Which of the following is the most effective passage in an email message to managers
concerning new procedures for locking up the building when leaving at night?
a. When you leave the plant at night, here are a few things to remember:
· Close and lock all secondary plant doors.
· Key your personal code into the security pad to the right of the door.
· Open the main plant door and go outside.
· Close the door.
· Use your key to lock the door.
· Press enter on your personal plant remote to arm the security system.
b. When you leave the plant at night, follow these procedures:
1) Close and lock all secondary plant doors.
2) Key your personal code into the security pad to the right of the door.
3) Open the main plant door and go outside.
4) Close the door.
5) Use your key to lock the door.
6) Press enter on your personal plant remote to arm the security system.
c. When you leave the plant at night, follow these proceduresclose and lock all
secondary plant doors, key your personal code into the security pad to the right of the
door, open the main plant door and go outside, close the door, use your key to lock the
door, and press enter on your personal plant remote to arm the security system.
d. All are equally effective.
Answer:
An organization that wants to provide business partners with always-available
information and contact should use which of the following?
a. Intranet
b. Extranet
c. Email
d. Voice mail
Answer:
You are sending a letter to Juan Santiago at Rowden Power Company. How should the
salutation be expressed?
a. Dear Sir
b. Dear Mr. Santiago
c. Ladies and Gentlemen
d. Dear Juan Santiago
Answer:
Which of the following statements about nonverbal messages is FALSE?
a. Nonverbal messages cannot be avoided.
b. Nonverbal messages may be beneficial or harmful.
c. Nonverbal messages may be intentional or unintentional.
d. Nonverbal messages are consistent across cultures.
Answer:
In downward communication management attempts to ____ activities within an
organization while with horizontal communication management hopes to ____ them.
a. control; coordinate
b. coordinate; contain
c. coordinate; control
d. conduct; control
Answer:
Which of the following is MOST important to knowing the audience for your
presentation?
a. Personally introducing yourself to each member of the audience prior to your
presentation.
b. Attempting to identify their ages, incomes, occupations, and gender.
c. Selecting audience participants according to their perspective on the topic you will
present.
d. All of the above are equally important.
Answer:
Which of the following sentences illustrates passive voice?
a. The clerk made five errors.
b. Susan had been in sales for five years.
c. She asked for an adjustment.
d. The report was completed by the entire team.
Answer:
A market researcher who uses primary research may use which of the following
methods?
a. Boolean logic, observational studies, the hidden Internet
b. Search engines, normative surveys, interviews
c. Stratified random sampling, website “hits,” observational studies
d. Observational studies, experimental research, normative survey research
Answer:
Before preparing a sales message for a digital video recorder, Russell will need concrete
answers to questions such as
a. What will the product do for the receiver?
b. What are the products inferior features?
c. How is the product similar to other competing products currently being used?
d. What is the cost to the company to produce the product?
Answer:
An interviewer who follows a predetermined agenda, including a series of questions
and statements designed to elicit necessary information is conducting which type of
interview?
a. Stress interview
b. Focused interview
c. Structured interview
d. Group interview
Answer:
Advertising on mobile devices
a. requires personalization for each recipient.
b. costs somewhat more than flyers.
c. is regulated by laws and industry guidelines.
d. has peaked.
Answer:
A persuasive email message to promote pop-up blocker software has as its central
selling point the protection of children from pornography. The central selling point
should
a. only appear early in the message when the product is introduced.
b. only appear at the end of the message to reinforce the requested action.
c. be reinforced throughout the message.
d. be implied but not emphasized throughout the message.
Answer:
If bad news appears in the first sentence of a message, the
a. receiver will be prepared for the reasoning that follows.
b. receiver’s urge to counter argue will be minimized.
c. receiver’s reaction is likely to be defensive.
d. receiver will withhold judgment until he or she has finished reading.
Answer:
A male friend has asked for advice on how he should dress to give a presentation at a
local business organization’s annual awards banquet to be held in a downtown hotel.
Which of the following would be your BEST suggestion?
a. Dress professionally, as much for yourself as for your audience.
b. Anything that is clean and neat would be appropriate; your appearance will not be
important to the audience.
c. It is better to underdress than to overdress, so that you don’t alienate yourself from
your audience.
d. Business casual wear would be appropriate, since the event is being held after work
hours.
Answer:
Which of the following should be avoided when speaking to an Asian audience?
a. Use simple English and avoid confusing acronyms and idioms.
b. Begin with a joke to break the ice.
c. Use an indirect presentation style.
d. Dress conservatively.
Answer:
You have just returned from an interview with a company and are considering the
appropriateness of a thank-you letter or note. The thank-you message is
a. not necessary if you thanked the interviewer in person before leaving the
appointment.
b. appropriate and should be written immediately.
c. appropriate and should be written about two weeks from now if you haven’t received
a response from the company.
d. not appropriate because it can be perceived as “pushy.”
Answer:
Although communicating negative organizational news can be challenging, such
messages can have a positive effect in
a. showing management’s display of respect for employees.
b. providing an opportunity for management to build unity and trust.
c. allowing employees to pose questions to management.
d. All of the above.
Answer:
Placing graphic aids in the appendix is
a. not recommended when the report is under 10 pages in length.
b. recommended the majority of the time to simplify text preparation.
c. recommended if the information is quantitative.
d. recommended if the content is not directly related to text discussion.
Answer:
Which of the following is FALSE concerning leadership in teams?
a. Leaders are optional when an organization moves to a group concept.
b. The ability of a group leader to work toward task goals while contributing to the
development of group and individual goals is often critical to group success.
c. Leadership may be shared among several participants.
d. The leader establishes norms and provides motivation for effective group activity.
Answer:
The first step in the selling process is to introduce the foremost feature of the product,
service, or idea.
Answer:
Which of the following is the BEST example of concise communication?
a. All those employees who are on a salary basis will not receive compensation for
number of hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.
b. Compensation is not available for salaried employees who are asked to work
overtime to complete the excess workload.
c. It is standard company policy that those who are salaried as managers are expected to
work overtime with no financial compensation.
d. Salaried employees will not receive financial compensation for overtime work.
Answer:
Which of the following descriptions of duties in the work experience section of a
résumé is most effective?
a. Responsible for all point-of-sale floor displays.
b. Set up floor displays.
c. Created eye-catching floor displays with minimal financial resources.
d. My merchandising team constructed point-of-sale floor displays.
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a bad listening habit?
a. Faking attention
b. Thinking ahead
c. Overlistening
d. All are bad listening habits
Answer:
Your employer asked you to compose a message to be sent to all job applicants who
were not selected for sales representative position. You should
a. tell the applicant at the beginning that another candidate was chosen.
b. ask the applicant to consider why he or she was not selected.
c. place the “not selected” message in the dependent clause of a complex sentence
describing the stiff competition for this job.
d. imply that someone else has been selected for the position, thus avoiding the
uncomfortable job of rejecting someone.
Answer:
Robin, task force chair, tells team member Aaron “your proposed solution to this
problem is great.” Robin’s probable metacommunication to Aaron is
a. “You are the most intelligent member of this task force.”
b. “Your idea is really not that good.”
c. “You have previously expressed weak ideas.”
d. “You have expressed consistently good ideas.”
Answer:
Which of the following is NOT a technique for making an email message easier to
read?
a. Limit each message to one screen to minimize scrolling.
b. Use all capital letters for more impact.
c. Use quotation marks to emphasize a specific word or phrase.
d. Use short, unindented paragraphs.
Answer:
Which of the following is FALSE concerning the benefits of the team interview
process?
a. The team interview is a collective group of people who know the attributes of the job.
b. The team interview members can review resumes individually and collaboratively to
identify the ideal candidate.
c. The team interview can be used to fairly assess all candidates’ qualifications.
d. The team interview results in a quicker hiring decision than does a traditional
interview.
Answer:
Greg Komuro often delivers messages to clients in which he must convey negative
ideas. Which of the following techniques could Greg use to subordinate bad news?
a. Passive voice and abstract nouns as the subjects of sentences
b. Passive voice and the placement of the negative message in an independent clause
c. Active voice and positive language
d. Active voice and placement of the negative message in the dependent clause
Answer:
In a sales message, the last paragraph should
a. make a final reference to the central selling point and picture good things resulting
for the receiver.
b. depict the action as easy to take and encourage the reader to act quickly.
c. ask confidently for action, avoiding “I hope” and “if” phrasing.
d. accomplish all the above.
Answer:
When an effective graphic is used in a report, there is no need for additional
interpretation and analysis of the data.
Answer:
Which of the following provides the best definition of a report?
a. An orderly, objective communication that flows downward within an organization for
the purpose of presenting data for the customer.
b. A formal, objective writing that meets the need for information needed by a wide
audience.
c. An orderly, objective message used to convey information within an organization or
between organizations to assist in problem solving and decision making.
d. A formal, organized message that conveys the opinions and intuitive feelings of the
writer.
Answer:
You are about to conduct a formal meeting with 25 attendees in the boardroom. What
guide would you use to ensure orderly communication of ideas and participation?
a. Building High Performance Teams
b. The APA Style Manual
c. Robert’s Rules of Order
d. The organizational chart
Answer:
Effective strategies for structuring good- and routine-news messages
a. follow the inductive sequence.
b. vary dramatically from one company to another.
c. can generally be applied to cultures around the world.
d. are generally consistent among North American audiences.
Answer:
A letter with mixed punctuation has a comma after the salutation and no mark of
punctuation after the complimentary close.
Answer:
A watermark on business stationery detracts from the impression of quality.
Answer:
Email Request to Employees
Revise the following paragraph from an email message to employees. Focus on use of
voice, appropriate sentence length, and word selection to make the passage effective.
With the approach of the end of this fiscal year, it has been recommended by our
accountant that the monies allocated in the budget to capital equipment be used as soon
as is expedient. Therefore, as has been our practice in the past, we are requesting that
each of you compile a comprehensive detailed list outlining your requests for new
equipment which you may have put on the back burner, so to speak. It would be
appreciated if you could provide this information to me by the first of next week so that
I can begin to process all orders prior to the expiration of the fiscal year. It is anticipated
that a multitude of requests will be simultaneously submitted by departmental heads; it
is highly probable that requests for equipment will be processed in the order received
and delayed requests may not be funded. I sincerely appreciate your cooperation in our
efforts to upgrade some of our capital equipment.
Answer:
How has technology impacted the preparation and interpretation of spoken and written
messages?
Answer:
Unless required by company policy, reference initials can be omitted when the writer
also keys the letter.
Answer:
List several questions you should ask yourself to help ensure that you are
communicating responsibly and ethically.
Answer:
List and explain three stylistic aspects of writing a bad-news statement.
Answer:
A recommended way to subordinate the price of a product is to reveal it in a sentence
that also refers to the central selling point.
Answer:
Appreciation letters that are not sent in a timely manner may arouse questions about the
sender’s motive.
Answer:
What questions should you ask yourself in determining whether electronic
communication is an appropriate message channel?
Answer:
In some circumstances, placing a refusal in the first sentence is justified.
Answer:
Incorporating Graphics in Text
The following are poor examples of an introduction to a graphic. Rewrite each of these
sentences to introduce the graphic based on the effective pattern for incorporating
graphics in text. Provide any additional information that may be needed.
Figure 1 shows preferences for shopping locations.
Figure 1 shows enrollment for software training programs.
Figure 1 shows the response of managers about working hours.
Figure 1 shows the breakdown of cell phone customers.
Answer:
Interpreting Quantitative Data
Your company has surveyed employees to determine their interest in learning about
financial planning. Based on the responses, the company will develop training for
employees who are interested. The table shows the total employee responses, using the
raw data and percentages. The results of this survey will be reported to the director of
Human Resources and used to develop a financial planning training seminar for
employees.
Personal Development Need Number Percentage
Retirement Annuity 128 32
Traditional and Roth IRA 104 26
Mutual Funds 80 20
Internet Stock Trading 52 13
Effective Charitable Giving 36 9
Totals 400 100
Required:
Write an analysis of this data that explains the results of the survey. This analysis will
appear in the written report to the director of Human Resources.
Answer:
Delivering constructive criticism can be beneficial by alerting management that
changes need to be made.
Answer:
Synergy occurs when the energy of a group is diverted to nonproductive tasks.
Answer: