Deck 9: Communicating in Teams and Organizations

Question 1

Communication aids employee well-being.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In the communication process model, encoding the message refers to selecting the appropriate medium and sending your ideas through that medium.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The image used in the communication process model is that information is like fruit on a tree that needs to be picked.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The effectiveness of the encoding-decoding process is dependant on the sender and receiver's proficiency with the communication channel.

Question 5

Online forums and instant messaging are two examples of social networking technologies.

Question 6

Communication is essential for organizational learning and decision making.

Question 7

The encoding and decoding process is enhanced when both parties have similar "passbooks."

Question 8

According to the communication process model, communication begins with forming the message, then encoding it.

Question 9

Flaming refers to the capacity of an organization to transmit information more quickly through computer networks than through traditional paper media.

Question 10

The introduction of email in organizations tends to reduce some face-to-face and telephone communication but increase the flow of information to higher levels in the organization.

Question 11

Social networking sites such as Facebook provide employers with more efficient communication than traditional email systems.

Question 12

Most information is communicated verbally rather than nonverbally in quiet settings.

Question 13

People who experience social isolation are more susceptible to physical and mental illnesses.

Question 14

Email is a very good medium for communicating emotions.

Question 15

Intended feedback is encoded, transmitted, received and decoded from the receiver to the sender of the original message.

Question 16

Effective communication potentially improves knowledge management and decision making.

Question 17

Interpersonal communication occurs as soon as a message is received by someone else.

Question 18

Communication exists whenever someone sends a message to someone else, even when the person receiving the message does not understand it.

Question 19

One reason that people communicate with each other is to fulfill their drive to bond.

Question 20

One consequence of introducing email is that it tends to increase the amount of communication across the organization.

Question 21

The three components of listening are encoding, decoding and interpreting.

Question 22

Mimicking the sender's behavior is a central part of emotional contagion.

Question 23

Social acceptance refers to how well the communication is approved and supported by the organization.

Question 24

If you have to communicate negative information, the other person is more likely to listen if you focus on the problem rather than the person.

Question 25

People experienced with a particular communication medium can "push" the amount of media richness normally possible through that information channel.

Question 26

Multi-communicating is possible because of the reduced sensory demand for most forms of computer-mediated communication.

Question 27

Information overload occurs when a person's information-processing capacity exceeds the job's information load.

Question 28

It is recommended that we use lean media when the communication situation is nonroutine and ambiguous.

Question 29

A communication channel with high media richness should be used in routine situations where the sender and receiver have common understanding and expectations.

Question 30

Omitting and buffering strategies help employees to reduce the amount of information they must process (i.e.information load).

Question 31

Empathy, emotional contagion, and anger are three types of noise in the communication process.

Question 32

Maintaining eye contact to show interest in someone's conversation is one of the few forms of nonverbal communication that transmits common meaning across all cultures.

Question 33

Social distraction occurs when the sender and receiver focus on their relative status during the communication process.

Question 34

Emotional contagion fulfils our drive to bond with others.

Question 35

Ambiguous language is sometimes necessary to describe situations or concepts that are ill-defined or lack agreement between sender and receiver.

Question 36

Research has found that women are generally more sensitive than are men to nonverbal communication.

Question 37

Jargon improves communication efficiency when both the sender and receiver understand this specialized language.

Question 38

One social acceptance factor is the symbolic meaning of a channel to convey a message.

Question 39

Media richness refers to the financial cost of using the medium relative to its frequency of use in the organization.

Question 40

Language differences represent one of the most obvious cross-cultural communications challenges.

Question 41

Unfortunately, management by walking around enhances the problem of filtering in the communication process.

Question 42

Active listeners constantly cycle through the three components of listening.

Question 43

Management by walking around minimizes the problem of filtering in the communication process.

Question 44

The grapevine is an important social process that fulfills the employees' drive to bond.

Question 45

Management by walking around occurs whenever senior executives get out of their offices and communicate face-to-face with employees.

Question 46

The first three steps in the communication model are:

A)decode message, encode message, provide feedback
B)form message, transmit message, decode message
C)encode message, transmit message, receive message
D)form message, transmit message, receive message
E)none of the above

Question 47

Email, instant messaging, and public web sites are changing characteristics of the corporate grapevine.

Question 48

Effective communication plays an important role in:

A)knowledge management.
B)decision making.
C)coordinating work activities.
D)fulfilling employee needs.
E)all of the above.

Question 49

The sensing stage of active listening includes empathizing and organizing information.

Question 50

Effective communication mainly influences which fundamental drive?

A)Drive to sleep.
B)Drive to defend.
C)Drive to bond.
D)Drive to acquire.
E)Communication has no effect on any human drives.

Question 51

E-zines should have longer stories than are typically found in hard-copy company magazines.

Question 52

Which of these represent the first step in the communication model?

A)Form message
B)Encode message
C)Decode message
D)Transmit message
E)Form feedback

Question 53

In grapevine communication, most employees serve as both sender and receiver.

Question 54

________ refers to the process by which information is transmitted and understood between two or more people.

A)Communication
B)Jargon
C)Flaming
D)Grapevine
E)MBWA

Question 55

The responding stage of active listening includes showing interest and clarifying the message.

Question 56

Effective communication occurs when:

A)information is sent through informal rather than formal channels.
B)information is transmitted between two or more people.
C)the sender convinces the receiver to accept the information sent.
D)information is transmitted and understood between two or more people.
E)the sender transmits information that is received by someone other than the intended receiver.

Question 57

Corporate leaders should use the grapevine to send messages to employees further down the organizational hierarchy.

Question 58

In times of uncertainty, a company newsletter or similar formal communication activity can effectively replace the informal grapevine.

Question 59

One dilemma in workspace design is the requirement to balance the need to encourage social interaction with the employees' need for privacy.

Question 60

What function does communication play in organizations?

A)Communication helps employees to coordinate their work activities.
B)Communication influences the quality of decision making.
C)Communication helps employees to fulfill their drive to bond.
D)Communication brings knowledge into the organization and distributes it to the employees who require that information.
E)All of the above

Question 61

Which of these statements about nonverbal communication is FALSE?

A)In conversations, more information is usually communicated nonverbally than verbally.
B)Nonverbal communication is less rule-bound than is verbal communication.
C)Nonverbal communication is usually more carefully thought out than is verbal communication.
D)Nonverbal communication is automatic and unconscious.
E)Nonverbal cues are more ambiguous and susceptible to misinterpretation.

Question 62

Which of these forms of communication is the poorest for communicating emotional meaning and providing social support in the workplace?

A)Face-to-face small group sessions
B)E-mail
C)Corporate video programs
D)Telephone calls
E)Video conferences

Question 63

In the communication process model, 'decoding the message' occurs immediately:

A)before the sender forms the message.
B)after the receiver receives the message.
C)after the sender forms feedback regarding the original message.
D)after the receiver transmits the message.
E)never; decoding is not part of the communication process model.

Question 64

Which of the following is NOT explicitly identified in the communication process model?

A)Empathy
B)Noise
C)Transmission
D)Encoding
E)Decoding

Question 65

Which of the following communication media tends to be best for transmitting emotions?

A)Newsletter
B)E-mail message
C)Telephone conversation
D)Face-to-face meeting
E)Memorandum to all employees

Question 66

Which communication channel is most effective when the sender wants to persuade the receiver?

A)A memorandum.
B)A formal speech to a large audience.
C)A personal letter to the target receiver.
D)A personal face-to-face meeting with the target receiver.
E)The method of communication does not influence the sender's ability to persuade others.

Question 67

In the communication process model, what happens immediately after the receiver receives the encoded message?

A)The sender receives confirmation that the message has been understood.
B)The receiver confirms with the sender that the message sent was intended to be a message.
C)The receiver decodes the received message.
D)The sender encodes the message.
E)The receiver forms feedback in response to the received message.

Question 68

Which of the following tends to be the preferred medium for coordinating work, increases communication with people further up the hierarchy, and is an increasing source of information overload?

A)Electronic company magazines
B)Annual performance reviews with supervisors
C)Intranet web sites
D)E-mail
E)The corporate grapevine

Question 69

A financial institution wants to create online communities whereby employees can quickly receive information about a specific topic from colleagues throughout the organization.Which of the following communication media would likely work best in this situation?

A)Corporate intranet
B)Instant messaging
C)E-mail
D)Weekly interest group meetings
E)Interdepartmental mail

Question 70

In the communication process model, "feedback" is:

A)included in the latter part of the model.
B)defined as a form of "noise."
C)is the sender's way of ensuring that he or she has actually encoded the message.
D)deliberately excluded from the communication process model.
E)both 'A' and 'B'.

Question 71

Which of the following statements about e-mail is FALSE?

A)E-mail tends to transmit information faster than traditional written media.
B)E-mail tends to increase the risk of sending emotionally charged messages to other people.
C)E-mail tends to increase information overload.
D)Employees can easily misunderstand the emotional meaning of e-mail messages.
E)E-mail tends to reduce the flow of information from lower to higher levels in the organization.

Question 72

The communication model presented in the textbook relies on the metaphor that:

A)information flows through channels between the sender and receiver.
B)the sender and receiver are on different planets and communicate only when they collide.
C)information comes in packages that are couriered in bundles.
D)information is a song that is understood only when both sender and receiver know how to sing together in harmony.
E)the dominant model of communication relies on none of these metaphors.

Question 73

Which of the following represents a form of nonverbal communication?

A)The sender's actions
B)The sender's voice intonation
C)The silence between statements made by the sender
D)All of the above
E)Only 'A' and 'B'

Question 74

E-mail tends to:

A)reduce our politeness and respect for others.
B)reduce the volume of communication within organizations.
C)improve the ability to communicate emotions compared with face-to-face meetings.
D)reduce our ability to coordinate work with others.
E)do all of the above.

Question 75

Compared with verbal communication, nonverbal communication:

A)has more formal rules to guide its correct use.
B)is less susceptible to misinterpretation.
C)is more consciously transmitted from sender to receiver.
D)is all of the above.
E)is none of the above.

Question 76

What effect does 'noise' have in the communication model?

A)It distorts and obscures the sender's intended message.
B)It prevents the sender from forming a message.
C)It helps the sender to select a more appropriate medium to transmit the message.
D)It helps the receiver to decode the message more carefully.
E)The concept of 'noise' does not apply to the communication model.

Question 77

The two main types of channels or medium through which information is transmitted are:

A)verbal and nonverbal.
B)verbal and electronic.
C)online and offline.
D)information and emotions.
E)encoding and decoding.

Question 78

In organizational communication, 'flaming' generally refers to:

A)telling an employee in front of other people that he or she is fired.
B)ranting and raving in front of a large audience.
C)an emotionally charged e-mail message, usually one that communicates the sender's anger.
D)using any signal with the hands that has an obscene meaning to the receiver.
E)interrupting the speaker before he or she has finished talking to you.

Question 79

A problem with e-mail is that:

A)it contributes to information overload.
B)it increases the frequency of flaming.
C)it is difficult to interpret emotion meaning in e-mail messages.
D)it reduces politeness and respect.
E)all of the above are problems with e-mail.

Question 80

Which of the following tends to be the preferred medium for coordinating work, minimizing status differences, and is an increasing source of information overload?

A)Electronic company magazines (e-zines)
B)Email
C)Intranet web sites
D)Annual performance reviews with supervisors
E)The corporate grapevine