English - Sentence Correction

At that time the White House was as serene as a resort hotel out of season. The corridors were [1]. In the various offices, [2] gray men in waistcoats talked to one another in low-pitched voices. The only colour, or choler, curiously enough, was provided by President Eisenhower himself. Apparently, his [3] was easily set off; he scowled when he [4] the corridors.

In a large company, (1) ——– people is about as common as using a gun or a switch-blade to (2) ———- an argument. As a result, most managers have little or no experience of firing people, and they find it emotionally traumatic; as result, they often delay the act interminably, much as an unhappy spouse will prolong a bad marriage. And when the firing is done, it’s often done clumsily, with far worse side effects than are necessary.
                                     Do the world-class softward organizations have a different way of firing people? No, but they do the deed swiftly, humanely, and professionally,
                         The key point here is to view the fired employees as a “failed product” and to ask how the process (3) ——~— such a phenomenon in the first place.