studying operating numbers. They spend precious little time with customers or with employees, trying to understand the system of the business. And when they do spend time with them, they often do not probe deeply into needs, concerns, and opportunities. This phenomenon, often referred to as being "internally focused", can be tremendously insidious (隐伏陷害的).
Although the need for understanding and spending time with customers has been well documented, I find few managers spending time in the field. The benefits of doing so are clear. A visit with your counterparts at customers' distribution centers, for example, not only builds relation ships that can prove useful when problems arise, but also uncovers numerous opportunities to enhance(增进,提高) your performance and deepen your company's linkage with those customers.
There are many ways to connect with and understand employee perspectives(观点,看法). Some companies have found formal sessions in which senior managers solicit (恳求,请求) ideas from employees to be very useful. These can be run either as focus groups or as structured discussions.
Managers also should exploit every opportunity to gather organizational knowledge from employees. Some successful managers collect employees' opinions by what often is referred to as "managing by walking around" or the "10-minute cup of coffee". They, may, for example, go to employees' offices and solicit their opinions. Or at lunch or when they take a cup of coffee, they "mix with the troops" and solicit their input.
Rather than talk about the latest game, you can solicit employees' ideas by asking questions like: What are you working on? How's it going? What's good about our organization? What could be better? How could we better serve our customers or improve our processes? What do you think we should be doing differently?
You'll be surprised at how valuable a "10-minute cup of coffee" together with a brief conversation with an employee can be. It will make you a more effective manager.

单选题 According to the passage, the phrase "tremendously insidious" (Par
【正确答案】
【答案解析】这是一篇议论文,探讨管理人员与雇员及顾客之间产生距离的原因、危害和解决办法。
这是一道语篇理解题,考查第二段中tremendously insidious描述的对象。根据文章第一、二段,phenomenon指“与顾客和雇员相隔绝”、“几乎不花时间与顾客和雇员相接触”,故只有D项与文章内容和题目要求相符。
单选题 The following are the ways to connect with and understand employees' ideas EXCEPT______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】这是一道正误判断题,考查四、五、六段中的内容——与雇员交往和听取他们意见的方法。A,B,D三项的开会方式、四处走动的方式和询问员工所关心问题的方式均在文中有所体现,只有C项的“与员工一起工作”未提及。
单选题 The expression "10-minute cup of coffee" most probably means that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】这是一道词义分析题,考查第五段中10-minute cup of coffee的含义。由第五段可知,管理人员可以在午餐或者喝咖啡的时间里“与群众打成一片”,从而听取和询问他们的观点和意思。故只有B项的“停下来与员工们交谈一会儿以征集意见”符合题目要求。
单选题 In this passage, the author's attitude towards "managing by walking around" is ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】这是一道作者态度分析题,要求我们判断作者对“走动管理”这一方法所持的态度。四项词义分别为approving赞成的;questioning疑问的;objective有异议的; critical批判的。通过阅读第五段和体会整篇文章的语言基调,我们不难发现作者对这种“走动管理”的方法是肯定和赞成的。