Deck 7: Effective Meetings

Question 1

What day of the week is considered the most productive for meetings?

A) Monday
B) Tuesday
C) Wednesday
D) Thursday
E) Friday

Answer 1

Tuesday

Question 2

Which employee demonstrates the most effective planning for a meeting?

A) Isaac plans a meeting for 10 a.m.
B) Deborah plans a meeting directly after lunch.
C) Roberta plans a meeting at 3 p.m.
D) Karl asks people to stay overtime for a meeting.
E) Betty plans a meeting at 4:45 p.m.

Answer 2

Isaac plans a meeting for 10 a.m.

Question 3

According to research, the most effective time for a meeting would be

A) Thursday at noon.
B) Monday at 4 p.m.
C) Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
D) Friday at 11 a.m.
E) Wednesday at 2 p.m.

Answer 3

Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

Question 4

Loren writes an outline that conveys the essential points to be covered for an upcoming meeting. Which of the following questions is Loren addressing?

A) When and how should I invite others?
B) When should the meeting be scheduled?
C) What materials should I distribute prior to the meeting?
D) What will be the agenda?
E) What logistical issues to I need to take care of?

Question 5

Meetings that focus primarily on discussing tasks, roles, goals, and accountabilities are called ________ meetings.

A) problem-solving meetings
B) coordination
C) agenda
D) event
E) review

Question 6

Which of the following examples would most likely be considered a problem-solving meeting?

A) A group meets to set a reasonable deadline for a project.
B) A team leader calls a meeting to clarify the role of each team member.
C) A CEO calls a meeting to convey the company's goals for the upcoming year.
D) A team meets to discuss who is responsible for various aspects of a new project.
E) A team meets to gather ideas about how to market a new product.

Question 7

Which of the following examples would be considered a coordination meeting?

A) A middle manager meets with an executive manager to discuss how to handle a difficult employee.
B) A team meets to gather ideas about how to reach a goal.
C) A team meets to set a goal and a timeline to meet the goal for a project.
D) A CEO sets up brainstorming meetings for a new product.
E) A manager calls a meeting to analyze recent data concerning consumer behavior.

Question 8

A team meets every workday at the same time to develop a presentation for a new software system. This is an example of ________ meetings.

A) problem-solving
B) consensus
C) coordination
D) goal-setting
E) voluntary

Question 9

Key elements of a good agenda include

A) time frames, goals, and pay rate.
B) pay rate, goals, and roles.
C) pay rate, tangents, and roles.
D) time frames, goals, and roles.
E) pay rate, goals, and tangents.

Question 10

A good strategy for putting together an agenda is to

A) place important items at the beginning.
B) take sole responsibility for creating it.
C) prepare it about one day in advance.
D) avoid asking team members their ideas.
E) avoid assigning roles before the meeting.

Question 11

If a meeting is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m., when should the leader start the meeting?

A) 11:00 a.m.
B) 11:02 a.m.
C) 11:05 a.m.
D) 11:10 a.m.
E) 10:58 a.m.

Question 12

Which of the following examples shows the best approach to starting a meeting?

A) Joan waits five minutes to allow latecomers to arrive.
B) Terence begins the meeting two minutes early to emphasize punctuality.
C) Davis starts the meeting exactly on time, even though three of the five people attending are late.
D) Although Jackson is leading the meeting, he arrives five minutes late.
E) Lori walks around to gather latecomers to the meeting.

Question 13

A team leader should make an exception to starting the meeting on time when

A) a member warns the leader ahead of time that he or she will be ten minutes late.
B) the meeting includes visitors from a polychronic culture.
C) several team members have excellent excuses for being late.
D) one of the latecomers has a higher rank in the company than the team leader.
E) the meeting includes people who have to commute more than an hour.

Question 14

Which of the following examples shows the most effective way to start a meeting?

A) Fernando starts the meeting by summarizing the conclusions of the last meeting.
B) Janis begins the meeting by saying that the subject of a certain employee leaving will not be discussed.
C) Juan starts the meeting by saying that he will have only ten minutes for questions after the meeting is over.
D) Chen begins the meeting saying how he will handle people who have strongly different viewpoints.
E) Karen starts by saying the meeting is about discussing ideas for fall programing.

Question 15

During a meeting, the ________ acts from a neutral position to get each person to participate in the conversation and ensure that each agenda item is properly discussed.

A) note-taker
B) facilitator
C) timekeeper
D) coordinator
E) secretary

Question 16

Who is the best example of a facilitator?

A) Doreen makes sure Jamie's opinion is heard even though it is unpopular.
B) Tom presents a clear and convincing argument for his viewpoint.
C) Diego mentions that he thinks Jake's opinion makes the most sense.
D) Margaret dominates the discussion so much that some other viewpoints are not heard.
E) Trung presents a rebuttal to another person's point of view.

Question 17

An appropriate action for a facilitator would be

A) making sure a person is understood.
B) cutting off summaries to keep things moving.
C) judging whether an idea is valid or not.
D) letting a person speak cryptically without elaboration.
E) allowing people to be passive listeners.

Question 18

The most appropriate statement for a facilitator to make would be,

A) "That's one of the silliest ideas I've ever heard."
B) "If any of you just want to sit and listen, that's fine."
C) "Your idea is not very well thought out."
D) "It sounds like you're saying the idea is too expensive to implement."
E) "I ask people not to share unless you're convinced your idea is really fresh."

Question 19

To encourage all team members to express their thoughts, the facilitator must remain

A) silent.
B) authoritative.
C) neutral.
D) subjective.
E) opinionated.

Question 20

In a typical problem-solving meeting, the facilitator's initial focus should be on

A) discussing the history and current impacts of the problem.
B) getting agreement on the definition of the problem.
C) describing his or her ideas for resolving the problem.
D) considering the causes and future consequences if the problem is not solved.
E) brainstorming options for addressing the problem.

Question 21

The facilitator of a meeting should

A) encourage arguments because they get people involved.
B) avoid discussions and arguments for the sake of team unity.
C) encourage discussions even when they develop into heated arguments.
D) encourage healthy discussion but avoid getting involved in arguments.
E) discourage the expression of any opinion that deviates from the majority viewpoint.

Question 22

Which of the following is the best strategy for building consensus?

A) Get a minority to agree on the less important problems first.
B) Get the CEO to decide how to handle the most important problem.
C) Get a minority to agree on how to handle the most important problem.
D) Get most group members to agree on how to handle the most important problem first.
E) Get most group members to agree on how to handle the less important problems first.

Question 23

The last focus of a problem-solving meeting is usually

A) the options for addressing the problem.
B) the definition of the problem.
C) the effects of the problem.
D) the importance of the problem.
E) the recent history of the problem.

Question 24

Which of the following examples illustrates what should happen at the beginning of a problem-solving meeting?

A) The group discusses how long ineffective interdepartmental communication has been going on.
B) The group identifies the negative effect of poor interdepartmental communication.
C) The group decides the problem is a lack of good interdepartmental communication.
D) The group comes up with possible causes for the ineffective interdepartmental communication.
E) The group brainstorms options to improve interdepartmental communication.

Question 25

During a meeting, Lynn said that employees should forgo bonuses to ease a budget crunch, a suggestion that received extensive criticism. When Lynn evaluates her performance later, which of the following questions will she apply to this example?

A) How much information, analysis, and interpretation did I provide?
B) Did I participate in the implementation of the timeline?
C) Did I communicate my ideas even if they conflicted with someone else's?
D) Did I facilitate the decision-making process?
E) Did I show respect toward opposing viewpoints?

Question 26

A group has ________ when it has identified an acceptable plan of action that all or most group members can support, even if that specific plan is not everyone's preference.

A) unanimous agreement
B) a schism
C) a stalemate
D) consensus
E) minority decision

Question 27

Which note-taker handled minutes in the best way?

A) To give a personal touch, Vivian sent the minutes by snail mail to people's homes.
B) Olivia decided to avoid sending the minutes to team members who failed to attend the meeting.
C) Karen decided not to mention every action item presented in the meeting because some were discussed only briefly.
D) Lionel waited three days to put the minutes on the company blog.
E) Immediately after the meeting, George placed the minutes in an email and sent it out to everyone on the team.

Question 28

The best way to handle meeting minutes is to

A) make the minutes less than one page.
B) distribute minutes as quickly as possible after the meeting.
C) make the minutes two pages or less.
D) wait a day before distributing minutes so you can polish them first.
E) distribute minutes by using email instead of a blog.

Question 29

Which of the following examples would work best as an online meeting?

A) Carrie has a fairly routine agenda for her meeting.
B) Leo will deal with an employee's dismissal during the meeting.
C) Kate needs to tell her team that the company is laying people off in her meeting.
D) Francisco believes about four people will attend his meeting.
E) Akira will introduce himself to his team during the meeting.

Question 30

Employees are most likely to believe that a meeting was a waste of time if the team leader

A) refuses to make a final decision about an issue during the meeting.
B) allows every participant to have his or her say about an important issue.
C) neglects to have each participant in the meeting introduce themselves.
D) allows unresolved issues to be forgotten or neglected.
E) allows an issue to be discussed for more than 15 minutes.

Question 31

What is a key priority when closing a meeting?

A) ending it on time
B) ending it with a dramatic story
C) allowing the participants to end the meeting
D) making sure every point is discussed
E) avoiding time-consuming summaries

Question 32

Online meetings have an advantage over face-to-face meetings when

A) handling issues that need a sensitive approach.
B) conveying a detailed agenda.
C) presenting before groups of 20 or less.
D) building teamwork even though team members live in different countries.
E) conveying unusual or unexpected information.

Question 33

During an online meetings, Greg felt rushed and was unsure about the criteria used by the leader for problem solving. Which of the following two drawbacks of online meeting does this example show?

A) the need to make decisions too quickly and differing leadership styles
B) the need to make decisions too quickly and unclear decision-making rules
C) lack of participation and unclear decision-making rules
D) lack of participation and differing leadership styles
E) the need to make decisions too quickly and lack of participation

Question 34

A common drawback of the technology used for online meetings is that

A) presenters often have a lack of visual aids.
B) participants can easily tune out the meeting.
C) participants have no way to communicate with each other.
D) leaders are unable to perform instant polls of the participants.
E) participants are unable to email via the technology being used.

Question 35

Which of the following examples illustrates a recommended way to use online technology for a meeting?

A) Dwayne decides to have participants learn the software after the meeting so they have questions.
B) Maria has participants practice using the software during the beginning of the meeting.
C) Jacques tells the participants to familiarize themselves with the software several minutes before the meeting.
D) Pierre tells participants to study the software for at least an hour before the meeting.
E) Lucia invites only people who are familiar with the software to the meeting.

Question 36

To record the most accurate recollections of an online meeting,

A) ask participants to provide their versions of the minutes after the meeting.
B) fax a memo of the minutes within a week of the meeting.
C) post the minutes on a company blog on the same day as the meeting.
D) send the minutes via email soon after the meeting.
E) make the minutes interactive during the meeting.

Question 37

Malik wants to involve all the participants in his online meeting. Which of the following will best accomplish that?

A) He tells all the participants they must write a summary of the meeting after it is over.
B) He suggests that participants familiarize themselves with the software before the meeting.
C) He tells participants to pay close attention to the interactive minutes during the meeting.
D) He starts the meeting by asking participants what they think of last night's Academy Awards.
E) He asks participants to keep a specific question in mind during the meeting.

Question 38

The most likely result of multitasking during an online meeting is that it

A) tends to form cliquish subgroups.
B) improves focus on the meeting.
C) aids recollection of the meeting.
D) enhances the teamwork among participants.
E) provides helpful distractions during the meeting.

Question 39

A common result of using video communication during online meetings is that it

A) slows down decision making.
B) reduces multitasking.
C) reduces ability to interpret verbal cues.
D) increases the formation of cliques.
E) reduces the ability to interpret nonverbal cues.

Question 40

Which of the following would most likely happen if participants turn on their webcams during virtual meetings?

A) Mary emails a coworker during the meeting.
B) Jennifer has difficulty interpreting the speaker's verbal cues.
C) Joshua decides to focus entirely on the meeting, instead of texting a friend.
D) Nathan has difficulty making any quick decisions during the brainstorming session.
E) Laura cannot see any of the leader's gestures as she speaks.

Question 41

One way to embrace difficult conversations is to view conflict as a(n)

A) distractor.
B) problem.
C) chore.
D) opportunity.
E) weakness.

Question 42

Which professional is responding to a difficult conversation at work in the most effective way?

A) As Juanita listens to Bob's complaints, she realizes that she is learning information that can help improve teamwork.
B) As Dan listens to Cindy's problem, he wishes he could be elsewhere.
C) As Steve hears the criticisms from the team, he thinks of convincing rebuttals.
D) As Ingrid considers Barb's complaints, she decides to keep them to herself.
E) As Alice nods in agreement with Bert's concerns, she thinks that his views are completely unfounded.

Question 43

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the learning stance?

A) It involves a critical attitude that does not allow the person complaining to get away with anything.
B) It requires that the person listening to the difficult conversation to be brusque and straight to the point.
C) It requires an inviting, open attitude by the person listening to the difficult conversation.
D) It means a person should state his or her point of view before the difficult conversation even starts.
E) It means that a person should assume what the difficult conversation will be about before it starts.

Question 44

As Rachel voices her complaints about the team to her boss, she realizes he is really interested in hearing her story. This examples shows the

A) message-delivery stance.
B) lesson-delivery stance.
C) condescending stance.
D) didactic stance.
E) learning stance.

Question 45

A good question to ask yourself if you are feeling angry during a difficult conversation with a coworker is,

A) "Am I feeling more angry than the person I'm talking to?"
B) "How can I use my anger to convince the other person that I'm right?"
C) "Don't I deserve to feel angry?"
D) "How is my anger affecting my behavior?"
E) "How can I intensify my anger?"

Question 46

Which person is successfully validating his or her coworker's feelings?

A) Matt tells Ivan that he is feeling too sorry about himself about the layoff.
B) Gwen tells Melanie that it is understandable she feels angry about an unfair situation at work.
C) Oshi warns Kevin that his anger will get him nowhere in the corporation.
D) Leslie says that Adam's fear about the deadline is unjustified.
E) Paul urges Will to hide his sadness about a coworker leaving.

Question 47

The best example of a validating phrase to use during a disagreement is,

A) "I think your feelings about the workload are justifiable."
B) "You're angry about so much work being piled on."
C) "Everything you say shows your stubbornness about the issue."
D) "You obviously need to take a break."
E) "You know I'm right, but you won't admit it."

Question 48

What logistical issues do I need to take care of? is considered to be an essential question for planning a meeting.

Question 49

The afternoon is considered to be the most productive time to have a meeting.

Question 50

Brainstorming meetings are considered to be a type of problem-solving meeting.

Question 51

A list of items to be discussed at a meeting is called an agenda.

Question 52

Starting a meeting with a story should be avoided in most cases.

Question 53

The best way to start a meeting is to explain how you will handle differences of opinion.

Question 54

Neutrality is a critical quality for facilitators.

Question 55

Teams that have more dissent reach higher quality decisions.

Question 56

Minutes should include the date and time and team members present.

Question 57

The best size for an online meeting is between 5 and 10 people.

Question 58

Audrey is very nervous about leading an upcoming meeting. Considering this, it would be better for her to present the meeting online rather than face-to-face.

Question 59

The primary challenge of online meetings is a lack of participation.

Question 60

The task for team leaders is to know the online platform being used for meetings well enough to be aware of its limitations.

Question 61

The main risk of multitasking during an online meeting is that it might distract you from the meeting.

Question 62

Managers and executives who approach difficult conversations in a timely, honest, and caring manner often accomplish much more in their careers.

Question 63

A lack of conflict shows that employees are likely being honest.

Question 64

Finding common ground during a difficult conversation can lead to bonding.

Question 65

Oversimplifying an issue will help to make others less defensive.

Question 66

Compare and contrast coordination meetings and problem-solving meetings, giving an example of each.

Question 67

Give a hypothetical example of an agenda for a team meeting for a business. Consider what type of work the business does and what might be realistic items on the agenda. Place the items on the agenda in the order they should be discussed and explain why you chose this order.

Question 68

Give an example of an appropriate and fun way to start a meeting. Avoid giving examples provided in the text.

Question 69

Give an example that illustrates the correct pattern of discussion for a problem-solving meeting using a hypothetical problem.

Question 70

Suppose that you have to lead on online meeting. Write a brief explanation on how to best prepare for this meeting.

Question 71

Why should multitasking be avoided during meetings? How can multitasking be discouraged?

Question 72

What are the two forms of oversimplification, and how are they different? What is their impact on difficult conversations?

Question 73

Give a hypothetical example of how you could effectively use story to handle a difficult conversation with coworkers.

Question 74

Compare and contrast a learning stance and a message-delivery stance for a meeting.

Question 75

Write three examples of non-validating statements. Then recast these statements as validating statements. Avoid using examples provided in the text.