Communicating at Work, 12e (Adler)
Chapter 2 Communication, Culture, and Work
1) Which of the following statements is true of the U.S. workforce?
A) In the United States, engineering companies that have embraced diversity are losing their
competitive edge.
B) Most U.S. workers were born outside of the country.
C) The ability to work effectively with people from other countries is becoming an essential
qualification for workers in all industries.
D) Very few foreign companies have set up operations in the United States.
2) Culture refers to all of the following except
A) inherited and innate characteristics.
B) sets of values, beliefs, and norms.
C) learned behaviors shared by a group.
D) shared interpretations that affect the behaviors of a group.
3) All of the following characteristics can help define culture except
A) religion.
B) socioeconomic background.
C) sexual orientation.
D) your neighbor’s religion.
4) Which of the following best describes the way cultural values develop?
A) A person who moves to another country in middle age will never adopt the values of the new
culture.
B) A Korean-born infant raised in the United States will have the same cultural values as her
cousin who grew up in Seoul.
C) We are born with a specific set of cultural values that does not change throughout our lives.
D) Culture is learned, not innate, and it will be influenced by a variety of factors in our lives.
5) Miriam was born to a Syrian refugee living in Turkey and was adopted as a baby by a couple
living in the United States. As an adult, she moves to Wales for a job. Miriam is most likely to hold
beliefs and adhere to norms that belong to the culture in
A) Wales.
B) Ukraine.
C) the United States.
D) Syria.
6) Which of the following statements about culture is most accurate?
A) Cultural variations rarely exist within a country.
B) The values we learn from our culture are important, but they do not affect our communication.
C) Most members of a culture can easily describe the “rules” of that culture.
D) We are usually not even aware of our own culture’s “rules.”
7) Our own culture’s standards are usually
A) not obvious to us.
B) easy for us to describe.
C) meaningless.
D) strange.
8) Cultural expectations are often ________ to the people who live and communicate within that
culture.
A) useless
B) invisible
C) overwhelming
D) disgusting
9) Liam was raised in Dublin. As a result, the dominant norms of Irish culture are largely
________ to Liam.
A) invisible
B) obvious
C) not applicable
D) a mystery
10) Which of the following is not true about organizational culture?
A) It refers to the unique set of values of an organization.
B) It shapes the degree of cooperation and competition within the organization.
C) The way employees interact with each other is governed by organizational culture.
D) Workers who do not conform to their organization’s culture are rewarded.
11) Which of the following are ways to learn about an organization’s culture?
A) Notice how you are treated when you deal with the organization’s employees.
B) Observe how clean the workplace is.
C) Read written correspondence from the organization to see whether it has a welcoming tone.
D) All of these are effective ways to learn about an organization’s culture.
12) One approach to learning about the culture of an organization that would probably not be
helpful is
A) during your job interview, ask the interviewer if the company treats its employees respectfully.
B) notice how you are treated when you visit the company.
C) observe how well the building is maintained.
D) chat with employees in the cafeteria.
13) Employees whose values match the values of the organization they work for generally
________ than employees whose values do not match the organization.
A) have less success in their careers
B) show more commitment to their jobs
C) seem less satisfied
D) change jobs more frequently
14) When employees choose not to follow the unspoken rules of the organization they work for,
they often
A) have fewer complaints.
B) promote higher customer satisfaction.
C) face negative consequences.
D) are rewarded by management.
15) Yolanda and her friend Dillon live in Canada, and they both consider themselves to be
Canadian. Even so, Yolanda, a woman, is a Catholic from a working-class family, while Dillon, a
man, is an atheist from a middle-class family. The different religious, gender, and social groups
Yolanda and Dillon belong to are referred to as
A) out groups.
B) co-cultures.
C) ethnicities.
D) norms.
16) Whether you are a Baby Boomer or a Millennial, the generation you belong to is an example
of
A) a co-culture.
B) a norm.
C) a society.
D) an attitude.
17) Which of the following statements about race, ethnicity, and communication is true?
A) Each race and ethnic group has a single style of communication that members use.
B) There are some patterns of communication that many members of various races and
ethnicities share.
C) Races and ethnicities deal with eye contact in the same way.
D) A person’s race or ethnicity is the sole predictor of that person’s communication style.
18) When a person is silent, how should you interpret this?
A) You should view it as a sign of timidity or shyness.
B) You should see it as a sign of dislike of you or something you have said.
C) You should recognize it as a face-saving response to a situation the person is uncomfortable in.
D) You should know that the meaning varies depending on the culture, the context, and the
individual.
19) Eye contact indicates
A) respect.
B) disrespect.
C) honesty.
D) a variety of things, depending on the culture.
20) The preferred means of dealing with conflict
A) is to remain silent.
B) involves talking about the conflict directly and openly.
C) involves avoiding clear expressions of disagreement.
D) varies across cultural groups.
21) When first-generation college students from working-class backgrounds arrive at college,
which one of the following skills are they likely to be proficient in?
A) how to follow rules
B) how to think critically
C) how to argue persuasively
D) how to speak assertively
22) Which of the following is true of children raised in middle- and upper-class families?
A) They typically learn to defer to authority.
B) They typically have a hard time speaking up.
C) They are frequently taught to think critically.
D) They usually have trouble arguing persuasively.
23) Which of the following is a true statement about children raised in working-class families?
A) They must often change their speech, language, clothing, and nonverbal patterns to be accepted
in professional life.
B) They are typically taught to think critically and devise creative solutions to the problems placed
in front of them.
C) They are unable to make the transition to working in a business or professional environment
because of their upbringing.
D) They are more likely than children from middle- and upper-class families to form persuasive
arguments.
24) Which generation generally has the most seniority in organizations, was raised to believe they
could make meaningful changes, and enjoys the pressure to perform in the workplace?
A) Generation Xers
B) Generation Zers
C) Millennials
D) Baby Boomers
25) Which generation prioritizes fun and creativity on the job and has a strong desire for work-life
balance, but also tends to have more conservative and traditional values?
A) Millennials
B) Baby Boomers
C) Generation Xers
D) Generation Zers
26) Which generation is, as a group, technologically adept and entrepreneurial and has older
members shifting into management roles?
A) Baby Boomers
B) Gen Xers
C) Gen Yers
D) Millennials
27) On the job, Millennials tend to
A) be technologically inept.
B) be workaholics.
C) have a strong need for recognition.
D) fear working in a diverse workplace.
28) Which of the following statements is true about Generation Z?
A) The oldest members are rapidly shifting into management roles.
B) It is the first generation to have access to the Internet from a young age.
C) In the United States, it is the most ethnically diverse generation in history.
D) Members tend to hold traditional and conservative values.
29) Speakers of nonstandard dialects of English are
A) perceived as more competent than speakers of standard English.
B) routinely recommended for higher-level jobs than speakers of standard English.
C) often recommended for lower-level jobs than speakers of standard English.
D) judged to have messages with more significant content than speakers of standard English.
30) Parinaaz grew up in India and recently moved to the United States. Although she speaks
English fluently, she has a strong accent. Which of the following statements about Parinaaz is most
likely true?
A) Parinaaz is likely to experience bias against her and greater communication problems as a
result.
B) Parinaaz is likely to be recommended for a higher-level job than a person with a neutral accent.
C) Parinaaz’s accent will result in her being treated much the same as someone from the Midwest.
D) Parinaaz is more likely to be recommended for a job with more public contact than someone
with a less pronounced speech style.
31) Which of the following statements is true about disability?
A) When interacting with people with disabilities, it is best to use group designations, such as “the
deaf.”
B) The lives of most people in the United States will remain untouched by disability.
C) The Americans with Disabilities Act limits its definition of disability to visible impairments.
D) Disability is nondiscriminatory and can impact people of all races, ethnicities, ages, sexes, and
classes.
32) The Americans with Disabilities Act has helped people with disabilities by
A) giving them preference in being hired.
B) eliminating their need to function in mainstream culture.
C) ensuring they get to be interviewed first for jobs and have longer interviews.
D) improving accessibility and protecting their rights.
33) Which of the following best describes advocates’ advice for how we should treat persons with
disabilities?
A) Act awkwardly around them.
B) Avoid assuming you know their needs and preferences.
C) Honor their disabilities by treating them differently than we would treat others.
D) Be certain not to use common expressions such as “See you later” because they could be
discriminatory.
34) Which of the following is appropriate behavior for communicating with a person with a
disability?
A) Be sure to communicate in a clear and understandable manner.
B) Do not attempt to shake hands with a person who has an artificial limb.
C) Be sure to pet and interact with service animals so they do not see you as a threat.
D) If a person uses a sign language interpreter, look at the interpreter while you are talking to the
person who is hearing impaired.
35) Which of the following is a good guideline for interacting with people who have a disability?
A) To prevent embarrassment, take care that you do not say “see you later” to a blind person.
B) When you are talking to a person with a disability, look and speak directly to that person.
C) An effective way to reduce your awkwardness and create a sense of familiarity is to lean on a
person’s wheelchair.
D) If a person with a disability has difficulty speaking, you can assist that person by finishing his
or her sentences.
36) Which of the following statements is true about male and female communication styles?
A) Male and female communication styles are often so different that it has been suggested that the
two sexes are two distinct co-cultures.
B) Research has indicated that there are no real differences in how men and women communicate.
C) Female and male communication styles tend to only differ in significant ways among the lower
classes of a society.
D) Male and female communication style differences are largely nonexistent until after people
reach middle age.
37) Which of the following statements is true about gender and sex discrimination in the
workplace?
A) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission interprets discrimination based on
gender identity and sexual orientation as sex discrimination, regardless or state or local laws.
B) Female full-time employees make wages equal to male full-time employees, but female
part-time workers make only 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man.
C) Thanks to the laws put in place by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
women no longer face sex-based issues in the workplace.
D) The differences in the career projections of men and women can be primarily traced to a lack of
interest in advancing professionally on the part of women.
38) Which of the following is true of military veterans in the workplace?
A) Military veterans tend to work better in competitive rather than collaborative workplaces.
B) Military veterans are often able to complete tasks in stressful situations.
C) Military veterans have a higher well-being in the workplace than other Americans.
D) Military veterans often find it difficult to adapt and solve problems in a creative and quick
manner.
39) Which of the following statements is true about customs and behavior?
A) It is generally safe to assume that everyone in a particular culture will behave similarly.
B) Similarities shared across cultures are intercultural similarities.
C) Members of a particular culture share the same communication styles.
D) Variations between members of the same culture are intercultural variations.
40) In international business, a good general rule is to
A) strive to get to know coworkers and quickly get on a first-name basis.
B) be aware that customs in most other countries are much less formal than in the United States.
C) address people using their formal title until they invite you to talk to them on a first-name basis.
D) follow your own customs, no matter what country you are in, because people do not expect
foreigners to know their cultural rules.
41) Which of the following statements is true about formality?
A) Ways of expressing the degrees of formality are limited to the use of names and titles.
B) Expressions of formality are essentially the same for every culture.
C) In some cultures, the expected level of formality means that you do not converse with strangers.
D) With a few exceptions, business exchanges with people from other countries tend to be
informal.
42) Which of the following is true about business cards in Japan?
A) Business cards are not important and are rarely exchanged.
B) When being given a card, you should hold it in two hands and carefully review it.
C) You should avoid giving out business cards unless you have a long-standing relationship with
the recipient.
D) After being handed a business card, you should quickly put it in your pocket without looking at
it.
43) Yasmine’s company is flying her to China to help broker a business deal, and she knows that
giving gifts is an expected part of business in the Chinese culture. Which of the following should
Yasmine do?
A) She should give a white gift to symbolize the purity of her intentions.
B) She should give an expensive gift to give her hosts the impression of company wealth.
C) She should not bring a gift because gift giving in business situations is not a U.S. tradition.
D) She should research Chinese cultural gift-giving practices and choose her gift carefully.
44) Which of the following statements is true about styles of dress?
A) Regional differences in clothing are becoming more pronounced.
B) When doing business abroad, it is best to err on the side of conservative dress.
C) Wearing the latest fashions is expected when traveling abroad for business.
D) The standard Western business suit is expected for men and women doing business abroad.
45) The statement “Time is money, so it should be rationed carefully,” reflects a(n) ________
orientation toward time.
A) monochronic
B) individualistic
C) polychronic
D) costly