You know that I subscribe an English newspaper called 21st century every year. I like reading English newspaper, which gives my study a hand. A good idea comes to me that I would like to recommend you some good articles from English newspaper. Let’s study English together.

Your boss is not a best buddy

Working relationships can be tricky, especially if you are working with people from a different culture. Confusion（混乱） can arise because they may have different attitudes and ways of doing things.

The atmosphere in the office of a Western company may appear informal and friendly. It might lead you to believe that there are fewer rules to observe. But it is misconception（误解） that there is a casual attitude in foreign companies.

Simply because your boss seems polite and easygoing it doesn’t mean you can take advantage of his or her good nature.

Western managers like to appear to be friendly. They may invite you to call them by their first names will address you by your given name.

Bosses may try to be “one of the boys (or girls)”by eating in the canteen or buying sandwiches and coffee with other employees.

During conferences or brainstorming（头脑风暴） sessions employees will be encouraged to contribute their views and will be encouraged to think their opinion matters.

This may or may not be the case. Western bosses have learned from management gurus（权威，专家） the traditional top/down style of management may not work well as well as a flattened（平等的）, more democratic style of management.

Don’t imagine your Western line manager or supervisor is your best buddy. He or she will be well aware of your comings and goings, what time you arrive for work, how long you spend at lunch and when you go home.

Many managers even have access to your computer and can watch what you are doing on your screen in real time, so take care, you are being observed. In some workplaces, particularly in China I have noticed, there is a culture of presenteeism（出勤主义）. Some young employees think that putting in long hours will impress their managers or colleagues in a Western company.

It doesn’t impress me. It suggests to me that you are efficient if you can’t get the work done in the allotted（分配） time.

The American comedienne（喜剧女演员） Lucille Ball starred in a long-running TV comedy series called I love Lucy.

She famously said:” If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it, the more things you do, the more you can do.”

Here’s the corollary（必然的结果）, known as Parkinson’s law. It is named after Cyril Northcote Parkinson who first stated it in a humorous essay in 1955:” Work expands to fill the time available.” In other words, if you have an hour to complete a task it will take an hour, even though you could easily finish it in a half an hour.

It takes a good manager to recognize the strengths and weakness of each member of staff and their different capacities for work. Don’t underestimate your boss.