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Sample Response to GMAT AWA Issue Questions
9.
“Employees should keep their private lives and personal activities as
separate as possible from the workplace.” Discuss the extent to which
you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views
with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or
reading.
Whether employees leave their personal lives entirely behind them when
they enter the workplace has became a controversial issue since
different people hold different opinion due to their respective angles.
Some claim that integrating personal life with work can foster a
workplace ambiance that helps everyone do a better job. Others, on the
contrary, argue that employees should not allow their personal lives to
interfere with their jobs. As far as I am concerned, I shall agree that
employees should keep their private lives and personal activities as
separate as possible from the workplace. My point of view will be
strongly supported by the following three reasons.
In the first place, the most important reason for my view is that
entering the workplace with private affairs and personal activities
reduces efficiency of the company. As we know, employees in a company
usually have the fixed working hours. If they spend time on private
affairs and personal activities, it would undoubtedly reduce the time
for working, and thus making the company in a low efficiency. Hence,
excessive chatting about non-business topics, and the like, are always
distracting.
Another point worth noticing is that doing private affairs in the
workplace means dishonor to other employees and has bad effects on them.
For example, one of my colleagues always telephoned her boyfriend in a
loud voice in the office. Working in the same office, we sometimes could
not stand such loud voice. Furthermore, it is unfair because we were
working hard while she was dealing with private affairs. Soon, other
colleagues imitated her to enjoy personal activities in the workplace.
Hence, it is obvious that doing personal activities in the workplace is
like an infectious disease that can easily spread throughout the whole
company.
Of cause, it maybe true that employees who are too aloof --sharing
nothing personal with others --may be resented by coworkers who perceive
them as arrogant, unfriendly, or uncooperative. On the other hand,
sharing private lives and personal activities in workplace may
strengthen the communication among employees that is likely to reinforce
the organization in some condition. However, this alone does not
constitute a sufficient support to the idea that injects personal life
into the workplace.
In sum, I believe that employees should keep their personal lives
separate from the workplace. Although there are some circumstances in
which bringing one's personal life to the job may be productive, for
many reasons it is a good idea not to inject personal life into the
workplace.
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