New
recruits to large organisations are increasingly baffled by jargon-filled
business language.
A
survey of 81 recruits to large accountancy, law, commerce and industry
organisations, found a wide range of problems, from coping with new systems to
internal politics. But the most common complaint, cited by more than two-thirds
of respondents, was the prevalence
of
jargon, or ‘management speak’.
The
HR department was one of the worst offenders, with one respondent reporting:
"Everybody is now referred to as ‘human capital’ by our HR department –
they’ll be getting us to learn Orwell’s ‘newspeak’ and ‘doublethink’
next."
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The
report, by recruitment firm Macildowie Associates, found that many companies
had left day-to-day English behind for a whole new language.
