Deck 1: Understanding Business Communication

Question 1

Why are face-to-face meetings (a rich medium) most commonly used for difficult discussions

Answer 1

Face to face meetings is one of the traditional forms of oral communication. It is very useful in case of long and thorough discussions as it provides a platform to the people to discuss and address their issues by communicating with each other. In face to face meetings, people can physically participate and clarify their point in front of other people. Such meetings help to resolve misunderstandings and build better relationships.
Hence, it is concluded that face-to-face meeting is suitable for difficult decisions.

Question 2

Write a policy about email use.
Draft a policy about employees' email use. Consider what would be important for a company to communicate to employees about their email communication. Next, search the Internet to find a sample policy about appropriate use of email. You may find one on your school's website (perhaps you had to read and sign a policy when you first enrolled). Compare your draft to the sample. Did you miss any important points Revise your policy if necessary.
Then, in small groups, discuss your policy and be honest about how your use of email may violate the policy. Now that you know what is expected, would you handle email differently Why or why not

Answer 2

Policy regarding the use of email by employees:
Email system should be used for the official purpose only. The confidential information regarding the company must not be shared outside. The computers of the company should not be used for personal purposes.
The email system should not be used in non-business activities and for sending disruptive messages, offensive messages, and comments about age, gender or race. Monitoring of the emails should be done on regular basis for the purpose of security and verification.
Sending bad jokes, watching pornography and stories through mails must not be shared and if done will be considered as sexual harassment.
No, all the necessary points are included in the policy.
Following points should be taken into consideration to prevent one from violating the policy:
• The users should not take steps that may have harmful effects related to email risks on the policy of the company.
• The emails should not be used for the personal purposes.
• One should be aware of the fact that email system should not be used in non-business activities.
• The email system should not be used in sending disruptive messages, offensive messages, and comments about age, gender or race.
• The user must not share any confidential data. Doing so is a punishable offence.
Yes, one would use the email system in such a manner that may not affect the policies of the company. One must monitor their emails twice before sending them. The users must store the emails for the purpose of verification and security.
Any breach in the policy of the company may result into disciplinary actions and may turn up to termination.

Question 3

Create an organization chart to identify a company's formal communication network.
Think of an organization where you've worked recently. Create an organization chart for two or three levels of employees. Then add arrows to identify the three directions of the formal communication network.

Answer 3

An organizational chart identifying the company's formal communication network is as under:
The three tier communication network starts with CEO (chief executive officers) and President on the first level followed by president, EVP (executive vice president), CFO (chief financial officer) of the different departments. The third level consists of SVP (senior vice president) of the different divisions.

Question 4

Discuss a questionable marketing strategy.
During Hurricane Sandy, American Apparel sent an email to customers with this subject line:

The email encouraged people to take advantage of the sale if they were "bored during the storm" and to enter the coupon code "SANDYSALE" at checkout on the website.
Some people found the email offensive. In small groups, discuss your view: is this a clever marketing approach, insensitive, unethical, or something else

Question 5

What criteria will you use to determine the best communication medium for your message Consider using multiple formats (e.g., email, a meeting, or a report)- perhaps for different points or objectives.

Question 6

Respond to an email that suggests an unethical practice.
Imagine that you're an intern for the law firm Dewey, Wright, and Howe. As part of a team, you're developing an Orientation Plan for future interns. Your team receives the email on the next page from the HR recruiter at the firm. In small groups, first discuss the situation and why this is an ethical dilemma.
Then, on your own, write an email to respond to Mark's suggestion. You will want to balance ethics with tone to avoid accusing Mark of anything inappropriate and potentially making him feel defensive. When you're finished, share your draft with your group members and compare emails. Which works best and why

Question 7

Describe a company's grapevine.
For the same organization you explored in the previous question, consider the informal communication network. With a partner, discuss how you heard about unofficial information about the company. How accurate do you think this information was Was senior management plugged into the grapevine Do you have examples of how management responded to information spread through the grapevine If management ignored the grapevine, what do you think should have been done instead

Question 8

Discuss ethical dilemmas.
Working in small groups and using the guidelines for ethical decision making discussed in this chapter, decide what you would do in each of the following situations:
1. Confidentiality: Your boss told you that one of your employees will have to be laid off because of budget cuts, but this information is confidential for the time being. You know that the employee just received a job offer from another company but is planning to reject the offer.
2. Copyright Issues: During peer reviews in a class, you read another student's paper and noticed two paragraphs of information that sounded familiar. The content appears to be quoted directly from a textbook used in your Introduction to Marketing class.
3. Employment: You accepted a job but received an offer for a much better job two days later.
4. Hiring: A Colombian candidate is the most qualified for a job, but the position requires quite a bit of face-to-face and telephone communication with customers, and you're concerned that customers won't understand his accent.
5. Academic Integrity: A friend asks you to proofread and correct his 12-page Financial Accounting report, which is due online in two hours. You notice lots of grammatical and typographical errors.
6. Merit-Based Pay: An employee has performed well all year and deserves a pay raise. However, she is at the top of her grade scale and can't be promoted.

Question 9

What medium or media will you use for your message(s) to your manager Why did you choose each option

Question 10

Address a questionable business tactic.
You work part-time at a busy pawnshop in central San Antonio. A number of neighborhood stores have been burglarized in recent years, and the owner wants criminals to think twice before they break into his pawnshop. After thinking about the situation, he posts this sign in the window one night: "$10,000 reward offered to any officer of the law who shoots and kills someone attempting to rob this property."
When you come to work the next morning and see the sign, your first thought is that it will probably be an effective deterrent. As the day goes on, however, you begin to have doubts about the ethics of posting such a sign. Although you don't know of any law that would apply to this situation, you're not sure that your boss is doing the right thing. You decide to speak with him. To prepare for this discussion, list the points you might make to convince the boss to take the sign down. Next, list the points in favor of leaving the sign up. If you were in charge, what would you do Explain your answer in a brief oral report to the class.

Question 11

Identify communication barriers between a manager and an employee.
Watch Scene 13, "Flair," from the movie Office Space. This communication does not go very well. Identify the verbal and nonverbal barriers of communication in this scene.

Question 12

Identify communication barriers between a retail sales representative and a customer.
Watch the video clip from the fictitious retail store, Aggresshop. Identify the verbal and nonverbal barriers of communication in this scene. Think about the interaction from both perspectives: the sales associate's and the shopper's.

Question 13

Identify communication barriers in an episode of Mad Men.
Watch an episode of Mad Men, the television series on AMC about an advertising agency in the 1960s. What verbal and nonverbal barriers do you notice What could the characters do to avoid these barriers in future interactions

Question 14

Discuss communication barriers.
Which category of communication barriers-verbal or nonverbal-do you believe is easier to overcome Why Share your thoughts with the rest of the class.

Question 15

Adapt jargon for your audience.
Think of a topic you know well (e.g., a sport, a hobby, or an academic subject). Write an email to a colleague who is also an expert on the subject. Include at least six jargon terms that flow easily into the context of your email.
Now assume that you are sending the same email to someone who is not at all familiar with the topic. Revise your original message to make it appropriate for this reader. Which email is longer Which is more effective Why

Question 16

Analyze print communication.
Find an example of print communication, for example, a flyer on campus, a newsletter, or a magazine ad. With a partner, discuss why the creator of the message may have chosen a print medium. In your opinion, was this the best choice What technology-based media may have worked instead or could supplement the printed message

Question 17

Explore how a company uses social media.
What's your favorite company Spend some time exploring how the company uses social media. Does it have a customer blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, and other online places to connect with constituencies Now compare this company's online presence to one of its close competitors' online presence. Which has more online activity, for example, more followers on Twitter, more people who "like" it on Facebook, or more blogs targeted to different audiences In small groups, discuss findings about each of your favorite companies.

Question 18

Choose communication media for different audiences.
Imagine that you're the CEO of a retail store such as Aggresshop (described at the end of this chapter and at www.cengagebrain.com). Let's say you're planning to redesign each of the 16 stores in the United States. As part of this effort, you'll need to close stores for two weeks at a time. Working in teams, identify in the communication plan template below which medium you would use to communicate with each audience. You may have multiple communications for some audiences. Include the rationale for your decisions.

Question 19

Identify communication components in a current news story.
Use a current news item to identify the components of the communication process. You may use examples from the author's blog at www.bizcominthenews.com. After reading background information about the story, choose one aspect of communication and identify the need, sender, message, audience, and response. You may add your own assumptions if you don't have enough details from the story.

Question 20

Choose how to a reject a job offer.
We'll discuss employment communication in Chapter 12; for now, consider a situation in which you're offered a summer internship but decide not to accept it. With a partner, discuss the most appropriate communication channel to use for your message. Would you use a different channel if you received the offer by email or by phone

Question 21

What do you want to achieve with your message Consider both short- and longterm objectives.

Question 22

Give your manager advice about communication media.
For this exercise, you'll help your manager be a better communicator. Let's say you're lucky enough to have a good working relationship with your manager, and he or she tells you-before the rest of the team-that your department will be moving from downtown Chicago to a suburb. This is a major change and will be bad news for most people.
In response to this email from your manager, write a reply to suggest that he also hold a face-to-face meeting for employees. Explain why you think this is important.

Question 23

Examine your own communication filters.
Looking at the same news story you explored above, list at least ten ways you personally are filtering the information you receive. Consider such factors as your individual experiences, culture, emotions at the moment, personality, knowledge, socioeconomic status, and demographic variables.

Question 24

Research a lawsuit about communication.
Find an example of a company that was sued because of its communication. Research the situation with a particular focus on the communication that was called into question (e.g., email messages, unclear reports, or discriminatory language).
Imagine that you're a consultant who was hired by one of the company's competitors. The competitor would like to avoid a similar situation and wants to hear what you learned about the case. Prepare and deliver a short presentation to class, summarizing the main points. Focus on how the company can avoid a similar lawsuit.