Deck 9: Communicating in Teams and Organizations

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences the efficiency and effectiveness of encoding and decoding?

A) Whether both parties have a similar "codebook."
B) The extent to which both parties have similar mental models.
C) The parties' familiarity with the message topic.
D) The sender and receiver's proficiency with the communication channel
E) The gender of the sender or receiver.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a function of communication discussed in your text?

A) It changes behaviour.
B) It supports employee well-being.
C) It fulfills certain needs and drives.
D) It plays a central role in organizational learning.
E) It creates stress.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT explicitly identified in the communication process model?

A) Distraction
B) Noise
C) Transmission
D) Encoding
E) Decoding

Answer 3

A

Question 4

A problem with email is that:

A) it contributes to information overload.
B) it increases the frequency of flaming.
C) it is difficult to interpret emotion in email messages.
D) it lacks the warmth of human interaction.
E) All of these are problems with email.

Question 5

What function does communication play in organizations?

A) Communication minimizes "silos of knowledge."
B) Communication helps decision makers learn about organizational problems.
C) Communication helps employees fulfill their drive to bond.
D) Communication aids employee well-being.
E) Communication serves all of these functions.

Question 6

In the communication process model,'decoding the message' occurs immediately:

A) before the sender forms the message.
B) after the sender receives the message.
C) after the sender forms feedback regarding the original message.
D) after the sender transmits the message.
E) never; decoding is not part of the communication process model.

Question 7

In the communication process model,"feedback" is:

A) formal acknowledgment, or indirect evidence from the receiver's actions.
B) defined as a formally encoded message from the receiver.
C) is the sender's way of ensuring that he or she has actually encoded the message.
D) deliberately excluded from the communication process model.
E) included in the first two steps of the model.

Question 8

Communication is the process by which information is _______ and ________ between two or more people.

A) spoken; heard
B) heard; seen
C) transmitted; understood
D) acknowledged; absorbed
E) dictated; transcribed

Question 9

Which of these forms of communication is the poorest for communicating emotional meaning and providing social support in the workplace?

A) Face-to-face small group sessions
B) Email
C) Telephone calls
D) Video conferences
E) All of the above.

Question 10

The introduction of email has __________ the volume of communication,particularly messages sent to ______ in the organization.

A) increased; higher levels
B) decreased; other departments
C) increased; lower levels
D) decreased; lower levels
E) increased; retirees

Question 11

Which of the following statements about electronic mail is FALSE?

A) Email tends to transmit information faster than traditional written media.
B) Email tends to increase the risk of sending emotionally charged messages to other people.
C) Email tends to increase information overload.
D) Employees can easily misunderstand the emotional meaning of email messages.
E) Email tends to reduce the flow of information from lower to higher levels in the organization.

Question 12

Effective communication occurs when:

A) information is sent through informal rather than formal channels.
B) information is transmitted between two or more people.
C) the sender convinces the receiver to accept the information sent.
D) information is transmitted and understood between two or more people.
E) the sender transmits information that is received by someone other than the intended receiver.

Question 13

The first three steps in the communication process model are:

A) decode message, encode message, provide feedback
B) form message, transmit message, decode message
C) encode message, transmit message, receive message
D) form message, transmit message, receive message
E) none of these represent the first three steps in the communication process model.

Question 14

In organizational communication,'flaming' generally refers to:

A) telling an employee in front of other people that he or she is fired.
B) ranting and raving in front of a large audience.
C) an emotionally charged email message, usually one that communicates the sender's anger.
D) using any signal with the hands that has an obscene meaning to the receiver.
E) interrupting the speaker before he or she has finished talking to you.

Question 15

In the communication process model,what happens immediately after the receiver receives the encoded message?

A) The sender receives confirmation that the message has been understood.
B) The receiver confirms with the sender that the message sent was intended to be a message.
C) The receiver decodes the received message.
D) The sender encodes the message.
E) The receiver forms feedback in response to the received message.

Question 16

Effective communication plays an important role in:

A) knowledge management.
B) decision making.
C) coordinating work activities.
D) fulfilling the drive to bond.
E) Communication plays an important role in all of these.

Question 17

Which communication medium is a poor choice to convey ambiguous,complex,or novel situations?

A) Email
B) Voice mail
C) Video conferencing
D) Face-to-face
E) None of these communication media are a poor choice.

Question 18

Which of the following tends to be the preferred medium for coordinating work and,minimizes status differences?

A) Electronic company magazines (e-zines)
B) Annual performance reviews with supervisors
C) Intranet web sites
D) Email
E) The corporate grapevine

Question 19

The communication process model presented in the textbook relies on the metaphor that:

A) information flows through a conduit between the sender and receiver.
B) the sender and receiver exist in separate but parallel universes that intersect only on intermittent occasions.
C) information comes in packets that flow through the air in a series of particle waves.
D) information is a song that is understood only when both sender and receiver know how to sing together in harmony.
E) information is like a river that flows in both directions.

Question 20

What effect does 'noise' have in the communication model?

A) It distorts and obscures the sender's intended message.
B) It prevents the sender from forming a message.
C) It helps the sender to select a more appropriate medium to transmit the message.
D) It helps the receiver to decode the message more carefully.
E) The concept of 'noise' applies only in cases of miscommunication.

Question 21

Several employees must work together to develop a new product.None of these people have worked together before and the development of this product has not been attempted previously.According to the media richness model,which of these communication channels is most appropriate in this situation?

A) Written documents
B) Email
C) Face-to-face meetings
D) Bulletin boards
E) None of these channels should be used in this situation

Question 22

Emotional contagion occurs when:

A) we mimic our nonverbal behaviours with people who are communicating with us.
B) we are required to show or hide our emotions, based on rules prescribed by the job.
C) two people experience different emotions even though they are observing the same object.
D) the communication medium has different meaning for the receiver and the sender.
E) most employees in one department or work team get sick at the same time.

Question 23

Which of these statements about nonverbal communication is FALSE?

A) Nonverbal communication has more formal rules than does verbal communication.
B) Nonverbal communication is more automatic and unconscious than is verbal communication.
C) Nonverbal communication is an important part of emotional labour.
D) Most information in face-to-face meetings is communicated nonverbally.
E) Nonverbal communication tends to be more ambiguous and susceptible to misinterpretation than is verbal communication.

Question 24

Which of the following is a key element in emotional contagion?

A) Silence
B) Mimicry
C) Email
D) Jargon
E) Flaming

Question 25

When the sender has previous experience with the receiver,the sender ______________ to communicate in ambiguous situations.

A) must use richer media
B) is unable to use leaner media
C) must rely on nonverbal communication
D) can use leaner media
E) must use leaner media

Question 26

A financial institution wants to use social media to create online communities whereby employees can quickly receive information about a specific topic from colleagues throughout the organization.Which of the following communication media would likely work best in this situation?

A) Corporate intranet
B) wikis
C) Email
D) Weekly interest group meetings
E) Interdepartmental mail

Question 27

Two important sets of factors to consider when choosing the appropriate communication channel for a given situation are:

A) empathy and speed.
B) social acceptance and media richness.
C) ambiguity and novelty of the problem.
D) gender and culture
E) availability of technology and cost

Question 28

An executive returns from a business trip and tells colleagues how the airline lost his luggage and how a late arrival on one flight resulted in waiting half a day at a foreign airport for the next available flight.While retelling his experience,colleagues grimace and make sounds that the executive might make when experiencing this ordeal.The verbal and nonverbal activities of the colleagues represent:

A) extremely rude communication behaviour.
B) a lack of media richness.
C) emotional contagion.
D) evidence that they have difficulty encoding their feedback message.
E) The verbal and nonverbal activities of the colleagues represent all of these.

Question 29

Which of the following represents a form of nonverbal communication?

A) The sender's actions
B) The sender's voice intonation
C) The silence between statements made by the sender
D) The sender's physical distance.
E) All of these are forms of nonverbal communication

Question 30

Safety representatives in each of the six plants of a manufacturing company need to communicate to each other every week the number and type of health and safety incidents in their plant.Each representative has a safety reporting document where he or she checks off the type and number of infractions during the previous week.These incidents are well known to other representatives; there are rarely any surprises.This weekly communication calls for:

A) high media richness.
B) high emotional contagion.
C) mostly nonverbal communication.
D) face-to-face meetings.
E) relatively low media richness.

Question 31

Compared with verbal communication,nonverbal communication:

A) has more formal rules to guide its correct use.
B) is less susceptible to misinterpretation.
C) is more consciously transmitted from sender to receiver.
D) has all of these characteristics.
E) has none of these characteristics.

Question 32

According to your text,one of the social acceptance factors we need to consider is:

A) whether the channel is acceptable in a given society.
B) the media richness.
C) the symbolic meaning of the chosen channel.
D) whether the message is politically correct.
E) All of the above are social acceptance factors.

Question 33

According to the authors,the social presence effect occurs when:

A) employees are distracted by their socializing behaviours at work.
B) expensive communication channels contribute to their social status.
C) the cost of a communication channel excludes the non rich.
D) the sender and receiver focus on their relative status instead of processing the message content.
E) None of these describe social distraction.

Question 34

The capacity of a communication method to transmit information is known as:

A) media richness.
B) information load.
C) channel frequency.
D) channel noise.
E) media amplitude.

Question 35

Emotional contagion has what effect in the communication process?

A) It has no effect on the communication process.
B) It provides feedback to the sender that the receiver understands and empathizes with the message.
C) It reduces the amount of communication among colleagues.
D) It makes it more difficult for the receiver to receive emotional meaning about the sender's experience.
E) It reduces the amount of communication among colleagues AND makes it more difficult for the receiver to receive emotional meaning about the sender's experience.

Question 36

Media richness refers to:

A) total profits of newspapers, television networks and radio broadcasting companies within a society.
B) the data-carrying capacity of a communication medium.
C) the financial and emotional cost of transmitting a message from one person to another person within the same organization.
D) the extent to which a message is conveyed through information technology rather than human interaction.
E) none of these.

Question 37

Communication methods that are high in 'media richness' are most valuable:

A) where the sender holds a higher position in the organization than the receiver.
B) during emergencies where the sender and receiver have little common experience.
C) where the sender and receiver have a lot of time to transmit and receive the message.
D) in routine situations where the sender and receiver have common past experiences.
E) where the sender holds a lower position in the organization than the receiver.

Question 38

Which of these statements about nonverbal communication is FALSE?

A) In conversations, more information is usually communicated nonverbally than verbally.
B) Nonverbal communication is less rule-bound than is verbal communication.
C) Nonverbal communication is usually more carefully thought out than is verbal communication.
D) Nonverbal communication plays a major role in emotional labour.
E) Emotional contagion is transmitted mainly through nonverbal communication.

Question 39

Which of the following communication media tends to be best for transmitting emotions and persuading the receiver?

A) Newsletter
B) Email message
C) Telephone conversation
D) Face-to-face meeting
E) Memorandum to all employees

Question 40

Employees can "push" (expand)the data-carrying capacity of information technology when they:

A) avoid emotional contagion.
B) are highly experienced with that communication medium.
C) are unfamiliar with the receiver of the information being sent.
D) avoid using jargon or short-hand symbols in the communication.
E) first use that communication medium.

Question 41

Buffering,summarizing,and omitting are ways to:

A) reduce information overload.
B) avoid active listening.
C) avoid the risk of flaming.
D) improve communication between men and women.
E) increase media richness.

Question 42

How do men and women generally differ in their communication styles in organizational settings?

A) Men are more likely than women to communicate to strengthen relationships.
B) Women are more likely than men to give advice quickly and frequently.
C) Women are usually more sensitive than men to the listener's nonverbal cues.
D) Men and women differ in all of these ways.
E) Men and women do not differ in their communication styles.

Question 43

The most obvious cross-cultural communication challenge is:

A) silence.
B) shaking hands.
C) language.
D) smiling.
E) nonverbal communication.

Question 44

When a sender and receiver want to transmit technical information more efficiently,they should:

A) use jargon that they both understand.
B) use filtering.
C) use upward communication coordinators.
D) use nonverbal communication.
E) use ambiguous language.

Question 45

A large Internet service provider had a major disruption in its email services in which its customers' messages were delayed and some were lost forever.In its message to customers,the company announced that the event was 'a partial email delay' and that the 'issue' would result in improved future service to customers.This message is an example of:

A) information overload.
B) using ambiguous language to minimize conveying negative emotions.
C) misperceptions by the company's executives about the causes of the email service problem.
D) cross-cultural differences in communication.
E) effective persuasive communication.

Question 46

Which of the following statements about cross-cultural communication is FALSE?

A) In Japan, a listener's silence after the speaker finishes talking indicates that the listener disapproves with the sender's message.
B) Brazilians view interruptions as evidence that the other person is involved in the conversation.
C) Shaking one's head from side to side means a different thing in different cultures.
D) Talking loudly may be a sign of sincerity in some cultures and a sign of rudeness in other cultures.
E) Maintaining direct eye contact is acceptable to most Americans, but is considered rude in some other cultures.

Question 47

In a business meeting where both men and women are present,women are more likely than men to:

A) misunderstand nonverbal cues sent by others in the meeting.
B) assert their power by giving advice to others in the meeting.
C) focus on exchanging information rather than using the conversation to build relationships.
D) misunderstand nonverbal cues sent by others AND assert their power by giving advice.
E) do none of these.

Question 48

The level of information overload is a function of:

A) the sender's use of jargon and the receiver's perceptual biases.
B) the receiver's information-processing capacity and the actual information load received.
C) the sender's ability to filter out negative information and the receiver's ability to get that information from other sources.
D) the percentage of noise in the communication network that the receiver understands.
E) the amount of information actually sent as a percentage of total organizational knowledge.

Question 49

Senior executives at a large tire company learned that one line of tires had a tendency to fall apart in very warm weather.This resulted in several vehicle accidents in the Middle East and South America.However,the executives did not hear about these problems until several weeks after they were known to lower-level managers.Although the senior executives encourage staff to communicate all information,the lower-level staff held back the information for fear that they might lose their jobs.Which communication concept best describes this communication situation?

A) Media richness
B) Persuasive communication
C) Filtering
D) Flaming
E) Information overload

Question 50

Which of the following reduces information overload by increasing the person's information-processing capacity?

A) Using a filtering algorithm to screen out incoming email.
B) Learning speed-reading to read more pages per hour.
C) Reading only the summaries of long documents.
D) Using an assistant to screen out unwanted mail.
E) All of these increase the person's information-processing capacity.

Question 51

In the communication process,filtering occurs when:

A) the sender carefully selects words that the receiver is most likely to understand correctly.
B) the receiver removes noise from the communication process so that the sender's message is more accurately understood.
C) people delete or delay negative information, or use words that make the message sound more favourable.
D) an organization is able to prevent grapevine communication by sending the information more quickly through newsletters and other formal communication channels.
E) the receiver avoids receiving messages from a sender, such as by avoiding the person or deliberately not reading email messages.

Question 52

You have completed an important presentation to several Japanese executives regarding a proposed partnership between your British company and their Japanese firm.Your presentation is greeted by a long silence with the Japanese executives continuing to look at you.This silence probably means that the Japanese executives:

A) are waiting for formal confirmation that you have completed your presentation.
B) disagree with your proposal and can't think of a polite way of telling you about their rejection.
C) are trying to intimidate you in order to gain the advantage during the negotiation stage.
D) are so overjoyed by the proposal that they are speechless.
E) are contemplating what you have just said and are showing respect for your presentation.

Question 53

Which of the following is NOT a feature of effective listening?

A) Develop an opinion about the sender's message as soon as possible to guide you through the rest of the sender's message.
B) Show interest by maintaining eye contact and giving verbal acknowledgments.
C) Empathize with the sender's background and point of view when interpreting the sender's message.
D) Provide feedback by rephrasing the sender's main points at appropriate conversational breaks.
E) All of the above are features of effective listening.

Question 54

What effect can jargon potentially have in organizations?

A) Jargon may result in misunderstandings between sender and receiver.
B) Jargon may symbolize an employee's identity in a group.
C) Jargon may improve communication efficiency.
D) Jargon may shape and maintain an organization's cultural values.
E) Jargon may improve communication efficiency, and at other times lead to misunderstandings between sender and receiver.

Question 55

Which of these statements about sending your message to other people is FALSE?

A) Empathize with the listener when forming your message.
B) Avoid presenting the message when the listener is easily distracted by other matters.
C) Focus the message content on the problem or issue, not on the person.
D) Avoid repeating the information or creating any other redundancy in the message.
E) Be descriptive rather than evaluative; that is, don't make the listener defensive.

Question 56

Which of the following would constitute 'noise' in the communication process?

A) Perceptual differences between sender and receiver.
B) Filtering information up the organizational hierarchy.
C) Receiving more information than the person can process.
D) Jargon that the receiver does not understand.
E) All of these represent examples of noise.

Question 57

Which of the following activities helps us to cope with information overload?

A) Working longer hours
B) Learning to read faster
C) Improving our time management
D) Scanning through documents more efficiently
E) All of these help us to cope with information overload.

Question 58

Which communication channel is most effective when the sender wants to persuade the receiver?

A) A memorandum
B) A formal speech to a large audience
C) A personal letter to the target receiver
D) A personal face-to-face meeting with the target receiver
E) The method of communication does not influence the sender's ability to persuade others

Question 59

Metaphors and other types of ambiguous language are useful when:

A) the sender wants to communicate to people experiencing information overload.
B) the message is sent through the grapevine rather than formal communication channels.
C) the sender wants to minimize the risk that the receiver would misinterpret the message sent.
D) the issue or concept that the sender is trying to communicate is ill-defined or complex.
E) Ambiguous language is useful under all of these conditions.

Question 60

According to research on gender communication,women are more likely than men to:

A) use communication to build relationships.
B) avoid interrupting.
C) use indirect requests ('Have you considered ...?')
D) seek advice from others.
E) do all of these things.

Question 61

Active listeners improve their evaluating activities by:

A) organizing information.
B) showing interest.
C) clarifying the message.
D) interrupting when they disagree with the speaker.
E) doing all of these activities.

Question 62

The three main components of active listening,in order,are:

A) sensing, evaluating and responding
B) encoding, decoding and transmitting
C) inferring, deferring and referring
D) summarizing, encoding and responding
E) buffering, summarizing and omitting

Question 63

The organizational grapevine is useful because it:

A) is an effective way for management to inform employees about future organizational changes.
B) provides detailed information that more formal communication channels tend to ignore.
C) reduces information overload.
D) fulfills employees' drive to bond.
E) is an effective way for management to communicate to employees AND reduces information overload.

Question 64

Interpersonal communication occurs as soon as a message is received by someone else.

Question 65

Empathy is explicitly identified in:

A) the communication process model.
B) the active speaker model.
C) the active listening model.
D) all of these models.
E) none of these models.

Question 66

Research suggests that effective workspace design mainly balances the trade-off between:

A) social interaction and emotional contagion.
B) verbal and nonverbal communication.
C) employee privacy and social interaction.
D) information overload and information underload.
E) employee privacy and information overload.

Question 67

Active listeners improve their sensing activities by:

A) organizing information.
B) postponing evaluation.
C) clarifying the message.
D) showing interest
E) doing all of these activities.

Question 68

Management by walking around:

A) is the label used to describe new executives when they get lost in unfamiliar buildings.
B) should be used only when executives need to explain corporate decisions.
C) minimizes the problem of filtering in the communication process.
D) is an ineffective process for upward communication.
E) All of these statements refer to management by walking around.

Question 69

People can improve the "responding" stage of active listening by:

A) ignoring the speaker after the first few minutes.
B) quickly forming an opinion of the speaker's topic.
C) interrupting when the listener disagrees with the speaker.
D) doing all of these activities.
E) doing none of these activities.

Question 70

What effect do public web sites dedicated to company gossip have on the corporate grapevine?

A) These web sites have almost completely replaced the corporate grapevine.
B) These web sites extend grapevine information to anyone, not just employees connected to social networks.
C) These web sites allow corporate leaders to control the corporate grapevine.
D) These web sites do all of these things.
E) These web sites have no effect on the corporate grapevine.

Question 71

To improve communication and make more efficient use of space,many companies are:

A) moving executives into separate buildings.
B) building taller office towers.
C) tearing down walls and introducing open office designs.
D) removing parking spaces so that employees must commute to work.
E) none of these improves communication and makes more efficient use of space.

Question 72

Showing interest and clarifying the message are two activities associated with which active listening process?

A) Evaluating
B) Responding
C) Persuading
D) Recording
E) Sensing

Question 73

Some wikis have failed to gain employee support because:

A) are easily controlled by management.
B) rapidly document new knowledge.
C) are a novelty that quickly lose the interest of employees
D) are more efficient than other social networking forms, such as Facebook.
E) involvement takes time and many companies do not reward those who provide this time to wiki development.

Question 74

One function of communication is to change behaviour.

Question 75

The organizational grapevine:

A) transmits information very slowly from higher to lower levels in the organization.
B) tends to use communication channels that are low in media richness.
C) ignores social relations among employees in the organization.
D) helps employees to make sense of their workplace when the information is not available through formal channels.
E) has all of these characteristics.

Question 76

Email and instant messaging have had what effect on the corporate grapevine?

A) These communication media have made it more difficult for the grapevine to operate without the assistance of management.
B) These communication media have dramatically changed the topics of interest communicated through the corporate grapevine.
C) These communication media have increased the efficiency of grapevine communication around the company's global operations, not just around the next cubicle.
D) These communication media have done all of these.
E) These communication media have had no effect on the corporate grapevine.

Question 77

Communication exists whenever someone sends a message to someone else,even when the person receiving the message does not understand it.

Question 78

Open-design offices:

A) replace the need for employee surveys in large organizations.
B) tend to increase informal communication and knowledge sharing among people in those open offices.
C) tend to increase stress due to the loss of privacy and personal space.
D) do all of these.
E) tend to increase informal communication AND stress due to the loss of privacy.

Question 79

The organizational grapevine is usually transmitted:

A) to everyone in the organization.
B) downward rather than upward through the organization.
C) by most employees who receive the information.
D) from management to non-management employees.
E) from a small number of senders to a larger number of receivers.

Question 80

Web-based magazines (e-zines):

A) allow companies to communicate breaking news quickly and efficiently to employees.
B) are used mainly to communicate long and detailed articles.
C) are slower and more costly to produce than most print-based company magazines.
D) are no longer popular in large organizations.
E) communicate long articles AND are no longer popular in large organizations.