Communicating at Work, 12e (Adler)
Chapter 5 Interpersonal Skills and Success
1) In a recent survey of millennial employees, the overriding characteristic identified for ideal
management was
A) the ability to work well with others.
B) the ability to give public speeches.
C) training in technical skills.
D) an outgoing personality.
2) Colleen is a millennial employee. Which of the following would most likely be true about her?
A) She does not expect feedback from supervisors to have suggestions on how to improve.
B) She wants to have professional and friendly communication with her supervisor.
C) She wants professional communication to be kept entirely separate from personal
communication.
D) She does not care why her supervisor is asking her to do something.
3) Which of the following is NOT a trait of an unpleasant coworker?
A) being nosy about other peoples’ business
B) delivering constructive criticism
C) bad-mouthing others
D) promoting one’s own contributions
4) Which of the following is NOT a trait of an unpleasant coworker?
A) bringing personal problems to work
B) distracting others from their tasks
C) focusing on work-related issues
D) talking down to others
5) The term “emotional intelligence” refers to
A) the ability and skill of interacting well with others.
B) a tendency of highly intelligent people to be emotionally imbalanced.
C) a belief that women are too emotional to be intelligent.
D) a person’s score on the personality questions found on most IQ tests.
6) Which of the following examples shows emotional intelligence?
A) Sean remembers most of the scientific contributions of Copernicus.
B) Tahira can juggle four balls while jogging in place.
C) Vijay knows Samantha has been overwhelmed with work and so delays talking about the next
project.
D) Kazuki could calculate complicated scientific formulas at the age of 12.
7) Which of the following best describes the role of emotional intelligence in determining
outstanding job performance?
A) Emotional intelligence has no impact on job performance.
B) Emotional intelligence has less impact on job performance than cognitive IQ does.
C) Emotional intelligence and cognitive IQ have about the same impact on job performance.
D) Emotional intelligence has more impact on job performance than cognitive IQ does.
8) All of the following are true about workplace dignity EXCEPT
A) workplace dignity arises from respectful communication.
B) workplaces in which workers treat each other with respect tend to be more productive than
those where workers treat each other disrespectfully.
C) workplace dignity increases worker satisfaction but does not impact an organization’s
productivity.
D) absenteeism is higher in workplaces where employees do not treat teach other respectfully.
9) Which of the following often results from reduced workplace dignity?
A) employees getting headaches
B) employees making costly mistakes
C) employees staying at their job for years
D) employees suffering from depression
10) A positive organizational climate
A) can occur even if physical working conditions are uninspiring.
B) does not vary from one work group to another within the organization.
C) only occurs in Fortune 500 companies.
D) has little effect on customers.
11) The term organizational climate describes
A) the amount of harmony in work groups.
B) the amount of productivity in work groups.
C) the underlying nature of relationships in work groups.
D) the underlying conflict in work groups.
12) An organization’s climate is most likely to be shaped by the
A) degree to which people feel valued.
B) level of compensation employees receive.
C) degree of human-relations training management has received.
D) number of messages sent and received.
13) A holacracy is a style of governance based on
A) individual autonomy, which involves equal say for all employees and evaluations by peers.
B) top-down management, which involves managers having more authority than other employees.
C) profit margins, which involves employees being promoted based on their contribution to a
company’s profitability.
D) popularity, which involves employees voting for who will be their manager every year.
14) According to the holacracy model used at Zappos, which of the following scenarios would be
approved?
A) Hideko goes through an extensive training period, which involves practicing skills she would
use on her job.
B) Mi Na receives pay raises based on her performance on skill tests.
C) Hans is fired from his job because he didn’t fit in with the company culture.
D) Bob is promoted based on his manager’s performance review.
15) When offering praise,
A) praise only with your own original comments; don’t relay praise from others.
B) praise only with broad sweeping generalizations.
C) praise consistently, even if you have to stretch the truth to do so.
D) praise steps of progress, not just perfection.
16) A guideline for giving praise effectively is
A) give praise as frequently as possible.
B) wait until someone has done a task perfectly to give praise, because praising a person’s steps of
progress is insincere.
C) use specific compliments that help the receiver recognize the exact behaviors you appreciate.
D) praise people only when they are present; don’t share compliments about people who are not
present.
17) Which of the following is NOT recommended when you are attempting to establish
confirming relationships with others in the organizational setting?
A) Attempt to focus on problem solving.
B) Be as honest as possible.
C) Use evaluative “you” language.
D) Demonstrate concern for others.
18) Which of the following types of statements is likely to promote a supportive climate?
A) descriptive statements expressed in “I” language
B) statements that focus on identifying who is to blame for a problem
C) indifference to coworkers’ needs and challenges
D) conversations in which both parties accuse the other
19) Which of the following is the best example of descriptive, not evaluative, “I” language?
A) “I feel like you’re being mean to me.”
B) “I worry when you come home late.”
C) “I think your report was awful.”
D) “I’m sick of your antics.”
20) Which of the following is an example of “you” language?
A) “I have to do a better job of throwing out runners who try to steal against us.”
B) “You and I have to work more on preventing runners from stealing against us.”
C) “Because you pitch so slowly, the opposing team stole six bases against us.”
D) “Last game, six runners stole against us. I’m concerned about that. Any suggestions?”
21) Which of the following can be characterized as a descriptive “I” statement?
A) “You’re not doing your share around here.”
B) “I’m worried about the way our customers will react to your report if it contains any errors.”
C) “There are three terrible problems with the job you’ve done: it’s late, it’s incomplete, and it’s
messy.”
D) “I refuse to work with a negative person like you.”
22) Which of the following demonstrates a focus on solving problems, not controlling others?
A) “You need to take on more responsibility next year.”
B) “Why didn’t you report your error to accounting sooner?”
C) “So, how are you going to get yourself out of this mess you’ve made?”
D) “Our ‘rejected products’ count has increased by 10% in the past month. Can you suggest any
remedies?”
23) According to Jack Gibb’s work on supportive and defensive communication, a supervisor who
________ is promoting a disconfirming climate.
A) focuses on solving problems
B) listens open-mindedly to opposing viewpoints
C) doesn’t show concern for the feelings of others
D) treats her subordinates as if they were equals
24) Attitudes of superiority increases defensiveness; attitudes of ________ tend to lessen
defensiveness.
A) equality
B) evaluation
C) control
D) indifference
25) All of the following are characteristics of constructive feedback EXCEPT
A) limiting the criticism to one topic.
B) failing to acknowledge the positives.
C) defining the problem clearly.
D) making sure the criticism is accurate.
26) Which of the following is an example of constructive feedback?
A) Even though Jin Woo is from a different department than Janis, he gave her some accurate
criticism of her work.
B) Sonya had to admit that Ivan’s criticism of her work was entirely accurate.
C) Ditmer focused entirely on the negative during his review of Charles’s work.
D) Na was surprised that Peng reviewed many topics during his critique of her performance.
27) If you were offering constructive criticism to an employee, which of the following would NOT
be recommended?
A) Explain the value of the improvement to the employee.
B) Be sure to mention several complaints.
C) Wait to deliver the criticism until you are certain you have the facts straight.
D) Offer to help the employee find a solution.
28) Which of the following are constructive responses to criticism?
A) Ask for examples to clarify the issue.
B) Never guess about the details of the criticism.
C) Paraphrase the critic to make sure you understand the criticism.
D) Ask what type of change the critic would like to see.
29) When you are delivering criticism, avoid
A) accepting partial responsibility for the problem.
B) offering to help solve a problem, if appropriate.
C) commenting about the person’s personal life (unless their personal life has a proven impact on
their work).
D) delivering the remarks in private.
30) Which of the following illustrates an effective critique of a co-worker’s performance?
A) “I didn’t have enough advance notice to arrange my schedule to attend the meeting, because the
notice was posted only yesterday. Can you find a way to send out the meeting date at least two
weeks ahead of time?”
B) “If you’re going to be inconsiderate enough to wait five days before you return my call, don’t
bother. I’ll go ask someone else.”
C) “You sure blew it when you fouled up your presentation, right in front of our best customer.”
D) “You never help me when I need it.”
31) Which of the following illustrates an effective critique of a co-worker’s performance?
A) “Well, if you weren’t so interested in going to night clubs, you might get to work on time once
in a while.”
B) “When you were late last week, we missed ten important calls. Why were you late?“
C) “I sure hate it when you show up late.”
D) “Last week, you were late three times, you didn’t finish filling out all the customer reports, and
you forgot to lock the file cabinets, too.”
32) One constructive, non-defensive way to effectively respond to criticism directed at you is to
A) avoid the person who is criticizing.
B) be sharp enough to verbally counterattack.
C) seek more information.
D) disagree with the criticism whether the critique is true or not.
33) If you disagree with another person’s critique of your performance, which of the following
responses would be the most confirming?
A) pretending to agree, even though you don’t
B) emphasize areas where you and the other person share the same point of view
C) ignoring the comment so as not to draw attention to your disagreement
D) none of these, because it is impossible to be confirming if you disagree with the other person’s
comments
34) When confronted with the criticism “You’re never back from lunch on time,” which of the
following statements acknowledges a critic’s perception as valid, yet does not agree with the
critique?
A) “You’re right; it was after 1:00 when I returned from lunch.”
B) “You weren’t back on time yourself; you couldn’t know.”
C) “It must seem like I’m never back on time. The boss has asked me to cover the phones in his
office from 1 – 1:30 every day, so I don’t get back to this office right away.”
D) “You’re partly to blame — you weren’t back by 12, so I couldn’t leave on time.”
35) Which of the following shows an example of a cooperative solution to criticism?
A) Claudio tried to explain why he made so many mistakes, but his manager wouldn’t let him.
B) Chen listened to her manager’s criticism and then explained that she received misinformation.
C) Bohai tried to suggest a way to prevent the mistakes, but his manager walked off.
D) The manager asked Ralph for a solution, but he was too defensive to offer any suggestions.
36) Incivility
A) consists of seemingly inconsequential, inconsiderate words and deeds that violate the
conventional standards of workplace conduct.
B) is always aggressive.
C) has no impact on a company’s productivity.
D) has decreased in the 21st century.
37) Uncivil communication depends more on
A) the sender’s intentions than the receiver’s reaction.
B) the receiver’s reaction than the sender’s intention.
C) the manager’s reaction than the sender’s intention.
D) the manger’s reaction than the receiver’s reaction.
38) All of the following could be examples of uncivil communication EXCEPT
A) an insensitive joke.
B) a false rumor.
C) withholding information.
D) telling a subordinate his or her behavior needs improvement.
39) Gustav talks on his iPhone while checking out library books for patrons. What form of
incivility does this example show?
A) multicommunicating
B) inappropriate humor
C) cyber rudeness
D) meddling
40) Constructive advice for responding when you receive a troubling message online is
A) find someone whose judgment you trust, and ask them for their perspective.
B) respond to the message immediately.
C) if the message has a bullying tone, mirror that same bullying tone in your response.
D) forward the message to all your Facebook friends.
41) Which of the following are effective ways to minimize cyber incivility in the workplace?
A) Review your e-mails to see if they may appear rude before sending them.
B) Compose yourself before responding to an antagonistic e-mail.
C) Research the capabilities of your e-mail technology.
D) Respond as quickly as possible to all e-mails to increase efficiency.
42) Strategies used by bullies include all of the following EXCEPT
A) controlling the resources that lead to success.
B) presenting concrete examples of ways a subordinate can improve their performance.
C) making threats.
D) setting deadlines that are impossible to meet.
43) Which of the following shows an accurate contrast between workplace incivility and
workplace bullying?
A) Workplace bullying is more aggressive than workplace incivility.
B) Workplace incivility tends to be more ongoing than workplace bullying.
C) Workplace incivility is more destructive than workplace bullying.
D) Workplace bullying tends to be more malicious than workplace incivility.