Deck 5: Business Communication: Creating Delivering Messages That Matter

Question 1

Robin attended a business conference where the keynote speaker gave a very entertaining presentation. She found several of the speaker's jokes funny and some of his points interesting but felt unsure of the speaker's main point and how it related to her. As far as Robin was concerned, the speaker was not an effective communicator.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Globalization of markets will make intercultural communication more important to long­term business.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Managers use business communication to disseminate information to their employees, stakeholders, and competitors.

Question 5

Barriers to communication can't be eliminated, so the best approach is to ignore them and repeat your message several times in order to break through these barriers.

Question 6

Great business communication equates to a knack for speaking or a flair for writing.

Question 7

Body language and tone of voice have little impact on the audience's understanding of the information being communicated.

Question 8

Noise is any interference that causes the message you send to be different from the message your audience understands.

Question 9

Anne McNair is planning to take a course in business communications. Her studies are likely to involve two­way exercises that encompass the ability to be a good listener as well as the ability to be a good speaker and writer.

Question 10

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

Question 11

Reflecting a long­standing tradition, top managers at Tallyson Corporation prefer to communicate by sending memos and email messages instead of meeting directly. This practice is likely to create an organizational communication barrier within the company.

Question 12

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

Question 13

A study cited in The Wall Street Journal has suggested that while nonverbal communication is important, it is verbal communication that conveys the most meaning to the listener.

Question 14

In face­to­face communication, the verbal content of a message conveys much more meaning to the listener than the tone of voice and facial expression.

Question 15

When American businesses expand internationally, cultural barriers pose challenges in new markets.

Question 16

A manager is an effective speaker when he or she can articulate a message using dialect and jargon, because these nuances usually enrich the message.

Question 17

Effective communication is more about style (how the message is delivered) than it is about substance (the relevance of the message).

Question 18

Effective communication is transmitting relevant information to an audience.

Question 19

The goal of nonverbal communication should be to reinforce the meaning of your message.

Question 20

In order to keep the audience awake, most experts agree that the key is to keep the presentation room quite cold. This ensures the audience stays awake.

Question 21

Ashley Mears must inform employees in her department about the new absenteeism policy. Given the controversial nature of the message, she should inform them of the policy change via email.

Question 22

Keiko is from Japan and has travelled to the United States for a business meeting. The one way for Keiko to convey trust and respectful attention to her business colleagues would be to sustain eye contact.

Question 23

When delivering a message it is important to match the message to the communication channel.

Question 24

Texting is the best way to communicate with everyone because it is quick, easy, and uses few words.

Question 25

According to the International Listening Association, 85 percent of what people learn is derived from listening.

Question 26

Texting is a good way to get a quick response on a simple issue.

Question 27

One drawback of voice mail is that it doesn't provide the sender with a permanent record of the message.

Question 28

Shannon is delivering a presentation in front of the senior management tomorrow. She decides to practice in front of a mirror prior to the meeting. This should be an effective strategy for strengthening her communication skills.

Question 29

Speaking immediately after someone stops talking demonstrates questionable listening skills.

Question 30

Danica is the creative director for a children's television program. Although she works in media communications, she is not comfortable with her own presentation skills. One way Danica could improve her skills would be to videotape her presentations and have a friend go through the videos with her.

Question 31

Instant messaging provides a richer communication channel than telephone conversations.

Question 32

Due to declining sales, Amanda Wallace will be forced to lay off three salespeople. The most effective method for delivering the bad news to the three salespeople is via voice mail.

Question 33

Omegabux Inc. has worked out an agreement to merge with Lottadoe Enterprises. Amie Johnston, the CEO of Omegabux Inc, knows that the merger will require a reorganization and that employees will worry about their job security when the deal is announced. She wants to assure the employees of her personal commitment to minimize layoffs. One of the best ways for Amie to communicate information about the merger would be to issue a memo to all employees.

Question 34

leikmeplylo tyoe esps ernodu tminueclyh dmoo. re of his time listening than his company's hourly

Question 35

Active listening is not an important skill needed by salespeople since their job is to convince others to buy, not to listen to their problems.

Question 36

Voice mail has a high level of channel richness since the listener has the ability to hear your voice but not see your body language.

Question 37

Memos are a good communication channel when the intent is to convey an uncontroversial but detailed message to a large number of people.

Question 38

The higher you go in an organization, the more important listening becomes.

Question 39

Checking emails and text messages during a presentation does not distract a person from the topic being discussed.

Question 40

Jackie is a high­end fashion designer and often speaks to up­and­coming fashion designers from the local art school. She smiles a lot, nods her head, and frequently uses hand gestures. These are examples of nonverbal communication.

Question 41

Business communication differs from other types of formal communication, such as a wedding invitation, for example, because the use of slang is widely accepted in business communication.

Question 42

Passive voice tends to be more effective in business communications than active voice because it is more rational and has less emotional impact.

Question 43

Larry Brighton needs a quick response from his colleague Ralph about the prospect of changing vendors on the Harris project. He leaves Ralph a lengthy voice mail on the subject even if Ralph picks up voice mail messages only once each day. If Larry is asked by his boss today about the vendor problem, he is covered because he sent Ralph a message about it.

Question 44

The key to finding the best communication channel is to evaluate the needs and expectations of your audience.

Question 45

Words or statements suggesting negative attitudes toward an ethnic group are acceptable if no members of that ethnic group are likely to receive the message.

Question 46

In American culture, older people are more likely to experience age bias than younger people.

Question 47

You should always select a communication channel that you are comfortable using. If it works for you, it's good for the audience.

Question 48

Al Ownsby, project manager at the Innovative Technologies Defense 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.

Question 49

You can make your presentation or speech more concise and powerful by using active voice.

Question 50

Bias is a preconception about members of a particular group.

Question 51

Videoconferencing is a good channel for communicating complex information to many people in geographically distant locations.

Question 52

Addressing the recipient of a message as "Dear Sir" is a common and perfectly acceptable practice, even if you do not know the gender of the recipient.

Question 53

The common types of bias in business communications include gender bias, age bias, and bias related to race, ethnicity, and nationality.

Question 54

Jim has posted an employment advertisement for a greeter at his store. The advertisement reads "only elderly individuals need apply." Jim has not exhibited any type of a bias, because there are not enough positions for the elderly in the job market.

Question 55

An enthusiastic CEO announced to his audience at the stockholders' meeting, "Fifty million dollars worth of services were sold last year!" He could have increased the impact of this statement by using the active voice.

Question 56

Professor Harold Reeder was very busy when he received an email from a student who wanted to know when an assignment was due. He responded, "On Friday." The professor's response followed a good communication rule: messages should always be short and concise.

Question 57

One of the most effective ways to improve business communication is to make extensive use of slang to enliven and enrich the message.

Question 58

The first step in choosing the correct wording for a message is to consider the expectations of the audience to whom the message will be directed.

Question 59

Active voice refers to a sentence structure in which the subject performs the action expressed by the verb.

Question 60

In order to make sure that the audience is receiving your message, it is critical that you understand expectations, level of education, and profession of the audience.

Question 61

Justin McCall is the keynote speaker at his company's annual sales conference. One part of his speech will include 10 keys to success. Since all of these points deal with the same topic, Justin should present them on the same PowerPoint slide.

Question 62

Lamar Holten plans to start his presentation for a nonprofit charity program with a startling statistic. This is usually a poor approach as it may distract the audience.

Question 63

At the beginning of his talk on global warming, Don Olson suggested that the audience ask questions during the presentation. Experts suggest that it is appropriate protocol to inform the audience of your preference for taking questions during or after the presentation.

Question 64

Greg Watson, a manager, believes he needs to reorganize the product development teams to prevent stagnation of ideas. He wrote a memo to explain this to the teams. However, Greg is concerned that several developers who like their current assignments will resent his plan. He should describe his proposed changes very early in the message in order to quickly deal with the issues that may cause concern.

Question 65

The ideal way to close a presentation is to summarize the key points of the topic discussed.

Question 66

Businesspeople have a tendency to simply delete emails that don't seem important without even reading them because they receive a large amount of emails on any given day.

Question 67

In business communication, it is improper to use graphs and charts in PowerPoint presentations.

Question 68

If the audience is likely to respond negatively to a written message, a good strategy is to begin the message with a brief discussion of the rationale for the message before presenting the bottom line.

Question 69

Business writers should consider how the audience will respond to their message­think about how they will feel about the information.

Question 70

In order to improve audience retention, an effective oral presentation will combine visual and oral elements into one compelling presentation.

Question 71

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 anecdote to explain why management believed it was time to try something different. This opening was an effective way to introduce her message.

Question 72

Terra Freeman likes to use slides when delivering a presentation as she is able to read directly from the slides. This is an effective approach since she is able to deliver all of the information on the slides directly to her audience.

Question 73

The best way to determine the appropriate conversational style is to imagine yourself speaking to the recipient of your message.

Question 74

The first sentence of a block paragraph is indented, and the lines within each paragraph are doubled spaced.

Question 75

Proper business communication should always follow well­known grammatical rules, such as never starting a sentence with the words and or but and never ending a sentence with a preposition.

Question 76

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.

Question 77

Specific examples and vivid comparisons make it difficult to illustrate the main points of a subject in a verbal presentation.

Question 78

Wayne expects resistance from some members of the sales team when the latest incentive plan is announced. He plans to begin the discussion by reviewing the company's mission and strategic goals. This is an example of an effective opening to his presentation.

Question 79

In business communication, it is acceptable to use split infinitives in sentences such as "Try to effectively film the next scene."

Question 80

Studies suggest that after three days, individuals retain approximately 65 percent of the information received from a combined visual and oral presentation.