Effective Business Communication Strategies, Exercises of Environmental Management

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REVIEW CHAPTER 1 – CHAPTER 14 FOR FINAL

TEST

Chapter 1—Communication in a Global Workplace Environment

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Communication skills a. are not as important as technical skills for career success. b. are not necessary in today's competitive job market. c. are ranked by recruiters at the top of qualities they most desire in job seekers. d. cannot be learned; they are innate.
2. Which of the following statements is most accurate? a. Because today's workers are more geographically dispersed, the need for well- written messages has declined. b. Employers rank oral and written communication skills as less valuable than hard skills such as mathematical computation, computer literacy, and troubleshooting. c. Communication skills are critical to your job placement, performance, career advancement, and organizational success. d. Business letters and interoffice memoranda remain the top forms of business correspondence.
3. On the job you are more likely to be taken seriously and promoted if you a. look and sound professional. b. frame your degree or certificate and hang it on your office or cubicle wall. c. appear to be busy even when you're not really doing anything. d. attend office parties.
4. Communication is defined as "the transmission of information and meaning from one individual or group to another." The crucial element of this definition is a. transmission. b. information. c. meaning. d. individual.
5. Converting ideas into words or gestures to convey meaning is called a. feedback. b. decoding. c. encoding. d. nonverbal communication.
6. The communication process begins when the sender

a. determines the appropriate communication channel. b. has an idea. c. encodes an idea into a message. d. plans for feedback.

7. Translating the message from its symbol form into meaning involves a. feedback. b. decoding. c. encoding. d. nonverbal communication.
8. Which of the following statements about feedback is most accurate? a. Feedback is the verbal response from the receiver. b. Senders should provide as much information as they can to their receivers to show their intellectual capabilities. c. Paraphrasing a speaker's message is a waste of time. d. Feedback can include both nonverbal and verbal responses.
9. Communication noise a. includes anything that disrupts the transmission of a message. b. is also called feedback. c. describes only externally produced sounds. d. occurs only during the encoding process.
10. Many of us are poor listeners because a. the brain can process information at least three times as fast as people talk. b. we tend to "tune out" speakers whose ideas run counter to our own. c. we would rather talk than listen. d. All answer choices are correct.
11. Some researchers suggest that we listen at what percentage of efficiency? a. 50 to 60 percent b. 90 percent c. 10 percent d. 25 to 50 percent
12. Which of the following statements is most accurate? a. Very few management problems are related to listening. b. The average person remembers nearly three quarters of what he or she hears following a10-minute presentation. c. We misinterpret, misunderstand, or change very little of what we hear. d. Most people are not very good listeners.
13. You can improve your listening skills if you follow tips for active listening, including a. keeping an open mind, establishing a receptive mind-set, and listening between the lines.

20. Communicators in ____ cultures (such as those in North America, Scandinavia, and Germany) depend little on the context of a situation to convey their meaning. They tend to be logical, analytical, and action oriented. a. high-context b. civilized c. ancient d. low-context

Chapter 2—Planning Business Messages

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Which of the following represents a goal for business writers? a. You should concentrate on your feelings in business messages. b. You should get your audience to believe and accept your ideas. c. You should create messages that are lengthy to demonstrate your superior intellect and language skills. d. You should write business messages from your perspective.
2. Business writing should be purposeful. In this context purposeful can best be defined as a. presenting ideas clearly and concisely. b. concentrating on the receiver's perspective instead of your own. c. solving problems and conveying information. d. getting your audience to believe and accept your message.
3. Business writing should be economical. In this context economical can best be defined as a. presenting ideas clearly and concisely. b. concentrating on the receiver's perspective instead of your own. c. solving problems and conveying information. d. getting your audience to believe and accept your message.
4. Business writing should be persuasive. In this context persuasive can best be defined as a. presenting ideas clearly and concisely. b. concentrating on the receiver's perspective instead of your own. c. solving problems and conveying information. d. getting your audience to believe and accept your message.
5. The first phase of the writing process involves analyzing the audience and your purpose for writing, anticipating your audience' reaction to your message, and a. investigating background information. b. composing your message. c. adapting your message to the audience. d. looking for previous company documents on the topic.

6. During the second phase of the writing process, you conduct research, a. clarify the audience demographics, and edit word choices. b. anticipate audience reaction, and adapt the message. c. organize ideas, and compose the message. d. evaluate message effectiveness, and revise as needed.
7. In the final phase of the writing process, check the message for clarity and readability, proofread for errors, and a. evaluate for effectiveness. b. assess the cost in the selected delivery channel. c. solve the problem. d. forward the document to the publishing department.
8. Experts say that writers should spend the most time in the ____ stage of the writing process. a. prewriting b. writing c. revising d. transmission
9. The primary purpose of business writing is typically to inform or persuade; a common secondary purpose is to a. promote goodwill. b. comply with governmental regulations. c. create written documentation. d. avoid lawsuits.
10. Which of the following communication channels is considered the richest medium? a. Written proposal b. E-mail message c. Face-to-face conversation d. Blog posting
11. What communication channel would be most appropriate to deliver data to a customer? a. Business letter b. E-mail c. Report or proposal d. Memorandum

d. All sentences are focused on the audience rather than the sender.

20. Business messages should be conversational, professional, positive, and a. long. b. courteous. c. written from the sender's perspective. d. filled with many common abbreviations.

Chapter 3—Composing Business Messages

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. 1. Formal research methods are generally required for what type(s) of business document(s)? a. Routine e-mail messages b. Routine memos c. Long reports and complex business problems d. All of these choices would require formal research.
2. 2. Which of the following is a formal research method? a. Talking with your boss b. Organizing a focus group c. Brainstorming d. Looking in company files
3. 3. Which formal research source is best to obtain firsthand information? a. Internet Web sites and articles b. Reference books c. Electronic databases d. Interviews
4. 4. When brainstorming to generate ideas, you should a. critique each idea as it is suggested. b. record ideas without judging them. c. always work alone for greater efficiency. d. allow no more than five ideas to be discussed.
5. 5. Organizing data includes two processes. These processes are

a. grouping and strategizing. b. brainstorming and researching. c. outlining and drafting. d. drafting and editing.

6. 6. According to communication experts, what is the greatest failing of business writers? a. Poor spelling b. Unclear sentence structure c. Ambiguous wording d. Poor organization
7. 7. Organizing your ideas into an outline is especially important when you are a. developing a complex project. b. writing a routine memo. c. replying quickly to an e-mail message. d. beginning the research phase of the writing process.
8. 8. The direct strategy would be most appropriate when a. delivering bad news. b. presenting ideas requiring persuasion. c. expecting the audience to be pleased, mildly interested, or neutral. d. revealing sensitive news.
9. 9. Which of the following business messages would use the direct strategy? a. A letter denying credit to a customer b. A sales letter c. A letter rejecting a customer's claim d. An e-mail to your staff reminding them of the upcoming all-staff meeting
10. 10. Which of the following is an advantage of the direct strategy? a. Minimizes a negative reaction b. Respects the feelings of the reader c. Saves the reader time d. Encourages a fair hearing
11. 11. Which of the following is an advantage of the indirect strategy? a. Saves the reader's time b. Respects the feelings of the audience c. Prevents frustration

c. Big business demands superior forecasting, reporting, and analyzing. d. A good financial planner must be certified, competent, and must possess ethical standards.

18. 18. Which of the following sentences uses modifiers correctly? a. Competent in computer graphics, our Web site was designed by Gloria. b. To take advantage of the discounted pricing, place your order immediately. c. To meet customers' orders, shipments must be increased. d. Placing the proposal on the desk, the office was left by John.
19. 19. What do most writers use as the first sentence in a paragraph? a. Supporting sentence b. Transitional sentence c. Topic sentence d. Pivoting sentence
20. 20. Paragraphs are coherent when a. all sentences are written in the active voice. b. each sentence includes dependent and independent clauses. c. ideas are linked; that is, one idea leads logically to the next. d. All answer choices are correct.

Chapter 4—Revising Business Messages

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. 1. Good business writing is concise. Concise means that the writing a. avoids the use of redundant phrases. b. is free of errors in grammar and punctuation. c. has been revised to include examples and research. d. contains proper documentation of resources.
2. 2. Which of the following best avoids flabby expressions? a. In very few cases do job applicants perform adequate research about a company. b. The CEO is of the opinion that stock prices will increase next quarter. c. Although many employees have requested training, we can't afford the extra expense. d. We do not expect any pay raises at this point in time.

3. 3. Effective communicators avoid the flabby expression in the near future by using the word a. now. b. soon****. c. probably. d. for.
4. 4. Long sentence lead-ins a. are unnecessary introductory words. b. introduce the "meat" of the message. c. avoid reader confusion. d. demonstrate effective language usage.
5. 5. I am writing this letter to inform you that is an example of a. a flabby expression. b. an effective introductory statement. c. a long lead-in. d. strong business writing.
6. 6. Which of the following best avoids a long lead-in? a. Yes, we will send the information you requested. b. This is to advise you that we will send the information you requested. c. You may be interested to learn that we will send the information you requested. d. I am writing this letter to inform you that we will send the information you requested.
7. 7. It is important to avoid long lead-ins because a. they are grammatically incorrect. b. conciseness is enhanced through long lead-ins. c. the reader is delayed from reaching the meaning of the sentence. d. they result in faulty parallelism.
8. 8. There are 15 candidates who applied for the job opening is an example of a sentence with a. concise wording. b. a wordy prepositional phrase. c. a filler. d. faulty parallelism.
9. 9. Which of the following is a redundant expression? a. Uniquely combined b. Recent facts c. Fundamental difference

c. Business letters and memos usually have side margins of 2 inches. d. Ragged right margins decrease white space and readability.

17. 17. Which statement regarding type sizes and fonts is accurate? a. Font styles are a stylistic means of adding emphasis to your words. b. Readers are generally most comfortable with 8- to 10-point type for body text. c. Fonts include caps, boldfacing, italics, underlining, outlining, and shadowing. d. Writers should always use all caps to emphasize their ideas.
18. 18. Which of the following statements regarding bulleted or numbered lists is accurate? a. Lists decrease a reader's comprehension of the main ideas. b. Lists allow readers to review main ideas quickly. c. Lists confuse readers because they are visually distracting. d. Lists decrease the readability level of a document.
19. 19. Proofreading includes which of the following tasks? a. Improving content and tone b. Fine tuning sentence and paragraph structure c. Correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation, names and numbers, and format d. Determining whether the message should be written using the direct or indirect organizational pattern
20. 20. Which of the following is the best advice to follow when you proofread a document? a. Proofread both routine and complex documents from your computer screen to save time. b. Read the document at least twice. c. Concentrate on ideas rather than words. d. Increase your reading speed.

Chapter 5—Electronic Messages and Digital Media

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. 1. Which of the following statements about communication in the workplace is most accurate? a. Today's workplaces are nearly all paperless; employees conduct business with digital media and communicate only with electronic messages. b. Most employees exchange documents and complete projects on the Web, but only management creates content, reviews products, or edits projects. c. More data are stored on and accessed from PDAs and individual computers rather than on the Internet or a network. d. Although today's workplaces are still far from paperless, increasingly information is exchanged electronically and on the go.

2. 2. Business are storing and accessing ever more data along with software in remote network clusters. This process of remote storage is called a. community sourcing. b. networking. c. cloud computing. d. data dumps.
3. 3. You must communicate up-to-date information immediately to customers who are digitally connected. Which of these is the best communication channel to offer you this always-on connectedness for your business message? a. E-mail b. Twitter c. Podcast d. Blog
4. 4. You are delivering your salary and benefits proposals for employees in your department to your supervisor. What is the best communication channel to deliver this confidential information? a. E-mail b. Podcast c. Interoffice memo d. All are appropriate channels to deliver confidential information.
5. 5. Most e-mail messages and memos a. have nonsensitive topics and begin directly. b. require persuasion. c. are indirect and begin with an explanation. d. need not be carefully organized because they are informal.
6. 6. Bennett is sending an e-mail message about a change in procedure for submitting work hours. Which of the following represents the most direct opening? a. Recently, the management staff discussed our process for submitting work hours. b. A new procedure for submitting work hours will go into effect on April 1. c. Are you in the mood to try something a little different? d. We all hate when procedures change, but this change is needed.
7. 7. Which of the following is the best advice for writing the body of an e-mail message? a. To help the receiver act on the subject, discuss only one idea. b. Because e-mail messages and memos are informal, do not use numbered or bulleted lists. c. Limit white space to place all information on a single screen if possible. d. Do not waste space on headings and subheadings.

information in the body of the e-mail. d. Send it another way because you should not send attachments via e-mail.

14. 14. The final element of an e-mail message should be a. your name. b. a witty phrase and your name. c. the name of the business or organization only. d. the final paragraph of the message containing action information.
15. 15. Business e-mail users must learn that e-mail can be dangerous because messages travel long distances, are difficult to erase, and a. can't be used to transmit official documents. b. are informal, allowing a few spelling and punctuation mistakes. c. may become evidence in court. d. are challenging to type using only two fingers.
16. 16. E-mail is the No. 1 communication channel in business today. To make your messages effective, you should a. consider the receiver. b. compose quickly. c. organize indirectly. d. edit and revise as you draft.
17. 17. Which of the following situations is most appropriate for sending an e-mail message? a. Matthew is angry with one of his colleagues and wants to let her know exactly how he feels. b. Jane found a great political joke she wants to share with her colleagues. c. Chris must send the monthly sales data to his department. d. Maggie needs to vent her frustrations about working conditions to her shift supervisor.
18. 18. Which of these is the best recommendation for business communicators using e-mail? a. Use e-mail to deliver bad news or to resolve arguments to limit or avoid workplace confrontation. b. Add humor or tongue-in-cheek comments to lighten the tone of serious e- mail topics. c. Use e-mail, not hard-copy memos, for messages that the business would not want to be made public or for topics that should not be published. d. Care about tone, correctness, and conciseness to create messages with the reader in mind.
19. 19. Podcasts, blogs, and wikis are part of the new user-centered virtual environment called a. the Total Network. b. Web 2.0.

c. Cloud Computing. d. VPN.

20. 20. Which of the following statements best describes use of social networks by businesses today? a. All companies are comfortable with using social networking for brainstorming and teamwork. b. Companies struggle with finding the right balance between permitting access to the Web and protecting security as well as ensuring productivity. c. Companies must run their own social networks to capitalize effectively on the benefits this medium offers. d. Large companies (like McDonalds and British Telecom) create buzz and promote their brands via social networking, but social networking offers no benefit to small businesses.

Chapter 6—Positive Messages

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. 1. Although e-mail is incredibly successful for both internal and external communication, you should still use letters when a. you need immediate feedback. b. the message must reach your reader very quickly. c. formality and sensitivity are essential. d. you have too little time to proofread.
2. 2. Businesses choose letters to conduct transactions for which of these reasons? a. Letters convey a sense of urgency and indicate the need to complete transactions promptly. b. Letters represent the business's awareness of current trends and show customers its ability to communicate via up-to-date channels. c. Letters are the No. 1 channel of communication in business today, and businesses use letters to conduct most external transactions. d. Letters provide confidentiality, formality, and sensitivity to transactions that may also require a permanent record.
3. 3. Why is the format of a business letter important? a. Incorrect letter formats will invalidate legal agreements. b. Businesses use only one letter format: full block. c. The appearance of a business letter carries a silent message about the sender beyond the printed words. d. Even e-mails follow business letter format.

were overcharged for our banquet. d. We were extremely upset to learn that we were charged too much for our banquet.

11. 11. You can improve the effectiveness of a direct claim letter by a. using a few threatening words to get your point across. b. providing a detailed timeline of what happened and the specific person who is to blame for the problem. c. explaining the problem with necessary details. d. including a subtle reference to your attorney or to the Better Business Bureau.
12. 12. When a claim involves a service, you should a. demand a full refund of the service fee and a repeat service call. b. avoid naming the service representatives involved or otherwise identifying responsible company employees. c. cite names of individuals spoken to and dates of calls. d. enclose a photograph of yourself crying or suffering other severe emotional distress because of the poor service. 13 13. In the closing of a claim letter, you should a. justify and explain your request. b. promote goodwill and summarize your request. c. reference all copies of pertinent documents enclosed. d. warn the company that failure to comply could cause legal action.
13. 14. Which of the following sentences represents an appropriate end date in a claim letter? a. Because we have enjoyed your prompt service in the past, we hope to receive the correct projectors by January 12. b. We wish to end our contract with your company if you cannot improve your service. c. Service calls were made to our Washington Street Office on May 20, May 22, and May 27 without resolving the problem. d. Please replace the five Panasonic projectors we received on December 22 because the model numbers do not match the models ordered.
14. 15. Most companies receiving a claim letter tend to a. ignore the first phone call, e-mail, or letter. b. respond only to letters containing complaints that could result in lawsuits or financial harm. c. respond promptly because customers can sue for harm. d. wait two to six weeks to establish a "cooling-off period" prior to responding.
15. 16. When complying with a request and writing a direct reply letter, a business communicator should include an opening that a. summarizes the reader's claim and request.

b. presents the good news immediately. c. explains and clarifies your position. d. builds goodwill.

17. 17. You should use sensitive language in your adjustment letter in case the customer is already upset. Which of these is the best advice? a. Do not suggest your business typically pleases its customers; do apologize for failure. b. Don't use negative words (regret, error, failure); do use positive words (hope, achieve, strive). c. Do not be vague about improvements; do guarantee the situation will not recur. d. Do not blame customers; do blame individuals or departments inside your organization.
18. 18. Which of the following is not a goal when writing adjustment letters? a. To gain the confidence of the customer b. To verify the honesty of the customer's claim c. To rectify the wrong d. To promote future business and goodwill
19. 19. Which of the following is the most appropriate opening for an adjustment letter granting a claim? a. We are very sorry to hear that your meal with us did not meet your expectations. b. Thank you for your letter of November 16 describing your bad dining experience with us last weekend. c. Although we believe that the food we served last weekend was of the highest quality, we are willing to refund the cost of your dinner this time only. d. The enclosed check for $78, which covers the cost of your dinner, demonstrates our desire to satisfy our customers and earn their confidence.
20. 20. Businesses often write letters expressing thanks to which of these receivers? a. A competing business that "steals" a large customer order b. Customers who write letters of inquiry c. Employees who have suffered a recent loss such as the death of a family pet d. Customers who complain

Chapter 7—Negative Messages

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. 1. Every business person will need to write a negative business message that