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REVIEW AND APPLICATIONS
CHAPTER SUMMARY
13-1 Describe what managers need to know about communicating effectively.
Communication is the transfer and understanding of meaning. There are seven elements in
the communication process. First there is a sender or source who has a message. A
13-2 Explain how technology affects managerial communication. Technology has radically
changed the way organizational members communicate. It improves a manager’s ability to
monitor performance; it gives employees more complete information to make faster
13-3 Discuss contemporary issues in communication. The two main challenges of
managing communication in an Internet world are the legal and security issues and the
lack of personal interaction. Organizations can manage knowledge by making it easy for
employees to communicate and share their knowledge so they can learn from each other
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
13-1 Which type of communication do you think is most effective in a work setting? Why?
Answer: Each communication method has its own benefits and drawbacks. No one method
is appropriate in all circumstances. For example, written communications are tangible,
verifiable, and more permanent than the oral variety. Typically, both sender and receiver
E-mail is one of the most widely used methods for organizational members to
13-2 Why isn’t effective communication synonymous with agreement?
Answer: Communication and agreement are two different things. The former means that
13-3 Which do you think is more important for a manager: speaking accurately or listening
actively? Why?
13-4 “Ineffective communication is the fault of the sender.” Do you agree or disagree with
this statement? Discuss.
Answer: Students’ responses will vary but the perspective of the text lays most of the
13-5 Is information technology helping managers communicate more efficiently and
effectively? Explain your answer.
13-6 How might a manager use the grapevine to his or her advantage? Support your
response.
Answer: The grapevine is the unofficial way that communications take place in an
13-7 Research the characteristics of a good communicator. Write up your findings in a
bulleted list report. Be sure to cite your sources.
13-8 Discuss the five contemporary communication issues facing managers.
Answer: The two main challenges of managing communication in an Internet world are the
legal and security issues and the lack of personal interaction.
Organizations can manage knowledge by making it easy for employees to communicate
Communicating with customers is an important managerial issue since what
communication takes place and how it takes place can significantly affect a customer’s
Finally, a company’s communication efforts need to be ethical. Ethical communication can
13-9 For one day, track nonverbal communication that you notice in others. What types did
you observe? Was the nonverbal communication always consistent with the verbal
communication taking place? Describe.
Answer: Student answers will vary. It would be best to go through and emphasize the
MyManagementLab
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions
at mymanagementlab.com. Answers to these questions are graded against rubrics in the
MyLab.
13-10 What purposes does communication serve?
13-11 Describe three barriers to communication and how managers can overcome those barriers.
Management Skill Builder: Being a Good Listener
Active listening, a method designed to improve two-way communication, involves a concerted
effort to understand and interpret the speaker’s message. The tools in this section are designed to
provide students with some insights into making people better listeners–and thus communicators.
Personal Inventory Assessment: Understanding Employee Emotions
What type of communication style(s) do you use? Take this PIA and learn more about your
communication style so you can become a better listener.
Skill Basics
Students can be more effective at active listening if they follow these eight tips:
Make eye contact.
Exhibit affirmative nods and appropriate facial expressions.
Avoid distracting actions or gestures that suggest boredom.
Ask questions.
Paraphrase using your own words.
Avoid interrupting the speaker.
Don’t over talk.
Make smooth transitions between the roles of speaker and listener.
Practicing the Skill
This exercise is a good way to have students put the Skill Basics mentioned above into
practice. Have students break into groups of two and debate a topic. After the topic is
chosen, person B must select an opposite position. The debate should last around 8-10
minutes with a catch, before each person speaks, he or she must summarize the position
of the other person.
The more you can get students involved in the debate the better. Additional topics for
debate can include: Light Beer versus Regular Beer, Football versus Soccer, Lady Gaga
versus Toby Keith, Chuck Norris versus Bruce Lee. These topics are also novel and
students may find it easier to remember the content of the debate. After the exercise is
over, go over the barriers to communication (p. 334) and see if they were an issue during
the debate.
As an alternative to all students participating in the debate, the exercise could be
performed with several two-person groups in front of the class. During the debates,
students not participating would take the role of an observer and make a note of how well
each person used the eight active listening skills from the Skill Basics above.
Experiential Exercise
Stone, Hartwick, and Mueller Talent Management Associates
To: Chris Richards
From: Dana Gibson
Subject: Office gossip
There are some big changes at Stone, Hartwick, and Mueller, and the information on a move has
been kept “under wraps” for competitive reasons. However, employees are starting to suspect
something is up. Your job is to create a plan to deal with inaccurate information that can affect
morale and productivity.
Teaching Tip: There is no right or wrong answer in how to deal with this situation.
There are good reasons for not letting competitors know information that could hurt the
company. However, information like this is bound to get out and when it does, it would
be best if the information is accurate. Have students brainstorm several ways that the
company could share the information with employees but at the same time stay
competitive. Hint: Have students think about ways to put a spin on the move so that
employees and customers could see the move as something positive.
Case Application 1: Social Benefit or Social Disaster?
Discussion Questions
13-13 What are the advantages and drawbacks of universities using social media to
communicate with stakeholders – students, potential students, alumni, donors, etc?
13-14 Do you think there would be more or fewer communication barriers when using social
media? Discuss.
13-15 What should managers do to be sure they communicate effectively when using social
media?
13-16 Looking at the rules and regulations that universities are establishing, do you think that
business organizations should have rules for employees using social media? What types of rules
do you think would be necessary? Be as specific as possible.
First, companies need to set a rule about the use of social media at work. Will it be
allowed, and if employees can use it at work, does it have to be work related? Second,
13-17 What have been your experiences—both positive and negative—with social media? From
your experiences, what guidelines could you suggest for managers and organizations?
Students’ answers will vary. Almost everyone has had a bad experience with Facebook (I
have) i.e. hacked passwords, embarrassing pictures, and drunken rants (hopefully not
Case Application 2: Banning E-Mail. Banning Voicemail.
Discussion Questions
13-18 What do you think of this? Do you agree that e-mail and voicemail can be unproductive
in the workplace?
13-19 Were you surprised at the volume of e-mail an average employee receives daily? What
are the challenges of dealing with this volume of e-mail? How much e-mail would you say you
receive daily? Has your volume of e-mail increased? Have you had to change your e-mail
habits?
Responses from students will vary. Some of the challenges could include that this volume
13-20 What do you think of the e-mail “replacement” some businesses are using – more of a
social media tool? In what ways might it be better? Worse?
13-21 What role should customer service play in choosing which organizational communication
method to use?
Case Application 3: Delivering Bad News
Discussion Questions
13-22 What’s your impression of what took place in these scenarios? Did the managers in each
of these scenarios communicate effectively? Why or why not?
13-23 For each of the scenarios, discuss what might have been a better way to communicate the
message.
13-24 How could the guidelines to ethical communication have been used in this situation?
13-25 What could other managers learn from this about communication or miscommunication?
Managers can learn that anything can be taken out of context and that if active listening is
not occurring on the part of the listener, then the manager will likely have to repeat
