To avoid legal problems, businesses should delay communicating with the media in the
aftermath of a crisis.
Answer:
The introduction to a formal business report should never be longer than a paragraph or
two.
Answer:
Despite predictions to the contrary, social media tools (such as blogs, social networks,
and wikis) have had relatively little influence on the way companies communicate with
customers.
Answer:
Information architecture refers to the structure and navigational flow of all parts of a
website.
Answer:
Sales call reports are a type of compliance report.
Answer:
To emphasize a dependent clause, it is better to place it at the end of a sentence rather
than in the middle.
Answer:
In general, attitudes toward work and success are consistent across the world.
Answer:
Using builds can help prevent your audience from reading ahead during your
presentation.
Answer:
If a report does not have a synopsis, the letter of transmittal can be used to summarize
the major findings, conclusions, and recommendations.
Answer:
When you proofread the text part of a report, you should essentially look for the same
types of mistakes as you would look for in any business message.
Answer:
A poorly written buffer can mislead your audience into expecting that positive news
will follow.
Answer:
The two most popular types of visual aids for business presentations are whiteboards
and flip charts.
Answer:
You should be able to summarize the main idea for a speech in a single sentence that
links your subject and purpose to the audience’s frame of reference.
Answer:
Bragging about your company’s accomplishments can be offensive to readers.
Answer:
When it comes to wikis, it is not necessary to think through a long-term purpose in the
planning step.
Answer:
Despite the advantages of teamwork, the costs can be high.
Answer:
When the bad news is a logical outcome of the reasons that come before it, the reader is
more prepared to receive it.
Answer:
One advantage of blogging for business is that it enables you to update content quickly
and easily.
Answer:
A landscaper bidding on a job at the request of a general contractor would submit an
external, unsolicited proposal.
Answer:
Conflict between persons or groups in an organization is always destructive and must
be avoided at all costs.
Answer:
In the close to a negative message, you should repeat the bad news.
Answer:
Cross-functional teams perform several roles, but contain employees from the same
department or division.
Answer:
The yardstick approach is best for organizing reports when you and your audience do
not agree on the criteria you’re using in your analysis.
Answer:
If you received written authorization to prepare a business report, you should respond
with a letter of acceptance.
Answer:
“The startup costs on this project are out of control” is a simple sentence.
Answer:
Most interviewers will make allowances for applicants to be a few minutes late for their
appointment.
Answer:
The communication process is a simple one consisting of only two steps: the sender
transmits the message and the receiver gets the message.
Answer:
If your proposal involves providing replacement machine parts that your company
regularly stocks, it is not necessary in the Work Plan section to describe how you’ll
accomplish what must be done.
Answer:
Group members who play task-oriented roles are motivated to fulfill personal needs, so
they tend to be less productive than other members.
Answer:
Part of your preparation for job interviews is an evaluation of your vocal tone and
speaking habits.
Answer:
Including hyperlinks in a presentation limits your ability to customize it for different
audiences and situations.
Answer:
A metacrawler enables you to use multiple search engines simultaneously.
Answer:
$1,500 is the median for the following set of monthly salaries: $1,200, $1,200, $1,300,
$1,500, $1,700, $2,000, $2,800.
Answer:
A screening interview is usually used to gauge a job candidate’s personality and
personal qualities.
Answer:
It is a good idea to use “company policy” as a cushion when presenting reasons for bad
news.
Answer:
You can create a PDF file of your résumé with free Adobe Reader software.
Answer:
To hold your audience’s attention during the body of your speech, you should
A) make at least seven or eight main points.
B) include numerous abstract ideas.
C) relate your subject to your audience’s needs.
D) periodically ask, “Is everyone still paying attention?”
E) do all of the above.
Answer:
In the reasons section of a negative message, you should
A) present enough detail for the audience to understand your reasons.
B) explain what your decision is before you explain why you have reached it.
C) apologize for the negative decision.
D) clearly state that you and your company are not at fault, even if it is unclear who is
to blame.
E) do all of the above.
Answer:
Which of the following is not a characteristic of effective business messages?
A) They provide practical information.
B) They present the writer’s opinions as facts.
C) They state precise audience responsibilities.
D) They highlight and summarize essential information.
E) They are short.
Answer:
Learning which keywords will be most effective on your résumé
A) is easy when you access leading business publications, blogs, and other sources.
B) is impossible unless you already have a job in the industry you wish to work in.
C) can only be accomplished by calling potential employers and asking them.
D) is unnecessary, since most employers no longer pay much attention to them.
E) none of the above
Answer:
Which of the following sentences contains the strongest and most effective wording?
A) Given the parameters of the situation, the most propitious choice would be to make
adjustments in certain budget areas.
B) We need to cut the operating budget by 12 percent or profits will plummet.
C) Someone’s going to need to do some budget cutting around here or heads will roll.
D) Perusal of budgetary figures reveals that a 12 percent reduction in operations is
called for if we are to stave off a negative impact on profits.
E) Having dissected the latest budget figures, it is clear to me that we have a real need
to re-examine our priorities and revamp the budget along the lines I have suggested
herein.
Answer:
Boilerplate is
A) a piece of computer hardware used to increase modem speed.
B) a standard block of text used in multiple documents to ensure consistency and
improve efficiency.
C) a list of most-used email addresses.
D) a machine used in professional printing.
E) a euphemism for fake silver.
Answer:
In the body of a proposal, you should describe
A) what you have to offer.
B) any advantages you have over your competitors.
C) the methods or resources you will use.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.
Answer:
An advertisement stating that a new resort offers “freedom and comfort along with great
value” is using
A) an emotional appeal.
B) an analogy.
C) an inductive appeal.
D) both logical and emotional appeals.
E) circular reasoning.
Answer:
In a marketing or sales message, product claims should be supported
A) primarily by testimonials from satisfied customers.
B) primarily by statistics from scientific studies of the product.
C) primarily by background information on the company selling the product.
D) by relevant, compelling information—often of many different types.
E) best by emotional appeals.
Answer:
“Delimitations” are
A) market conditions that allow a company to adopt your proposal.
B) employee restraints that have recently been lifted.
C) the scope of your proposal.
D) harsh realities that may prevent your audience from adopting your proposal.
E) disclaimers that protect you from legal action if the proposal fails.
Answer:
The three primary steps involved in preparing a business message are
A) planning, writing, and completing.
B) informing, persuading, and collaborating.
C) defining the purpose, the main idea, and the topic.
D) satisfying the audience’s informational, motivational, and practical needs.
E) outlining, presenting, and following up.
Answer:
Serif typefaces are generally preferable to sans serif fonts for
A) display treatments.
B) all business documents.
C) headings and captions.
D) regular paragraph text.
E) none of the above.
Answer:
Creating a plain-text file of your résumé
A) is an outdated practice.
B) allows you to include your résumé in the body of an email message, instead of as an
attachment.
C) is helpful, but very difficult to do without expensive software.
D) requires that you center all headings instead of left-justifying them.
E) is necessary only if you are not able to use word processing software.
Answer:
Using the direct approach for negative messages
A) makes a shorter message possible.
B) is considered rude and unprofessional.
C) is always preferable when communicating internally.
D) means you end with a statement of your main idea.
E) requires more time for your audience to understand.
Answer:
In the middle of an important meeting, you receive an unsolicited IM from a company
informing you of their great rates on vacations in Hawaii. This is an example of
A) spam.
B) feedback.
C) spim.
D) viral marketing.
E) user-generated content.
Answer:
Which of the following would be an appropriate handout to accompany an oral
presentation?
A) An interesting but unrelated news article
B) A list of relevant websites
C) A photo of you, with a caption listing all of your qualifications
D) A brief note explaining that, unfortunately, there will not be time for questions.
E) Any of the above
Answer:
Unlike Internet search engines, online databases
A) can be accessed only from a library.
B) often provide access to various parts of the hidden Internet.
C) are rarely up to date.
D) do not require a subscription.
E) are not reliable.
Answer:
Using the passive voice makes sense when you
A) want to be diplomatic in pointing out a problem or error.
B) want your sentence to be easier to understand.
C) need to make your sentences shorter.
D) want to emphasize the subject.
E) are unsure what action the subject of the sentence will take.
Answer:
In most cases, a message should be deferred or canceled if
A) your news is bad.
B) someone else wants to deliver it.
C) your audience is highly receptive.
D) the time is wrong.
E) you have important information to share, but it could get you into trouble.
Answer:
People in the United States generally
A) view hard-earned material comfort as a worthy goal.
B) believe that people who work hard are no better than those who don’t work hard.
C) condemn materialism and prize a carefree lifestyle.
D) spend far less time on the job than German workers.
E) view luxury and comfort as harmful.
Answer:
To English-speaking U.S. listeners, Arabic speech may sound
A) excited or angry.
B) disinterested.
C) timid.
D) excessively soft.
E) all of the above.
Answer:
Interviews in which job candidates are asked how they would respond to various
hypothetical situations on the job are known as ________ interviews.
A) stress
B) structured
C) screening
D) situational
E) scenario
Answer:
Justified margins
A) make the document easier to read.
B) create a cleaner look because of increased white space along the right margin.
C) make messages look more formal.
D) help get audience members’ attention, even before they start to read.
E) are impossible to create without specialized publishing software.
Answer:
Using simple language in persuasive messages
A) helps avoid suspicions of fantastic claims and emotional manipulation.
B) reduces your credibility, since jargon and complex terminology are impressive.
C) confuses the audience, since they expect you to show how much you know.
D) is harmful when addressing external audiences.
E) is fine as long as you overwhelm the audience with complicated charts and diagrams.
Answer:
“Knowledge workers” are
A) employees who are responsible for orienting new executives.
B) charged with periodically testing all employees for proper training.
C) employees who are not on the payroll, but instead work for the knowledge they can
gain from the experience.
D) employees at all levels of an organization who specialize in acquiring, processing,
and communicating information.
E) no longer needed, since the Internet provides employees with all the information
they require.
Answer:
Which of the following statements has the most formal tone?
A) The financial analysis clearly shows that buying TramCo is the best alternative.
B) I think we should buy TramCo.
C) In my opinion, we should consider the purchase of TramCo.
D) We therefore conclude that acquiring TramCo would (based on information we have
gathered) be in our company’s best interest.
E) I don’t know about the rest of the team, but buying TramCo seems like the obvious
choice.
Answer:
The best way to find job opportunities is usually
A) searching online job boards such as Monster.
B) looking in the newspaper.
C) waiting to hear about them from people you know.
D) identifying the companies you want to work for and focusing your efforts on them.
E) to send a form letter to as many companies as possible, asking that they call you
when they have openings.
Answer:
Messages should contain additional detail and background information when
A) you expect a favorable response.
B) you are unsure about the audience’s level of understanding.
C) you and your audience share the same general background.
D) you are worried about possible legal action.
E) all of the above are the case.
Answer:
“Visible to the eye” is an example of
A) a cliché.
B) redundancy.
C) the passive voice.
D) obsolete language.
E) hedging.
Answer:
One of the headings in your report is, “Unexpected Price Increases.” In the table of
contents, the heading should
A) be worded exactly the same way.
B) not be included.
C) be paraphrased.
D) be in boldface type.
E) be in all caps.
Answer:
The letter of transmittal
A) may follow the direct or indirect plan.
B) has a more formal style than the report itself.
C) is usually included as an appendix.
D) should be written in an informal, chummy tone.
E) is never written as a memo.
Answer:
When writing letters to businesspeople in other countries, you should
A) use an informal, friendly tone.
B) keep your sentences and paragraphs long.
C) be vague and general in your wording.
D) make generous use of transitional words and phrases.
E) use the passive voice exclusively.
Answer:
Business-related blogs and microblogs
A) are generally not very helpful to job applicants.
B) can help you get comfortable with the jargon and buzzwords in a particular field.
C) can be useful in a job search, but only for those seeking positions in technical fields.
D) are very difficult to find online.
E) are almost always thinly veiled attempts to sell products and services.
Answer:
The casual, acronym-laden language used in text messaging and IM is
A) generally considered inappropriate and unprofessional in business.
B) accepted and even appreciated among today’s busy professionals.
C) a good way to display your technical savvy to coworkers and managers.
D) the new standard for business writing.
E) none of the above.
Answer:
Describe each of the four phases of the AIDA model for persuasive messages.
Answer:
Good ________ helps readers understand and accept your message, and saves them
time in the process.
Answer:
Briefly describe at least three meeting technologies that make it easy for virtual teams
to interact.
Answer:
What potential legal problem can result from writing a critical recommendation letter?
Answer:
Briefly explain the best time to begin crafting a personal job-search strategy.
Answer:
List and briefly explain five characteristics of effective report content.
Answer:
When distributing reports and proposals electronically, why is it preferable to send
documents as PDF files instead of word-processor files?
Answer:
Briefly explain the difference between conversation marketing and social commerce.
Answer:
List at least five media that are popular for sending brief business messages.
Answer:
List and describe the three methods for organizing a résumé along with the advantages
and disadvantages of each one.
Answer:
In what ways does a scannable résumé differ from the traditional format?
Answer:
How can the overuse or misuse of communication technology become a barrier to
effective communication?
Answer:
When composing negative messages, what type of language should you use?
Answer:
Rewrite the following sentence using more respectful wording: “You shouldn’t have put
the blender into the dishwasher.”
Answer:
Explain what you should include in an effective recommendation letter.
Answer:
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.
Answer:
Name at least five types of information that should not be included on résumés when
candidates are applying to companies in the U.S.
Answer:
List the four delivery methods for oral presentations.
Answer:
Give an example of one way to arouse audience attention at the beginning of a
presentation on your company’s new long-term disability insurance.
Answer:
Briefly define enterprise instant messaging and list some of the benefits associated with
it.
Answer: