Management Fundamentals 5th Edition by Robert Lussier

Exercise 12

Objectives
1. To develop your ability to send and receive messages (communication skills).
2. You will plan, give, and receive instructions for the completion of a drawing of three objects. No preparation is necessary except reading and understanding the chapter. The instructor will provide the original drawings.
Skills
The primary skills developed through this exercise are:
1. Management skill - interpersonal (giving directions is communicating)
2. AACSB competency - communication abilities
3. Management function - leading (influencing others through communicating instructions)
Procedure (15 minutes)
In this exercise, you will work with a partner. One person will play the role of manager, and the other person will play the role of employee. You will go through the exercise twice, switching roles before the second time so that each person has a chance to give instructions in the role of manager and receive them in the role of employee.
The task is for the person in the role of manager to describe for the person in the role of employee a drawing of three objects so that the employee can duplicate the drawing, based on what the manager describes. (Your instructor will provide the drawing to those playing the role of manager; a different drawing will be used in the second run-through, when people have switched roles and partners.) The objects must be drawn to scale, and the drawing must be a recognizable reproduction of the original. The exercise has four parts.
1. Planning. The manager plans how to instruct the employee in the task. The manager's plans may include written instructions to be shown to the employee but may not include any drawing.
2. Instruction. The manager gives the instructions he or she has developed. While giving instructions, the manager is not to show the original drawing to the employee. The instructions may be given orally or in writing, or both, but the manager should not use any hand gestures. The manager must give the instructions for all three objects before the employee begins drawing them.
3. Drawing. The employee makes a drawing. Once the employee begins drawing, the manager should watch but may no longer communicate in any way.
4. Evaluation. When the employee is finished drawing or when the time is up, the manager shows the employee the original drawing. Partners should discuss how each person did and should answer the questions in the Integration section.
Integration
Answer the following questions. You may select more than one answer. The manager and employee discuss each question, and the manager, not the employee, writes the answers.
1. The goal of communication was to ___________
.
a. influence
b. inform
c. express feelings
2. The communication was _________
a. vertical downward c. horizontal
b. vertical upward d. grapevine
3. The manager did an ______ job of encoding the message and the employee did an _____ job of decoding the message.
a. effective
b. ineffective
4. The manager transmitted the message through ______ communication channel(s).
a. oral
b. written
c. combined
5. The manager spent ______ time planning.
a. too much
b. too little
c. the right amount of
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
6. The manager developed rapport (step 1).
a. true
b. false
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
7. The manager stated the objective of the communication (step 2).
a. true
b. false
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
8. The manager transmitted the message ______ (step 3).
a. effectively
b. ineffectively
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
9. The manager checked understanding by using ______ (step 4).
a. direct questions
b. paraphrasing
c. both
d. neither
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
10. The manager checked understanding ____________.
a. too frequently
b. too infrequently
c. about the right number of times
Questions relate to the steps in the message-sending process.
11. The manager got a commitment and followed up (step 5).
a. true
b. false
12. The employee did an ______ job of listening, an _____ job of analyzing, and an ______ job of checking understanding through the message-receiving process.
a. effective
b. ineffective
13. The manager and/or employee got emotional.
a. true
b. false
14. Were the objects drawn to scale? If not, why not?
15. Did manager and employee both follow the rules? If not, why not?
16. In answering these questions, the manager was ______ and the employee was _______ to criticism that could help improve communication skills.
a. open
b. closed
17. If you could do this exercise over again, what would you do differently to improve communication?
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Apply It
What did I learn from this experience? How will I use this knowledge in the future?
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