Exam 4: Building Relationships by Communicating Supportively

What is the outcome of each meeting that is held under the personal management interview program?

Which of the following supervisor statements is an example of coaching?

You want to utilize supportive communication.You plan to employ validation in your communication with your subordinate.In particular,you want to practice areas of mutual agreement.What will you do?

When using a probing response,which type of questions work best?

For a deflecting response to work,which principle of communication should one follow?

How many attributes of supportive communication are described in the text?

Your boss tells you,"I can help you do this better." This statement lets you know that your boss sees your problem as an attitude problem.

Studies have found that people make fewer mental errors when experiencing positive relationships.

Find Somebody Else Ron Davis, the relatively new general manager of the machine tooling group at Parker Manufacturing, was visiting one of the plants. He scheduled a meeting with Mike Leonard, a plant manager who reported to him. RON: Mike, I've scheduled this meeting with you because I've been reviewing performance data and I wanted to give you some feedback. I know we haven't talked face-to-face before, but I think it's time we review how you're doing. I'm afraid that some of things I have to say are not very favorable. MIKE: Well, since you're the new boss, I guess I'll have to listen. I've had meetings like this before with new people who come in my plant and think they know what's going on. RON: Look, Mike, I want this to be a two-way interchange. I'm not here to read a verdict to you, and I'm not here to tell you how to do your job. There are just some areas for improvement I want to review. MIKE: Okay, sure, I've heard that before. But you called the meeting. Go ahead and lower the boom. RON: Well, Mike, I don't think this is lowering the boom. But there are several things you need to hear. One is what I noticed during the plant tour. I think you're too chummy with some of your female personnel. You know, one of them might take offense and level a sexual harassment suit against you. MIKE: Oh, come on. You haven't been around this plant before, and you don't know the informal, friendly relationships we have. The office staff and the women on the floor are flattered by a little attention now and then. RON: That may be so, but you need to be more careful. You may not be sensitive to what's really going on with them. But that raises another thing I noticed the appearance of your shop. You know how important it is in Parker to have a neat and clean shop. As I walked through this morning, I noticed that it wasn't as orderly and neat as I would like to see it. Having things in disarray reflects poorly on you, Mike. MIKE: I'll stack my plant up against any in Parker for neatness. You may have seen a few tools out of place because someone was just using them, but we take a lot of pride in our neatness. I don't see how you can say that things are in disarray. You've got no experience around here, so who are you to judge? RON: Well, I'm glad you're sensitive to the neatness issue. I just think you need to pay attention to it, that's all. But regarding neatness, I notice that you don't dress like a plant manager. I think you're creating a substandard impression by not wearing a tie, for example. Casualness in dress can be used as an excuse for workers to come to work in really grubby attire. That may not be safe. MIKE: Look, I don't agree with making a big separation between the managers and the employees. By dressing like people out on the shop floor, I think we eliminate a lot of barriers. Besides, I don't have the money to buy clothes that might get oil on them every day. That seems pretty picky to me. RON: I don't want to seem picky, Mike. But I do feel strongly about the issues I've mentioned. There are some other things, though, that need to get corrected. One is the appearance of the reports you send into division headquarters. There are often mistakes, misspellings, and, I suspect, some wrong numbers. I wonder if you are paying attention to these reports. You seem to be reviewing them superficially. MIKE: If there is one thing we have too much of, it's reports. I could spend three-quarters of my time filling out report forms and generating data for some bean counter in headquarters. We have reports coming out our ears. Why don't you give us a chance to get our work done and eliminate all this paperwork? RON: You know as well as I do, Mike, that we need to carefully monitor our productivity, quality, and costs. You just need to get more serious about taking care of that part of your responsibility. MIKE: Okay. I'm not going to fight about that. It's a losing battle for me. No one at headquarters will ever decrease their demand for reports. But, listen, Ron, I also have one question for you. RON: Okay. What's that? MIKE: Why don't you go find somebody else to pick on? Note to Instructors: The following essay questions relate to the above case. You may choose to use all of the following questions, or some subset of them. To ensure that you have all relevant information regardless of which questions you use, we have provided a general explanation of the case for each question. The redundancy in the explanations is built in intentionally. In most cases, there are multiple reasonable responses to these essay questions. Instructors should evaluate the quality of the reasoning the student employ to support their arguments. -Does Mike need coaching or counseling? What evidence do you have to support your conclusion?

Explain the major response types used in supportive listening.Provide the key advantages and disadvantages for each response type.

Which of the following is not one of the problems associated with electronic communication?

What is the statement "I have decided to turn down your request" an example of?

Because open responses allow the communicator to control the topic of conversation,it is appropriate all the time under all circumstances.

If the person you are communicating with suddenly begins to drop important names in the conversation such as "When the general manager,Sue,spoke with me about this matter,I offered her advice ..." you have probably caused this person to feel that he or she has been counseled.

Explain the types of communication that invalidate people.Describe the attributes of validating communication.Provide specific examples.

In cultures where individuals are assumed to have a great deal of individual autonomy,coaching responses are less common than counseling responses in interpersonal problem solving.

Compare and contrast coaching and counseling.Give examples of both coaching and counseling.

Although much progress has recently been made in improving the transmission of accurate messages,comparable progress has not occurred in the interpersonal aspects of communication.

What is the statement "You interrupted me three times during the meeting!" an example of?

You comment to a co-worker,"My supervisor,Maxine,is dictatorial." This is an example of person-oriented communication.