Fundamentals of Management, 10e (Robbins)
Chapter 13 Communication and Information
1) For managers, communication can’t be overemphasized because ________ requires
communication.
A) decision making
B) planning
C) supervising and monitoring employees
D) everything a manager does
2) The communication process begins with this.
A) a receiver
B) a message
C) a thought or purpose
D) an encoded message
3) In order to transmit a message, the thought originating with the sender must be ________ to
symbolic form.
A) decoded
B) encoded
C) deciphered
D) expanded
4) Which communication sequence is correct?
A) sender → decoding → channel → encoding → receiver
B) sender → channel → medium → decoding → receiver
C) source → sender → encoding → decoding → receiver
D) sender → encoding → channel → decoding → receiver
5) Reading is an example of this communication step.
A) feedback
B) encoding
C) sending
D) decoding
6) Four conditions influence the content of an encoded message: the skills, attitudes, knowledge,
and ________ of the sender.
A) social-cultural system
B) environmental conditions
C) volume
D) political conditions
7) A ________ is the actual physical product encoded by the source.
A) channel
B) message
C) thought
D) source
8) The channel is the ________.
A) actual physical product from the source that conveys a purpose
B) person who receives the message
C) medium that the messages travels through
D) person who sends the message
9) A spelling mistake in a message is an example of ________.
A) an encoding error
B) a decoding error
C) a transmission error
D) a receiver error
10) The final link in the communication process is ________.
A) encoding
B) decoding
C) channeling
D) feedback
11) Feedback is a message that travels from ________.
A) encoder to receiver
B) source to decoder
C) the original receiver to the original sender
D) the original sender to the original receiver
12) Skills, attitudes, knowledge, and social cultural systems affect ________.
A) the sender only
B) the receiver only
C) neither the sender nor the receiver
D) both the sender and the receiver
13) The great advantage of a written message is that it ________.
A) is informal
B) is easy to provide feedback for
C) is unambiguous
D) provides a permanent record
14) Which of the following is a disadvantage of written communication?
A) vague
B) time-consuming
C) not permanent
D) hard to store
15) Along the grapevine, ________.
A) good news travels fastest
B) bad news travels slowly
C) good news travels slowest
D) bad news travels fastest
16) You would expect to find a grapevine with the most accurate rumors in ________
organization.
A) an organic
B) a mechanistic
C) a hierarchical
D) an authoritative
17) An example of nonverbal communication is ________.
A) an email
B) a smile
C) a whisper
D) a voice mail
18) Verbal intonation is a form of ________.
A) verbal communication
B) body language
C) nonverbal communication
D) facial expression
19) A live singing performance allows the audience to perceive ________ forms of
communication.
A) verbal, body language, and verbal intonation as
B) only verbal
C) only nonverbal
D) facial expressions, and verbal intonation as
20) Listening to a singing performance on the radio allows a listener to perceive ________ forms
of communication.
A) verbal, body language, and verbal intonation as
B) only verbal
C) only nonverbal
D) both verbal and nonverbal
21) Watching a movie in a foreign language you don’t understand without subtitles allows you to
perceive ________ forms of communication.
A) verbal and body language
B) only verbal
C) only nonverbal
D) both verbal and nonverbal
22) Reading a movie script allows you to perceive ________ forms of communication.
A) verbal, body language, and verbal intonation as
B) only verbal
C) only nonverbal
D) both verbal and nonverbal
23) This is the PRIMARY reason for why managers often travel long distances to have a face-to-
face meeting with someone.
A) It shows respect.
B) Most communication is done through body language.
C) Other forms of communication have security concerns.
D) It communicates a sense of power, rank, and mobility.
24) ________ is the deliberate manipulation of information by the sender to make it appear more
favorable to the receiver.
A) Selective perception
B) Information overload
C) Jargon
D) Filtering
25) All of the following are barriers to effective interpersonal communication EXCEPT
________.
A) filtering
B) selective perception
C) feedback
D) language
26) When an auto industry manager raves about plans for a new car design and fails to see the
flaws in the model, he is engaging in this.
A) selective perception
B) filtering
C) emotion
D) information overload
27) When an auto designer’s presentation of a new design shows all of the good features of the
design but fails to mention the poor gas mileage that the model will get, she is engaging in this.
A) emotion
B) selective perception
C) information overload
D) filtering
28) Auto company engineers want technical terms such as limited slip differential used in car
ads. Ad execs, on the other hand, don’t want these terms used. The cause of their disagreement is
________.
A) emotion
B) selective perception
C) language
D) gender
29) When an auto executive who is upset because his teenage son got suspended from school
ends up nixing new design plans for no apparent reason, communication has been distorted by
this.
A) selective perception
B) emotion
C) filtering
D) gender
30) When an auto executive fails to notice an important demographics report in her overstuffed
inbox before going to a meeting, she is likely to be suffering from this.
A) information overload
B) emotion
C) filtering
D) gender
31) Jargon can be very useful for communication ________.
A) within a specialized, close-knit group
B) between people who speak different languages
C) outside of a specialized, close-knit group
D) between males and females
32) Filtering tends to be more prevalent in this kind of organization.
A) organic
B) highly vertical
C) highly horizontal
D) non-mechanistic
33) Jargon tends to cause problems when it is used ________.
A) within a specialized, close-knit group
B) as shorthand for technical terms
C) outside of a specialized, close-knit group
D) in spoken rather than written language
34) The difference between male and female styles of communication exists ________.
A) in every culture
B) only in the United States
C) only in western cultures
D) only in Asian cultures
35) U.S. managers tend to rely on this style of communication.
A) formal and written
B) informal and unwritten
C) verbal and informal
D) verbal and formal
36) Japanese managers tend to rely on this style of communication.
A) formal and written
B) formal and unwritten
C) informal and verbal
D) verbal and formal
37) The purpose of feedback is to determine whether a message was ________.
A) received
B) received and understood
C) worth sending
D) verbal or nonverbal
38) Feedback ________.
A) can be spoken, nonverbal, or written
B) must be spoken
C) must be written
D) can be spoken, verbal, or oral
39) One particularly effective form of providing feedback is for the receiver to ________.
A) raise a hand to show that the message was received
B) state “message received” out loud
C) restate the message in his or her own words
D) send a written message that states “message received”
40) Simplifying language is most important when ________.
A) the speaker has little time
B) the audience is sympathetic
C) the audience is unfamiliar
D) the message is simple
41) The average listener can understand language at a rate that is ________ the average speaker
can speak.
A) much slower than
B) much faster than
C) the same rate that
D) a little bit slower than
42) Because the average listener can comprehend language at a rate that is much higher than
speakers can speak, people tend to ________.
A) lose focus when listening
B) process information at a deep level when they speak
C) request additional channels of communication when they listen
D) focus better when listening than talking
43) This is the primary goal of active listening.
A) developing empathy with the speaker
B) avoiding premature judgments or interpretations of the speaker’s message
C) focusing on the speaker
D) understanding the full meaning of the speaker’s message
44) Active listening is enhanced by developing ________ with the speaker.
A) apathy
B) sympathy
C) a personal friendship
D) empathy
45) Which action best shows a speaker that you are paying close attention?
A) avoiding interruptions of the speaker
B) avoiding over talking
C) direct eye contact
D) smooth transitioning from listener to speaker
46) Which of the following is NOT true of active listening?
A) It is a skill that most people need to improve.
B) Listening demands serious intellectual effort.
C) Active listening demands intense concentration.
D) Empathy is a barrier to active listening.
47) Emotions can distort communication ________.
A) for senders only
B) for receivers only
C) for both senders and receivers
D) only when negative
48) During an interview minutes after a tough loss, a soccer coach who is frustrated with calls
made by the game’s referees should probably do this.
A) blame himself for the defeat
B) blame the referees for the defeat
C) express his anger freely
D) take some time to cool down
49) A manager who is trying to sound conciliatory should make sure that ________.
A) her voice is soft
B) she smiles when she speaks
C) her voice shows no anger
D) her voice shows no emotion
50) Networked communication capabilities include all of the following EXCEPT ________.
A) email
B) the grapevine
C) instant messaging
D) electronic data interchange
51) What should a speaker do if her listener’s feedback summary of her message is incorrect?
A) The speaker should repeat the original message word for word.
B) The speaker should summarize the summary.
C) The speaker should summarize the original message.
D) The speaker should rephrase the message.
52) A listener’s summary of a speaker’s words shows that the listener did not correctly
understand the message. Which of the following must be true?
A) The speaker used clear, simplified language.
B) The listener failed to use active listening.
C) The speaker failed to send a clear message, the listener failed to receive the message properly,
or both the speaker and listener failed to communicate properly.
D) The speaker sent a clear message, but the listener failed to receive the message properly due
to poor listening, jumping to conclusions, or relying on preconceived notions about the speaker.