Deck 17: Business Communication: Creating and Delivering Messages That Matter

Question 1

Successful business communication requires only two skills: the ability to write convincingly and to speak clearly.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Barriers to communication can't be eliminated, so the best approach is to ignore them and repeat your message several times in order to "break through" these barriers.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Effective communication within an organization is one of the most challenging tasks for managers.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

As international trade grows in importance, intercultural communication will become increasingly important to long-term business success.

Question 5

Avinash is delivering a presentation in front of senior management tomorrow. He decides to practise in front of a mirror prior to the meeting. This should be an effective strategy for strengthening his communication skills.

Question 6

Beatrice is the creative director for a children's television program. Although she works in media communications, she is not comfortable with her own presentation skills. One way Beatrice could improve her skills would be to videotape her presentations and have a friend go through the videos with her.

Question 7

Jasmyn is a high-end fashion designer and often speaks to up-and-coming fashion designers from the local art school. She smiles a lot, nods her head, and frequently uses hand gestures. These are examples of nonverbal communication.

Question 8

Anne Michaels is planning to take a course in business communications. Her studies are likely to involve two-way exercises that encompass the ability to be a good listener as well as a good speaker and writer.

Question 9

Two students in a management class were presenting their findings on "managing change." As one team member clicked through the PowerPoint presentation, the other team member leaned against the work station, clearly indicating that he was thinking about something else. If the PowerPoint presentation was well organized, the second team member's behaviour was unlikely to detract from the presentation's message.

Question 10

In business communications, noise can come from cultural factors, such as how you greet colleagues, as well as physical factors, such as someone in the audience talking loudly during a presentation.

Question 11

In face-to-face conversations, the verbal content of a message conveys much more meaning to the listener than tone of voice and facial expression.

Question 12

Body language and tone of voice have little impact on the audience's understanding of the information being communicated.

Question 13

Reflecting a long-standing tradition, top managers at Tallyson Corporation rarely meet directly with other employees, preferring to communicate by sending memos and e-mail messages. This practice is likely to create an organizational communication barrier within the company.

Question 14

Effective communication is more about style (how the message is delivered) than it is about substance (the relevance of the message).

Question 15

Verbal communication includes body language, posture, and facial expressions when a speaker addresses a group.

Question 16

A manager is an effective speaker when he or she can articulate a message using dialect and jargon, because these nuances usually enrich the message.

Question 17

When Canadian businesses expand internationally, cultural barriers pose challenges in new markets.

Question 18

Managers use business communication to disseminate information to their employees, stakeholders, and competitors.

Question 19

Shefali attended a business conference where the keynote speaker provided a very entertaining presentation. She thought several of the speaker's jokes were funny and found some of the points he made interesting. But she left the speech unsure of the speaker's main point and how it related to her. As far as Shefali was concerned, the speaker was not an effective communicator.

Question 20

Effective communication happens when you transmit meaning-relevant meaning-to an audience.

Question 21

When selecting a communication channel, the preferences of the audience should be a major consideration.

Question 22

The first step in choosing the correct wording for a message is to consider the characteristics of the audience to whom the message will be directed.

Question 23

You should always select a communication channel that you are comfortable using. If it works for you, it's good for the audience.

Question 24

When listening, you should NOT get overly comfortable because if your body is too relaxed, your mind may wander more easily.

Question 25

Memos are a good communication channel when the intent is to convey a noncontroversial but detailed message to a large number of people.

Question 26

Videoconferencing is a good channel for communicating complex information to many people in geographically distant locations.

Question 27

According to the International Listening Association, 85 percent of what people learn is derived from listening.

Question 28

When listening, you should use verbal feedback and questions to indicate understanding and empathy.

Question 29

Amie Johannson is the CEO of Megabux Inc. Her company has just worked out an agreement to merge with Lottadoe Enterprises, and Amie wants to announce the deal to her employees. She knows that the merger will require a reorganization and that some employees will worry about their job security. She wants to assure them of her personal commitment to minimizing layoffs. One of the best ways for Amie to communicate information about the merger would be to issue a memo to all employees.

Question 30

One drawback of voice mail is that it doesn't provide the sender with a permanent record of the message.

Question 31

Texting provides a richer communication channel than telephone conversations.

Question 32

In the business world, spending more than a few minutes working on the wording of a message is usually a waste of time because the way a message is worded has little impact on how the message is received.

Question 33

Effective listening is the passive part of the communication process.

Question 34

When you do not want to reveal any additional information through body language, a memo is an effective tool to disburse information to employees on changes in company policies.

Question 35

The key to finding the best communication channel is to evaluate the needs and expectations of your audience.

Question 36

Otto Pierson, the vice president of finance for Pallisades Produce Company, is likely to spend much more of his time listening than his company's hourly employees routinely do.

Question 37

Mary Meyers must inform her department members about a new absenteeism policy. Given the controversial nature of the message, she should inform them of the policy shift via e-mail.

Question 38

Speaking immediately after someone stops talking shows poor listening skills.

Question 39

One of the problems with communication is that people listen faster than they are able to think.

Question 40

Larry Bergeron needs to quickly hear from his colleague Ralph concerning the prospect of changing vendors on the Harris Project. He leaves Ralph a lengthy voice mail on the subject. Ralph is in the habit of picking up voice mail messages once each day. If Larry is asked by his boss about the vendor problem, he is covered because he sent Ralph a message about it.

Question 41

Slang statements are acceptable in verbal communication, because clarification is immediate.

Question 42

Addressing the recipient of a message as "Dear Sir" is a common and perfectly acceptable practice, even if you do not know the gender of the recipient.

Question 43

Business communication differs from other types of formal communication, such as a wedding invitation, for example, because the use of slang and jargon is widely accepted in business communication.

Question 44

An enthusiastic CEO spoke to his audience, "Our employees sold $10 million worth of services last year!" His wording is an example of how to use passive voice to present information.

Question 45

In Canadian culture, older people are more likely to experience age bias than younger people.

Question 46

One of the most effective ways to improve business communications is to make extensive use of slang to enliven and enrich the message and set it apart from more formal messages.

Question 47

The successful communicator avoids gender bias.

Question 48

Juanita is planning to speak to some new employees in her department. She wants to convey a sense of accountability and establish a tone of trust. Given these goals, Juanita should make extensive use of the active voice in her speech.

Question 49

Business writing should consider how the audience will feel about the information and how it will be applied.

Question 50

The needs of the audience are a priority in business writing, regardless of the tool used to deliver the message.

Question 51

This statement is an example of bias: "A nurse must ensure that all of her patients are well provided for and are in minimal pain."

Question 52

Al Ownsby, project manager at the Innovative Technologies Defence Company, is a man of few words. His idea of communication is to "give the recipients the basic idea, but spare them the details." Ownsby's approach is sound, because a basic rule of business communication is that being concise is better than being complete.

Question 53

Words or statements suggesting negative attitudes toward an ethnic group are acceptable if no members of that ethnic group are likely to receive the message.

Question 54

Speakers should tailor their message to the expectations, educational levels, and backgrounds of their audiences.

Question 55

There are three common types of bias in business communications: gender bias, age bias, and bias related to race, ethnicity, and nationality.

Question 56

The passive voice tends to be more effective in business communications than the active voice because it is more rational and has less emotional impact.

Question 57

An enthusiastic CEO announced to his audience at the shareholders' meeting, "Fifty million dollars worth of services were sold last year!" He could have increased the impact of this statement by using the active voice.

Question 58

Speakers display bias when they use words and statements to communicate stereotypes and negative attitudes about a specific group's gender, age, ethnicity, or nationality.

Question 59

Professor Armand Dupont was very busy when he received an e-mail by a student who wanted to know when an assignment was due. His short response said, "You can find the due date in your syllabus!" The student interpreted this to mean that the professor didn't want to help the student, so the next time he had a question, he asked another classmate. The professor need not be concerned because his response followed a good communication rule: messages should always be short and concise!

Question 60

Active voice refers to a sentence structure in which the subject is doing the action described by the verb.

Question 61

When you send an e-mail to a specific person's e-mail account, no one else can view it.

Question 62

At the beginning of his talk on global warming, David Suzuki suggested that the audience ask questions during the presentation. Experts suggest that it is appropriate protocol to inform the audience of your preference for taking questions during or after the presentation.

Question 63

Darvinder must inform the sales team of the latest commission incentive plan. The incentive plan is different from the previous plan, and Darvinder expects resistance from some of the sales team. He plans to begin the discussion by reviewing the company's mission and strategic goals. This is an example of an effective opening to his presentation.

Question 64

Visual aids include the use of graphics or pictures.

Question 65

Jerome De Jong is the keynote speaker at his company's annual sales conference. One part of his speech will include 10 keys to success. Since all of these points deal with the same topic, Jerome should present them on the same PowerPoint slide.

Question 66

Some restaurants have accommodated yakkers by going so far as to offer universal chargers as free customer service.

Question 67

Studies suggest that after three days, individuals retain approximately 65 percent of the information received from a combined visual and oral presentation.

Question 68

Smiley faces, abbreviations, and other emoticons help recipients of your e-mail messages view you as personable and fun.

Question 69

Effective presentations require verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and consideration of how the audience will interpret the message.

Question 70

You should avoid attachments if possible when sending e-mails.

Question 71

The use of visual aids can significantly impact the amount of information an audience retains.

Question 72

Barry Holngren plans to start his presentation with a startling statistic. This is usually a poor approach since it may distract the audience.

Question 73

Proper business communication should always follow such well-known grammatical rules as never starting a sentence with the words and or but and never ending a sentence with a preposition.

Question 74

The first sentence of a block paragraph is not indented, and the lines within each paragraph are doubled-spaced.

Question 75

Manager Dorian Watson believes his product development teams have gotten a bit stale. He is writing a memo to explain a plan for reorganizing the teams in order to stimulate new ideas. However, Dorian is concerned that several developers who like their current assignments will resent his plan. He should describe his proposed changes very early in the message in order to quickly deal with the issues that may cause concern.

Question 76

If the audience is likely to respond negatively to a written message, a good strategy is to begin the message with a brief discussion of the rationale for the message before presenting the bottom line.

Question 77

Lindsey suspected that her sales team might be suspicious of some proposed new expense account rules, so she started her weekly meeting by describing a situation in which an employee was unable to claim a legitimate reimbursement because of the current policies. She used this story to explain why management believed it was time to try something different. This opening was an effective way to introduce her message.

Question 78

When putting together a written message, you should try to anticipate how the reader will respond to the message, even if the best you can do is nothing more than a thoughtful guess.

Question 79

When making a PowerPoint presentation, it is generally a good idea to take advantage of the program's power by making extensive use of animation and sound effects.

Question 80

When sending e-mails the spell check is an important feature to use because using the spell check feature means that you will not have to proofread your message before sending it.