When brainstorming to generate ideas, you should
a. critique each idea as it is suggested.
b. record ideas without judging them.
c. always work alone for greater efficiency.
d. allow no more than five ideas to be discussed.
Answer:
A personally written message will have more impact on your reader than a ready-made
card.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
What is the first step in writing a formal report?
a. Selecting an appropriate layout and format
b. Researching primary and secondary data
c. Writing a purpose statement
d. Determining the length of the report
Answer:
Which of the following sentences is not a parallel step in this set of instructions?
a. List the required education, work experience, and technical skills in Section 2.
b. Contact the director of human resources to obtain a job-posting identification
number.
c. Placing age or gender preference in the candidate qualifications section creates legal
jeopardy.
d. Identify the division, department, and supervising agent for this position in Section 3.
Answer:
Businesses that want to capitalize on cultural diversity need to train workers to think
and act alike to reduce conflicts.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
When verbal and nonverbal messages conflict, listeners tend to believe the verbal
message.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Most informational reports have one thing in common: a neutral or receptive audience.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Which of the following sentences demonstrates active-voice verbs?
a. Superior writing skills are required by many employers.
b. Employee use of e-mail was monitored by management.
c. Research indicates a correlation between strong writing skills and promotions.
d. The proposals were carefully reviewed by the screening committee.
Answer:
Which statement about ethnocentrism is most accurate?
a. Ethnocentrism occurs in only Western cultures.
b. Ethnocentrism does not exist in today’s culturally diverse workplace.
c. Ethnocentrism causes us to judge others by our own values.
d. Ethnocentrism is the oversimplified perception of a behavioral pattern or
characteristic applied to all groups.
Answer:
Because they expect you to showcase your strengths and hide your weaknesses,
employers say it is acceptable to self-promote and distort facts on your résumé.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Anna plans to use a PowerPoint presentation in her speech. What advice should she
follow?
a. Avoid discussing and interpreting each visual aid for her audience; instead, she
should let her audience members draw their own conclusions about what the visual is
conveying.
b. Use a laser pointer to draw her audience’s attention to important points on her
PowerPoint slides.
c. Leave each PowerPoint slide on the screen after she is done talking about it to ensure
that her audience understands the slide.
d. Anna should practice all these tips as she uses PowerPoint in her presentation.
Answer:
Millie needs to research customer reactions. She should consider a blog because blogs
can produce unbiased consumer feedback more quickly and cheaply than familiar
techniques like focus groups and surveys.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Business writing should be economical. In this context economical can best be defined
as
a. presenting ideas clearly and concisely.
b. concentrating on the receiver’s perspective instead of your own.
c. solving problems and conveying information.
d. getting your audience to believe and accept your message.
Answer:
All of the following are reasons memos are used to send internal messages except
a. formality.
b. permanency.
c. speed.
d. length.
Answer:
Professional behavior is comprised of six dimensions, including courtesy and respect,
appearance and appeal, tolerance and tact, honesty and ethics, reliability and diligence,
and
a. soft and hard skills.
b. self-actualization and self-control.
c. sharing and collegiality.
d. education and training.
Answer:
An effective technique when writing a persuasive claim message is to suggest that the
reader intentionally created the problem.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Thomas is in charge of taking formal minutes during an Institute of Internal Auditors
chapter meeting. Which of the following is the best advice for him to follow as he
prepares these minutes?
a. Record only new business because old business will appear in previous minutes.
b. Avoid using the exact wording of motions because that would be too time consuming.
c. Record voting results and actions taken.
d. Omit his name and signature as the person recording the minutes because he is acting
on behalf of the organization.
Answer:
Like e-mail messages, memos can be used to communicate within an organization and
with external customers, companies, and organizations.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
No meeting should be called unless the topic is important, can’t wait, and requires an
exchange of ideas.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
Which statement is most accurate?
a. Proofreading involves using only a spell checker.
b. Revision should always occur after you have completed writing.
c. Business messages must be clear, concise, and readable.
d. Revising and proofreading involve the same steps.
Answer:
The indirect strategy is most appropriate for what kind of messages?
a. Bad-news messages
b. Sensitive messages
c. Persuasive messages
d. The indirect strategy is appropriate for all answer choices.
Answer:
When answering audience questions following a presentation, feel free to make up an
answer if you don’t know the answer.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
The conclusion of a response message should
a. avoid repeating the information provided or referring to its use.
b. include familiar expressions such as “If I may be of further assistance, please don’t
hesitate to call me.”
c. provide specifics if further action is required.
d. omit the sender’s name to avoid legal liability.
Answer:
Which of the following best presents the bad news in a message refusing a customer’s
claim?
a. We are sorry that we cannot give you a full refund for your DVD player.
b. Because you damaged the DVD player by trying to repair it yourself, we are unable
to give you a full refund.
c. The damage to your DVD player is not covered by the warranty, as explained in the
enclosed copy of the warranty that came with your DVD player.
d. Although a full refund cannot be issued, we would be happy to repair your DVD
player for a nominal fee.
Answer:
Which statement about open and hidden job markets is most accurate?
a. More jobs are secured through the open job market than through the hidden job
market.
b. The open job market consists of jobs that are advertised or listed.
c. Most job seekers start searching for jobs using the hidden job market.
d. The hidden job market refers to those jobs that are filled through illegal or unethical
tactics.
Answer:
Which of the following statements about teams in today’s business is most accurate?
a. Teams can be effective in solving problems and in developing new products.
b. Today’s teams collaborate only face-to-face.
c. Effective soft skills are not necessary when collaborating in teams.
d. Teams are rarely used in today’s business environment.
Answer:
To sound current, fresh, and trendy, effective business communicators make ample use
of slang when writing and speaking.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
You should proofread every sentence of a document as soon as you write it.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
When you respond to customers online, you should do so in less than 24 hours.
a. True
b. False
Answer:
It is important to avoid long lead-ins because they
a. are grammatically incorrect.
b. contain misplaced modifiers.
c. prevent the reader from reaching the meaning of the sentence.
d. result in faulty parallelism.
Answer:
The ____________________ are a record of points of discussion, decisions made, and
tasks assigned at a meeting.
Answer:
The most important part of any bad-news message is the ____________________ that
explain or justify the bad news.
Answer:
____________________ involves saying words correctly and clearly using accepted
sounds and accented syllables.
Answer:
____________________, which occurs during the third phase of the writing process,
means improving the content and sentence structure of your message. It may include
adding, cutting, recasting, reformatting, and redesigning what you have written.
Answer:
Personal ____________________ involves deciding what makes you special and
desirable in the job market.
Answer:
Use ____________________ format for short (usually eight or fewer pages) informal
reports addressed outside an organization.
Answer:
A ____________ is a website with journal entries on any imaginable topic usually
written by one person.
Answer:
Using a(n) ____________________-voice verb enables you to depersonalize an action
and cushion the bad news.
Answer:
An important preliminary step in public speaking is performing
____________________ analysis, which helps a speaker determine his or her
organizational pattern, delivery style, and supporting material.
Answer:
Expressions that repeat meaning or include unnecessary words are
____________________.
Answer:
A communicator who intends to deceive when writing a bad-news message is
displaying ____________________ behavior.
Answer:
Business communicators should consider including a forward look, good wishes, a
mention of freebies, or references to resale information or promotion in the
____________________ of a bad-news message.
Answer:
The first sentence of a direct request is usually a question or a polite
____________________ such as Please answer the following questions about your
accommodations for a seminar.
Answer:
The introduction of a speech should capture the listeners’ attention and get them
involved, preview the main points of the speech, and establish the speaker’s
____________________.
Answer:
An oversimplified perception of a behavior pattern or characteristic applied to entire
groups is a(n) ____________________.
Answer:
Instructions should be written in ____________________ using the imperative
(command) mood.
Answer:
Persuasive requests are generally more effective when they are written using the
____________________ organizational strategy.
Answer:
____________________ reports provide data or findings, analyses, and conclusions.
They may also provide recommendations if requested.
Answer:
____________________ involves checking for problems with spelling, grammar,
punctuation, names and numbers, and format.
Answer: