Human Relations: Interpersonal Job-Oriented Skills, 12e (DuBrin)
Chapter 1 A Framework for Interpersonal Skill Development
1.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) Interpersonal skills are quite important because they enable you to
A) cover up for deficiencies in technical skills.
B) become successful in business without working so hard.
C) connect with other people leading to business success.
D) trick people into believing that you are competent.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
2) A competency related to soft skills is
A) developing software for measuring employee attitudes.
B) statistically analyzing employee turnover.
C) being able to accurately interpret other people’s emotions.
D) conducting an inventory of employee theft.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
3) Which one of the following is not a specific competency related to soft skills?
A) examining a person’s Internet history to look for credit problems
B) being able to accurately interpret other people’s emotions
C) avoiding negative gossip
D) being able to cooperate with others to meet objectives (teamwork)
AACSB: Reflective thinking
4) The difference between soft skills and hard skills refers to the distinction between
A) intellectual and mechanical skills.
B) personal and job-related skills.
C) irrelevant and relevant skills.
D) interpersonal and technical skills.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
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5) Conrad has a specific goal related to his job as a police detective, so he is likely to
A) forget the purpose of being a police detective.
B) question why he became a police detective.
C) decrease his performance.
D) improve his performance.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
6) Sara sets the stretch goal of increasing her productivity on evaluating claims forms by 20
percent, meaning that
A) it will be quite easy for her to attain the 20 percent improvement.
B) she will have to improve her motivation to even try to attain the 20 percent.
C) with some concentrated effort she can reach the 20 percent.
D) her chances of increasing productivity by 20 percent are quite small.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
7) Troy establishes the following goal: “I am going to be a great success in my job next year.”
The biggest flaw in his goal is that it
A) is not specific enough.
B) will not stretch him.
C) is too negative.
D) is set for different time periods.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
8) Ashley, a customer service supervisor, has high self-efficacy. She is therefore more likely to
think that her goal of becoming a CEO is
A) ridiculous.
B) realistic.
C) too mercenary.
D) too people-oriented.
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9) Charlie is applying the model for improving interpersonal skills to become a better listener. He
assesses reality by
A) conducting an Internet search of the feasibility of improving listening skills.
B) observing how well interviewers on television listen to their guests.
C) asking a few people how good his listening skills are right now.
D) doing research on how well listening contributes to career success.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
10) An example of an action plan to help Jack become more patient would be for him to
A) set a goal of becoming more patient.
B) receive counseling about his impatience.
C) ask friends if he is really impatient.
D) figure out how far he is from his goal of being more patient.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
11) In the learning model, self-discipline is an especially important contributor to
A) waiting to get started.
B) changing a goal.
C) creating an action plan.
D) implementing the action plan.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
12) Most people who know Samantha well perceive her to be quite rude. Samantha is most likely
to work on becoming less rude when she
A) feels that her rudeness is hurting her relationships with people.
B) meets a few rude people herself.
C) receives some rude comments from a few Facebook friends.
D) reads an article about the problems associated with being rude.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
13) To improve our interpersonal skills, we must first be aware of
A) the difference between interpersonal and technical skills.
B) our level of intelligence.
C) the ideal we are striving to attain.
D) how we are perceived by people who interact with us.
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14) The first step toward change is
A) identification of the problem.
B) low self-esteem.
C) a desire for perfection.
D) satisfaction with the status quo.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
15) The purpose of the developmental need inventory is to identify needs for development and
A) draw action plans for bringing about needed change.
B) draw a self-portrait.
C) compare past successes with future goals.
D) compare one’s own developmental needs with those of others.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
16) A universal training need refers to
A) the most comprehensive type of need for change.
B) an area for skill improvement shared by most people.
C) a training need of most career failures.
D) an urgent need for development.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
17) An individual’s developmental need
A) must be chosen from universal training needs.
B) becomes converted into a universal training need.
C) can never be a universal training need.
D) might also be a universal training need.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
18) The need for leadership skills has increased in the modern organization because
A) many more permanent leadership positions have been created.
B) more people are required to exercise leadership at least part of the time.
C) many entry-level workers now have “leader” in their title.
D) companies have de-emphasized the importance of groups and teams.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
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19) A current trend in helping employees grow and develop is that
A) employees are instructed to “sink or swim.”
B) managers expect schools to take care of all growth and development.
C) workers are expected to help coworkers.
D) employees are given three months to grow and develop.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
20) A good example of informal learning would be
A) taking a course in golf or tennis.
B) attending a seminar with friends.
C) studying a text or manual as part of a course.
D) acquiring a skill by observing a more experienced worker.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
21) A good opportunity for Addison to engage in informal learning at her company would be to
A) get tuition assistance so she can take a relevant course.
B) enroll with a few friends in a company-sponsored course.
C) receive coaching from a more experienced worker.
D) take a course given on the Internet.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
22) A trend in business with respect to learning is to
A) use formal classroom learning just for hard skills.
B) integrate formal classroom learning with informal learning.
C) use informal learning to replace formal classroom learning.
D) assign workers to either formal classroom learning or informal learning.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
23) Which one of the following has been identified as a powerful on-the-job learning
experience?
A) influencing others when you have considerable authority
B) dealing with problem employees
C) dealing with familiar responsibilities on a regular basis
D) having a boss who agrees with you in almost all areas
AACSB: Reflective thinking
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24) Which one of the following experiences is likely to do you the most good in terms of
developing job skills?
A) being assigned familiar responsibilities
B) dealing with routine assignments
C) having a boss with serious shortcomings
D) being paid more than your peers
AACSB: Application of knowledge
25) Which one of the following represents the best opportunity for practicing influence skills?
A) attempting to influence people over whom we have no formal control
B) attempting to influence people who report to us
C) attempting to influence family members
D) attempting to influence ourselves
AACSB: Application of knowledge
Job Scenario, Multiple-Choice
Barney, a 25-year-old locksmith is pleased with how busy he is on the job. He notes that people
locking themselves out of their cars and homes make up about 25 percent of his business, and the
demand for these types of rescues seems recession proof. Barney is also quite active in other
aspects of locksmith work such as installing locks in offices and homes. Barney’s employer is
doing quite well, and he aspires to become a manager in the firm. Barney notes, however, “My
boss said he won’t promote me until I get along better with people. He says that too many
customers complain about how I deal with them. I get the job done, but some of them say I’m
kind of a jerk. Or they might say that I’m a little rude. My boss even told me that two different
customers said they were pleased with the work I did, but they do not want me back again.”
26) A good starting point for Barney in improving his interpersonal skills would be to
A) simply avoid talking to customers as much as possible.
B) explain to his boss that some of the statements he is making are defamatory.
C) get as much specific feedback as possible about his alleged interactions with customers.
D) make up a statement of universal training needs for himself.
AACSB: Analytical thinking
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27) A realistic goal for Barney right now related to interpersonal skill development might be,
A) “Increase by 25% my number of positive interactions with customers this year.”
B) “Get my boss off my back within one month.”
C) “Become a locksmith widely known for his interpersonal skills.”
D) “Stop acting like a jerk with customers.”
AACSB: Application of knowledge
1.2 True/False Questions
1) An analysis of employment ads found that being a person who is rewarding to deal with is a
key indicator of employability.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
2) The ability to interact effectively with other people is important mostly for jobs of a
nontechnical nature.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
3) Workers are more likely to get fired because of poor attitudes, inappropriate behavior, and
problems in interpersonal relationships than poor technical skills.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
4) An example of a competency related to soft skills is calmly arriving at resolutions to conflicts.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
5) As the work environment has become more technological, the demand for interpersonal skills
has decreased.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
6) So long as a supervisor is highly intelligent, he or she does not need much in the way of soft
skills.
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7) For purpose of interpersonal skill training, a goal can be considered a desired state of affairs.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
8) Expressing your goals in terms of what you want to avoid doing is more effective than
positive goal statements because attempting to avoid embarrassment is a powerful motivator.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
9) An example of a goal statement expressed positively is “I will reduce negativity in my
department this upcoming year by as much as 25 percent.”
AACSB: Application of knowledge
10) General goals tend to work better than specific goals because the general goals pin you down
less in terms of what you want to accomplish.
AACSB: Analytical thinking
11) Jenna wants to smile more frequently in her interactions with people. The goal, “smile more
frequently in my interactions with people,” might therefore be more effective than “get rid of my
ugly frown in my interactions with people.”
AACSB: Application of knowledge
12) Jason has low self-efficacy, so he will tend to regard most of his work goals as being realistic
even when the goals are difficult.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
13) An effective sequence for making goal-setting effective is to first develop an action plan,
then establish a goal.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
14) Short-range feedback is usually sufficient to measure the effectiveness of skill development.
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15) When an interpersonal skill becomes a habit, it loses its effectiveness.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
16) The learning model proceeds in this sequence: Goal → assessing reality → action plan →
feedback on actions → frequent practice.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
17) Michelle is quite content with her ability to relate to people from different cultures, so she is
likely to establish the developmental need of enhancing her cross-cultural skills.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
18) An example of a developmental need would be, “I become flustered when I talk to people
who hold important positions.”
AACSB: Reflective thinking
19) When you think through feedback you have received from others as a guide to selecting a
developmental need, the same feedback you have received from several people is likely to be the
most accurate.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
20) The results of performance evaluations are a recommended source of feedback for
determining developmental needs.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
21) Brad, a sales professional, is a top performer who is well liked by his employer and
customers, yet he most likely still has universal developmental needs.
AACSB: Reflective thinking
22) An example of informal learning would be to develop your Internet search skills through
chatting about these skills with coworkers during breaks.
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23) You can tell that you are participating in informal learning when beverages and snacks are
served during break time at a seminar.
AACSB: Application of knowledge
24) Dealing with unfamiliar responsibilities is known to be helpful in developing interpersonal
skills on the job.
AACSB: Interpersonal relations and teamwork
25) One of the biggest inhibitors to developing effective interpersonal skills is to have a boss you
cannot get along with.
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