Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. Searching social networking sites to view an employee’s personal activities is illegal once an
employee is hired.
4. Using a network email address is the only way to ensure its security.
5. Information overload occurs when information, requests for feedback, taking on new
projects, responding to questions, answering the phone, and completing required online classes
for work on top of taking care of loved ones, children, pets, and other family matters leaves us
feeling as though things are spinning out of control.
6. Because of the distance a message has to travel, computer-mediated communication occurs
in asynchronous time.
7. For the purposes of organization, all email should be sent to one inbox and then filtered into
separate folders within that inbox.
8. Spam is a term used to describe the practice of sending fraudulent emails in an attempt to
steal sensitive information from the user.
9. It’s important that you become a more reflective communicator if you want to achieve
professional excellence.
10. Sometimes it is okay to send a joke through companywide email as long as it is not
offensive.
11. Private communication online can be made public.
12. Email systems and other forms of communication technology make employees more
efficient while simultaneously increasing their workloads.
13. Being unplugged refers to the avoidance of checking email, sending text messages,
watching television, or answering the phone.
14. A virtual work team is a group of coworkers who accomplish tasks and professional projects
in face-to-face contexts.
15. If you use technology to avoid face-to-face communication with people in your office,
technology can become a path directly to effective communication.
16. Social networking can be a wonderful tool for sharing information and maintaining
professional connections.
17. Much of our communication occurs through technology, so it is important to make sure to
present oneself as a professional both online and in person.
18. America’s workers have been able to restrain themselves from visiting online social–
networking sites and posting tidbits that their employers might not consider job appropriate.
19. With each change in technology, there are changes to our communication as professionals.
20. There are only advantages and there are no disadvantages when it comes to the use of
technology in managing our professional relationships.
21. The reliance on email systems to communicate with colleagues and accomplish their work is
diminishing among people working in businesses and professional organizations.
22. Vlad has an email address that is “cute” and funny to his friends. Vlad should review and
perhaps change his email address when applying for jobs.
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
23. Electronic conflicts are uncommon.
24. A good rule of thumb is that you want to portray the same image and the same level of
communication professionalism electronically that you would portray in person or in written,
hard-copy correspondence, because the need for professionalism is the same.
25. Work-related technology issues that need to be managed include security breaches, privacy
violations, decreased production, employee conflict, viewing of pornography, and
miscommunication.
26. A listserv is a computer service that facilitates discussions by connecting people who share
common interests.
27. Archie has recently become the target of an unusual number of authentic-looking but
fraudulent emails designed to steal sensitive personal information. Archie is a victim of spam.
28. Alicia’s email address has apparently been purchased and is being used without her
permission and, until recently, without her knowledge. Strangers are randomly receiving emails
from Alicia’s address that she did not send. Alicia is a victim of spamming.
29. Aaron has recently started receiving jokes and virus alerts from sources he does not
recognize. This appears to be a case of Aaron receiving email forwards.
30. Addressing information overload means more than just deleting emails; it can also include
dealing with threats to your privacy and to the overall security of your computer.
31. Email, texting, and instant messaging have become the de facto choice of communication
for many people.
32. New media are completely functional in their ability to transmit nonverbal cues of intimacy
and familiarity.
33. New media are appropriate for sending routine and simple information, but face-to-face
communication is better for complex, urgent, or controversial messages.
34. Intercultural communication involves the communication between and among individuals
and groups across national and ethnic boundaries.
35. Practicing cultural sensitivity is easy and natural.
Short Answer
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. The communication between and among individuals and groups across national and ethnic
boundaries is known as ______.
2. ______ overload can negatively affect your work and health.
3. It is important to remember to think about professional ______ when communicating with
technology.
4. Bruce is working hard to improve his professional communication, especially with
technology. He tries to follow acceptable guidelines for communicating with technology. Bruce
is remembering to think about ______.
5. ______ is a form of aggressive communication filled with emotionality that is used by people
who are interacting on professional topics.
6. ______ are used in an effort to monitor and track employee behavior in terms of the
information they access or communicate while at work.
7. ______ communication becomes even more difficult to analyze with the lack of ______ cues
in computer-mediated communication.
8. Professionals in a variety of industries take topics in need of discussion, or controversial
topics, and place them in electronic formats, often termed ______.
9. Chronemics is the study of ______ as communication and/or as a communication function.
10. An ______ is a hostile message that is blunt, rude, insensitive, or obscene.
11. A ______ is a web log used to improve internal communication at work or for external
marketing and public relations.
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
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12. Kyle is fond of finding information he needs using an online service that anyone, not just a
subscriber, can access to read postings. Kyle is using an ______.
13. When Lars is relying almost exclusively on computer-mediated communication for business
and professional interactions, he is running the risk of letting his ______ communication skills
suffer.
14. When studying the ______ approach to professional excellence as you try to excel in the
workplace, make some adjustments and improve your email style.
15. The key in the KEYS process to evaluate the professional context is essential to become
more aware of the professional context as well as how you come across to other people when
sending information via ______.
16. It is important to realize the value of follow-up, respect, and ______ in all aspects of your
communication.
17. Addressing ______ means more than just deleting emails; it can also include dealing with
threats to your privacy and to the overall security of your computer.
18. Communication and technology have helped people like Bennie to conduct business ______
instead of needing to communicate face-to-face.
19. Rudy has decided that he needs a break from time-consuming activities such as email,
sending text messages, watching television, and answering the phone. Rudy is now engaging in
the avoidance of these activities and it may be said that Rudy has ______.
Essay
1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of technology in terms of time management?
Quintanilla, Business and Professional Communication: KEYS for Workplace Excellence 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
2. What kind of technological distractions lead to information overload?
Ans: Answers should include identification and definition of email forwards, spam, and
phishing.
Email forwards consist of virus alerts, chain letters, stories disguised as warnings, petitions or
calls for help, jokes, pictures, and the like; spam is the use of a user’s email address for a
purpose to which the user didn’t agree. It is junk email sent by “spammers” who obtain email
3. What is the purpose of workplace surveillance?
4. Discuss the use of virtual work teams.
5. Discuss the idea of being unplugged.
6. Discuss the uses of workplace surveillance systems.