2021年经济学人 现代经济的发展取决于人们与他人的关系（1）（在线收听）

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比职场专栏

Network effects

网络效应

The modern economy depends on how well people connect with others

现代经济的发展取决于人们与他人的关系

Success in manufacturing depends on physical things: creating the best product using the best equipment with components assembled in the most efficient way. Success in the service economy is dependent on the human element: picking the right staff members and motivating them correctly. If manufacturing is akin to science, then services are more like the arts.

制造业的成功取决于物质因素：使用最好的设备，以最有效的方式组装部件，才能创造出最好的产品。服务经济的成功取决于人的因素：挑选合适的员工并正确地激励他们。如果说制造业类似于科学，那么服务业更像是艺术。

Motivating people has an extra complexity. Widgets do not know when they are being manipulated. Workers make connections with their colleagues, for social or work reasons, which the management might not have anticipated.

对人的激励分外复杂。而小部件的操纵也时机未知。员工与同事之间会出于社会或工作原因建立联系，而管理层可能对此始料未及。

Marissa King is professor of organisational behaviour at the Yale School of Management, where she tries to make sense of these networks. She attempts a classification in her new book, “Social Chemistry: Decoding The Elements of Human Connection”.

玛丽萨·金是耶鲁大学管理学院的组织行为学教授，她一直致力于研究关系网课题。她试图在新书《社会化学：解读人际关系要素》中对关系网进行分类。

The term “networking” has developed unfortunate connotations, suggesting the kind of person who sucks up to senior staff and ignores colleagues who are unlikely to help them win promotion. Ms King cites a study which found that two-thirds of newly promoted professionals were ambivalent about, or completely resistant to, thinking strategically about their social relationships.

“人际关系网”这个词已经发展出了贬义含义，指的是讨好上司，忽视不能帮助自己升职的同事的那类人。金女士在书中引用了一项研究，该研究发现，有三分之二的新升职的专业人士对战略性地看待自己的社交关系充满矛盾，或者完全抗拒。

From the point of view of productivity, the most important networks are those formed by employees from different parts of the company. Diverse viewpoints should lead to greater creativity. They are good for workers, too. A study found that catching up with colleagues in different departments was linked to salary growth and employee satisfaction.

从生产力的角度来看，最重要的关系网是同公司不同部门的员工之间形成的网络。不同的观点应该会碰撞出更大的创造力。这种关系网也有利于员工本身。一项研究发现，不同部门间的同事竞争与薪资增长和员工满意度有关。

Some employers had the bright idea of encouraging this co-operation by moving to open-plan offices. But research suggests that workers in open-plan layouts are less productive, less creative and less motivated than those in offices with a traditional, room-based design. The quality of interactions is more important than the quantity. The pandemic, by forcing many people to toil away at home, has probably corroded some of these co-operative arrangements.

一些老板想出了一个聪明的主意，即搬到开放式办公室办公以鼓励不同部门之间的合作。但研究表明，与传统的、隔间式的办公室相比，采用开放式布局会降低员工工作效率、创造力和积极性。交际的质量比数量更重要。这次疫情迫使许多人在家里办公，可能已经影响了一些合作安排。

Ms King says that people tend to construct three types of network. “Expansionists” have a wide set of contacts but their relationships tend to be shallow. “Conveners” have a small number of relationships, but these are more intense. “Brokers” link people from different network types.

金女士说，人们倾向于构建三种类型的关系网。“扩张主义者”的关系网庞大，但关系往往肤浅。“召集者”的关系网小而更密切。“经纪人”把不同关系网中的人联系起来。