Business Jargon

[skippybangkok]

THIS IS PRETTY UN-BELIEVABLE.... UK STAFF DONT UNDERSTAND THIS ?

Workplace jargon 'isolates staff'

Hot air balloon in a blue sky

Are bosses who talk of "blue sky thinking" just full of hot air?

Needless jargon in the workplace is baffling employees and widening the divide between management and staff, a survey suggests.

Investors in People said that the proliferation of phrases such as "blue-sky thinking" and "brain dump" was damaging to British industry.

About a third of the 3,000 workers polled said they felt inadequate when wordy terms were needlessly used.

Others believed bosses were being untrustworthy, or hiding something.

'Lead by example'

Many managers used jargon without considering the impact it has on staff said Nicola Clark, a director at Investors in People, which works with firms to boost their performance.

"Bosses need to lead by example, ditch needless jargon and concentrate on communicating clearly with their employees," she added.

"If used inappropriately, jargon can be an obstacle to understanding, which ultimately can impact on an individual's performance and an organisation's productivity."

A survey of Scottish workers found that more than half were fed up with bosses using management jargon with two-thirds preferring no jargon at all in the workplace.

"Communication is one of the hardest things to get right in any organisation," said Peter Russian, chief executive of Investors in People Scotland.

"Using management jargon doesn't make you a good manager.

"The most effective bosses recognise that one of the keys to engaging, motivating and enthusing people is to communicate in a way which everyone can easily understand."

YOU WHAT? A GUIDE TO WORKPLACE GOBBLEDYGOOK

Blue-sky thinking: Idealistic or visionary ideas - not always with practical application

Get our ducks in a row: Have arrangements efficiently ordered

Brain dump: To tell everything you know about a particular topic

Think outside the box: Don't limit your thinking to within your job description; be creative

Joined-up thinking: Taking into account how things affect each other - not looking at something in isolation

Drilling down: Getting more detail about a particular issue

Push the envelope: Improve performance by going beyond commonly accepted boundaries

The helicopter view: An overview

Low-hanging fruit: The easiest targets

[farangsay]

You have omitted the use of the word "issue" for "problem".

I know this is not a recent phenomenon but it struck me the

first time I heard it.

I know if some guy comes up to me in a bar and asks me

if I want an issue I can safely hit him because he is

obviously a politically correct pussy!

[GuestHouse]

Please, if you are going to take stuff off the BBC website, do give a credit, or better still do what ThaiVisa ask, add a link.

[Phano]

OP Busted!!

[lannarebirth]

Please, if you are going to take stuff off the BBC website, do give a credit, or better still do what ThaiVisa ask, add a link.

That's outside the box thinking. He was just being asymmetrically proactive.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thailly speaking, I wouldn't want to interrupt the business forum as if to snuff out the incentives that proslytize the entepreneurial Thai spirit in Thailand among Thais in Thai business, but....

Has this anything to do with Thailand?

[steveromagnino]

Thailly speaking, I wouldn't want to interrupt the business forum as if to snuff out the incentives that proslytize the entepreneurial Thai spirit in Thailand among Thais in Thai business, but....

Has this anything to do with Thailand?

I think what you mean to say is:

Perhaps it is better to take this issue off line, as it is not within the scope of the current parameters of our issues under discussion.

I hate how everything has to become a verb; we can offline that meeting. I also hate how everything is a product. Our service to clients product; I mean, why not just say service?!

THe reason why people do it is to look more clever than they are. Sir Humphrey in Yes Prime Minister still is the champion of talking rubbish;-)

[samran]

Thailly speaking, I wouldn't want to interrupt the business forum as if to snuff out the incentives that proslytize the entepreneurial Thai spirit in Thailand among Thais in Thai business, but....

Has this anything to do with Thailand?

Perhaps it is better to take this issue off line, as it is not within the scope of the current parameters of our issues under discussion.

Lets put that into phase two of the project shall we Steve?

[Crossy]

THIS IS PRETTY UN-BELIEVABLE.... UK STAFF DONT UNDERSTAND THIS ?

Nope, none of the quoted phrases mean anything to me. Yes, I am a Brit

OK, I admit to knowing 'thinking outside the box' the rest really mean nothing

[Thaddeus]

I used to play this all the time when the MD called me......

http://halife.com/games/jargonbingo.html

[opothai]

I know if some guy comes up to me in a bar and asks me

if I want an issue I can safely hit him because he is

obviously a politically correct pussy!

thanks

brightens up my day

[meadish_sweetball]

Also aptly known as 'corporate bullshit'.

You need some ammo for next time you will meet your boss - make sure he is as confused as you - the Corporate Bullshit Generator: http://members.aol.com/matt999h/bullshit.htm

[skippybangkok]

Thailly speaking, I wouldn't want to interrupt the business forum as if to snuff out the incentives that proslytize the entepreneurial Thai spirit in Thailand among Thais in Thai business, but....

Has this anything to do with Thailand?

ummmm.... I work in Thailand, and have been guilty of using some of the aforesaid words. So, I guess it does ???

For the web impaired.. yes, it was one www.bbc.co.uk or something like that.

[Thaddeus]

Also aptly known as 'corporate bullshit'.

You need some ammo for next time you will meet your boss - make sure he is as confused as you - the Corporate Bullshit Generator: http://members.aol.com/matt999h/bullshit.htm

Lovely..... I checked that link out and thought "I've heard all this crap before"

My last MD's staple was "success is a journey, not a destination" .... he would spend all his spare time reading the 'how to be a good influencer' type books, but never really improved himself as a person.

My last email to him ended thus "contentment is a destination, few people arrive, even less get off at the right stop"

[skippybangkok]

Also aptly known as 'corporate bullshit'.

You need some ammo for next time you will meet your boss - make sure he is as confused as you - the Corporate Bullshit Generator: http://members.aol.com/matt999h/bullshit.htm

Lovely..... I checked that link out and thought "I've heard all this crap before"

My last MD's staple was "success is a journey, not a destination" .... he would spend all his spare time reading the 'how to be a good influencer' type books, but never really improved himself as a person.

My last email to him ended thus "contentment is a destination, few people arrive, even less get off at the right stop"

LOL

Learn to speak like a consultant in 3 easy steps.

[autonomous_unit]

What is funny is that many of these are perfectly meaningful to an American. I wonder how much of this "corporate jargon" is just imported colloquialisms from the US? Particularly blue-sky and getting ones ducks in a row (like a mother duck). To me, they are clearly metaphorical and I have a hard time believing that a native English speaker wouldn't figure out most of them the first time they were heard.

However: I believe brain dump was coined in the computer space, where "core dump" was the writing out of all the data in the "memory core" of a computer. Brain dump didn't necessarily reference other "dump" similes, but of course they are all related if you trace back how "core dump" gets its name in the first place. Imagine a dump truck opening its gate and all the content pouring out at once... I didn't realize it had escaped out of the computing community.

Pushing the envelope was popularized in the aeronautical space, where it meant to push (an airplane) past its design envelope, e.g. cause stresses which might lead to failure under normal engineering tolerances. Any American male is well aware of this phrase if he ever went through a phase idolizing fighter jockies or "test pilots", or ever talked to someone who did! It is really more general engineering geek talk though, just appropriated by pilots through their training.

Hey, it's Thailand related since it is about cross-cultural language understanding.

[steveromagnino]

Thailly speaking, I wouldn't want to interrupt the business forum as if to snuff out the incentives that proslytize the entepreneurial Thai spirit in Thailand among Thais in Thai business, but....

Has this anything to do with Thailand?

Perhaps it is better to take this issue off line, as it is not within the scope of the current parameters of our issues under discussion.

Lets put that into phase two of the project shall we Steve?

Yes, we can blue sky that component of the project and set some CSFs for the RFP and distribute to all PTMs.

You spent too long at Accenture Samran! Bring out some of those oval bubble charts and work flow diagrams.

[PeaceBlondie]

I suspect that more than a few BBA grads from Thai universities are barely fluent in business English, let alone in the jargon. I once had a Thai matayom teacher, working toward a master's in public policy, to ask me to interpret an article from an MBA journal. The article was crammed with references to Greek mythology, German novels, psychological babble, American athletes - and a Thai is supposed to understand this?

I was often tasked the job of writing official govt. letters to US Congressmen, and my writing was reviewed by at least 5 levels. No jargon, simple sentences, just the facts. And tasked wasn't an acceptable verb!

[steveromagnino]

I suspect that more than a few BBA grads from Thai universities are barely fluent in business English, let alone in the jargon. I once had a Thai matayom teacher, working toward a master's in public policy, to ask me to interpret an article from an MBA journal. The article was crammed with references to Greek mythology, German novels, psychological babble, American athletes - and a Thai is supposed to understand this?

I was often tasked the job of writing official govt. letters to US Congressmen, and my writing was reviewed by at least 5 levels. No jargon, simple sentences, just the facts. And tasked wasn't an acceptable verb!

Ironic in that politicians are even less able to string together coherent english than business people. The script writers for some politicians need some basic english lessons.

How ironic that they should wish to actually read simple english!!!

There is some book out there which talks about building a vocabulary to create a membership; with its own codes, words and so on. I cannot for the life of me think what it is called as my only dealings with politicians tend to involve sore head and brick wall, so I don't generally read this sort of stuff. Have you come across it? American Author or British Author.