2023年经济学人 企业里无处不在的仪式

（单词翻译）

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比专栏

Corporate¹ rituals

公司仪式

From the public to the private, ceremonies pervade² business life.

从公开的到私密的，仪式在商业生活中无处不在。

For a public demonstration³ of the importance of ritual, the coronation of King Charles III on May 6th will be hard to beat.

在向公众展示仪式的重要性方面，国王查尔斯三世在5月6日的加冕礼将是无可匹敌的。

The ceremony will take place at Westminster Abbey, where monarchs⁴ have been crowned since William the Conqueror⁵ in 1066.

仪式将在威斯敏斯特大教堂举行，自1066年征服者威廉登基以来，君主一直在这里加冕。

There will be anointing, homage-paying, oath-taking and all manner of processing.

到时候将有涂油、致敬、宣誓等各种程序。

In any other circumstances this kind of behaviour would warrant a medical diagnosis⁶.

在任何其他情况下，做出这种行为的人都有理由接受医学诊断。

But the alchemy of tradition means that it will instead call forth⁷ a sense of continuity and the idea of shared history.

但传统的神秘力量意味着，这种行为将唤起一种延续感和历史认同感。

Rituals are also a big part of corporate life.

仪式也是企业生活的重要组成部分。

There is nothing to match coronation levels of weirdness⁸, much as some chief executives might like the idea of robes and a throne.

没有什么能比得上加冕仪式的怪诞程度，尽管有些首席执行官可能喜欢长袍和王冠。

But firms have their own ceremonies and rites⁹.

但公司有自己的仪式和规矩。

Some are internal: the repetitive rhythms of performance reviews and weekly meetings, budget processes and farewell cards are all ritualistic.

有些仪式是内部的：周而复始的业绩评估、周会、预算流程和离别贺卡都是例行的仪式。

Others are more public, from investor¹⁰ days to conference calls with analysts¹¹.

其他仪式则更加公开，从投资者日到与分析师的电话会议。

The pandemic spawned¹² a host of new customs, from regular events designed to lure¹³ people into the office to dedicated¹⁴ times of the week devoted¹⁵ to concentrated work.

疫情催生了一系列新的习俗，从旨在吸引人们来办公室的定期活动，到一周中专门用于集中工作的时间。

Business rituals can arise spontaneously -- those informal games of office bingo for when the boss uses their favourite bit of jargon¹⁶.

商业仪式可能是自发出现的--当老板使用他们最喜欢的行话时，可以玩办公室宾果这种小游戏。

They can also be entirely¹⁷ private.

仪式也可以是完全私密的。

No rule exists to say that, on entering a hotel room, the business traveller must check the minibar; that if the hotel manager has written a letter welcoming him, he must feel absurdly pleased; that if there is a plate of fruit, he must immediately eat all of it.

没有规定说，在走进酒店房间时，出差的客人必须检查一下小冰箱；如果酒店经理给他写了一封欢迎信，他必须感到受宠若惊；如果有一盘水果，他必须马上把水果都吃掉。

Yet all of these things are as if ordained¹⁸.

然而，所有这些似乎都是规定好了的。

The prime example of the set-piece ceremony is the annual shareholders¹⁹’ meeting.

这种精心安排的仪式的一个典型例子就是一年一度的股东大会。

As a way of getting things done, this format²⁰ is dreadful.

作为一种完成工作的方式，这种形式糟糕透顶。

Any information that shareholders actually need is available to them elsewhere.

股东真正需要的信息都可以在其他地方获得。

Many people delegate their voting rights to others.

许多人已经将投票权委托给其他人了。

Plenty come just for the sandwiches.

还有很多人来开会只是为了吃三明治。

But as a ritual it matters.

但作为一种仪式，这种大会很重要。

The board of directors enter and sit on a podium; some of them may say absolutely nothing.

董事们进入会场并坐在讲台上，他们中的一些人可能不会说一句话。

The bosses give presentations to show that shareholders could not wish for a better set of managers.

然后老板们汇报工作，表明股东们不可能希望找到更好的经理人。

A succession of small shareholders then take the microphone and harangue²¹ the company’s management for being totally useless.

然后，许多小股东接二连三地拿起麦克风，滔滔不绝地指责公司管理层毫无用处。

It is performative, to be sure, but a bit of a performance doesn’t go amiss for something as bloodless as corporate governance.

这当然是一种表演，但对于像公司治理这样冷血的事情来说，有一点表演也没什么大碍。

The annual meeting offers a useful physical reminder²² of who is accountable to whom.

年度会议实实在在地提醒人们，谁对谁负有责任。

Standard rites of this sort can evolve into company-specific ones.

这类标准仪式可以演变为公司特有的仪式。

Amazon has attached a copy of its very first letter to shareholders, from 1997, to every one it has published since as a way of demonstrating that an underlying²³ ethos endures even as the world around it changes.

亚马逊在发布的每一封致股东的信中，都附上了来自1997年的第一封致股东的信的副本，以此表明即使周围的世界在变化，公司的底层精神也会坚守不变。

Rituals are also used as a way of building culture and team spirit.

仪式也被用于建立企业文化和团队精神。

The financial industry has a long-established custom of giving “tombstones” out to clients and bankers when a transaction closes.

金融业有一个由来已久的习俗，即在交易完成时向客户和银行家发放“墓碑”。

The original tombstones were ads in newspapers, so called because they were laid out in a way that resembled gravestone inscriptions²⁴.

最初的墓碑是报纸上的广告，之所以叫墓碑，是因为它们的排版和墓碑铭文很像。

The modern versions are sometimes known as “deal toys”.

现代的墓碑有时也被称为“交易玩具”。

Lucite may not have much intrinsic value but the ritual survives as part-reward, part-commemoration, part-brag.

这种树脂做的墓碑本身可能没有太多价值，但这个仪式既作为奖励，又作为纪念，也作为自夸而存在。

Plenty of firms have less involved celebratory rites, like ringing bells or banging gongs when they hit certain sales milestones²⁵.

许多公司的庆祝仪式没有这么复杂，比如当他们达到某个销售额里程碑时，只是敲钟或敲锣。

Even simple rituals can encourage a sense of community and purpose among employees.

即使是简单的仪式也能鼓励员工形成集体意识和使命感。

A paper published in 2021 by Tami Kim of the University of Virginia and her co-authors asked volunteers to participate in a set of physical movements before starting out on a brainstorming²⁶ exercise.

弗吉尼亚大学的塔米·金和她的合著者在2021年发表了一篇论文，要求志愿者在开始头脑风暴练习之前一起做一套身体动作。

Some looked at each other during this warm-up and others did not.

在这个热身过程中，一些人互相看着对方，另一些人则没有。

The people who maintained eye contact rated the subsequent brainstorming as more meaningful.

保持眼神交流的人认为随后的头脑风暴更有意义。

But turning everything into a ritual also risks being tiresome²⁷.

但是把一切都变成一种仪式也有可能令人厌烦。

The only thing worse than an unnecessary meeting is an unnecessary meeting with stretching beforehand.

比不必要的会议更糟糕的，只能是在不必要的会议开始之前还要伸展一下身体。

Hosting colleagues at a regular meal and calling it “Fabulous Friday” is going to be most appealing to those who would otherwise be having a “Friendless Friday”.

招待同事吃一顿普通晚餐，然后将其称为“美妙的星期五”，这对那些原本会过一个“没朋友的星期五”的人来说才最有吸引力。

And one person’s ritual is another person’s ordeal²⁸.

而且一个人的仪式可能会让另一个人想去世。

Ms Kim’s paper mentions a digital agency that holds regular sessions in which employees share personal stories about moments that changed their lives.

金女士的论文提到了一家数字机构，该机构定期举行分享会，让员工们分享改变他们人生的时刻和个人故事。

This is indeed a ritual, but so is hanging, drawing and quartering.

这确实是一种仪式，但对叛国者实施的绞刑、车裂、大卸八块三件套也是一种仪式。

If there is a golden rule of corporate ritual, it is that it should make people feel as if they belong.

如果说企业仪式有什么金科玉律的话，那就是仪式应该让人们感觉他们属于这里。