Deck 4: Planning Business Messages

Question 1

Which media would be best for keeping in touch with a sales team whose members live in several different states?

A) Electronic media
B) Written media
C) Oral media
D) Presentations

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The three primary steps involved in preparing a business message are

A) planning, writing, and completing.
B) defining the purpose, the main idea, and the topic.
C) informing, persuading, and collaborating.
D) satisfying the audience's informational, motivational, and practical needs.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following media would be best for sending a brief message (requiring no response from your audience) about an upcoming software update?

A) Podcast
B) Videoconference
C) Blog
D) Email

Answer 3

D

Question 4

After sending project cost estimates to a longtime client, you realize you failed to include information on some discount options. The best thing to do is

A) contact the primary audience immediately and correct the error.
B) start looking for a new job.
C) blame someone else.
D) take no action.

Question 5

You are pressed for time and need to send an important message to your manager. To optimize your writing time, you should devote about ________ percent of your time to planning.

A) 50
B) 20
C) 10
D) 70

Question 6

The best reason to defer or cancel a message is if

A) your news is bad.
B) your audience is highly receptive.
C) someone else wants to deliver it.
D) the time is wrong.

Question 7

An example of a specific purpose for a business message would be

A) to inform employees about the new vacation policy.
B) to obtain audience participation and collaboration.
C) to impart information to the audience.
D) to persuade readers to take an action.

Question 8

Telephone calls are

A) now acceptable only for external communication.
B) capable of conveying quite a few nonverbal signals.
C) completely incapable of conveying nonverbal signals.
D) no longer practical when compared to email.

Question 9

Choosing the right medium for your message

A) is not important as long as the content of your message is accurate.
B) can make an important difference in how your message is perceived.
C) is vital for external communication, but not important for internal communication.
D) is important only when communicating with managers and supervisors.

Question 10

In developing business messages, the step during which you step back to see whether you have expressed your ideas clearly is

A) feedback.
B) planning.
C) completing.
D) writing.

Question 11

Forecasting your audience's reaction to your message is

A) impossible-there's no way to know what it will be.
B) vital, because potential audience reaction affects message organization.
C) helpful only for external communication.
D) helpful only for internal communication.

Question 12

The primary audience for your message should always include

A) all who receive it.
B) those people with the highest status.
C) the key decision makers in the audience.
D) those people who represent the opinions and attitudes of the majority.

Question 13

Which of the following is not a general category common to business communication?

A) To inform
B) To negotiate
C) To collaborate
D) To persuade

Question 14

A good way to test the thoroughness of your business message is to check it for

A) the who, what, when, where, why, and how.
B) a purpose.
C) accuracy.
D) a main idea.

Question 15

A knowledge-management system

A) is a tool for creating a bibliography when writing long reports.
B) helps companies limit the amount of information employees store on the network.
C) enables organizations to test employees periodically to ensure they are doing adequate research.
D) is a centralized database of experiences and insights of employees throughout an organization.

Question 16

You're writing a proposal to give permission to some employees at your company to telecommute. You know management will be skeptical, so you should

A) be as straightforward as possible about stating your conclusions and recommendations.
B) use less evidence in support of your points.
C) avoid stating your conclusions and recommendations.
D) build your case carefully, stating clear reasons for each conclusion you draw and recommendation you make.

Question 17

In general, for internal communication, the higher up your message goes, the

A) more details people want to see.
B) fewer details people want to see.
C) more likely you are to run into ethical problems.
D) less likely you are to run into ethical problems .

Question 18

When meeting your audience's informational needs, you should emphasize ideas

A) that don't need supporting evidence.
B) that are uncontroversial.
C) of greatest interest to the audience.
D) that will have the least impact on the audience.

Question 19

Most messages should not be sent unless they will

A) bring about a change.
B) please your boss.
C) increase your chances of being promoted.
D) do all of the above.

Question 20

Messages should contain supporting detail and background information when

A) you and your audience share the same general background.
B) you and your audience do not share the same general background.
C) you expect a favorable response.
D) all of the above are the case.

Question 21

Whatever the length of your message, you should limit the number of major support points to roughly

A) ten.
B) three.
C) two.
D) six.

Question 22

In high-context cultures, ________ media are often more effective than ________ ones.

A) leaner, richer
B) foreign, domestic
C) oral, written
D) none of the above

Question 23

Of the following media, which is the richest?

A) A presentation on DVD
B) A formal business letter
C) An electronic slide presentation that includes a series of images that are arranged to persuade the audience to take a specific position
D) An interactive website enabling audiences to participate in the communication process

Question 24

Organizing messages effectively helps readers by

A) helping them understand the message.
B) saving them time.
C) helping them accept the message.
D) all of the above.

Question 25

Which of the following is an example of a message topic?

A) "The research and development budget is inadequate in our competitive marketplace"
B) "To get the board of directors to increase the research and development budget"
C) "Competitors spend more than our company does on research and development"
D) "Funding for research and development"

Question 26

Even if nothing will change as a result of your message, you should send it if you believe it is important.

Question 27

Which of the following is not listed among factors to consider when choosing a medium for your message?

A) Sender preferences
B) Urgency
C) Audience preferences
D) Cost

Question 28

Which of the following media would be best to make a formal introduction to a potential client?

A) Letter
B) Email
C) Blog
D) All are equal in formality

Question 29

The three general purposes of business messages are to inform, to persuade, and to collaborate.

Question 30

All business messages have both a general purpose and a specific purpose.

Question 31

In part, media richness refers to

A) the cost of sending a message through a particular medium.
B) the difficulties involved with using a particular medium.
C) the popularity of a specific medium.
D) a medium's ability to facilitate feedback.

Question 32

A key advantage of oral communication is

A) the opportunity to meet an audience's information needs.
B) the opportunity to get immediate feedback.
C) the ability to transmit highly complex messages.
D) the ability to plan and control the message.

Question 33

VoIP is a

A) type of voice-to-text translation software.
B) highly technical videoconferencing program.
C) widely used format for sending documents electronically.
D) technology for making telephone calls via the Internet.

Question 34

The richest communication medium is

A) a face-to-face conversation.
B) IM.
C) an email.
D) a phone call.

Question 35

In general, audiences are likely to

A) ignore poor organization if the message is important.
B) fully understand most messages, even those that are poorly organized.
C) draw inaccurate conclusions from poorly organized messages.
D) none of the above.

Question 36

Leaner media are best used for messages that

A) require feedback.
B) are highly emotional.
C) are nonroutine.
D) are routine.

Question 37

As a new supervisor, you need to introduce yourself to your team of ten employees. The best medium for this type of nonroutine message would be

A) a face-to-face meeting.
B) a conference call.
C) an email.
D) none of the above.

Question 38

When allocating your time among the three stages of the writing process, you should use about a fourth of the time for planning, half the time for writing, and a quarter of the time for completing.

Question 39

No one has time to plan messages anymore, so when you need to create one it is best to simply dive right in and begin writing.

Question 40

Storytelling is

A) an effective way to organize messages in a surprising number of business communication scenarios.
B) inappropriate for professional communication.
C) acceptable in business, but only for messages organized in the direct approach.
D) none of the above.

Question 41

If you provide inaccurate information in a business message, the best course of action is to say nothing and hope that no one notices.

Question 42

There's nothing wrong with sending a message if your purpose seems unrealistic: you never really know until you try.

Question 43

A helpful way to test the thoroughness of your message is to use the journalistic approach: asking yourself whether you have covered the who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Question 44

One effective informal method for learning more about your audience's information needs is to ask them directly for input.

Question 45

When it comes to business research, online sources generally require more careful evaluation than other types.

Question 46

Skilled communicators include only the information that their audience has specifically requested.

Question 47

When you get a vague request for information, the best way to handle it is to provide all the information you can and allow the audience to pick and choose what is useful to them.

Question 48

As long as your message is clear and interesting, the medium you choose doesn't really matter.

Question 49

No matter how you feel personally about a situation, your communication should reflect your organization's objectives.

Question 50

In today's fast-paced environment, traditional business messages rely primarily on graphical elements, with occasional support from text.

Question 51

As business communication models evolve, the lines separating oral, electronic, and written media have become more distinct and easier to define.

Question 52

Messages can be unethical simply because certain details have not been included.

Question 53

In the planning stage of an important business report, you should never engage in free writing, since doing so will only confuse you.

Question 54

Once you have established your purpose, it's best to consider whether it is worth pursuing at this time.

Question 55

Accuracy of information is less important in business communication than in other types of communication-everyone is busy, and mistakes are simply unavoidable.

Question 56

Your boss has asked you to "find out everything you can about our newest competitor." This should cause you to take a very narrow approach to your research, sticking to official sources for the new competitor.

Question 57

As long as your message is clear, the size of your audience should not influence the approach you choose to take.

Question 58

Despite the advantages of electronic media, the growth of electronic communication options has caused great frustration for many audiences.

Question 59

When analyzing your audience, you should ignore everyone except the key decision makers.

Question 60

Infographics refers to messages that combine powerful visuals with supporting text.

Question 61

Speeches, presentations, and meetings are all examples of ________ media.

Question 62

To inform coworkers that the project you've all worked on for months has been unexpectedly eliminated, you should use the indirect approach.

Question 63

In deciding which ________ to use for a message to a manager in another department, you should consider factors such as formality, confidentiality, feedback, time, and cost.

Question 64

If you expect your audience to be receptive to your message, the indirect approach will be most effective.

Question 65

A good way to test the thoroughness of your message is to use the ________ approach and ask whether the message answers who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Question 66

The final step in the writing process is ________ your message, which involves revising, producing and distributing it.

Question 67

During the planning step you need to analyze your ________, including its size and composition, existing knowledge about the subject, and probable reaction to your message.

Question 68

In determining the main idea of your message, brainstorming is effective as long as you are working alone and not as part of a group.

Question 69

The three general purposes of business messages are to inform, to persuade, or to ________ with the audience.

Question 70

In addition to having a general purpose, each business message has a (an) ________ purpose.

Question 71

"Latest Investment Performance" is an example of a message topic, whereas "Poor Investment Performance Continues" is an example of a main idea.

Question 72

The best time to choose between the direct and indirect approach for organizing messages is before you've decided on the main idea.

Question 73

Media ________ is the ability of a medium to convey a message using more than one informational cue, facilitate feedback, and establish personal focus.

Question 74

Media richness refers to the relative costs of advertising in the various mass media.

Question 75

________ refers to the use of two or more media to craft a single message, typically some combination of audio, video, text, and visual graphics.

Question 76

A real drawback of most visual media is that it requires skill to create effective images.

Question 77

The indirect approach is best when your audience is likely to be skeptical.

Question 78

Poorly organized messages are unlikely to be effective, regardless of their content.

Question 79

Face-to-face communication is the richest medium.

Question 80

Step one of the writing process is ________, in which you analyze the situation, gather information, select the right medium for the message, and organize the information.