Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

Organizations exist, in part, in communication processes.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Organizational members tend to experience metamorphosis before they experience the encounter stage of assimilation.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A main goal of the study of organizational communication is to reduce strategic ambiguity in workplace settings.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Post-positivistic researchers assume that reality is stable and patterned enough to measure reliably.

Question 5

According to the transactional model of communication, communicators seek to reduce noise to improve their understanding of one another.

Question 6

Status can be communicated nonverbally.

Question 7

Which of the following is a focus of a transactional definition of communication?

A) the process by which receivers come to share meaning about communication
B) the process by which a sender transfers information to a receiver
C) the process by which communicators use nonverbal communication
D) the process by which meaning is created via the interaction of people

Question 8

A shared meaning definition of communication focuses on which of the following?

A) how people interpret nonverbal communication during a communication event
B) how people interact to influence the meaning of a communication event
C) whether people who experience a communication event understand it as intended by the sender
D) whether people who experience a communication event agree on its meaning

Question 9

An information transfer definition of communication focuses attention on which of the following?

A) examining whether information successfully moves from one person to others as a result of communication
B) whether people agree on the meaning of communication that has occurred
C) how people interact to create meaning through their communication
D) the ways that nonverbal communication effect meaning

Question 10

A social definition of an organization focuses on which of the following?

A) organizations as entities that have legal rights and clear membership boundaries
B) organizations as entities that are responsible to their communities and not just themselves
C) organizations as entities that have physical features such as buildings, materials, and personnel
D) organizations as entities that exist only through communication and have flexible membership boundaries

Question 11

A communicative definition of an organization focuses on which of the following?

A) organizations as entities that exist only through communication and have flexible membership boundaries
B) organizations as entities that are responsible to their communities and not just themselves
C) organizations as entities that have legal rights and clear membership boundaries
D) organizations as entities that have physical features such as buildings, materials, and personnel

Question 12

A legal definition of an organization focuses on which of the following?

A) organizations as entities that have legal rights and clear membership boundaries
B) organizations as entities that are responsible to their communities and not just themselves
C) organizations as entities that exist only through communication and have flexible membership boundaries
D) organizations as entities that have physical features such as buildings, materials, and personnel

Question 13

A company policy limits lunches to 60 minutes unless they are business related. This strategically ambiguous statement is least likely to accomplish which of these goals?

A) create unified diversity
B) allow management to maintain their power
C) maintain personal relationships
D) allow for plausible deniability

Question 14

An organization announces that it is going "green," or becoming more environmentally sensitive. Which of the following uses of strategic ambiguity is this least likely to accomplish?

A) create unified diversity
B) allow for plausible deniability
C) maintain personal relationships
D) allow for adaptability and change

Question 15

Which of the following statements about strategic ambiguity is false?

A) Strategic ambiguity can allow for a sense of agreement or unity among organizational members.
B) Strategic ambiguity can help individuals to maintain relationships.
C) Strategic ambiguity can allow for organizational change and adaptability.
D) Strategic ambiguity is necessarily bad.

Question 16

Which of the following statements about strategic ambiguity is true?

A) Strategic ambiguity usually restricts organizational change by reducing organizational adaptability.
B) Strategic ambiguity is necessarily bad.
C) Strategic ambiguity is often an important means for supporting status distinctions and maintaining interpersonal relationships.
D) Strategic ambiguity will generally make explicit any disagreements organization members have.

Question 17

A manager sends contradictory messages by closing the office door but posting a sign: "please knock." These contradictory messages concern which general characteristics of nonverbal communication?

A) eye contact
B) security
C) status
D) social contact

Question 18

A manager begins each day by walking around and personally greeting each employee. This most clearly demonstrates which of the general characteristics of nonverbal communication?

A) security
B) social contact
C) vocalics
D) status

Question 19

Defining organizations in terms of the communication process suggests all the following except:

A) Organizations cannot exist without communication.
B) Organizations need physical facilities.
C) Organizational members' talk helps to make organizations what they are.
D) The study of communication is critical to understanding organizations.

Question 20

Which of the following mission statements is most likely to create unified diversity through effective use of strategic ambiguity? "Our mission is to

A) make the owner increasingly wealthy."
B) increase our shareholders' stock price dramatically."
C) serve customers with world-class excellence."
D) make a paycheck."

Question 21

In an organization, managers always wear dress shoes and dress shirts, but frontline workers are allowed to wear athletic shoes and business-casual company shirts. This most clearly demonstrates which of the general characteristics of nonverbal communication?

A) security
B) social contact
C) vocalics
D) status

Question 22

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a post-positivist perspective on organizational communication?

A) Reality can be objectively measured and analyzed.
B) Communication is studies primarily from an information transfer perspective.
C) Communication creates shared meaning for members of an organization.
D) Communication can affect the satisfaction and morale of employees.

Question 23

Which of the following is a characteristic of a post-positivist perspective on organizational communication?

A) Reality is subjective and created through communication.
B) Research should focus on how communication affects organizational outcomes.
C) Communication creates shared meaning for members of an organization.
D) Communication contributes to the oppression of certain groups in organizations.

Question 24

Which of the following is not a characteristic of an interpretive perspective of organizational communication?

A) Reality is subjective and created through communication.
B) Research should focus on how communication affects organizational outcomes.
C) Communication creates shared meaning for members of an organization.
D) Research should focus on how organizational members understand their experiences.

Question 25

Which of the following is a characteristic of an interpretive perspective of organizational communication?

A) Research should focus on how organizational members understand their experiences.
B) Communication contributes to the oppression of certain groups in organizations.
C) Research should focus on how communication affects organizational outcomes.
D) Reality can be objectively measured and analyzed.

Question 26

Which of the following is a characteristic of a critical perspective of organizational communication?

A) Critical scholars focus on how information is disseminated throughout organizations.
B) Critical scholars focus on the shared meaning of organizational members.
C) Critical scholars focus on organizational outcomes like profits and employee morale.
D) Critical scholars focus on how organizational systems favor one group over another.

Question 27

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a critical perspective of organizational communication?

A) Critical scholars study organizations through a variety of research methods.
B) Critical scholars focus on how organizational systems favor one group over another.
C) Critical scholars focus on organizational outcomes like profits and employee morale.
D) Critical scholars study organizations as systems of oppression.

Question 28

Explain the difference between the information transfer and the transactional definitions of communication. Provide examples to illustrate your ideas.

Question 29

Support the claim: "Organizations cannot exist without communication."

Question 30

Refute the claim: "The purpose of all excellent organizational communication is to be absolutely clear."

Question 31

Choose three of the five uses of strategic ambiguity. Explain those three and provide an example to illustrate each one.

Question 32

Contrast the nonverbal characteristics of an office space with a lot of cubicles versus an open office space.

Question 33

Nonverbal communication in organizational settings often conveys three important characteristics or messages. Define two of these three and provide examples.

Question 34

Describe the basic four phases of the assimilation model for studying organizational communication.