📚 People in Business | 企业中的员工
People are the driving force behind every business. In the Cambridge IGCSE Business Studies syllabus, the topic ‘People in business’ covers how businesses recruit, train, motivate, organise and communicate with their employees. Understanding these concepts is essential for analysing how businesses achieve their objectives through their workforce.
员工是企业前进的动力。在剑桥 IGCSE 商务研究课程大纲中，”企业中的员工”这一主题涵盖了企业如何招聘、培训、激励、组织员工以及如何与员工进行沟通。理解这些概念对于分析企业如何通过员工队伍实现其目标至关重要。
1. Why People Matter in Business | 为什么员工在企业中至关重要
A business is only as successful as the people who work for it. Employees produce goods, deliver services, interact with customers and make decisions. Even the most advanced technology requires skilled workers to operate and manage it effectively. The quality of a business’ workforce directly affects productivity, customer satisfaction and profitability.
企业的成功取决于其员工的表现。员工生产商品、提供服务、与客户互动并做出决策。即使是最先进的技术也需要熟练的工人来有效操作和管理。企业员工队伍的质量直接影响生产率、客户满意度和盈利能力。
For example, a restaurant with friendly, well-trained staff will attract repeat customers, while a poorly motivated team may provide bad service and damage the business’ reputation. Therefore, managing people effectively is one of the most important functions of any manager.
例如，一家拥有友好且训练有素员工的餐厅会吸引回头客，而缺乏积极性的团队可能提供糟糕的服务并损害企业声誉。因此，有效管理员工是任何管理者最重要的职能之一。
2. Motivation — The Foundation of Performance | 激励——绩效的基础
Motivation is the internal drive that pushes an individual to achieve a goal. In a business context, motivated employees are more productive, produce higher quality work, are absent less often and are less likely to leave the business. Motivation can come from within the person (intrinsic — such as pride in doing a good job) or from outside (extrinsic — such as bonuses and praise).
激励是推动个人实现目标的内在动力。在商业背景下，有积极性的员工生产率更高、工作质量更好、缺勤率更低、离职的可能性也更小。激励可以来自个人内部（内在激励——例如做好工作带来的自豪感），也可以来自外部（外在激励——例如奖金和表扬）。
Motivated employees benefit the business, so managers must understand what drives different people. Three key theories of motivation are studied in the IGCSE syllabus: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Taylor’s Scientific Management.
有积极性的员工使企业受益，因此管理者必须理解是什么驱动着不同的人。IGCSE 大纲研究了三个关键的激励理论：马斯洛需求层次理论、赫茨伯格双因素理论和泰勒科学管理理论。
3. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs | 马斯洛需求层次理论
Abraham Maslow proposed that people are motivated by five levels of needs, arranged in a hierarchy. A person must satisfy lower-level needs before higher-level needs become motivating. The five levels, from bottom to top, are: (1) physiological needs — food, water, pay; (2) safety needs — job security, safe working conditions; (3) social needs — friendship, belonging to a team; (4) esteem needs — recognition, promotion, respect; and (5) self-actualisation — reaching one’s full potential through challenging and creative work.
亚伯拉罕·马斯洛提出，人们由五个层次的需求所激励，这些需求按层级排列。一个人在更高层次的需求成为激励因素之前，必须先满足较低层次的需求。从底层到顶层这五个层次分别是：（1）生理需求——食物、水、工资；（2）安全需求——工作保障、安全的工作条件；（3）社交需求——友谊、归属感；（4）尊重需求——认可、晋升、尊重；（5）自我实现——通过具有挑战性和创造性的工作发挥全部潜力。
For managers, Maslow’s theory suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach is ineffective. A worker struggling to pay bills is motivated by a better salary, while a high-earning professional may be motivated by promotion or meaningful responsibilities. Businesses using Maslow’s ideas might offer competitive pay first, then build team spirit, provide recognition schemes and finally offer career development opportunities to support self-actualisation.
对管理者而言，马斯洛理论表明”一刀切”的方法无效。为支付账单而挣扎的工人会被更高的薪水激励，而高收入的专业人士可能会被晋升或有意义的责任所激励。运用马斯洛思想的企业可能会首先提供有竞争力的薪酬，然后建立团队精神，提供认可计划，最后提供职业发展机会以支持自我实现。
4. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory | 赫茨伯格双因素理论
Frederick Herzberg distinguished between two sets of factors at work. The first set, hygiene factors, includes salary, working conditions, job security and company policies. When these are inadequate, employees become dissatisfied; but improving them does not strongly motivate — they only prevent dissatisfaction. The second set, motivators, includes achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement and personal growth. These factors create satisfaction and genuine motivation.
弗雷德里克·赫茨伯格区分了工作中的两类因素。第一类为保健因素，包括薪水、工作条件、工作保障和公司政策。当这些因素不充分时，员工会感到不满；但改善它们并不会带来强烈的激励——它们只能防止不满。第二类为激励因素，包括成就、认可、责任、晋升和个人成长。这些因素能创造满足感和真正的激励。
The practical implication for managers is this: paying a high salary removes dissatisfaction but does not by itself make employees work harder. To truly motivate, managers should enrich jobs — for example, giving employees more autonomy (empowerment), offering praise for achievements, and providing opportunities for promotion and personal development.
对管理者的实际启示是：支付高薪能消除不满，但本身并不能让员工更努力工作。要真正激励员工，管理者应该丰富工作内容——例如，给予员工更多自主权（授权）、表扬员工的成就，以及提供晋升和个人发展的机会。
5. Taylor’s Scientific Management | 泰勒科学管理理论
Frederick Taylor, writing in the early twentieth century, believed that workers were primarily motivated by money. His ‘scientific management’ approach involved studying tasks carefully to find the most efficient way of doing them, then paying workers according to output. Taylor proposed the use of piece-rate pay — workers receive a payment for each unit produced, so the harder they work, the more they earn.
弗雷德里克·泰勒在二十世纪初提出，工人们主要受金钱激励。他的”科学管理”方法包括仔细研究任务以找到最有效的完成方式，然后按产出支付工人报酬。泰勒提出了计件工资制——工人按生产的每件产品获得报酬，因此他们工作越努力，赚得越多。
Taylor’s ideas increased productivity in many factories and introduced the idea that managers should measure and analyse work. However, his theory has been criticised for being simplistic, ignoring social needs and treating workers as machines. Modern businesses rarely rely on money alone, but commission-based pay in sales teams still reflects Taylor’s influence.
泰勒的思想提高了许多工厂的生产率，并引入了管理者应测量和分析工作的理念。然而，他的理论因过于简单、忽视社交需求并将工人当作机器而受到批评。现代企业很少仅依赖金钱激励，但销售团队中基于佣金的薪酬仍体现了泰勒的影响。
6. Methods of Motivation | 激励的方法
Motivation methods fall into two broad categories: financial and non-financial. Financial methods include: salary (fixed annual payment), wages (payment per hour or week), commission (pay based on sales), piece-rate (pay per unit produced), profit sharing (employees receive a share of company profits) and performance-related pay (bonuses linked to achieving targets).
激励方法分为两大类：财务激励和非财务激励。财务方法包括：年薪（固定的年度报酬）、周薪或时薪（按小时或按周支付）、佣金（基于销售额支付）、计件工资（按生产的每件产品支付）、利润分享（员工获得公司利润的一部分）以及与绩效挂钩的薪酬（与达成目标挂钩的奖金）。
Non-financial methods include: job rotation (moving between tasks to reduce boredom), job enrichment (adding more challenging and responsible tasks), job enlargement (adding more tasks of similar difficulty), teamwork, empowerment (giving employees authority to make decisions), praise and recognition, and flexible working arrangements such as flexitime or working from home.
非财务方法包括：工作轮换（在不同任务之间轮换以减少枯燥感）、工作丰富化（增加更具挑战性和责任感的任务）、工作扩大化（增加难度相似的任务）、团队合作、授权（赋予员工决策权）、表扬与认可，以及弹性工作安排，如弹性工时或居家办公。
Effective businesses combine both types. For instance, introducing flexitime costs little but can greatly improve work-life balance and motivation, while profit sharing gives employees a direct financial stake in the business’ success.
有效的企业会结合两种类型。例如，引入弹性工时成本很低，但能极大改善工作与生活的平衡并提高积极性，而利润分享则让员工在企业成功中获得直接的经济利益。
7. Recruitment and Selection | 招聘与选拔
Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting suitable people to fill job vacancies. A business must first produce a job description — a document listing duties, responsibilities, reporting lines and working conditions. It also produces a person specification — a document listing the qualifications, skills and personal qualities required for the job, distinguishing between ‘essential’ and ‘desirable’ criteria.
招聘是寻找并吸引合适的人选填补职位空缺的过程。企业必须首先编写职位描述——列出职责、责任、汇报关系和劳动条件的文件。企业还需编写任职资格说明——列出该职位所需的资历、技能和个人素质的文件，并区分”必需”和”理想”标准。
Recruitment can be internal (existing employees are promoted or transferred) or external (new people are hired from outside). Internal recruitment is cheaper and faster, rewards existing staff and requires less induction training. However, external recruitment brings in fresh ideas and a wider pool of talent. External methods include job adverts in newspapers, online job portals, recruitment agencies, and social media such as LinkedIn.
招聘可以是内部招聘（现有员工被晋升或调动）或外部招聘（从外部雇佣新人）。内部招聘更便宜、更快，能奖励现有员工，并且需要的入职培训较少。然而，外部招聘能带来新鲜想法和更广泛的人才库。外部招聘方法包括报纸招聘广告、在线招聘平台、招聘中介以及 LinkedIn 等社交媒体。
Selection is the process of choosing the best candidate. Techniques include shortlisting from applications, interviews, aptitude tests, psychometric tests, personality tests, practical tasks and references. The best selection process matches the person specification closely and uses several methods to judge each candidate fairly.
选拔是选择最佳候选人的过程。方法包括从申请中筛选、面试、能力倾向测试、心理测试、性格测试、实际操作任务和推荐信核实。最好的选拔过程会紧密对照任职资格说明，并使用多种方法公正地评价每位候选人。
8. Training and Development | 培训与发展
Training aims to improve employees’ knowledge and skills so they can perform their jobs more effectively. The two main types are on-the-job training and off-the-job training. On-the-job training takes place in the workplace while the employee works — examples include coaching, mentoring, shadowing an experienced colleague and job rotation. It is relatively cheap, practical and uses real equipment, but the employee may pick up bad habits and experienced staff must spend time away from their own work.
培训旨在提高员工的知识和技能，使其更有效地完成工作。两种主要类型是在职培训和脱产培训。在职培训发生在工作场所，员工边工作边学习——例子包括指导、辅导、跟随经验丰富的同事学习和工作轮换。这种方法相对便宜、实用，并使用真实设备，但员工可能学到坏习惯，且经验丰富的员工需要花时间离开自己的工作。
Off-the-job training takes place away from the workplace — for example, attending courses at a college, workshops, online learning or conferences. It brings new ideas and expert knowledge, but is more expensive and may not be immediately relevant to the business’ specific needs. Effective training leads to higher productivity, better quality, fewer accidents, greater flexibility and improved motivation.
脱产培训在工作场所之外进行——例如参加学院课程、研讨会、在线学习或会议。它能带来新想法和专业知识，但成本更高，且可能与企业具体需求不直接相关。有效的培训能带来更高的生产率、更好的质量、更少的事故、更大的灵活性和更强的积极性。
9. Appraisal and Performance Management | 绩效评估与绩效管理
Appraisal is the process of evaluating an employee’s performance against agreed objectives. Typically appraisals happen once or twice a year in an interview between the employee and their manager. The manager reviews past performance, sets targets for the coming period and identifies training needs. A good appraisal is a two-way conversation — the employee should also give feedback and discuss career ambitions.
绩效评估是根据商定的目标评价员工绩效的过程。通常每年进行一次或两次，由员工与其经理面谈。经理回顾过去的绩效，为下一阶段设定目标，并确定培训需求。良好的评估是双向对话——员工也应提供反馈并讨论职业抱负。
Benefits of appraisal include improved communication, higher motivation through feedback, identification of promotion candidates and clearer personal objectives. However, appraisal can be stressful, may lead to conflict if poorly handled, and some managers are not trained to give constructive feedback. More recently, many businesses have adopted 360-degree feedback, where employees are reviewed by peers, subordinates and customers as well as by their manager.
绩效评估的好处包括改善沟通、通过反馈提高积极性、发现晋升候选人以及明确个人目标。然而，评估可能带来压力，处理不当可能导致冲突，而且有些管理者没有接受过建设性反馈的培训。近年来，许多企业采用了360度反馈，即员工不仅由经理评估，还由同事、下属和客户评估。
10. Communication in the Workplace | 工作场所中的沟通
Effective communication is essential for coordinating work, motivating employees and building trust. Communication can be internal (within the business, between managers and workers) or external (with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders). It can also be formal (official meetings, reports, emails) or informal (casual conversations, the grapevine or rumour network).
有效沟通对于协调工作、激励员工和建立信任至关重要。沟通可以是内部的（企业内部的，在管理者和员工之间）或外部的（与客户、供应商和其他利益相关者）。它也可以是正式的（官方会议、报告、电子邮件）或非正式的（随意交谈、小道消息或传闻网络）。
Barriers to communication include the use of jargon, language differences, poor listening, information overload, physical distance and a lack of trust between management and workers. Businesses reduce these barriers by using simple language, choosing the right channel, providing training and encouraging feedback. Good communication flows downward (from managers to workers), upward (from workers to managers) and horizontally (between colleagues).
沟通的障碍包括使用行话、语言差异、倾听不佳、信息过载、物理距离以及管理层与员工之间缺乏信任。企业通过使用简单语言、选择正确的渠道、提供培训和鼓励反馈来减少这些障碍。良好的沟通既有下行流动（从管理者到员工）、上行流动（从员工到管理者），也有横向流动（同事之间）。
To test understanding, a manager might ask employees to repeat key messages back — the two-way communication model lets the sender check that the receiver has understood correctly, making communication significantly more effective. A good example of a communication channel is a noticeboard or a company newsletter, but face-to-face meetings are often best for detailed or sensitive messages.
为检验理解程度，管理者可以要求员工复述关键信息——双向沟通模式让发送方检查接收方是否正确理解，使沟通显著更有效。公告栏或公司通讯是沟通渠道的好例子，但对于详细或敏感的信息，面对面会议通常是最佳的。
11. Organisational Structure | 组织结构
Organisational structure defines how roles, authority and responsibilities are arranged within a business. It is usually shown in an organisational chart with levels of hierarchy. A business with a tall structure has many levels of management and a narrow span of control (few subordinates per manager). A flat structure has few levels and a wide span of control.
组织结构定义了企业中角色、权力和责任如何安排。它通常以组织结构图的形式展示，包含层级。具有高耸结构的企业管理层级多，管理幅度窄（每位管理者管辖的下属少）。扁平结构层级少，管理幅度宽。
In a tall structure, employees have clear promotion opportunities but communication is slow and decisions take longer. In a flat structure, communication is faster and employees have more responsibility, but managers may be overstretched and promotion opportunities are limited. Centralisation means keeping decision-making at the top, while decentralisation allows managers at lower levels, or individual employees, to make decisions. Decentralisation can speed up decisions and empower staff, but requires skilled and trusted employees.
在高耸结构中，员工晋升机会明确，但沟通缓慢，决策耗时更长。在扁平结构中，沟通更快，员工责任更大，但管理者可能不堪重负，晋升机会有限。集权意味着决策权保留在高层，而分权允许较低层级的经理或个别员工做出决策。分权可以加快决策速度并赋予员工权力，但需要技能熟练且值得信赖的员工。
12. Retention and Labour Turnover | 员工保留与劳动力流动率
Labour turnover is the rate at which employees leave a business over a period of time. It is calculated using the formula:
劳动力流动率是指一段时间内离开企业的员工比例。计算公式为：
Labour turnover rate = (Number of employees leaving ÷ Average number of employees employed) × 100%
劳动力流动率 =（离职员工人数 ÷ 平均员工人数）× 100%
For example, if a business has an average of 200 employees and 20 leave in a year, the labour turnover rate is (20 ÷ 200) × 100 = 10%. A high rate is expensive — it means recruitment and training costs, lost productivity and poor customer service. Causes include low pay, poor working conditions, lack of promotion prospects, bad management and strong competition from other employers.
例如，如果一家企业平均有200名员工，一年内有20人离职，则劳动力流动率为（20 ÷ 200）× 100 = 10%。高流动率代价高昂——意味着招聘和培训成本、生产率损失和糟糕的客户服务。原因包括薪酬低、工作条件差、缺乏晋升前景、管理不善以及来自其他雇主的激烈竞争。
To retain staff, businesses can offer competitive pay, benefits, flexible working, clear career paths, a positive culture and regular feedback. Some turnover is unavoidable — for example, retirement or relocation — but a very low rate may also indicate that the business is not developing its people. Wise managers monitor retention data to identify problems early and improve their people management practices.
为留住员工，企业可以提供有竞争力的薪酬、福利、弹性工作、清晰的职业道路、积极的企业文化和定期的反馈。一些流动是不可避免的——例如退休或搬迁——但过低的流动率也可能表明企业没有在发展人才。明智的管理者会关注员工保留数据，及早发现问题并改进其人事管理实践。
In conclusion, people are the heart of every business. By understanding motivation theories, applying effective recruitment and training methods, communicating clearly and designing appropriate organisational structures, businesses can build a committed and productive workforce. These people-management skills are not only essential for IGCSE examinations but also for real-world business success.
总之，员工是每个企业的核心。通过理解激励理论、运用有效的招聘和培训方法、清晰沟通以及设计合适的组织结构，企业可以建立起忠诚而高效的员工队伍。这些人事管理技能不仅对 IGCSE 考试至关重要，对现实世界的商业成功也同样重要。
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