79) Doyle has recently graduated with a degree in chemistry and has taken a job as a research
scientist at a plastics manufacturer. The type of personal network that is likely to be most helpful to
Doyle’s career is a network
A) of the most influential and important figures in his company.
B) of good friends and family who know Doyle well.
C) made up of a wide variety of people from many different organizations.
D) primarily consisting of respected chemists and engineers.
80) If you want to cultivate your informal networks in an organization, you should
A) treat people at all levels of the organization with gratitude and respect.
B) nurture friendships primarily with those who are in top management positions.
C) guard your expertise by keeping valuable information to yourself.
D) impress your coworkers by describing how you were able to gain some special privileges.
81) Odette is the administrative assistant for Nora, the president of Nora’s Candies. Nora has many
demands on her time, and it is often up to Odette to decide who meets with Nora and when these
meetings take place. This makes Odette a ________ for Nora.
A) gatekeeper
B) subordinate
C) receiver
D) channel
82) Eliza was having lunch with some friends when one of them mentioned that they were
considering having a new home built. Eliza said, “Do you need an architect? My friend Ursula has
designed several beautiful homes. Let me give you her number.” In this example, Eliza is engaged
in
A) formal communication.
B) networking.
C) gatekeeping.
D) upward communication.
83) All of the following methods are recommended for cultivating personal networks EXCEPT
A) express appreciation when others give you helpful information.
B) put people in touch who might benefit from knowing one another.
C) gather secondary referrals from your personal acquaintances.
D) trust only those employees who hold positions higher than yours.
84) Steve teaches science at an elementary school. He mentioned to his brother, Jason, that he had
hoped to have a scientist come in to the class and talk about their work, but he had not been able to
get anyone to agree to do this. It turned out that Jason’s wife’s cousin, Olivia, is a zoologist. Jason
put the two of them in touch, and Olivia agreed to come visit the class. In this example, Olivia is a
A) mentor.
B) gatekeeper.
C) secondary source.
D) personal friend.
85) Lauren has recently graduated from college and is just getting started working as an editor at a
magazine. One of her coworkers, Patricia, has years of experience doing this work. She checks in
with Lauren regularly, explaining how to get things done at their magazine, giving her editing
advice, and making suggestions on how Lauren can advance her career. In this example, Patricia is
Lauren’s
A) supervisor.
B) gatekeeper.
C) mentor.
D) teacher.
86) One rule that should guide a mentoring relationship is
A) a woman should not seek a mentor because it may create the impression that she lacks
confidence.
B) ask your mentor to help you when you are seeking promotion.
C) build an empathic relationship with your mentor by sharing personal information.
D) if your mentor shares personal insights with you, keep them confidential.
87) It is appropriate for you to ask your mentor to
A) teach you the informal rules of your organization.
B) help you get a promotion.
C) intervene on your behalf with your boss.
D) provide emotional support during difficult times.
88) Ethical behavior is
A) a matter of following your employer’s formal guidelines.
B) clear in most business situations.
C) a low priority for many businesses.
D) an essential part of being an effective employee.
89) The utilitarian approach to communication ethics considers communication to be ethical if
A) you treat others as you would want to be treated.
B) you would be judged as ethical by a board of your professional peers.
C) you would be judged as ethical by the public if it appeared on a prime-time broadcast.
D) an act brings good to a majority of people over time.
90) Dmitri doesn’t like Val, one of his coworkers. Dmitri started to send an e-mail to his
workgroup, falsely accusing Val of stealing company supplies. Before clicking “Send,” Dmitri
reread his message. He decided to delete the message instead of sending it, fearing that his work
team members might consider his e-mail to be inappropriate. Which ethical consideration did
Dmitri use in his decision to behave in a principled manner?
A) publicity test
B) common-good approach
C) professional ethic
D) utilitarian approach
91) Jordan had planned to deliver a persuasive speech encouraging his classmates to buy Hummers
so they could be “cool.” After researching his topic, however, Jordan decided to encourage his
classmates to use public transit instead, because he felt that this choice would help reduce U.S.
dependency on oil and contribute to bluer skies for future generations. When Jordan chooses
communication intended to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people over time, he
is using the ________ to guide his communication.
A) professional ethic
B) utilitarian approach
C) justice approach
D) publicity test
92) When you resolve an ethical issue by considering which action promotes the development of
moral character in yourself and your community, you are using the ________ approach.
A) virtue
B) justice
C) rights
D) professional
93) Natalya and her coworkers have noticed that their boss, Gino, has been late to work a lot in
recent weeks. When they asked him about it, he blamed bad traffic. This has led to a lot of
complaining amongst Natalya and her coworkers about how unfair it is that Gino can come in
whenever he wants but they get in trouble if they arrive late. Today Natalya accidentally overheard
Gino talking on the phone with his doctor, and discovered that the real reason he is arriving late is
because he is sick. She considers telling her coworkers about this the next time they are
complaining about Gino’s tardiness, but decides that Gino’s privacy needs outweigh the need her
coworkers have for the truth in this situation, so she says nothing. In doing so, she has used the
________ to ethical questions.
A) publicity test
B) fairness approach
C) rights approach
D) common-good approach
94) Hugo enjoys doing craft projects as a hobby. He was recently put in charge of his team’s supply
cabinet, and he discovered that there are supplies that have been sitting unused for years that would
be great for his projects. He considered taking some home with him, knowing that they would
never be missed, but when he considered how bad he would feel if everyone knew he took them, he
decided it was the wrong thing to do. Hugo reached this decision using the
A) fairness approach.
B) publicity test.
C) professional ethic.
D) utilitarian approach.
95) Tyrone is considering whether or not to publish a story about a rumor he heard that the local
mayor is taking bribes. He ultimately decides not to publish the story because he feels that his
colleagues at the newspaper would criticize him for making such a serious charge without stronger
evidence to support it. In this example, Tyrone used the ________ to decide what to do.
A) virtue approach
B) rights approach
C) publicity test
D) professional ethic
96) As the workplace and world become more technological, the need for human communication
skills is diminished.
97) A recent survey suggests that many students overestimate their own communication
competence and underestimate the importance of effective communication in the workplace.
98) Your mother meets you at the door after a date and says, “Tell me all about it!” You glance at
her and walk straight to your room without saying a word. In this situation, you have been able to
avoid communicating, even though another person was present.
99) Spoken messages have a relational dimension.
100) Strategic communication is almost always unethical.
101) The communication model shows that the receiver often does not understand the message in
the way the sender intended.
102) Fax, e-mail, and voice mail are examples of communication channels.
103) Because messages can be decoded in more than one way, misunderstandings often arise.
104) If you forget to respond to a voice mail, your lack of response provides feedback to the person
who called.
105) If you are sending a message, you cannot be a receiver of a message at the same time.
106) Cigarette smoke blowing in front of your face can create a listening distraction that would be
classified as “physical noise.”
107) If a message is clear enough, it will be received and understood equally well regardless of the
channel by which it is sent.
108) One of the advantages of face-to-face communication when compared to written
communication is that it gives you more control over the receiver’s attention.
109) One advantage of asynchronous forms of communication is that they encourage careful
thought rather than rapid response.
110) A recent study indicates that employees who follow their organization’s preferred channels of
communication tend to receive high performance evaluations.
111) It is not a good idea to send a message via more than one channel, because that would create
redundancy.
112) Organizational charts visually represent both the formal and informal networks in an
organization.
113) In many organizations employees are hesitant to provide honest upward communication.
114) Businesses can usually profit from paying attention to the opinions of their employees.
115) When you complain to your supervisor that the new company software is not working
correctly, you are using downward communication.
116) When your instructor hands out an assignment description that you will complete on your
own, this is an example of horizontal communication.
117) Informal networks often provide more dependable information than formal (official)
networks provide.
118) Cultivating informal networks within and outside your organization can benefit your career.
119) It’s a good idea to link your LinkedIn account to your Facebook account, so you can share as
much information about yourself as possible with all your acquaintances.
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120) According to the common-good approach, we can test the ethics of a message by asking
whether the action provides the greatest good for the greatest number.
121) According to the publicity test, we can test the ethics of a message by asking whether we
would be comfortable if our actions were broadcast on television.
122) This text opens with a discussion of why it is important to hone our workplace
communication competence. Which of the reasons mentioned would you consider the most
important in your own professional life? Explain. Provide three specific examples of ways you will
benefit professionally if you improve your communication skills.
123) Select two of the “principles of communication” explained in your text. For each of your
chosen principles, (a) define it in your own words, (b) illustrate it with an experience from your
own life, and (c) explain how you can use it to improve your own communication.
124) Name the elements that make up the model of communication. Then, write a paragraph
describing how these elements work together in the process of communication.
125) Consider a situation in which a statement you made was misinterpreted by a listener (or when
you misinterpreted another person’s statement). Use the communication model to explain what
contributed to the misunderstanding. In your answer, include the following:
• What types of noise contributed to the misunderstanding?
• How did context affect the interaction?
• How did the channel affect the interaction?
• What role did feedback play?
Finally, suggest what you might have done differently to improve the accuracy of the
interpretation.
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126) Imagine that your boss has assigned you to conduct a 15-minute training session for new
employees. Your objective is to present guidelines for selecting the best channel of
communication to use for various types of messages. Prepare a detailed sentence level outline that
you could use to conduct this seminar.
127) Define downward communication. What is the most frequent complaint about downward
communication? Identify several functions of downward communication and illustrate these
functions with an example.
128) Define upward communication. Why is upward communication important? Why is upward
communication considered to be risky? How can the quality of upward communication in an
organization be improved?
129) What is horizontal communication? Why is it useful? What are some obstacles that can
interfere with effective horizontal communication? Suggest several steps a manager could follow
to help improve horizontal communication in his or her organization.
130) Explain how building a personal network could help you. Identify steps you could take to
develop your own network. Provide specific examples to illustrate each step.
131) Choose one of the ethical standards mentioned in your text. Explain what the standard means.
Then, apply the standard to an ethical dilemma you’ve experienced to show how the standard can
help in decision making.