| OK, in Taiwan there are some foreign companies. These are the so-called Euro-American enterprises, which, in general, follow the Euro-American way of doing things. Now, suppose that Taiwan’s local companies have, by and large, a way of doing things—most people in high positions with authority, like chairmen and CEOs, will have the best-positioned offices. These will be the highest, the most interior, the most plush. They’ll usually be separate offices, and will probably have really extravagant amenities. The typical employee, on the other hand, your typical coworker, they generally, for example, a low-level staffer that has to face people, this person will be at the front counter. So it’s probably a row of counters out front [staffed by] these low-level clerks. As you move back, you get higher and higher levels of management sitting in each row further back. It’s interesting. In a big office, you probably have the big boss sitting in the backmost row, with row after row of managers in front of him. Uh, by now you can see this, uh, that the further back someone sits, the higher their position [in the company]. This is the typical arrangement.
But, sometimes, like when we’re in school, for example, the school has, here you almost certainly have some people like [unintelligible] or deans, people who’ve become heads of departments. When they do, they get bigger offices. But when labs are handed out, we don’t give someone a bigger office just because they have a higher position. They have to [unintelligible]. We often draw lots. So, in some situations, we may stress this kind of egalitarianism, but we generally also respect authority. So, if you have authority, this kind of thing is permissible. But, in the interests of the group, or to maintain harmony within the group, we sometimes take a more egalitarian approach, very humbly demonstrating the egalitarianism of the relationships between us all.
So, uh, because in the, uh, agrarian society of the past, the people with more money lived in the “inner palace,” and the people without money lived in the gatehouse. So most companies have this kind of arrangement, with the CEO or the chairman sitting at the very back and regular managers having a private office. Uh, group leaders, uh, or junior managers sit out in the open. But these days, because ordinary employees have been exposed to Western ideas and influences, most of the time, we probably sometimes will have a different arrangement. So, generally speaking, the big offices, the good locations, the good views, the interior spots, these belong to the upper management. Most of the employees will be outside [i.e. without a private office]. OK, that’s the typical approach in Taiwan. Thank you. | Ok, 在台湾呢有一些外资企业，就是所谓的欧美公司企业，大概呢都是按照呢欧美的方法做。那假如说台湾的本土的公司基本上它有个做法：大部分董事长总经理这种位置越高,权力越大的人,他的办公室是在最好的位置。这可能是最高的，最里头的,最豪华的，通常有阁间，甚至有可能有非常豪华的一些设施。但是一般的员工，一般的同仁呢，他是基本上是，比方说是最基本的应对人他在最前面的柜台，所以可能是前面一排柜台，那这些柜台的基本业务人员。往后是一层层的主管往后坐。很有趣的是，很可能是一个大办公室，大主管坐最后面，那再往前是一排排的主管。啊这个时候你就会看出,这么一个啊做越后面的人他的地位是越高的。 这是基本上大部分情况。 但是有一些时候呢，比方说象我们在学校里头，学校有，这个是可能，当然有一些比方说是当（ ）长院长，当系主任去了，啊这时候他的办公室比较大。但是在研究室的分配上面，我们并不会因为这一个人地位比较高，我们就给他一个比较大的办公室。他要（）。我们常会选用抽签的方式，所以在某些情况之下， 我们也会注重这种平等。不过基本上我们也会尊重权威。所以你有这个权威，我们可以允许你有这种。但是为了一个族群，或是为了一个团体的和谐，有些时候我们会用一点比较平等的方式，很含蓄的来把我们大家人跟人之间的那个平等关系表现出来。所以呢，啊，由于过去大概在啊这个农业社会越有钱的人那住深宫内院 ，那没有钱的住门房。那所以大部分的公司有这个安排，总经理董事长坐最后面，那一般的经理就是一个办公室有阁间的。啊，一般的课长，啊或是小主管他大概是坐open，开放式空间。啊不过现在慢慢慢，因为一般的员工已经受西方的思想影响，所以大部分的时候呢，我们也都会有时候很可能的话应该要有一些不同安排。所以的话基本上来讲，大的房间，好的位置， 好的view， 内部的地方，这是属于高级的人来住的。一般的员工就在外边。好，这是台湾的一般方式，谢谢！ |