Chapter 18—Managing Interpersonal Relations and
Communication Key
1. Interpersonal relations, communication, and group processes are a pervasive part of all organizations and a
vital part of all managerial activities.
2. The nature of interpersonal relations in an organization is as varied as the individual members themselves.
3. Synergy refers to the observation that people who support one another and work well together can
accomplish more than those who do not.
4. Poor-quality interpersonal relations can be an important negative element in the workplace.
5. The difference between communication and effective communication is mutual understanding.
6. Effective communication is the process of sending and receiving information between people.
7. Communication is a pervasive part of virtually all managerial activities.
8. A form of noise might be difficulties in understanding messages due to language barriers.
9. Accuracy is the primary advantage of oral communication.
10. The biggest drawback of oral communication is that it inhibits feedback and interchange between
communicants.
11. Oral communication is usually best when the message is more impersonal, routine, and longer.
12. If managers want to use the most accurate form of communication, they should use the grapevine.
13. The Y is the most centralized network because one person receives and disseminates all information.
14. When the task is complex and nonroutine, such as making a major decision about organizational strategy, a
wheel network tends to be most effective.
15. Give-and-take communication with active feedback is likely to be more effective than one-way
communication.
16. The form of organizational communication most often distorted is horizontal communication.
17. Horizontal communication is particularly critical to the coordination of the efforts of interdependent units.
18. Blogs can function much like face-to-face grapevines to communicate information that’s suppressed
elsewhere.
19. Some organizations do not have a grapevine.
20. Managers should do whatever it takes to eliminate the informal communication system in the organization.
21. Recent research has shown that the information carried in the organizational grapevine is fairly accurate.
22. Management by wandering around is basically a system for increasing informal communication in an
organization.
23. Body language accounts for about 25 percent of the content of the message.
24. Nonverbal communication includes the body language of the speaker and listener.
25. People with referent power typically use image and body language well.
26. Credibility problems caused by withholding information and making bad decisions can be barriers to
communication.
27. The distance the interviewer stands from the job applicant is an example of body language.
28. When two people attach different meanings to the same word, the resulting barrier to communication is
called noise.
29. Bill and Dave are working on a problem, but they are having trouble getting through to each other because
one of them thinks the problem is a promotional problem and the other thinks it is a distribution problem. The
barrier causing this ineffective communication is different perceptions.
30. Being a good listener requires that the individual not interrupt, concentrate, be patient, and ask questions.
31. Research indicates that managers spend most of their time
32. According to the text, which of the following behaviors is NOT a type of interpersonal interaction occurring
in organizations?
33. One outcome of good interpersonal relations in organizations is
34. People who support one another and who work well together can accomplish much more than people who
do not support one another and who do not work well together. These strong relationships produce
35. The process of sending and receiving information from one person to another is called
36. Effective communication is determined by
37. Which of the following is an example of communication?
38. When the message that is received is basically the same in meaning as the message that was sent, the
communication is said to be
40. Effective communication would be most important for
41. To which of the following management functions does communicating directly relate?
42. After a message is transmitted, it must then be
43. The second step in the communication process is
44. The first step in the communication process is
45. The person who transmits the message is the
46. The communication process is
47. Vikranta is reading a policy letter about absences. In terms of the communication process, this is an example
of
48. Meaning, encoding, transmission, and decoding are the elements of
49. Which of the following is NOT necessary for communication to take place?
50. Arthur works in customer service. He answered a call complaining about the item’s size. He is sending a
different size to the customer. This is an example of
51. Written pages, face-to-face discussion, and airwaves are examples of
52. Which of the following factors influences the encoding process?
53. ____ is anything that interferes with the communication process.
54. Which of the following would NOT be considered noise in the communication process?
55. Which of the following is not a channel of communication?
56. Ashley was interviewing for a job opening when her interviewer was interrupted by her assistant with an
urgent phone message. This is an example of
57. Dana once had computer problems after downloading program updates. She is now reluctant to update
software, so she misses pieces of information. This is causing
58. Mark asked Sandra, “Are you using your 529, 401K, IRA, or savings to pay for that?” Sandra had a blank
expression. In terms of the communication process, Sandra was unable to ____ the message because she did not
understand the jargon Mark used.
59. Mark asked Sandra, “Are you using your 529, 401K, IRA, or savings to pay for that?” Sandra had a blank
expression. In terms of the communication process, Mark’s use of jargon was part of his
60. Interpersonal communication
61. Which of the following statements does NOT describe an advantage of oral communication?
62. Employees of CNN saw military boats around D.C. and someone said they heard gunfire. CNN reported
military action. However, there was no gunfire and the Coast Guard was doing training only. This illustrates
which disadvantage of oral communication?
63. Which of the following statements describes an advantage of oral communication?
64. The biggest single drawback of written communication is
65. Employees of CNN saw military boats around D.C. and someone said they heard gunfire. CNN reported
military action. However, there was no gunfire and the Coast Guard was doing training only. The next day,
newspapers reported about the miscommunication and helped clarify the confusion. This illustrates which
advantage of written communication?
66. Which of the following statements about written communication is FALSE?
67. The best time to use written communication is when you have to exchange
68. The best time to use oral communication is when you have to exchange
69. Manish is planning a party. He invites eleven people. What type of network would be most effective?
70. The unity of command principle is best illustrated by the ____ communication network.
71. A company blog at Wegmans gathers information from a group of people on a topic. For example, everyone
who interviewed a prospective job candidate could post their assessment on a blog and comment on each other’s
observations. This is an example of a(n) ____ communication network.
72. Managers who announce they have an “open door” policy and actually want people to use it are encouraging
____ communication.
73. Management by wandering around increases ____ communications within an organization.
74. Which of the following is a type of organizational communication?
75. When Esposito compiles the company newsletter, he is preparing ____ communication.
76. Which of the following forms of organizational communication is most likely to be distorted?
77. Which of the following would be likely to include all forms of organizational communication?
78. Which of the following is an example of vertical communication?
79. Seth installed suggestion boxes where employees can pass along their comments. He is encouraging
80. Which of the following is an example of downward communication?
81. Which of the following forms of organizational communication is very useful for coordinating the efforts of
interdependent units in an organization?
82. A work team composed of various functional managers would tend to encourage
83. Human resources is changing the company pay structure. The HR director discussed the details with the
communications director so she could write the communications plan. This is an example of ____
communication.