Exam 2: Business Communication: Creating and Delivering Messages That Matter

In global communication,the successful communicator assesses the audience's comfort level with the English language.

What is one characteristic of good business writing?

Barney Hendricks is interviewing Web developers for his company.Over lunch,he tells you that his top candidate showed lots of enthusiasm when he first entered the office."His tone and attitude really showed an interest in the job," Barney said."And he just looked confident and composed.Unlike some other candidates,he looked me right in the eye when he answered some tough questions." What is Barney impressed by about this candidate?

Suppose you are writing a letter applying for a job with a company,and you don't know the name or gender of the vice president of human resources to whom you are writing.The best way to deal with this problem is to address the recipient as which of the following?

Why do people tend to have a hard time listening effectively?

Al Ownsby,project manager at the Innovative Technologies Defence Company,is a man of few words.His idea of communication is to "give the recipients the basic idea,but spare them the details." Ownsby's approach is sound,because a basic rule of business communication is that being concise is better than being complete.

Larry Brighton needs to quickly hear from his colleague Ralph concerning the prospect of changing vendors on the Harris Project.He leaves Ralph a lengthy voice mail on the subject.Ralph is in the habit of picking up voice mail messages once each day.If Larry is asked by his boss about the vendor problem,he is covered because he sent Ralph a message about it.

Speakers display bias when they use words and statements to communicate stereotypes and negative attitudes about a specific group's gender,age,ethnicity,or nationality.

In business communications,noise can come from cultural factors,such as how you greet colleagues,as well as physical factors,such as someone in the audience talking loudly during a presentation.

Juanita is planning to speak to some new employees in her department.She wants to convey a sense of accountability and establish a tone of trust.Given these goals,Juanita should make extensive use of the active voice in her speech.

Key executive board members attend annual meetings at the World Bank.Most of the members travel from their respective countries and come prepared to discuss local business needs.What do the interactions in the meeting exemplify?

What is the term for a negative preconception or prejudice directed toward a specific group?

Effective communication within an organization is one of the most challenging tasks for managers.

One of the problems with communication is that people listen faster than they are able to think.

Barry Holten plans to start his presentation with a startling statistic.This is usually a poor approach since it may distract the audience.

Successful business communication requires only two skills: the ability to write convincingly and to speak clearly.

Professor Harold Reeder was very busy when he received an e-mail by a student who wanted to know when an assignment was due.His short response said,"You can find the due date in your syllabus!" The student interpreted this to mean that the professor didn't want to help the student,so the next time he had a question,he asked another classmate.The professor need not be concerned because his response followed a good communication rule: messages should always be short and concise!

Daniel wants to improve his nonverbal communication skills.What is one relatively easy and effective way to do this?

One highly effective way to improve a presentation and ensure audience involvement is to include a couple of jokes that poke good-natured fun at some of the audience members.

Lindsey suspected that her sales team might be suspicious of some proposed new expense account rules,so she started her weekly meeting by describing a situation in which an employee was unable to claim a legitimate reimbursement because of the current policies.She used this story to explain why management believed it was time to try something different.This opening was an effective way to introduce her message.