彭蒙惠英语：Working Smarter Together

Working Smarter Together

By James Surowiecki / Originally

Published in WIRED. Edited for length.

Reprinted by permission of SLL/

Sterling 1 Lord Literistic, Inc.

Copyright by James Surowiecki

Why the many are smarter than the few

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American companies are suffering from a personality crisis. They talk about the virtues 2 of flattened 3 hierarchies 4 and bottom-up organizations, but when it comes to what they actually do, companies prefer authoritarianism 5 to democracy. Success, most corporations assume, depends on the efforts of a few superlative individuals. As a result, they treat their CEOs as superheroes and look on most of their employees as interchangeable drones. In doing so, firms are neglecting their most valuable resource: the collective intelligence of the organization as a whole.

Groups outperform individuals

Instead of looking to a single person for the right answers, companies need to recognize a simple truth: Under the right conditions, groups are smarter than the smartest person within them. We often think of groups and crowds as stupid, ineffective, and dominated by the lowest common denominator. But take a look around. Decision markets, like the Iowa Electronics Markets (which forecasts elections) and the Hollywood Stock Exchange (which predicts box office results), consistently outperform industry forecasts. Even the stock market, though it is subject to fads 6 and manias 7, is near-impossible to beat over time.

By contrast, while it’s clear that some CEOs are excellent leaders and managers, there’s little evidence that individual executives are blessed with consistently good strategic foresight 8. Even when executives are very smart, they often have a hard time getting the information they need. At many firms the flow of information is shaped by political infighting and a confusion of status with knowledge. Hierarchies have certain virtues—efficiency and speed—as a way of executing decisions. But they’re outmoded as a way of making decisions, and they’re ill-suited to the complex strategic landscapes that most companies now inhabit.

Vocabulary Focus

forecast (v) [5fC:kB:st] to say what one expects to happen in the future

execute (v) [5eksikju:t] to do or perform something, especially in a planned way

outmoded (adj) [aut5mEudid] old-fashioned; no longer modern, useful or necessary

ill-suited (adj) [5il5sju:tid] inappropriate for a given purpose; not suitable

Specialized 9 Terms

flattened hierarchy 10 (n phr) 组织阶层扁平化 the removal of levels in a traditional business system in which people are arranged according to ability or status; employees are considered on a more equal level

bottom-up organization (n phr) 重心由下至上的组织 an organization in which the focus is on the individual employees, empowering them to influence decisions, and the administration encourages and supports their activities; the opposite of “top-down”

authoritarianism (n) 独裁式的管理或政策 a policy or form of organization that demands total obedience 11 and refuses to allow people freedom to act as they wish

lowest common denominator (n phr) 庸才；社会中多数 见识平常的普通人 the simplest level of preferences, tastes or opinions among a group of people

decision market (n phr) 决策市场；预测市场 a system in which participants are allowed to trade in some form of security, either real or artificial, in order to predict the outcome of a certain event; also known as a “prediction

market”

box office (n phr) 票房 the popularity and financial success of a film or actor, according to the total amount of ticket sales

合作生巧

许美鸾 译

为什么多数比少数聪明

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美国公司正苦于人格危机。他们谈着组织阶层扁平化和组织重心由下至上的优点，但当涉及实际执行时，就宁取独裁主义而舍民主方式了。大多数的公司认为，成功在于少数极优异个人的努力。结果是，他们待执行长犹如超级英雄，而视大多数的员工为可替换的闲人。如此一来，公司就忽略了他们最珍贵的资源：整体组织的集体智能。

集体表现超越个人

不要单单向一个人寻求正确的答案，公司必须认清一个简单的事实：在正常情况下，团体要比其中最聪明的个人更聪明。我们常认为团体或群众愚昧、无效率，且充斥着一群庸才。但看看四周，像爱荷华电子市场（预测选举结果）和好莱坞证券交易所（预测票房结果）这类的决策市场，一向都比产业预测表现得好。即使是股票市场，它虽会受制于一时的流行和狂热，长期下来也还是可以准确预估。

相反的，虽然很明显地有些执行官是杰出的领导者和经理人，但事实证明个别管理者所采用的策略不见得永远正确。即使管理者非常聪明，他们常常无法得到需要的信息。因为在许多公司里，信息流向的形成受内部政治斗争，以及高阶自然拥有较多资讯的迷思所影响。在决定如何执行时，以管理阶层高低作依归确有某些好处，也就是效率和速度。但在作决策时，这种方法就过时了，也不适合现今大部分公司所处的复杂策略情势。