Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 14: Work–Life Balance
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following describes someone with a Type A personality?
a. a person who waits until the last minute before something is due
b. a person who stays at work late making sure everyone’s report is perfect
c. a person who shows up late every day
d. a person who shows up on time every day
2. Which of the following is an example of an information communication technology?
a. a punch time clock
b. a type of language used by two-way devices
c. a personal digital assistant
d. a rotary phone
3. Which of the following is a cause of burnout?
a. doing work with a great deal of variation
b. enjoying a sense of accomplishment and meaning
c. being under constant pressure to produce, perform, and meet deadlines
d. having a supportive boss who cross-trains employees
4. Every week, Sophia’s company has to post a job advertisement because someone has
resigned. Her company is experiencing which of these?
a. normal turnover
b. attrition
c. retention
d. internal burnout
5. At the organization Jim works for, he is repeatedly harassed by the majority of his coworkers.
Jim is experiencing which of the following?
a. Jim is being bullied.
b. Jim is being mobbed.
c. Jim is being threatened.
d. Jim is about to be fired.
6. Which of the following is a category of workplace bullying?
a. using an individual as a glowing example
b. withholding information and socially/physically isolating an individual
c. increasing workload of an individual
d. giving credit to individuals
7. Workplace bullies act as organizational cancer and can eventually lead to which of these?
a. house arrests
b. desired employee turnover
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c. killing the entire business
d. desirable employee attrition
8. Which is the second step that tasks you with assessing how (and if) your company or
organization can accommodate you?
a. know yourself
b. step back and reflect
c. your communication interaction
d. evaluate the professional context
9. During which phase of workplace mobbing, victims are labeled by the administration and/or
mob?
a. first
b. fifth
c. initial
d. fourth
10. What factor(s) contribute to full-time work outside of the home losing its appeal to
mothers?
a. a lack of work–life balance due to the “second shift”
b. Their partners are able to contribute more financially, allowing them to be able to
stay at home.
c. Science shows women desire to stay at home to be with their children.
d. unequal pay
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11. Work-related ______ and the negative habits that accompany this type of lifestyle have
long been known to have a detrimental impact on health?
a. stress
b. anger
c. projects
d. anxiety
12. One way for Type B workers to achieve balance is to do which of the following?
a. become a proactive communicator versus a reactive communicator
b. learn to say no
c. ignore small problems
d. continue being laid back as stress can be dangerous
13. Type A personality types can achieve balance by doing which of these?
a. giving control to other people
b. becoming proactive
c. assigning firmer deadlines
d. checking their colleagues’ work more often
14. Which of the following is an external trigger to anger?
a. being frustrated that you did not ask for vacation time by the assigned deadline
b. regretting that you didn’t participate in the software training session
c. being mad at yourself for procrastinating
d. another employee showing up late who has you cover for them
15. Which of the following is an internal trigger to anger?
a. frustration that you did not get promoted because you bombed the presentation and
were unable to sign the client
b. frustration that your team members did not do their part
c. traffic
d. irritation that your spouse does not understand your work schedule
16. How does the United States compare with other countries concerning vacation time?
a. The United States has less vacation days and less required time off.
b. The United States has less vacation days and more required time off.
c. The United States has more vacation days and less required time off.
d. The United States has more vacation days and more required time off.
17. Which of the following is an appropriate example of a family?
a. two college roommates
b. man living alone
c. mother and an adopted child
d. woman living alone
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18. Susan recently graduated from college and has moved into a new neighborhood close to
work. She likes her house, neighbors, and feels that her job offers long-term security and
advancement. This is an example of which of these?
a. work–life balance
b. community
c. family
d. boundary
19. Why is it important for organizations to promote healthy work–life balance?
a. Employees will not seek promotions or raises so often.
b. Workloads can be increased to each employee.
c. Employees become more committed to their work.
d. Employers can reduce vacation time.
20. Jake recently made changes in his office to allow employees more time with their families.
During that time, Jake noticed a marked drop in employee turnover. Jake has increased which
of the following?
a. employee retention
b. employee attrition
c. employee growth
d. employee self-esteem
21. What pitfall should Type B personalities avoid?
a. controlling every aspect of a project
b. allowing slackers to get away with doing next to nothing
c. covering for an absent employee
d. doing all of a group’s work to stay ahead of a deadline
22. Which of the following applies to workplace bullying?
a. Bullying does have a direct influence on organizational productivity.
b. Workplace bullying is often reported to HR.
c. Bullies tend to extinguish the stars and go-to employees.
d. Workplace bulling can only be intentional behavior.
23. Chris works at an IT company in the customer service department. At his job, Chris is
constantly picked on by the IT technicians who make fun of his lack of technical knowledge. This
is an example of which of these?
a. workplace bullying
b. singling out
c. workplace mobbing
d. workplace belligerence
24. Which of the following is true about technological boundaries?
a. Technology has grown more confusing in recent times.
b. Technology has increased our work-related tasks and maintenance.
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c. The amount of data we can carry has decreased.
d. Increased technological communication does not allow us to move as freely as
before.
25. Typically, on whom does the responsibility of caring for aging parents or in-laws fall?
a. grandchildren
b. sons
c. women
d. state or private health physicians
26. Your ability to monitor your own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among
them, and to use this information to guide your thinking and actions is known as which of the
following?
a. emotional intelligence
b. employee intelligence
c. leader knowledge
d. external time wasters
27. Brandon possesses the ability to monitor the emotions of his employees and to use that
knowledge to guide his thinking in the workplace. This is a case of Brandon employing which of
the following?
a. emotional intelligence
b. employee intelligence
c. leader Knowledge
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d. external time wasters
28. Claire has a difficult time determining how her employees feel about work and about her
leadership. She has no such informational basis to guide her thinking. Claire is unable to employ
which of the following?
a. emotional intelligence
b. employee intelligence
c. leader Knowledge
d. external time wasters
29. Paco has to go to two meetings today, two again tomorrow, and an all-day meeting on the
third day. Much of the same information will be disseminated at all of these meetings. Paco
sees this number of meetings to be excessive, they cut into his productivity, and he sees
nothing happy about attending them. Which of these would Paco consider to be the case with
all of these meetings?
a. internal time wasters
b. important parts of his overall productivity
c. opportunities to hang out with his workplace friends
d. external time wasters
30. Peggy is constantly behind in her work. During working hours, she has a tendency to attend
to more personal things, such as making calls to arrange for her nail appointments, grooming
for her dog, and her own hair appointments. These time wasters are a large part of the reason
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Peggy is behind at work and are brought on by her mindset, her motivation, and her bad habits.
Peggy is dealing with which of these?
a. internal time wasters
b. important parts of her overall productivity
c. Opportunities to hang out with her workplace friends
d. external time wasters
31. Taking vacation time will make you better at doing which of these?
a. experiencing external time wasters
b. reducing work–life balance
c. Experiencing internal time wasters
d. Communicating
32. People in the United States, like Paul and Paula, are not very good at taking vacations. Some
other countries have minimum requirements for vacation time off. Workers in Finland, France,
Germany, Norway, and Sweden must be given how much vacation time?
a. two to three weeks
b. three to four weeks
c. one to two weeks
d. five to six weeks
33. A geographic space identified as a place to work toward a good life is known as which of the
following?
a. big city
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b. small town
c. community
d. commune
34. Marsha wants the best employees for her company and those who are interested in
improving their lives. Her organization is located in a quiet suburb of a major city, but has easy
access to an amusement park, hiking, skiing in winter, a short drive to a beach, and many other
family-oriented activities. When she is recruiting new employees, she would have a tendency to
talk up which aspect of working with her organization?
a. big city
b. small town
c. community
d. commune
35. The accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated and shared between
an individual and his or her role-related partners in the work and family [life] domains is known
by which of these terms?
a. external time waster
b. internal time waster
c. work–work expectation
d. work–life balance
36. The absence of work–life balance, usually defined in terms of increased family conflict, may
be detrimental to which of these?
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
a. the health of people in the community
b. personal health and organizational performance
c. time wasting
d. burnout
37. The chronic exhaustion from persistent workload, decreased motivation, and apathy toward
work is known by which of these terms?
a. burnup
b. burnout
c. cultural fatigue
d. workplace mobbing
38. Experiences such as conflict, aggression, overload, and negativity cause professionals to feel
drained, used, abused, and unhappy. These are known as which of the following?
a. balance trigger
b. imbalance triggers
c. boundaries
d. attrition
39. Ryan feels drained, used, abused, and unhappy in his job and his life. He seems to
experience conflict, aggression, overload, and negativity almost daily. These experiences are
known by which term?
a. balance trigger
b. imbalance triggers
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c. boundaries
d. attrition
40. The final step, step back and reflect, asks you to determine which of the following is/are
happy with your work–life balance.
a. you
b. your employer
c. both you and your employer
d. the community
True/False
1. Approximately 35% of workers care for their aging family members.
2. Burnout can be caused by conflict between employees as well as workload.