Words fail them
A. It seems companies will soon begin to say goodbye to the written word. The basic unit of communication will no longer be typed out in e-mails. It will be shot in pictures and shown on video. Companies have already discovered that the written word is failing them. Its feebleness compared with the moving image was rammed home in 2010 when the sight of BP's oil spewing out into the Gulf of Mexico on YouTube sent a message to the world far more compelling than any written statement could ever be.
B. If the word has become weak at conveying big corporate messages, it has become even weaker at conveying small ones. For years the in-boxes of all office workers have been overflowing with unread e-mails. But managers will do something about it and desist from communicating with staff in this way. E-mail will still exist as a way of talking to one person at a time, but as a means of mass communication it will be finished. Companies will find instead that to get a message over to employees, customers, shareholders and the outside world, video is far more effective.
C. In the past three years video has come from nothing to make up nearly half of internet traffic; in another three, it is likely to be more than three-quarters. So far corporations have taken a back seat in this growth, but they will soon need to climb into the front and start to drive it.
D. This shift in communications will have three important effects. It will change the sort of person who makes it to the corner office. It will alter the way that businesses are managed. And it will shift the position corporations occupy in society and possibly make us like some of them just a little bit more.
E. The new corporate leaders will no longer be pen pushers and bean counters. The 20-year reign of faceless bosses will come to an end. Charisma will be back in: all successful business chiefs will have to be storytellers and performers. Just as political leaders have long had to be dynamite on TV to stand much hope of election or survival, so too will corporate leaders. They must be able to sell not only their vision of their companies but their vision of themselves. The new big boss will be expected to set an example; any leaders showing signs of human frailty will be out on their ears. The moral majority will tighten its hold on corporate life, first in America, but then elsewhere too.
F. With this shift will come a change in management style. Numbers and facts will be supplanted by appeals to emotion to make employees and customers do what they are told. The businessperson's emotion may be no more genuine than the politician's, but successful bosses will get good at faking it. Others will struggle: prepare to cringe in as corporate leaders spout a lot of phoney stuff that used to look bad enough when written down, but will sound even worse spoken.
G. One good consequence of the change, however, will be a greater clarity in the way companies think about their businesses. The written word was a forgiving medium for over-complicated, ill-conceived messages. Video demands simplicity. The best companies will use this to their advantage by thinking through more rigorously what it is they are trying to say and do.
One change which is predicted is that in order to motivate and , managers will use different techniques, for example, using rather than data. Another change, and no doubt a positive one, is that because of the need for when using video, companies will have to bring more clarity to their business.
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Question Focus: Synonym match - summary says 'motivate' and passage talks about making people 'do what they are told'
Correct Answer: employees
Why this is correct: The summary says managers want to motivate people. In the passage, managers want to make employees do what they are told, which is the same idea. This is a clear synonym match.
Passage Reference: With this shift will come a change in management style. Numbers and facts will be supplanted by appeals to emotion to make employees and customers do what they are told.
Common Mistake: Students sometimes write staff because it sounds similar. But the passage word is employees, and you must copy the exact word. This is a synonym trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: 'make employees ... do what they are told' = Summary: 'motivate [GAP_1]'
Tips: When a summary uses general verbs like 'motivate', look for a more concrete action in the passage and copy the noun exactly.
Key Vocabulary:
- employees = workers
- motivate = encourage
Question Focus: Synonym match - same group of people mentioned in passage and summary
Correct Answer: customers
Passage Reference: With this shift will come a change in management style. Numbers and facts will be supplanted by appeals to emotion to make employees and customers do what they are told.
Why this is correct: The summary lists two groups managers want to motivate. The passage clearly names employees and customers, so the second group must be customers.
Common Mistake: Some students write clients or shareholders, but these words are not used in this sentence. Writing a similar word instead of the exact one is a synonym trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: 'employees and customers' = Summary: 'employees and [GAP_2]'
Tips: If the passage lists items with 'and', the summary often follows the same order. Do not change the wording.
Key Vocabulary:
- customers = people who buy things
Question Focus: Contrast signal - 'rather than data' points directly to a replacement word in the passage
Correct Answer: emotion
Passage Reference: With this shift will come a change in management style. Numbers and facts will be supplanted by appeals to emotion to make employees
Why this is correct: The summary says managers will use something 'rather than data'. The passage says numbers and facts will be replaced by appeals to emotion, so the key word to copy is emotion.
Common Mistake: Students sometimes write appeals or emotional, but the summary needs a noun to contrast with 'data'. Using the wrong form is a grammar trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: 'appeals to emotion' = Summary: 'using [GAP_3] rather than data'
Tips: When you see 'rather than', find the exact word in the passage that replaces the first idea.
Key Vocabulary:
- emotion = feelings
- data = facts and numbers
Question Focus: Cause-effect idea - video creates a need that leads to clarity
Correct Answer: simplicity
Passage Reference: One good consequence of the change, however, will be a greater clarity in the way companies think about their businesses. The written word was a forgiving medium for over-complicated, ill-conceived messages. Video demands simplicity.
Why this is correct: The summary says video creates a need that brings more clarity. The passage explains this clearly: Video demands simplicity, which forces companies to think more clearly.
Common Mistake: Some students write clarity because it appears later in the sentence, but the question asks for the need, not the result. This is a causation trap.
Paraphrasing: Passage: 'Video demands simplicity' = Summary: 'need for [GAP_4] when using video'
Tips: Check carefully whether the gap asks for a cause or a result. Do not copy the effect when the question wants the reason.
Key Vocabulary:
- simplicity = being simple and clear
- demands = requires
General Tips:
- Summary completion questions follow passage order. Use the previous gap to help you find the next answer quickly.
- Always copy the exact word from the passage. Synonyms are usually wrong in FIB questions.
- Check the grammar around the gap. Words like 'and', 'using', or 'need for' tell you what form is required.
- Watch contrast signals like 'rather than'. They often point directly to the answer.
- Keep the word limit in mind. Even a correct idea is wrong if you use too many words.
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