Unit 1 

Text A     What Is a Decision ?

一. 课文简介：

决策的目的是制定和实现组织目标。作决策的原因是有问题存在、目标和目的不正确、或者有某种东西防碍目标或目的的实现。作决策的过程对管理人员来说至关重要。决策者必须具备从多个可供选择的可能性中确定最佳选择的手段。而多种目标的顺序和重要性也部分地基于决策者的价值观。今天所作的决策可能会对将来产生深远的影响。因此，有经验的管理者着眼于当前决策的将来效果。

段落大意：课文分成三部分

第一、二段：The definition of decision

第三、四段：The general process of making a decision

第五至九段：Various factors influencing decision making at the managerial Level

二. 词汇精讲Text A：

（外教Dana Weld带读 New Words）

词组表

（上面兰色标出的词汇分别与下面精讲词汇相链接，点击哪个词就出现哪个词的相应解释及用法）

词汇精讲：

1. goal  n. 目标

   Our goal is for the country to be fully independent within two years

我们的目标是让这个国家在两年内完全独立。

2. Objective : n./a. 目的；目标；宗旨/ 客观的

派生词： object n. 物体

反义词：subjective 主观的

用法： Her objective is to get a college education. 她的目标是受大学教育。

       If you don’t work hard, you’ll never achieve your objectives. 假如你不努力工作，你将永远达不到目的。

       It is an objective report. 这是一篇如实的报道。

3．accomplish  v. 完成（任务）等

The students accomplished the task in less than ten minutes

学生们在不到10分钟内完成了任务。

4.predict : 预言，预示

同义词：forecast v. 预测，预报

5. accompany : v. 伴随，陪同

The lonely old man is accompanied by his dog. 这位孤独的老人让他的狗做伴。

All orders must be accompanied with cash. 所有的订货单必须随付现金。

派生词： company  n. 公司;  v. 陪伴

6. implement  v. 实现，履行（诺言）等

  The changes to the national health system will be implemented next year

  对全国医疗体系的改革将在明年进行。

7. constraint  n. 限制

  They told the truth but only under constraint

他们说了实话但是有所保留

8. tendency : n. 趋势，倾向

派生词：tend v. 趋向，倾向

用法：tend to do sth.   He tends to get angry when people disagree with him . 当人们不同意他的意见时，他很容易生气。

9. achievement  n. 完成，成就

An Olympic silver medal is a remarkable achievement for one so young

对一个如此年轻的人来说，获得奥运会银牌是个了不起的成就。

10. attain : v. 达到；获得

用法： She has made up her mind to attain her goal in life. 她下定决心要达到生活中的目标。

       The apple tree has attained to a great height. 苹果树已长得很高了。

11. optimal  adj 最佳的

The sailors are waiting for optimal weather conditions before taking off

船员们正在等待出航的最佳天气条件。

12. argue : vt./vi. 争辩，争论，辩论

用法：作不及物动词用时，后边可以接with, about 或over(就…争论)，for (赞成)或against (反对)

She is always ready to argue over the smallest issues. 她总喜欢为极小的问题进行争论。

He often argues philosophy with James. 他常和詹姆斯讨论哲学。

He argued for immediate action . 他主张立即行动。

They argued against such a policy. 他们反对这种政策。

作及物动词时，表示“说服、用辩论证明”的意思

I argued him out going on such a dangerous journey. 我说服他不做这样危险的旅行。

He argued that man was descended from apes. 他论证人类的祖先是猿。

13. scheme  n 计划 方案

He is got a crazy scheme for getting rich before he is 20

他制定了一个在20岁之前发财的疯狂计划。

14. multiple  adj 多样的 复合的

What the person does next is the result of the multiple influences to which they have been exposed

一个人下一步会做什么是他受到的多种影响的结果。

15. ongoing  adj 进行中的，前进的

No agreement has yet been reached and the negotiations one still ongoing

目前还没有达成任何协议，谈判仍在进行。

16. entity  n 存在 实体

He regarded the north of the country as a separate cultural entity

他把这个国家的北方看成一个单独的文化实体。

17. skilled  adj 熟练的,有技能的

My mother is very skilled at /in dress—making

我母亲非常擅长做衣服。

词组 phrases and expressions

1. in the way  挡道的；妨碍人的

If you are not going to help, at least don’t get in the way! 如果你不愿帮忙，至少别妨碍人家。

The chair is in the way, please move it away.  这把椅子当着路，请把它移开。

相关短语：

in a way  在某种程度上；在某些方面； 从某一点上看

in no way  决不；一点也不；

in the way of  按照； 就…. 而言

by way of   取道，经由

by the way   顺便问一下

2．to make a guess at  猜测

You might have been able to make a guess at who she was. 你本来能够猜到她是谁。

Can you make a guess at the price ? 你猜得出价钱吗？

3．To seek to（inf）  寻求,争取

Power stations are seeking to reduce their use of oil

发电站正在设法减少石油的使用

4. in part : 部分地；有些部分；在某种程度上

This was in part due to financial difficulties. 部分是由于财政困难。

The responsibility was in part time. 部分责任在我。

5. point of view  视点，视角

The book looks at college life from a student's point of view.

这本书从一个学生的视角来看大学生活。

6. to vary from …to …  从…到…不同

Salary scales vary from state to state.

工资级别因州而异。

7.contribute … to  把… 贡献给….

We’ll contribute ourselves to this career after we graduate .

contribute to  导致

Smoking is the main factor contributing to lung cancer. 吸烟是导致肺癌的主要因素。

8.be beneficial to 对… 有利

Jogging is beneficial to our health.

Reciting passages is beneficial to improving oral English.

三. 课文精讲

                           Text  A

What Is a Decision ?        （一群人讨论问题的画面）

A decision is a choice made from among alternative courses of action that are available. The purpose of making a decision is to establish and achieve organizational goals and objectives. The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists, goals or objectives are wrong, or something is standing in the way of accomplishing them.①

Thus the decision-making process is fundamental to management. Almost everything a manager does involves decisions, indeed, some suggest that the management process is decision making②. Although managers cannot predict the future, many of their decisions require that they consider possible future events. Often managers must make a best guess at what the future will be and try to leave as little as possible to chance, but since uncertainty is always there, risk accompanies decisions.③ Sometimes the consequences of a poor decision are slight; at other times they are serious.

Choice is the opportunity to select among alternatives. If there is no choice, there is no decision to be made. Decision making is the process of choosing, and many decisions have a broad range of choice. For example, a student may be able to choose among a number of different courses in order to implement the decision to obtain a college degree. For managers, every decision has constraints based on policies, procedures, laws, precedents, and the like. ④ These constraints exist at all levels of the organization.

Alternatives are the possible courses of action from which choices can be made. If there are no alternatives, there is no choice and, therefore, no decision. If no alternatives are seen, often it means that a thorough job of examining the problems has not been done. For example, managers sometimes treat problems in an either/or fashion;⑤ this is their way of simplifying complex problems. But the tendency to simplify blinds them to other alternatives.

At the managerial level, decision making includes limiting alternatives as well as identifying them, and the range is from highly limited to practically unlimited.

Decision makers must have some way of determining which of several alternatives is best — that is, which contributes the most to the achievement of organizational goals. An organizational goal is an end or a state of affairs the organization seeks to reach.⑥ Because individuals (and organizations) frequently have different ideas about how to attain the goals, the best choice may depend on who makes the decision.⑦ Frequently, departments or units within an organization make decisions that are good for them individually but that are less than optimal for the larger organization.⑧ Called suboptimization, this is a trade-off that increases the advantages to one unit or function but decreases the advantages to another unit or function. For example, the marketing manager may argue effectively for an increased advertising budget. In the larger scheme of things, however, increased funding for research to improve the products might be more beneficial to the organization.

These trade-offs occur because there are many objectives that organizations wish to attain simultaneously. Some of these objectives are more important than others, but the order and degree of importance often vary from person to person and from department to department.⑨ Different managers define the same problem in different terms. When presented with a common case, sales managers tend to see sales problems, production managers see production problems, and so on.⑩

The ordering and importance of multiple objectives is also based, in part, on the values of the decision maker. Such values are personal; they are hard to understand, even by the individual, because they are so dynamic and complex. In many business situations different people's values about acceptable degrees of risk and profitability cause disagreement about the correctness of decisions.

People often assume that a decision is an isolated phenomenon. But from a systems point of view, problems have multiple causes, and decisions have intended and unintended consequences. An organization is an ongoing entity, and a decision made today may have consequences far into the future. Thus the skilled manager looks toward the future consequences of current decisions.

（下面的句子分别与课文中划线部分的句子相链接）

课文详解：

1.       The reason for making a decision is that a problem exists, goals or objectives are wrong, or something is standing in the way of accomplishing them.

此句是由that引导的表语从句，表语从句由a problem exist; goals of objectives are wrong;

及something is standing in the way of accomplishing them三个并列句构成。

The reason for … is that 是一个常用的句子。例： The reason for canceling the travel is that

they lack of money.   取消旅行的原因是他们手头缺钱。

    The reason why … 是另外一个常用的句子。例：There are 3 reasons why they are unwilling to discuss insurance .他们不愿意谈论保险的原因有三个。

2. 省略that的定语从语，修饰先行词everything

当先行词为everything, something, anything, nothing等不定代词时定语从句引导词不可用which, some suggest that ... 宾语从句

suggest v. 认为，提出，建议（多用于虚拟语气）

3. Often managers must make a best guess at what the future will be and try to leave as little as possible to chance, but since uncertainty is always there, risk accompanies decisions.

本句中what the future will be 是一个宾语从句，作介词at