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Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 7: Strengthening Teams and Conducting Meetings
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following characteristics makes up a meeting’s environment?
a. prepared speakers
b. everyone in attendance
c. a prepared agenda
d. time
2. Laurel supervises shift workers at a call center. What is the best meeting option for Laurel
and her employees?
a. Keep one meeting time and assign someone from each shift to attend each meeting
and ask them to relay the information to their coworkers.
b. Alternate the meetings among shifts to show that all team members are valued and
respected.
c. Meet with one shift and the same employees every week
d. Do not have meetings; send memos to all staff.
3. During which of the following, the central form of team communication, can leadership be
shared, goals and purposes be defined, a team identity be developed, and innovation be
fostered?
a. meetings
b. announcements
c. agenda writing
d. brainstorming
4. When should an agenda be distributed?
a. several days before the meeting
b. during the meeting
c. only the secretary should have the written agenda
d. at the end of the previous meeting
5. Which is the best option for a leader deciding on who should attend a meeting?
a. Someone from each department should attend.
b. As many employees as possible should attend.
c. Only people who are contributing to the topics for that day should attend.
d. All the administrative staff should attend.
6. Which of the following is a designated leadership role?
a. coach
b. developer
c. coordinator
d. initiator
7. Jenny is the designated leader of her work group. Jenny should consider herself to be which
of the following?
a. recorder
b. secretary
c. coach
d. coordinator
8. Malika tends to dominate conversations during the meetings she attends. Which term best
describes Malika?
a. overtalker
b. contributor
c. attacker
d. clown
9. Terry has noticed that his colleagues at work frequently take breaks and leave the office to
take personal phone calls. These behaviors are known as which of the following?
a. not allowed in the handbook
b. norms
c. unproductive
d. roles
10. When groups are brainstorming, ______.
a. the more ideas, the better
b. only ideas that will work should be recorded
c. team members should record their own ideas independently
d. teams should discuss an idea before adding it to the list of possible solutions
11. Criteria refer to the standards used to make which of the following?
a. sure that a deadline is met
b. a decision
c. a change occurs
d. something out of nothing
12. What is the purpose of a devil’s advocate?
a. to push for a decision to be made in a timely manner
b. to point out obvious flaws in each solution
c. to make sure unpopular views are discussed
d. to provide the vote to make the majority
13. What can limit innovation and is a lose–lose approach to decision making?
a. majority rule
b. compromise
c. consensus
d. decision by leader
14. Which decision-making strategy is the most time-consuming?
a. decision by a leader
b. voting
c. compromise
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
d. consensus
15. A person in charge of a given task is known as which of these?
a. lead
b. leader
c. task manager
d. task organizer
16. A team investigating a problem that needs improvement within their organization have
begun to ask themselves “what if” questions. What mode is the team in?
a. explorer
b. artist
c. warrior
d. innovator
17. Stefan and his coworkers are attending a meeting and have concerns about a decision that
is about to be made but do not speak up because they do not want to be the voice of dissent.
The decision is ultimately carried through, to disastrous results. Stefan’s team meeting has
resulted in which of the following?
a. an organizational dilemma
b. cohesiveness
c. conflict
d. groupthink
18. Meetingthink results from which of these issues?
a. well-run meetings
b. true empowerment
c. effective leadership
d. overload
19. Needs and concerns of all parties involved are addressed under which approach to handling
conflict?
a. position
b. unite
c. fight
d. flight
20. Why do the warriors play such an integral role in groups?
a. They make sure the team is meeting its objectives.
b. Warriors ask the critical “what if” questions.
c. They make certain the plan is successfully implemented.
d. Warriors help convince skeptical group members to follow the plan.
21. Under what conditions should a decision be made by the leader?
a. whenever unruly group members will not cooperate
b. whenever a quick decision must be made
c. when the group is not offering helpful strategies to a problem
d. when the leader does not have the right personnel to make a decision
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
22. John’s team has recently been given a large project, and they need to generate many ideas
in a short amount of time. What innovative tool would serve John’s team best?
a. idea writing
b. role playing
c. nominal group technique
d. brainstorming
23. For what reasons do groups oftentimes fail to describe and analyze issues that can become
problematic?
a. People assume everyone already knows what the problem is without discussing it.
b. The group leader fails to set a proper agenda for the group.
c. Group members become too distracted due to monotonous meetings.
d. External pressures force the group to reach a decision too fast.
24. What group makeup can offer the most effective innovation?
a. a group with the smartest people in the department
b. making sure your group makeup has a good mix of people strong in different areas
c. a group that follows a strong leader with a clear agenda
d. a group that is friendly and works well with each other
25. Which definition correctly defines effective use of the round robin technique?
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
a. making sure the most talented people have the greatest amount of time to talk
b. allowing all members to listen and not interrupt while other team members are
speaking
c. listening to all ideas offered and carefully remove the least valuable one after each
round
d. making a list of all the ideas offered and leave the final solution to a group vote
26. Which approach defines team members as joint problem solvers rather than as adversaries?
a. unite
b. groupthink
c. nominal group
d. meetingthink
27. In the unite approach, which is a demand that includes each person’s solution to the
problem?
a. stance
b. platform
c. position
d. belief
28. In the unite approach, what are the needs and concerns underlying each position?
a. interests
b. stances
c. platforms
d. beliefs
29. In the unite approach, once you’ve stated the problem, the next step is to do what?
a. debunk others’ positions
b. promote your position
c. invite cooperation
d. expect to work alone
30. In the KEYS approach to achieving professional excellence in team communication, you
should do which of the following?
a. determine whether or not you want to be a part of the team
b. evaluate what is professional communication and what is not
c. evaluate who should be a part of the team
d. determine who you need to exclude from any communication
31. Which of the following influence whether a meeting runs effectively?
a. making a meeting mandatory for all employees, even when the topics do not affect
them
b. allowing topics to be brought up for the first time at the meeting
c. meeting participants
d. presenting the agenda as a handout synopsis after the meeting ends
32. Which of the following includes both the time and the place a meeting is held?
a. meeting environment
b. meeting pragmatics
c. meeting culture
d. a time at the end of the workday when attendees can be kept over
33. Groups mired in groupthink do not receive which of these from the outside?
a. feedback
b. financial support
c. additional input
d. friendship requests
34. Siobhan has been placed in charge of planning a meeting for her half of the company and
has to consider the place where the meeting can be held and what the best time would be
when the most necessary attendees can be there. Siobhan, in this case, has to consider which
of the following?
a. meeting environment
b. meeting pragmatics
c. meeting culture
d. a time at the end of the workday when attendees can be kept over
35. Corky is trying to make sure that the KEYS approach to achieving professional excellence in
team communication is a major priority in his life. To achieve success, Corky should do which of
the following?
a. determine whether or not you want to be a part of the team
b. evaluate what is professional communication and what is not
c. evaluate who should be a part of the team
d. determine who you need to exclude from any communication
36. Joaquin has been asked by the president of his company to form a collection of five-to-
seven members who will share leadership responsibility for creating a collective identity,
achieving mutually defined goals, and fostering innovative thinking. Which of these names this
kind of collection of employees in this case?
a. group
b. clan
c. team
d. cluster
37. Mel’s job is to be the corporate troubleshooter in his career path. Mel goes from remote
company location to location and corrects that which get in the way of corporate profits and
positive customer perception. As Mel often says, “It’s my job to get things done, not make
friends.” Which kind of role is Mel taking on in this troubleshooter position?
a. relationship
b. task
c. self-centered
d. team
38. Barbra is a member of a team that works well together and seems to have a positive way of
interacting with one another. It is Barbara’s job to keep everyone in this positive posture in her
team member capacity. Which of these roles is Barbara enacting?
a. relationship
b. task
c. self-centered
d. team
39. Which of these roles is generally dysfunctional that can interfere with the relationships
among members?
a. relationship
b. task
c. self-centered
d. team
40. To demonstrate that all team members are valued and respected, which of the following
should be considered when scheduling meetings?
a. Meetings should be on the day shift to give hope that night shift employees may
eventually earn a position to the day shift.
b. Meetings should be on the night shift so that day shift employees don’t miss work
going to a meeting.
c. Meetings should be alternated between shifts.
d. Meetings should be on weekends so that day shift and night employees don’t miss
work going to a meeting.
41. Which of the following is true about conflict?
a. Conflict should be avoided at all costs.
b. Only upper-level supervisors should experience conflict.
c. Conflict happens in our personal lives but not in the workplace.
d. Conflict is a valuable, needed resource in innovative problem solving and team
building.
42. Jacques is part of a group that is not experiencing conflict, and he is very proud of that.
What might be an issue with his group?
a. The group relationships are harmonious because of very good decision making.
b. Jacques’ company discourages conflict resolution.
c. The group is a team and not a group, so conflict does not exist.
d. Either a groupthink or a meetingthink situation exists within this group.
True/False
1. A team is distinct from a group in that within teams, members share leadership
responsibility.
2. Presentations are the central form of team communication.
