Deck 6: Fostering Effective Communication in Teams

Question 1

___ are variations in the tone or intensity of speech.

Answer 1

Verbal qualifiers

Question 2

In anticipation of a pending merger between their firm and another, employees have been showing signs of growing stress and concern. Many are worried about whether they will lose their jobs, face cuts in pay and benefits, and otherwise be hurt by the merger. Team leaders have received updates, though tentative and incomplete, about recent developments. Upper management has communicated nothing directly to employees about likely consequences of the merger, saying, ""We don't know everything ou

Answer 2

Team leaders must be encouraged to recognize that this is a situation of tremendous uncertainty and associated stress for team members, and that team members thirst for information. They are concerned not just about their own jobs but also about those of others they care about, and even if they feel they will not be immediately harmed by the merger, they worry about what further changes it might precipitate. In the absence of information, they are likely to expect the worst, and they may believe that leaders are withholding information. As such, even though top management doesn't yet ""know everything,"" team leaders should use whatever information they may have - however tentative and incomplete -- to do all they can to clarify uncertainties. They should communicate to employees what they do and don't know at this point, and they should do all it can to say all they can about what things will not change. For example, if top management has told team leaders that a plant will not close or that the company headquarters will remain in their current location that is in itself valuable information. There may, of course, be instances in which upper management and perhaps even team leaders cannot provide certain types of information since it would compromise negotiations or have other unacceptable consequences. If so, employees should be informed of the reasons for not passing on the information. In times of great stress and uncertainty, leaders must do three things: communicate, communicate, and communicate.

Question 3

Specify eight forms of nonverbal communications.

Answer 3

Forms of nonverbal communication include:
1. Paralanguage
2. Hand movements
3. Facial expressions
4. Eye contact
5. Posture
6. Touch
7. Dress
8. Proxemics

Question 4

Briefly discuss six guidelines for active listening.

Question 5

Provide four guidelines for effective coaching and counseling.

Question 6

Provide at least five guidelines for effective speaking.

Question 7

Identify five barriers to effective communications.

Question 8

Identify and briefly discuss four functions of communication.

Question 9

Which of the following is not true of hidden profile tasks:

A)They are group decision tasks in which only one team member has full information; some information is hidden from each of the other members.
B)One of the alternatives presented to team members is better than the others.
C)To identify the best alternative the group members have to combine and integrate their unique information.
D)Groups frequently fail to solve hidden profiles.
E)None of the above.

Question 10

A team leader prefers to rely almost exclusively on e-mail to communicate with team members. She reasons that e-mail is an efficient way to transfer information, so face-to-face interactions with team members are rarely needed. What advice might you give the team leader?

Question 11

A team member asks you for some ways he might use nonverbal communications to improve his effectiveness. What would you suggest?

Question 12

Semantics is also known as ___ noise.

Question 13

When we encounter others, one of the first things we notice is the way they are ___.

Question 14

If we are angry, we may see others as angry. This is an example of ___.

Question 15

___ error is the tendency to base our evaluations on a general impression rather than on actual levels of things being evaluated.

Question 16

Zappos is hiring graphic designers who sketch, ___-style, what is discussed at meetings to keep employees engaged.

Question 17

Dr. Stefan Schulz-Hardt, profiled in this chapter, found that predecision dissent raises decision quality in ___ tasks.

Question 18

Salmon day, PEBCAK, and cube farms are examples of ___.

Question 19

___ is the use of interpersonal space to convey status or degree of intimacy.

Question 20

___ concerns how something is said rather than what is said.

Question 21

Interviewers are sometimes taught that a hand-to-face movement is a sign of:

A)frustration
B)confusion
C)anxiety
D)anger
E)deception

Question 22

Which of the following may lead us to infer information in a message we receive based on our own feelings?

A)halo effect
B)projection
C)internalization
D)externalization
E)horns effect

Question 23

Sitting behind a desk (as opposed to alongside it) indicates:

A)contempt
B)a ""take charge"" attitude
C)fear of interpersonal contact
D)a superior-subordinate relationship
E)none of the above

Question 24

The exception principle calls for being careful to use multiple communication channels for exceptionally important information.

Question 25

Selective perception encourages us to focus on communication which conflicts with our beliefs and expectations.

Question 26

Studies show that when a store assistant, server in a restaurant, or product demonstrator lightly touched a customer on the arm, the customer saw the touching person more positively.

Question 27

If a customer leans back with arms tightly crossed as she talks to a salesperson, it shows she is comfortable with the salesperson.

Question 28

The meaning of facial expressions communicating emotions such as sadness, anger, surprise, and disgust varies considerably across cultures.

Question 29

Heavy use of vocal segregates suggests a lack of confidence and organization.

Question 30

Alex "Sandy" Pentland, the director of the MIT's Human Dynamics Laboratory and the chair of Sociometric Solutions, and his colleagues attempted to identify the group dynamics that characterize high performance teams. They found that communication patterns were important, though slightly trailing factors such as skill, personality, and the content of discussions.

Question 31

Research suggests that communication failures may be responsible for 20%-25% of avoidable surgical errors in the U.S.

Question 32

A high-pitched voice indicates anger.

Question 33

By one estimate, the human face can make 250,000 different expressions

Question 34

Research has found that pedestrians are more likely to cross against traffic lights when led by a well-dressed person than when led by a poorly-dressed individual.

Question 35

Padding and puffery are examples of:

A)nonverbal communications
B)informal communications
C)misrepresentation
D)psychological noise
E)semantics

Question 36

Which of the following statements regarding eye contact is false?

A)Eye contact is a major regulator of conversation.
B)Seeking eye contact connotes the desire to open a conversation.
C)People tend to associate direct, unblinking eye contact with deception.
D)Generally, eye contact suggests understanding and interest.
E)None of the above.

Question 37

A manager in a financial services firm is about to write his quarterly report that describes the performance of his department in terms of a wide variety of measures. He is required to submit this report to his boss once it is completed. There is a lot of information to report about the department's operations. Some of these results are fairly routine and not particularly significant while others raise more significant concerns that need to be addressed in the not-too-distant future. Accordi

A)Form a communication audit team to handle this report in the future.
B)Include all information about the performance of the department in the report.
C)Only include information about results that represent exceptions or deviations from desired operations or outcomes.
D)Make the report no longer than one page in length.
E)Repeat key points throughout the report.

Question 38

Pauses between utterances are called:

A)vocal blocks
B)vocal qualifiers
C)vocal segregates
D)vocal characterizers
E)none of the above

Question 39

Coughing, yawning, clearing the throat, and grunting are examples of:

A)verbal communications
B)vocal characterizers
C)vocal qualifiers
D)vocal segregates
E)none of the above

Question 40

Which of the following approaches would not potentially make communication overload worse?

A)feedback
B)redundancy
C)multiple channels
D)exception principle
E)none of the above

Question 41

If an audience is expecting an entertaining after-dinner talk, it is best to communicate in ways that challenge those expectations.

Question 42

Dr. Stefan Schulz-Hardt, the Team Scholar profiled in this chapter (Chapter 6), found that conflict in work teams is almost always counterproductive.

Question 43

Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, in their book In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies, were unable to find differences in communications amount, nature, or uses between the excellent companies and their nonexcellent peers.