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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
If you need additional practice, be sure to visit the grammar, mechanics, and punctuation exercises in
LearnSmart Achieve.
Suggested revision of the letter body follows:
Subject: BOM routing process change
In order to avoid long wait times affecting other departments, we have now consolidated steps. We have
pushed two jobs through the new process to test its effectiveness, and I’m pleased to report that we’ve
been able to reduce the average total time for creating the BOM to 21 days (down from 28 days).
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
Critical-Thinking Questions
1. What types of questions can you ask to ensure you understand your organization’s culture?
(LO1)
2. What might these nonverbal communication behaviors communicate? Think of at least two
possibilities for each. (LO2)
a. A nod of the head
b. Avoidance of eye contact
c. Being asked to sit on the other side of the desk from your boss
d. Shouting “WHAT!”
e. Showing up late for a meeting
f. Using your computer while someone else is talking
3. Discuss why we have difficulty listening well. (LO3)
4. What can you do to improve your listening? (LO3)
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
we must work at doing it. In addition, we can keep in mind the ten commandments of listening
discussed in the text:
2. Put the talker at ease.
4. Remove distractions.
6. Be patient.
8. Go easy on argument and criticism.
10. Stop talking!
5. Talking is something we do every day, so we can be confident that these everyday skills are
ready for use in the workplace. Discuss. (LO4)
6. Being able to start a conversation is especially important when meeting clients in social
settings. Discuss the types of topics that would and would not be appropriate. (LO4)
7. Why is timing an important consideration in starting a conversation? (LO4)
8. What should you do upon approaching someone to start a conversation? (LO4)
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9. What are three techniques for approaching difficult conversations? (LO5)
10. What strategies should you use to deliver feedback? Receive feedback? (LO6)
When giving feedback, follow these practices:
When receiving feedback, follow these practices:
11. Identify which conflict resolution strategy would work best in the following situations.
(LO7)
a. Your team members disagree about whether to conduct a survey or hold focus groups.
It’s one of your first big group decisions, so it is important that everyone feels that he or she
wins.
b. Two coworkers are involved in a minor conflict about who gets to leave early and who
should stay to answer the phones. They ask you for your opinion, but you don’t want to
make either of them unhappy with you.
c. You (a staff accountant) and a senior partner both need to use the same conference room
at the same time. You really want the room, but clearly you lack seniority.
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Use accommodative strategy. Realize that the senior partner is likely to keep the meeting room at
that time. You could acknowledge the schedule conflict and cordially offer to reschedule or move
your meeting. This could help to build goodwill with the executive. You could also just use
avoidance strategy and not even bring up the matter with the person. Your choice here may
depend on your relationship with the person in question.
d. You and your team of five are not going to finish your presentation by the deadline, so
you have to work on the weekend. Your team members are not happy, but there is no
alternative. Maybe you can offer them something in exchange for getting them to work on a
Saturday.
12. What can you do to ensure a successful negotiation? (LO8)
13. The people attending a meeting—not the leader—should determine the agenda. Discuss.
(LO9)
14. As meetings should be democratic, everyone present should be permitted to talk as much as
he or she wants without interference from the leader. Discuss. (LO9)
15. Describe an annoying phone practice that you have experienced or know about (other than
the ones discussed in the chapter). Explain and/or demonstrate how it should be corrected.
(LO10)
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
Skills-Building Exercises
Organizational Culture (LO1)
1. Examining Your Workplace Culture: Using a current or former workplace as your example,
answer the questions in the section of this chapter called “Communication and Organizational
2. Exploring a Company Culture: Choose a company that you think you might want to work for
someday or that hires people in your field. Interview someone at this company about the
Nonverbal Communication (LO2)
1. Identify the Meanings behind Nonverbal Behaviors: Find three to five pictures of men and
women with different facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, etc.) or gestures. Ask those
native to your area to identify the emotions or the meanings of the gestures the pictures convey.
2. Observe Others’ Interactions: Go to a public place (e.g., your school’s cafeteria, the library, a
park, or a mall). Observe the interaction between two people whom you can see but not hear. In a
short memo to your instructor, describe the setting, the participants, the interaction, and the
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
Conversations (LO4)
1. Evaluating Your Conversational Skills: Record yourself in conversation with three different
audiences (e.g., a friend, your parents, a customer or client at work, an instructor). Conduct a
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of your talking using the four
elements of good talking discussed in this chapter. What are your strengths? What are your
weaknesses? Identify opportunities for improving your talking. Discuss threats to improving your
talking (e.g., nervousness, lack of interest). What will you do to address the threats? Present your
2. Making Small Talk: Approach someone you don’t know (e.g., at a social gathering, in the
3. Observing Others’ Conversations: Observe conversations in your workplace. Are they
productive? What do people do well? What could they improve?
Conflict and Negotiation (LO5–LO8)
1. Playing “Divide the Loot”: Develop your conflict and negotiation skills by playing Divide the
Loot. Instructors, before this activity, you will have to give each student a different amount of
play money.
• Within a group, divide into two teams: managers and employees.
• Put the money your instructor gave you into the group’s employee pot or manager pot,
depending on your role, but be careful not to let your team members know how much
money you contributed. (You may want to put the money in an envelope.)
Evaluate students’ answers based on their merits.
Meetings (LO9)
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
1. Solving a Campus Problem: For one of the following topics, develop a specific problem that
would warrant a group meeting. (Example: For student government, the problem might be: “To
determine the weaknesses of student government on this campus and what should be done to
correct them.”) Then lead the class (or participate) in a meeting on the topic. Class discussion
following the meeting should reinforce the text material and bring out the effective and
j. Degree requirements
k. Parking on campus
l. University calendar
m. Homework requirements
n. Tuition and fees
2. Resolving a Problem of Your Choice: Using one of the topics in the above exercise (or another
topic as your instructor directs), work in groups of four to present a solution to the problem you
decide to address. You should meet at least four times. One person should be designated to
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Again, a board or conference room can provide a real-life setting. A good follow-up activity
would be to see if group members’ recollections differ from what is in the minutes. To avoid
generic group member evaluations (e.g., “Joe did a good job; he was a good leader”), provide
group members with a rubric or list of leader characteristics that they can use for evaluation. Then
attach points to the evaluations so that they are specific and helpful.
3. Debating a Current Topic: Working in groups of four or five, debate the following statement.
As long as the information they provide is truthful, employers should be able to give a negative
reference without fear of lawsuits or other negative effects for a former employee seeking
employment with another company. Examine arguments that might lead you to agree with the
statement or disagree with it, and come to a consensus. Tape the meeting and analyze the group
members’ performances. You may analyze the recording as a group or individually as your
instructor directs. Who emerged as the leader of the discussion? How could you tell this person
Talking on the Phone (LO10)
1. Reflecting on Bad Phone Practices: Make a list of bad phone practices that you have
experienced or heard about. With a classmate, first demonstrate the bad practice and then
2. Making Sure Your Outgoing Message Is Professional: Think about your outgoing message on
your cell phone or answering machine. For whom is your message appropriate? Are the voice
quality, style, and word choice appropriate? Is it courteous? Is there anyone you would not want
to hear this message (e.g., a potential employer)? Does the message contain sufficient detail? Is it
too detailed or too long? In a memo to your instructor, include the text of your current outgoing
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Chapter 14: Putting Interpersonal Skills to Work in Conversations and Meetings