Q&A Hero

Q: If you are listening mainly to understand the speaker's needs and wants, you are engaging in ______________ A) content listening. B) critical listening. C) empathic or active listening. D) sustained listening.

Q: If you are engaging in critical listening, your goal is to ______________ A) understand and retain information. B) understand the speaker's feelings, needs, and wants. C) evaluate the logic and validity of the message. D) appreciate the speaker's point of view.

Q: If you are listening mainly to understand and retain information imparted by a speaker, you are engaging in ______________ A) content listening. B) critical listening. C) empathic listening. D) active listening.

Q: When questioned about material they have just listened to, most people are likely to ______________ A) remember nearly all of the content correctly. B) get the facts mixed up. C) remember almost nothing. D) fake an answer.

Q: In collaborative writing, it is a good idea to _________________ A) make sure tools and techniques are ready and compatible across the team. B) begin by letting all members "do their own thing" and then seeing what they all produce. C) let all members use their own preferred software. D) make the team as big as possible so that every possible area of expertise will be covered.

Q: Successful collaboration requires a number of steps, from selecting the right partners and agreeing on project goals to ___________________________ A) establishing clear processes and avoiding writing as a group. B) setting timelines and meeting at the same location. C) making sure all members speak more than one language. D) creating agendas and controlling creativity.

Q: Working with other writers to produce a single document is called ______________ A) groupthink. B) participative management. C) collaborative writing. D) task facilitating.

Q: The best way to handle an emotional reaction in a business setting is to ______________ A) focus on your argument and ignore the emotional elements. B) repeat yourself in hopes that this will help diffuse emotions. C) express understanding. D) agree with the other person's emotional reaction.

Q: When it comes to resolving conflict in groups, it is a good idea to ______________ A) be flexible. B) hold off dealing with minor problems until the conflict becomes major. C) avoid all conflict in the first place. D) encourage participants to repress their emotions about the situation.

Q: Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of effective teams? A) A clear sense of purpose B) Open and honest communication C) Decision making done primarily by the team leaders D) Encouragement of original thinking

Q: To improve meeting productivity, ______________ A) communicate. B) wait for everyone to arrive even if it means starting the meeting 10 minutes late. C) work out an agenda that will achieve your objectives. D) smile, laugh, enjoy yourself.

Q: During the reinforcement phase of group decision making, members ______________ A) socialize and establish roles. B) air all options and discuss their pros and cons. C) reach a decision. D) are given their assignments for carrying out the group's decision.

Q: Group members who try to help people work well together are able to fill a ______________ A) team-maintenance role. B) task-facilitating role. C) self-oriented role. D) coordinating role.

Q: Group members who are motivated mainly to fulfill personal needs play a ______________ A) team-maintenance role. B) task-facilitating role. C) self-oriented role. D) coordinating role.

Q: Unwritten rules that govern the behaviour of group members are referred to as _____________ A) group maintenance roles. B) parliamentary procedure. C) group norms. D) Robert's Rules.

Q: A hidden agenda refers to _____________ A) a meeting agenda that is not revealed to others outside the meeting group. B) individuals' private motives that affect a group's interaction. C) an agenda that members must look for before they can attend a meeting. D) an approach to group dynamics that helps facilitate group functioning.

Q: Groupthink refers to __________________ A) the willingness of individual group members to set aside their personal opinions and go along with everyone else. B) the four-step decision-making process in groups. C) software programs that help groups make decisions. D) the basic rules that underlie a group's behaviour.

Q: ____________________ is an advantage of a successful team. A) Increased diversity of views B) Groupthink C) Cost D) Hidden agenda

Q: In participative management _____________ A) employees are involved in the company's decision making. B) all top-level managers participate in profit sharing. C) teams are discouraged in favour of individual achievement. D) an authoritarian management model is used.

Q: In this day and age, there is no need to follow parliamentary procedure in meetings. A) True B) False

Q: The main role of the meeting leader is to be passive and let others speak without interference. A) True B) False

Q: A meeting agenda is just a guideline and doesn't really need to be adhered to. A) True B) False

Q: The more members you have at a meeting the better for making good decisions quickly. A) True B) False

Q: Free riders are team members who freely givie their opinions and ideas to the group. A) True B) False

Q: Many companies today use intranets and blog postings to distribute meeting minutes. A) True B) False

Q: There is no such thing as an unproductive meeting. A) True B) False

Q: A manager might be comfortable using hugs to express support or congratulations, but his or her subordinates might interpret those hugs as either a show of dominance or sexual interest. A) True B) False

Q: The one aspect of nonverbal communication that you have little or no control over is your physical attractiveness. A) True B) False

Q: Your vocal characteristics reveal many things that you are unaware of but that have meaning for your audience. A) True B) False

Q: Maintaining eye contact is often effective for indicating attention and interest. A) True B) False

Q: Virtual meetings let team members in different locations interact without the disruption, risk, and cost of travel. A) True B) False

Q: People generally have more faith in nonverbal cues than they do in verbal messages. A) True B) False

Q: Most people are unable to process information as quickly as a speaker talks, so they get behind in comprehending what the speaker is saying. A) True B) False

Q: Defensiveness is a major barrier to effective listening. A) True B) False

Q: Good listeners specialize in one of the three types of listening and apply it to nearly all situations. A) True B) False

Q: The goal of empathic listening is to solve the speaker's problem. A) True B) False

Q: The goal of content listening is to evaluate the logic, validity, and implications of a message. A) True B) False

Q: Most people need to improve their listening skills. A) True B) False

Q: One benefit of wikis is writers don"t need to know any of the techniques normally required to create web content. A) True B) False

Q: With collaborative writing, the usual outcome is a document that is inferior to one that would have been produced by a single individual. A) True B) False

Q: Convincing someone of your viewpoint depends as much on the other person's frame of mind as it does on your arguments. A) True B) False

Q: If you encounter irrational resistance, avoid calling the person's attention to it. A) True B) False

Q: Much of the communication you"ll participate in will take place in meetings. A) True B) False

Q: To resolve conflicts successfully, you seek reasons for the problems before seeking solutions. A) True B) False

Q: To resolve conflict successfully, it helps to get feelings out in the open before dealing with the main issues. A) True B) False

Q: Conflict between persons or groups in an organization is destructive and must be avoided at all costs. A) True B) False

Q: One of the characteristics of effective teams is that one leader tends to take charge and make all the major decisions. A) True B) False

Q: When making a decision, groups usually go through five phases: orientation, conflict, brainstorm, emergence, and reinforcement. A) True B) False

Q: Most groupware systems have built-in intelligence to control which team members can read, edit, and save specific files. A) True B) False

Q: To facilitate global collaboration, many teams now take advantage of vacant office spaces. A) True B) False

Q: Until roles and status have stabilized on a team, it may have trouble accomplishing its goals. A) True B) False

Q: Group members who play team-maintenance roles help everyone to work better together. A) True B) False

Q: Group members who play task-facilitating roles are motivated to fulfill personal needs so they tend to be less productive than other members. A) True B) False

Q: Free riders are group members who don't contribute their fair share to the team's activities. A) True B) False

Q: In the phenomenon of groupthink, the team may arrive at poor-quality decisions and even act unethically. A) True B) False

Q: Teams usually achieve greater performance levels than what would have been accomplished by the members working independently. A) True B) False

Q: Committees are short-lived groups formed to solve a short-term problem. A) True B) False

Q: Informal teams are not part of the formal organization but are created to solve problems or work on specific activities. A) True B) False

Q: Companies today are looking for people who can work alone, since the trend in business is for most employees to function independently. A) True B) False

Q: List and briefly explain the three roles nonverbal communication plays in communication.

Q: Differentiate among the three primary types of listening.

Q: Describe "constructive feedback" and compare it with "destructive feedback." Why is feedback important? How should you receive feedback?

Q: Describe five strategies for overcoming communication barriers and briefly explain what each one of these strategies requires.

Q: Describe four common types of communication barriers.

Q: Describe the seven phases of the communication process.

Q: Describe the various directions communication flows through an organization's formal hierarchy, and give an example of each one.

Q: Describe at least five common characteristics of effective business messages.

Q: Briefly explain the difference between an ethical dilemma and an ethical lapse.

Q: To adopt an audience-centred approach to communication, what do you need to learn about your audience? List at least three specific examples.

Q: How can the exchange of many messages become a barrier to effective communication?

Q: Discuss the evolution of organizational structures and how these structures affect communication.

Q: Briefly define "knowledge workers."

Q: Briefly explain the nature and importance of the final phase in the communication process.

Q: Describe three things you can pay attention to in an attempt to improve the odds that your message will be successfully perceived by your audience.

Q: When is the grapevine most active within an organization?

Q: List at least three examples of formal external communication.

Q: How does the primary function of upward-flowing communication differ from that of downward-flowing communication?

Q: An ethical __________ involves making a clearly unethical or illegal choice.

Q: An ethical __________ involves choosing among conflicting alternatives that aren't clear-cut.

Q: An organization's __________ is the mixture of values, traditions, and habits that give a place its atmosphere or personality.