Q&A Hero

Q: For optimal success, businesses should limit their use of social media to one channel to ensure consistent messaging. a. True b. False

Q: Many people believe that _________ is the best approach to conflict because, in the short-term, you might get the results you want. However, this approach to conflict often results in a number of long-term costs. A. avoiding B. accommodating C. competing D. compromising

Q: When a conflict arises in Rosie's work group, she simply denies that a problem exists. Which of the following approaches to conflict is she using? A. avoiding B. accommodating C. competing D. compromising

Q: Down-editing is not recommended when responding to longer e-mails because it adds to reading time. a. True b. False

Q: E-mail is appropriate for short, informal messages that request information and respond to inquiries. a. True b. False

Q: According to your text, which of the following is the best way to approach conflict? A. collaboration B. accommodation C. compromise D. The best choice of method varies according to the circumstances.

Q: In most businesses today, e-mail has been overtaken by texting and social media. a. True b. False

Q: Your team leader puts a suggestion box in the break room. At team meetings, he lists all the reasons why the suggestions can't be used, adding that he should be the one to make the decisions, anyway. The team members complain that he should share the decision-making. What kind of conflict does this illustrate? A. relational issue B. constructive conflict C. compromise D. collaboration

Q: Indicate whether the statement is true or false.Privacy settings on social networking sites do not guarantee complete protection.a. Trueb. False

Q: You are a member of a small group in your communication class, formed for the purpose of completing a decision-making project. Robert insists that your meetings should be conducted according to Parliamentary Procedures, but Serena wants to use a consensus approach. Your group is experiencing conflict about A. the topic of the project. B. the process. C. relational issues. D. legal issues.

Q: What is nonverbal immediacy? Identify a job you are interested in pursuing. How could nonverbal immediacy help you in this job? Explain five specific ways you could demonstrate nonverbal immediacy in this job.

Q: E-mail remains the most prevalent form of workplace communication, despite the prevalence and expanding uses of social media and other messaging platforms. However, many business writers describe a "love-hate" relationship with it. Explain three reasons many professionals complain about e-mail.

Q: At a job interview, you want to show involvement and interest. Explain at least six specific nonverbal behaviors that would help you achieve your goal. For each, identify what type of nonverbal communication that specific behavior represents.

Q: Even as Internet access has enriched communication and become a way of life for so many, the use of technology and social media certainly comes with substantial risks. Identify and discuss three cyberthreats that we must consider as working professionals and citizens.

Q: Choose four different categories of nonverbal behavior. Describe how you could apply what you've learned about each category to communicate to a new employer that you are reliable, competent, and responsible. Use specific examples of what you would do within each of the four categories to demonstrate these traits.

Q: Businesses are increasingly using podcasts. Explain what they are and describe four ways a company could use one for professional purposes.

Q: Edward T. Hall describes the day in the 1930s when, as a supervisor of a Dine (Navajo) work crew, he learned how to learn about cultural appropriateness. Read the passage below. Identify three characteristics of nonverbal communication that this passage illustrates. Explain."My tutorial with Sam Yazzie began the first time the two of us climbed into our truck. After I slammed my ill-fitting door, he turned around, looked at his door, and pulled it quietly shut. After I had slammed my door a couple of more times and he had pulled his shut quietly, I began to get the point." [from Edward T. Hall, West of the Thirties, p. 80]

Q: Texting and instant messaging remain popular for communicating with coworkers and clients. Explain three pros and three cons of these tools.

Q: Describe the advantages to an organization of having employees who are fluent in using both rapport talk and report talk. Use specific examples to show when and how each style benefits the organization.

Q: More and more companies are embracing blogs as ways to create virtual communities, build brands, and develop relationships. Describe blogs and discuss three more specific ways companies use blogs for professional purposes.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: A(n) ________ is a digital media file that is distributed over the Internet and downloaded on portable media players and personal computers.

Q: Compare and contrast masculine and feminine styles of language. Describe the identifying characteristics of each style. When people hear masculine language and when they hear feminine language, what assumptions do they often make about the speaker?

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: While business is one focus, the vast majority of podcasts is devoted to _______.

Q: Write two examples of powerful speech. For what personal goals is powerful speech effective? Now write two contrasting examples of less-powerful speech. For what goals is less-powerful language effective? When might powerful language backfire on its user?

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: The _______ of the Internet can facilitate toxic behavior such as incivility, trolling, and cyberbullying.

Q: Define "inflammatory language." Provide two examples of inflammatory statements. What unwanted outcomes can result when inflammatory language is used? How can a speaker avoid using inflammatory language? How can a listener avoid overreacting to inflammatory language?

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Action information such as dates and deadlines should be placed in the ________ of an e-mail message or memo.

Q: What is strategic ambiguity? In what circumstances is strategic ambiguity appropriate? Illustrate with two examples.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: In most businesses today, ________ is the most important and highly used communication channel.

Q: Explain the difference between specific and abstract language. Give three examples that illustrate how and why an abstract term can be made more specific.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Text messaging has been enriched by a new system, rich communication services (RCS), which includes advanced features such as multimedia enhancements that can be customized for more appealing opt-in text alerts and mobile _______.

Q: Emotions and moods tend to be contagious: If you are unhappy, it is likely that the people who are interacting with you will also become unhappy.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Our mobile devices access data and applications stored in the _______, in remote networks, not on individual computers in an office.

Q: A strong link exists between career success and the use of nonverbal behaviors that indicate closeness and liking.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Users of social networking sites need to remember that ________ is a myth and should avoid sharing sensitive information and inappropriate content.

Q: If you develop your skills of immediacy, you will be boosting your chances of success in your career.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: When you respond to an e-mail message, a good skill to develop is ________ -editing, which involves inserting your responses to parts of the incoming message, including only the parts of the incoming message to which you are responding.

Q: In some polychronic cultures, you would be indicating lack of concern for your audience and/or the issue at hand if you concluded your presentation within the allotted time.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: __________ networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter enable businesses to connect with customers and employees, share company news, and exchange ideas.

Q: During a job interview, a job candidate can establish rapport and set a powerful tone by assuming a relaxed, slightly sprawling body position.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Today, _______ private networks (VPNs) offer secure access to organizations information from any location in the world that provides an Internet connection.

Q: Most middle-class Americans prefer to stand 18 inches apart or closer when holding conversations with their most intimate friends.

Q: You can unintentionally reveal your anger to a colleague through your body movement, even though you haven't said a word.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Blog posts can benefit from the ________ pattern by emphasizing the big news up front, supported with specifics and background information.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: The most important part of an e-mail message is the ________ line, which summarizes the message's central idea, thus providing quick identification for reading and filing.

Q: In Euro-American culture, avoiding lack of eye contact is typically interpreted as a sign of dishonesty or lack of interest.

Q: According to research cited in the text, a suit is always appropriate attire for every job for males and females.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Consumers' ability to have live online chats with customer service representatives during regular business hours is an example of _______ messaging.

Q: The style of clothing people wear does not affect their credibility as long as they appear neat and clean.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: The most avid social media users are _______, the cohort born 1981-1996.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: A major benefit of podcasting is _______, as podcasts can be downloaded to a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, or an MP3 player to be enjoyed offline on the go.

Q: Women who use an "uptalk" intonation are likely to be perceived as nonassertive.

Q: Explain the importance of revising documents and messages even in an era that seems to favor fast communication. Then, describe each of the steps in the final phase of the 3-x-3 writing process.

Q: Surgeons with harsh, impatient voices are more likely to face malpractice suits than surgeons who speak in a friendly tone.

Q: Nonverbal elements, such as nodding or eye contact, often hold different meanings in different cultures.

Q: You are preparing a complex business proposal to submit to your company's board of directors. In addition to spelling, list four areas that you should check closely for problems. Then, describe five techniques you will use to proofread this complex document.

Q: A major revision task involves assessing the clarity of your message to ensure that it is easily understood. Describe three techniques that can add clarity to your writing.

Q: When a person's verbal message contradicts her or his nonverbal message, we usually believe the person's words.

Q: Describe three design techniques that you can use to make your documents more visually inviting to the reader, and explain how these techniques improve readability.

Q: Our nonverbal expressions, such as our paralanguage, often convey our feelings more powerfully than our words do.

Q: Nonverbal communication occurs in face-to-face situations, but does not apply to written or electronic communication.

Q: Explain the importance of conciseness in business writing and microblogging. Then describe three techniques you can use to make your writing concise. Give a before-and-after example of each technique.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: You can control your exuberance in business message by avoiding the overuse of ________ such as really, very, definitely, quite, completely, extremely, actually, and totally.

Q: Males who develop a mixed-gender style of language are judged as inferior by both males and females.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: Sentence beginnings such as there is, there are, and it is are examples of unnecessary ________.

Q: The fact that many women use tentative forms of speech such as apologies and tag questions proves that women are less adequate than men in the workplace.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: ________ business phrases use stale, unoriginal expressions such as pursuant to your request, in receipt of, and under separate cover.

Q: There are no documented differences between men's and women's use of language.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: ________ are technical expressions that have become fashionable and often are meant to impress rather than express. These empty words include such expressions as optimize, incentivize, right-size, and paradigm shift.

Q: The term "genderlect" refers to the fact that there appear to be some characteristic differences between men's and women's language use.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: ________ consists of short messages exchanged on social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Q: A "disfluency" is an utterance that adds no meaning to a statement, but creates an impression that the speaker is not very competent.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: In ensuring that your document looks balanced on the page and that paragraphs are consistently indented or block style, you are proofreading for _______.

Q: Overuse of filler words such as "you know" or "like" reduces your credibility.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: _________ expressions repeat meaning and include unnecessary words.

Q: It's best to replace negative phrases such as "Not too much," or "no big deal," with positive phrases such as "OK," "Sure," or "You're welcome."

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: ________ such as exception to the rule and pass with flying colors are expressions that have become exhausted by overuse and can be difficult to explain, especially to those who are new to our culture.

Q: Expressing yourself in negative phrases can have a negative impact on your professional identity.

Q: Fill in the blank in the following sentence: ________ expressions such as at this point in time and due to the fact that are wordy phrases that may be better expressed in single words.

Q: If you want to downplay your authority over others, present your commands in question form, such as "Is it OK with everyone if we move to the next point now?"