Deck 8: Information, Decisions, and Solutions

Question 1

Discuss Information Management within the context of business communication. Explain what IM is,why it matters to organizations,and its spread in developing world.

Answer 1

Information is more and more accessible. Technology that helps companies capture and manage information enables companies to develop knowledge. Individuals store information in their brains and on their electronic databases on computers,mobile phones,and other hand-held interactive devices. Organizations take information that individual employees have gained through study and experience,along with information from company practices,goals,strategic plans,and past actions,and make it available to others in the organization,present and future.

Question 2

Informal,subjective information does not come from the grapevine.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Compare how individuals and organizations make decisions based on ends or based on means. Explain the cultural priorities (the impact of culture on the organizations)involved in decision making.Use examples from specific cultures.

Answer 3

Individualist,low-context cultures that value results tend to make decisions based on ends. Collectivist,high-context cultures that value relationships usually make decisions based on means. In individualist cultures,people frequently use cause-and-effect thinking to identify ways to get to the goals or ends,and their focus on goals drives the decision-making process. For example,a company looks at goals and makes a decision to introduce a new brand (to grow the market)or close down a factory (to economize)or to let an employee go (to correct an unproductive situation). Collectivist cultures tend to take into account who may be affected by a decision,and what the effect might be from network members. The Japanese decision-making process of ringi-seido ensures people's concerns have been discussed and agreements have been made.

Question 4

Possible modes for managing conflict include competing,collaborating,compromising,avoiding,and accommodating.Define and explain each one,showing how each is related to cultural dimensions and characteristics from a specific individualist culture such as Australia and a specific collectivist culture such as Mexico.

Question 5

Discuss the statement "Information is power." Choose two different cultures and use specific examples.

Question 6

Define conflict and discuss the five factors that lead to conflict in Western cultures,relating them to the individualist-collectivist dimension.

Question 7

The possession of information leads to an advantage in all cultures. Explain how information might be an advantage in an individualist culture and then compare how it might be an advantage in a collectivist culture. Be sure to mention similarities and differences.

Question 8

Information management in companies today requires technology to capture and store information.

Question 9

Information is useful for making decisions in any culture.

Question 10

Formal information is not information that is found online.

Question 11

Eight conflict communication styles have been proposed that correspond to the five conflict management modes identified in question 9,and add another three. Discuss the five modes and the communication styles for each one,plus the additional three communication approaches. Give examples from specific cultures. (The communication styles are dominating,neglecting (passive-aggressive behavior),integrating,emotion-expressing,third-party helping,bargaining,avoiding,obliging.)

Question 12

Low-context managers think that information that is objective has a greater degree of accuracy.

Question 13

Two key criteria for assessing information are validity and reliability

Question 14

You have been asked by your employer to gather data about the costs of producing a continuous-curl potato chip. Your company has the opportunity to buy the rights to a patented machine,but your boss wants to know how much the raw materials (potato,salt,oil,),warehousing,maintenance (blades,motors),and processing will cost.
-List at least six formal sources you would trust to generate the required data.
-Now explain how you could gather the same information in Patatinia,a country where a)you are not allowed Internet access,b)you may not go to a library,c)the periodicals and books available have biased perspectives that you feel are untrustworthy,and d)the supply of potatoes is seasonal. (Assume you have nobody at home who could send you the information.) In other words,in Patatinia you will have to rely on informal sources.

Question 15

In low-context cultures,information is contained in measurable units.

Question 16

Explain the meanings of verifiability,trustworthiness,accuracy and credibility as applied to business information.

Question 17

Information that is verifiable is information that has been verified by the source.

Question 18

Business information in any culture is defined the same way.

Question 19

Informal information sources are not very reliable.

Question 20

Discuss why information is gathered by organizations and how information is defined differently in different cultures,and then explain what implications this has for foreign businesses.

Question 21

A problem is a problem,defined the same way no matter what the culture.

Question 22

A generalization about conflicts in individualist organizations is that they can involve:

A) disagreements over tasks,resources,personalities,and hierarchies
B) open discussion about the conflict
C) efforts above all to preserve harmony
D) agreement by junior members with the most senior members

Question 23

High-context cultures

A) rely on information that comes in measurable units
B) view information as externalized,outside of people
C) view information with reference to the context
D) prefer information that is quantifiable

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT a key decision made by Brittanica that was critical to keeping its information business going?

A) to allow anyone to edit its encyclopedia online
B) to publish the entire encyclopedia on the internet
C) to keep the quality of its information at the highest level
D) to make Brittanica available as an application for iPhone,Blackberry and others

Question 25

Informal information is

A) always subjective
B) usually quantified
C) often from a "grapevine"
D) always verifiable

Question 26

Criteria for assessing business information include:

A) verifiability,frequency,accuracy,and repeatability
B) verifiability,accuracy,trustworthiness,and frequency
C) credibility,accuracy,verifiability,and trustworthiness
D) credibility,verifiability,trustworthiness,and repeatability

Question 27

Obliging communication is typical in the mode of conflict management termed avoiding.

Question 28

Collaborating is a conflict management mode that is encouraged in individualist cultures.

Question 29

The best way to handle conflict in any culture is to talk it out frankly and openly.

Question 30

Strategies for communication in conflict across cultures,when members of high-context cultures disagree with members of low-context cultures,are:

A) encouraging both sides to make statements about what they see is wrong
B) getting both sides to listen,express agreement where they can,and identify common goals
C) using the ringi-seido process
D) using only hard data to validate information

Question 31

In results cultures like the United States,conflict is not usually viewed as having the potential to damage relationships.

Question 32

The mode of managing conflict that high-context cultures tend to prefer more than low-context cultures is

A) competing
B) accommodating
C) winning
D) achieving

Question 33

Formal information comes from all EXCEPT

A) observation
B) opinion
C) published sources
D) survey

Question 34

People in ends-oriented cultures make decisions:

A) that are often the result of cause-and-effect thinking
B) that put group goals before individual goals
C) that take into account the honor of the organization
D) that reflect the importance of trustworthiness

Question 35

Problems in organizations:

A) can be defined the same way in all cultures
B) are often blamed on the most high-status person in collectivist cultures
C) are often externalized and objectified in low-context cultures
D) are quickly solved by discussion in all cultures

Question 36

All problems are conflicts.

Question 37

No decision-making style discussed in the textbook can be found in just about every culture.

Question 38

How people in a culture makes decisions is an important factor in cross-cultural encounters.

Question 39

One way to look at culture's effect on decision making is whether decisions are made based on ends or on beginnings.

Question 40

Americans groupthink is preferable to conflict.