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Business Communication
Q:
Using platitudes will give readers the sense that you have a condescending attitude.
Q:
Writing "I am sure that you will agree" in a business letter conveys an appropriate level of confidence.
Q:
Revise these sentences to conform to standard business communication principles. Add details as needed.a. If you want to order a copy of the training video, call 1-800-555-1234.b. I hope that my analogies help you understand the hierarchical structure of a file server.c. Perhaps you'd like to try the facial cream for a 30-day trial period. You might be pleased with the results.d. I realize that you are a busy account executive, but we would appreciate your completing this questionnaire.e. I know that my qualifications are worthy of an interview.f. Customers like you are this company's most valuable asset.g. Surely you realize that our business can't exist if you do not pay your bills on time.h. I am very surprised that you didn't think you'd win the election for student body president.i. Assume you are comparing the following features of two computer systems. Write a sentence that emphasizes the best feature of each system. Then write a sentence that compares the two systems in terms of memory. Finally, write a sentence comparing them in terms of capacity and stating that the lower hard-drive space is sufficient for your needs.Feature21 st CenturyWizardHard drive40.5 GB35 GBCost$2,850$2,500RAM (memory)64 MB64 MBMonitor Size15"19"j. The well-written report was prepared by the new assistant. (Emphasize the doer of the action.)k. The female supervisor will discuss the dress code for male assistants.l. We need more manpower to get the project done on time.m. Businesswomen like the extended mall hours during the holiday season.n. Mr. Johnson and Emily Warden will attend the board meeting.o. Each restaurant waiter and waitress must purchase his or her own attire.p. Each student must submit his report by the end of the month.q. The plaintiff's 60-year-old Hispanic attorney is known for winning cases.r. The snack machine gypped me out of my money.s. Teresa and Mindy, two lesbian secretaries, are great proofreaders.t. I mailed the money order on Monday.u. We have already budgeted money for another charity.v. You failed to indicate the number of dependents on the tax form.w. You need more evidence to support your claim.
Q:
In what situations should you not focus attention on the reader?
Q:
What is the "you" attitude? What are the major principles of the "you" attitude?
Q:
Revise the following sentences to conform to standard business communication principles. Add appropriate details as needed to complete the ideas.
a. There is no reason for the manager to criticize the intern's performance.
b. The warranty does notcover labor charges.
c. Your account will be delinquent if you do not pay the amount owed by March 1.
d. Our company is unable to contribute to your charitable organization.
Q:
Discuss the following principle: "Prefer positive language." Specifically, what are the general assumptions and guidelines? What words should you avoid?
Q:
List five of the seven strategies for emphasizing ideas.
Q:
Explain how the placement of an idea affects its emphasis. Discuss how much emphasis each section of a message receives, and provide examples of what types of information should be placed in each section.
Q:
Describe the levels of emphasis conveyed by (a) a simple sentence, (b) a compound sentence, and (c) a complex sentence.
Q:
Discuss the following communication principle: "Use a courteous and sincere tone." Explain how to achieve this tone and what to avoid. Include examples to illustrate your discussion.
Q:
How can you achieve a confident writing style?
Q:
Which of the following is an example of environmental noise?
a. You are expected to attend two different meetings that overlap each other.
b. You miss half the presentation because the speaker is not using a microphone.
c. You have ten minutes to read two reports before you prepare a summary for your boss.
d. You are closing a big sale to one client as another client calls with a question.
e. You receive urgent instant messages from several colleagues who need information right away.
Q:
Why are paragraphs that are too long or too short ineffective in business writing?
Q:
What are some ways that a company can integrate boundary spanning into its structure?a. build boundary spanning into job descriptionsb. support job switching and job shadowingc. redesign the physical environmentd. all of the above
Q:
Which statement contains abstract or ambiguous language?
a. Antwon's email contains five misspelled words.
b. More than 76% of the employees belong to a union.
c. At least eight associates submitted their expense reports after the deadline.
d. The office manager purchased 15 cartons of paper for delivery on Tuesday.
e. The customer service department received some complaints today.
Q:
Your author recommends implementing "error correction processes." Some examples of this include using ____
a. tracking processes
b. quizzes
c. opinion leaders
d. all of the above
e. a and b
Q:
Which of the following is an abstract word?
a. letter
b. memorandum
c. email
d. report
e. communication
Q:
How successful was Procter and Gamble with its disposable diapers in the Japanese market?
a. P & G lost market share when it didn't act on recommendations about how to better serve the market
b. P & G is the model success story: it has maintained its position as market leader by adapting the diaper to better fit Japanese babies
c. P & G entered the market late, but became the market leader because of its better understanding of the culture
Q:
Which of the following is an example of slang?
a. window of opportunity
b. applet
c. blog
d. e-commerce
e. spam
Q:
How can companies encourage activities that promote shared experiences and common goals?
a. Hold company-wide seminars
b. Encourage coauthoring of articles
c. Develop links between role counterparts in the other organization or divisions
d. All of the above
e. a and c
Q:
Which of the following best describes jargon?
a. a fad expression that is short-lived
b. a polite expression that is used to soften the impact of an unpleasant situation
c. a cultural tradition
d. efficient terminology when communicating within specialized groups
e. a denotative phrase that characterizes vertical communication
Q:
___ bring together people from different departments to manage a project.a. brainstorming sessionsb. matrix teamsc. cross-functional teamsd. parallel functional teams
Q:
Which of the following is the first verbal barrier that can occur in the communication process?
a. differences in interpretation
b. overabstraction and ambiguity
c. inappropriate use of expressions
d. inadequate knowledge or vocabulary
e. polarization
Q:
The "Sample Appraisal Interview" presented in the chapter between the banking employee, Chris, and the manager, provides an example of a "best practices" approach to conducting a formal appraisal interview.
Q:
Which of the following is a verbal barrier to communication?
a. A person's body language does not correspond with his spoken message.
b. A recipient's interpretation of a message is not the same as the sender's interpretation.
c. Two individuals have differing perceptions of a manager's comments based on their personal experiences with her.
d. People are not focusing on a convention speaker because the seats are too small and are placed too close together.
e. A customer service representative has a prejudice against customers who have a southern accent.
Q:
Documenting the formal performance appraisal review is not recommended because it will create a more defensive climate between the interviewer and interviewee.
Q:
Which of the following is nota verbal barrier to communication?
a. inadequate knowledge
b. differences in interpretation
c. language differences
d. inappropriate use of expressions
e. specific, concrete words
Q:
Strengths of the critical incidents appraisal technique are that it: 1) focuses on employee behavior, 2) provides specific evidence and 3) avoids appraisals of employee personality.
Q:
Savvy managers respond to the grapevine in their organization by
a. slowing down the free flow of information.
b. identifying the filters that affect employees' perceptions.
c. sharing all news with employees, whether positive or negative.
d. counteracting the horizontal flow of information.
e. extending the network to the top of the organization.
Q:
Most employees are satisfied with the information about how they are being judged.
Q:
Which statement about the grapevine is correct?
a. It moves information rapidly through the organization.
b. It is less active during times of uncertainty, such as layoffs, mergers, and branch closings.
c. Most of the information communicated through the grapevine pertains to personal matters.
d. Information spread through the grapevine is usually incomplete.
e. It is not an important communication network in large organizations.
Q:
A majority of employees (61%) believe that their organization tolerates poor performers and over 40% of employees say their good work goes unrecognized.
Q:
Which of the following is another term for the grapevine?
a. upward communication network
b. lateral communication network
c. horizontal communication network
d. downward communication network
e. informal communication network
Q:
Your author's research reveals that employees are more satisfied with information about their job requirements than they are with information about how they are being judged.
Q:
If a manager does an effective job of providing feedback on a day-to-day basis, there is little need to perform a regular performance appraisal.
Q:
It is appropriate for a manager to focus on an employee's personality characteristics during a performance appraisal.
Q:
A bank manager says to one of her employees, "You do a nice job explaining savings products to our customers." How would you evaluate this feedback?
a. It's effective: it's positive feedback and likely to be motivating to the employee
b. The manager could explain what "nice job" means by discussing specific behaviors the employee engages in
c. The manager could discuss the importance of explaining savings products and how it's linked to the company values (e.g., customer service)
d. All of the above
e. b and c
Q:
Which statements are true?
a. Few employees receive useful feedback about their performance
b. A company should place more emphasis on designing an effective formal performance appraisal process than on communicating informal feedback
c. A manager should focus only on the positive accomplishments of the employee
d. a and b
e. a and c
Q:
If a reviewer tends to give average ratings on performance items regardless of actual performance, the appraiser is exhibiting what rating bias?
a. leniency
b. central tendency
c. recency
d. none of the above
Q:
What can be done to minimize potential legal challenges in the appraisal process?
a. Train appraisers to focus on behavioral, observable, and objective evidence
b. Encourage employee participation in the process
c. Do not allow employees to respond to the review
d. All of the above
e. a and b
Q:
What is the best appraisal technique?
a. rank order
b. critical incidents
c. rating scales
d. a and b
e. none of the above; it depends on the objective of the appraisal
Q:
A supervisor creates a mechanism for employees so that they receive feedback about their performance from the job itself. This is called ______feedback.
a. job-specific
b. job-inherent
c. task-specific
d. task-inherent
Q:
The basic questions to address when developing a successful feedback system include all of the following excepta. Do employees know their job responsibilities?b. Do employees know the standards of evaluation?c. Do employees effectively communicate with other organizational members?d. Do employees receive useful informal feedback?e. Do employees receive useful feedback from performance appraisals?
Q:
Your author recommends focusing more on quantitative (rather than qualitative) data when managing the data-information relationship.
Q:
Researchers believe that 80-85% of a company's knowledge is hard-to-access tacit knowledge.
Q:
____ usually takes the form of procedures and recipes.
a. data
b. information
c. knowledge
d. action
Q:
"Data which provides relevant clues or news" best defines
a. data
b. information
c. knowledge
d. action
Q:
Your author believes that effective managers stick to a few specific channels rather than use a portfolio of channels to send and receive communications.
Q:
Once a user determines the value of a communication channel, the value will stay pretty much the same over time.
Q:
Your author discusses how the social media threat of "misappropriation" is far more likely to be a serious concern than "misinformation" or "memory."
Q:
Your author suggests that due to the pace of organizational events, speed is more important than completeness of the message.
Q:
If a person is effective using one type of communication channel, the chances are good that the person will be effective using other channels.
Q:
Your author argues that the benefits, costs and value of channels are relatively fixed over time and do not vary much at different organizational levels.
Q:
According to the Diffusion of Innovation model, what category of technology adopters tend to be the most venturesome and seek out new opportunities?
a. Laggards
b. Early Majority
c. Late Majority
d. Innovators
e. Early Adopters
Q:
The buyer who says, "I want a mobile phone that doesn't do too much because I don't want to complicate my life too much," is most concerned about what type of cost?
a. Learning cost
b. Collaboration cost
c. Contextual cost
d. Opportunity cost
Q:
Which of the following would be considered a "functional attribute" of a channel?
a. Micromessaging capability
b. Expense of training users
c. Capacity to signal status
d. Size
e. Weight
Q:
A successful 20-year old entrepreneur used the telephone almost exclusively as his preferred communication tool because he wanted to downplay his youth. He wanted to minimize visual cues because he thought that clients would not take him seriously if he used face-to-face channels. This exemplifies what congruency test?
a. sender's objectives compatible with the attributes of the message
b. message compatible with the channels
c. sender's objectives compatible with the channels
d. messages compatible with the receivers' characteristics
Q:
A midsize business (100 employees) wants to announce a new, somewhat complex, retirement benefits plan to its employees. What channel would be most effective?
a. memo
b. company newsletter
c. small group meetings
d. video
Q:
What is true about persuasive situations?
a. they are best handled with face-to-face communication
b. they demand that the sender quickly adapt the message to the receiver
c. they should be handled with a minimal amount of communication
d. a and b
Q:
Research about face-to-face groups reveals that
a. women talk more than men
b. higher-status people talk more than lower-status people
c. subordinates talk more than managers
d. none of the above
Q:
The criteria used by most senders in selecting a channel is ___
a. the personal warmth it conveys
b. feedback potential
c. cost
d. personal convenience
Q:
"The potential benefits that could have been received by selecting an alternate channel" best defines what type of channel cost?
a. opportunity costs
b. learning costs
c. coordination costs
d. switching costs
Q:
The wise leader seizes on the power of telling the right story and uses it as a tool to regularly communicate the core values.
Q:
"Our mission is to make the best damn product we can" would be considered an actionable cultural statement.
Q:
Your author suggests that it is not effective for an organization to develop symbolic reminders of the core values to reinforce the corporate culture.
Q:
Examining corporate slogans and value statements–rather than reflecting on the type of people in the organization -- are the most revealing ways of discovering the corporate culture.
Q:
In his scholarly work, James Kotter found that companies that lived by their stated values experienced four times more growth in revenues than did their counterparts.
Q:
The management theorist Warren Bennis points out how effectively The New York Times produced a culture of candor as exemplified in its handling of the Jayson Blair situation.
Q:
Your author suggests that cultural statements should be very general, such as "We are in the business of serving customers."
Q:
A healthy organizational culture is typified by a "family atmosphere".
Q:
A company's mission states that "Our employees are our number one resource." Based on the chapter, how effective does this communicate the culture?
a. the statement is too ambiguous, and may not motivate, inspire or compel the right action
b. this cultural statement is too narrow and might restrict employee behavior
c. this statement will most likely motivate employees and lead to heightened creativity
d. b and c
Q:
Your author suggests that if there is a large gap between an organization's stated culture and its actual culture…
a. it may result in employee cynicism and discouragement
b. it becomes a strong motivator for employees
c. it actually doesn't matter, as this will have little impact on employees
Q:
Your author suggests that the wise leader manages by
a. enforcing procedures
b. a set of rules
c. a set of values
d. all of the above
Q:
The Imperial, Inc. "upside down" organization chart presented in the chapter reveals a
a. a highly autocratic, centralized company
b. an "army-like" culture
c. top-down hierarchical structure
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
Q:
The best way to discover the culture of a company is to study
a. the type of people the organization hires
b. its symbols
c. its slogans and value statements
d. b and c
e. all of the above
Q:
The most critical time for the manager to communicate the corporate culture to the employee is in
a. the initial weeks of employment
b. the time period between the initial hiring and the employee's first day of employment
c. after the 1st formal performance evaluation
d. none of the above
Q:
What does the author recommend in communicating the organizational culture?
a. craft actionable cultural statements
b. link values with specific behaviors
c. use financial resources to reinforce values
d. a and b
e. all of the above
Q:
The fundamental difference between rumors and gossip is that rumors focus on events and information, whereas gossip focuses on people.
Q:
In which management orientation is the receiver seen as a passive information processor?
a. Arrow
b. Circuit
c. Dance