Totally out of his depth?

All right?

Okay, let’s read a few more media examples:

1. A HOUSEWIFE booted off The Apprentice has criticised Adrian Chiles, the presenter of the show’s spin-off programme, for perpetuating a “lame stereotype” about Essex accents.

Natalie Wood (pictured), 30, from Upminster in Essex, was fired by Sir Alan Sugar after he told the mother-of-two she was “out of her depth”.

But she criticised Chiles, who also presents Match of the Day 2 for the BBC, for asking whether her Essex accent held her back during the final task.

The blonde was hauled to the boardroom and left the BBC1 show in tears after her team made the least cash while selling modern art to the public.

Chiles, 40, who has a distinctive Brummie accent, asked Wood on the Apprentice spin-off show The Apprentice: You're Fired! whether her Essex accent had been a hindrance.

Wood, who completed an Open University MBA in business administration and a French degree before being selected for the BBC1 show, said: “He asked whether I’d been picked up over my accent.

“But how can you pick up on my accent when Sir Alan is sitting across the table? How can he say that?

“Essex is fantastic and I'm proud to come from Essex. A lot of people from Essex are very successful. I find it hard to swallow.”

Wood, the sixth person to be thrown out of the hit show, said: “He asked me whether I felt my accent hindered me in my particular task, whether I feel that people stereotype me because of my accent.

“It’s not my problem. I find the question very hard to take when Sir Alan, a multi-millionaire, is sitting opposite me with the same accent.”

“It’s a lame stereotype. It didn’t offend me but it might offend other people that are thinking, ‘what’s wrong with an accent’?

- The Apprentice: Natalie’s the next to go, ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk, April 19, 2010.

2. It is hard to read this and not think that Obama is either delusional or detached from the realities.

President Obama is totally out of his depth. He has no idea and no conviction how to fix the economy. He’ll say whatever sounds best depending on which way the wind is blowing.

The class warfare is the name of his campaign in 2012. Unfortunately Americans are now caught in President Obama’s political trap.

A shocking 50 million Americans live in poverty. That is 15 per cent of the population! The highest percentage in the developed world.

Economic recovery?

President Obama swore he would unite Washington and “Change” would come to America. He promised to unite the American people, bring unemployment down to 8% or less by the end of “year one” and that he would reduce the humongous deficit by half. President Obama is on track to add $5 trillion to the deficits in just four years.

The reality is that we are more divided as a country than ever and incredibly Obama the “uniter” uses class warfare.

- The U.S debt at $15.4 trillion as Obama claims economic recovery, Examiner.com, March 4, 2012.

3. IF a manager is bad at managing people, why aren’t they just demoted?

It’s often too complicated, say experts, even when demoting them would put them into a more suitable position.

Organisational psychologist Peter Doyle says in many organisations people get promoted to management because they're really good at their job. Technical skills are much easier to measure than people skills. But technical competence doesn't equal competence at managing people.

And once someone has moved up the chain it’s hard to move them down again.

If it turns out the person is a bad manager, there is usually a state of denial from all parties.

The person who has just been promoted feels they will be seen as incompetent or inadequate if they speak up and say they’re not right for the job.

“Their identity is inappropriately attached to the job title and status and so there’s a false fear - but a very powerful one - that stops people acknowledging they could step down from their position,” Mr Doyle said.

Peter Cotton, also an organisational psychologist, says the senior manager who appointed the new manager in the first place usually doesn’t want to admit they made a mistake.

“There’s denial and protectiveness from people who made the appointment. It’s an individual thing about egos, they don't want to admit they made a bad appointment,” he said.

Dr Cotton said the issue was more pronounced in sectors such as law, science, secondary and tertiary education and the public sector.

When a workplace is faced with a manager who is out of their depth, Dr Cotton said the manager needed to be given a chance to improve.

“To be fair you have to give them a fair go, identify the issues they’re having and work with them. And some people do work really hard to improve,” he said.

“But there are some people who just can't do that and sometimes you have to face the hard truth and try to move them on.”

But often it’s not straightforward and managers are left in jobs they’re not good at while issues go unaddressed.

Mr Doyle said this had a big impact on the talent in workplaces because employees lose confidence.

“People become demotivated because they see the wrong people being promoted to leadership positions. The best people will vote with their feet and go to different employers, which is the worst result, because often the ones who stay are not the best performers and can’t go elsewhere,” he said.

“You end up keeping a lot of the deadwood because they like the predictability of a mundane approach.”

- Why more people should be demoted, News.com.au, June 11, 2013.

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者張欣 中國日報網英語點津 編輯：王偉）