61) You’ll need more words to build a consensus about a complex and controversial
subject, especially if the members of your audience are ___________
A) elderly.
B) young.
C) pleased.
D) skeptical.
62) A good way to test the thoroughness of your business message is to check it for
______________
A) a main idea.
B) a purpose.
C) the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
D) accuracy.
63) When meeting your audience’s informational needs, you emphasize points
_______________
A) of greatest interest to the audience.
B) that are uncontroversial.
C) that will have the least impact on the audience.
D) that don’t need supporting evidence.
64) The richest communication medium is ___________
A) a phone call.
B) a memo.
C) an email.
D) a face-to-face.
65) Posters and signs are best used for messages that ________________
A) require no interactivity.
B) require a quick response.
C) require the attention of others.
D) require feedback.
66) The chief advantage of oral communication is ________________
A) the ability to plan and control the message.
B) the opportunity to meet an audience’s information needs.
C) the ability to transmit highly complex messages.
D) the opportunity for immediate feedback.
67) A written message is preferable to an oral one when _______________
A) immediate feedback is desired.
B) the audience is large and geographically dispersed.
C) the message is relatively simple.
D) the information is controversial.
68) Voice mail is a poor choice for ___________
A) short messages.
B) lengthy messages.
C) direct messages.
D) indirect messages.
69) Which of the following is not one of the benefits of a well-organized message?
A) It makes the message more acceptable to the audience.
B) It saves the audience‘s time.
C) It ensures that the audience will agree with the message.
D) It helps the audience understand the message.
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70) The main idea of a message is ___________________
A) a specific statement about the topic of your message.
B) the broad subject of a message.
C) identical with the topic.
D) facts that have little emotional impact on your audience.
71) Which of the following is an example of a message topic?
A) “To get the board of directors to increase the research and development budget.”
B) “Competitors spend more than our company does on research and development.”
C) “Funding for research and development.”
D) “The research and development budget is inadequate in our competitive marketplace.”
72) Whatever the length of your message, ____________
A) the number of support points should be three or four.
B) the number of support points should be limited to half a dozen or so.
C) the number of support points will depend on whether the message is oral or written.
D) the number of support points can be unlimited if your audience is knowledgeable
about the topic.
73) Aside from being easy to understand, routine messages are _____________
A) the main idea.
B) easy to prepare.
C) offer supporting evidence.
D) pleasing to your audience.
74) When preparing an “organization chart” to help organize a message, you begin with
____________
A) the main idea.
B) the major points.
C) supporting evidence.
D) whatever you want to begin with.
75) Everything in a well-written business message _______________
A) is included in the outline.
B) either supports the main idea or explains its implications.
C) is entertaining.
D) does all of the above.
76) The specific evidence included in a business message should be _________________
A) as abstract as possible.
B) minimal if your subject is complex or unfamiliar.
C) enough to be convincing but not so much that it’s boring.
D) all of the same type, such as examples or statistics.
77) It is better to use the indirect approach if your audience will ___________
A) have a positive reaction.
B) be neutral about what you have to say.
C) be displeased by what you have to say.
D) be above you in the hierarchy.
78) It is preferable to use the direct approach with ___________
A) routine, good-news, and goodwill messages.
B) bad-news messages.
C) persuasive messages.
D) all of the above.
79) When you have bad news to convey, it’s a good idea to _______________
A) put the bad news at the beginning of your message, thus getting it out of the way
immediately.
B) begin with a neutral statement that leads to the bad news gradually.
C) put the bad news at the very end of your message.
D) put off communicating the bad news in hopes the person will get the bad news from
someone else.
80) During the __________ stage of the composition process, you define your purpose,
analyze your audience, and select the channel and medium for the message.
81) The first step in the planning phase is to define your __________.
82) The three general purposes of business messages are to inform, to persuade, or to
__________ with the audience.
83) During the planning phase you also need to analyze your __________, including its
size and composition, existing knowledge about the subject, and probable reaction to
your message.
84) You can minimize __________ by double-checking every piece of information you
collect.
85) Messages can be unethical if important information is __________.
86) Factors you should consider in choosing a communication channel and __________
include formality, confidentiality, feedback, time, and cost.
87) Media __________ is a medium’s ability to 1) convey a message through more than
one informational cue, 2) facilitate feedback, and 3) establish personal focus.
88) Telephone calls, meetings, videoconferences, and speeches are all types of
__________ communication.
89) The availability of __________ increases your communications options in both oral
and written channels.
90) Most __________ communication suffers from problems with clarity, relevance,
grouping, and completeness.
91) Good organization saves your audience __________.
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92) __________ is when you generate as many ideas and questions as you can, without
stopping to criticize or organize.
93) In the __________ approach to organizing a message, the evidence comes first, and
the main idea comes later.
94) In the __________ approach to organizing a message, the main idea comes first,
followed by the evidence.
95) A good way to visualize how all the points will fit together is to construct a(n)
__________.
96) Describe at least three of the tasks involved in developing an audience profile.
97) List at least four methods of gathering information to include in your message.
98) How can the journalistic approach help you include all required information in your
business messages?
99) Briefly describe how to meet an unfamiliar audience’s informational needs.
100) Electronic written media have largely replaced traditional written media in many
companies. Explain.
101) Describe three ways in which businesses are using electronic versions of visual
media.
102) Briefly define media richness, and provide at least one example of a rich medium
and a lean medium.
103) Briefly explain the difference between the topic of a message and the main idea.
104) In preparing a letter to a vendor regarding a missing part of your order, would the
direct or indirect approach be preferable? Briefly explain your choice.
105) What are the four tasks involved in planning business messages?
106) Explain each phase of the three-step writing process.
107) List at least three helpful questions to ask in evaluating the purpose of a message.
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108) How can your audience’s level of understanding help you determine the appropriate
amount of information to include in a business message?
109) Briefly describe at least three disadvantages of electronic media.
110) Discuss three factors to consider when choosing media.
111) To keep your audience interested, vary the type of detail you include. Describe three
types of detail.
