An executive returns from a business trip and tells colleagues how the airline lost his luggage and how a late arrival on one flight resulted in waiting half a day at a foreign airport for the next available flight.While retelling his experience, colleagues grimace and make sounds that the executive might make when experiencing this ordeal.The verbal and nonverbal activities of the colleagues represent:
A)extremely rude communication behavior.
B)a lack of media richness.
C)emotional contagion.
D)evidence that they have difficulty encoding their feedback message.
E)The verbal and nonverbal activities of the colleagues represent all of these.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The verbal and nonverbal activities of the colleagues represent emotional contagion, as they are exhibiting similar emotions to the executive's negative experience. This can be seen as a form of empathy, rather than rudeness or difficulty in encoding a message. Media richness does not apply in this scenario.

An Executive Returns from a Business Trip and Tells Colleagues