CHAPTER 12: COMMUNICATION AND NEGOTIATIONMultiple Choice Questions
1. In the basic communication model the sender _____ the message, and the receiver _____ the message.a. decodes; encodesb. encodes; decodesc. decodes; interpretsd. interprets; encodes
2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?a. Communicating effectively is easy, since we do it everyday.b. Effective communication is necessary for effective leadership.c. Communicating accurately and persuasively is often difficult.d. Communication is the process of transferring information, meaning, and
understanding from sender to receiver.
3. What happens when a message is decoded?a. It is interpreted.b. It is transmitted.c. It is muffled by noise.d. It is distorted by barriers.
4. Netmosphere’s management software allows sales representatives to request that sales clerks make courtesy phone calls to customers. The software forces a clerk to confirm that the request has been received and understood by entering a “yes” or “no” response. By minimizing the chances of _____, the software is addressing one of the main disadvantages of written communication. a. a clerk losing the requestb. a clerk misfiling the requestc. a clerk ignoring the requestd. a clerk misunderstanding the request
5. _____ interferes with the transmission or decoding of a message. a. Noise b. Encoding c. Cultural dissonanced. Cognitive selection
6. Which of the following is NOT carried out by the sender of a message?a. encoding a message
b. decoding a messagec. choosing a mediumd. sending the message
7. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of oral communication?a. precision b. adaptabilityc. difficult to ignored. vivid and stimulating
8. Which of the following communication modes is the most precise?a. oralb. writtenc. nonverbald. electronic
9. Which of the following is NOT an example of oral communication?a. conversationb. facial expressionsc. speechesd. videoconferencing
10. Which of the following is NOT an example of verbal communication?a. emailb. memosc. telephone callsd. speech intonation
11. Business managers in the United States prefer _____ contracts because the potential for misunderstanding is much greater in _____ communication.a. oral; nonverbalb. written; oralc. oral; writtend. none of the above
12. When Northwest Airlines’ one-time slogan “Give Wings to Your Heart” was translated into the Chinese language, it became “Tie Feathers to Your Blood Pump.” This example shows that _____.a. written communication is not immune to misinterpretation
b. cross-cultural communicators should always use oral communicationc. nonverbal communication is least likely to cause misinterpretationd. receivers bear most of the responsibility for correctly interpreting a message
13. When nonverbal messages are ____ with the spoken message, the odds of effective communication taking place are _____.a. consistent; increasedb. compared; decreasedc. inconsistent; improvedd. incompatible; not affected
14. _____elements in communication have _____meanings between people from different cultural backgrounds.a. Oral; inflexibleb. Verbal; universalc. Nonverbal; precised. Nonverbal; different
15. According to the concept of _____, different media are classified as rich or lean, based on their capacity to facilitate shared meaning. a. media richnessb. transactional expediencyc. communication diversityd. interpersonal communication
16. Which of the following communication media is the leanest?a. group emailb. teleconferencingc. face-to-face conversationd. cell phone conversation
17. Communication media have their own sets of characteristics, such as _____.a. their personal-impersonal natureb. their speed in sending and receivingc. the opportunity to receive immediate and continuing feedbackd. all of the above
18. A manager has to resolve a serious disagreement between two of her sales staff, one of whom accuses the other of “stealing” his clients. _____ would be the best way for the manager to expedite the resolution of this dispute.
a. Text messagesb. Chat room discussionsc. Face-to-face meetingsd. Email messages
19. The potential directions of communication within organizations can be classified as downward, upward, and lateral. Upward communication typically involves such matters as _____.a. work related as well as non-work related informationb. goals, objectives, directions, decisions, and feedbackc. information, suggestions, questions, problems, and requests for clarification d. exchanges of information that assist coordination and joint problem solving
20. Firms with _____ would likely generate the most _____communication.a. long chains of command; lateralb. strict lines of authority; informalc. flat organizational structures; upward d. tall organizational structures; downward
21. _____ typically has goals, directions, objectives, and feedback as its subject matter.a. Lateral communicationb. Upward communicationc. Virtual communicationd. Downward communication
22. Although communication patterns can vary among firms, _____ communication channels tend to operate more frequently in lateral than in vertical directions.a. closed-circuitb. informalc. formald. secured
23. A manager is considering three staff members as possible candidates for a new position. One morning she asks each of them, in private, whether they might be interested in the new position. She also asks them not to discuss the new position with anyone. At a function after work, she is approached by several staff members. They ask her about the new position they have heard about “on the grapevine.” What important feature of informal communication channels does this scenario illustrate? a. They often transfer information rapidly.b. They only carry work-related information.
c. They often transfer inaccurate information.d. They tend to follow the organizational hierarchy.
24. Which of the following does NOT apply to informal communication channels?a. They are known as “the grapevine.”b. They are not officially sanctioned by the organization.c. They are unimportant to organizational communication.d. They are often conduits for non-work information, such as gossip.
25. _____ are identifiable patterns of formal or informal communication within or between organizations.a. Communication networksb. Informational exchangesc. Reciprocal communication channelsd. Cross-functional communication paradigms
26. According to your textbook a network can _____.a. be formed across organizations as well as within themb. provide significant, regular information that might otherwise be harder to obtainc. make it easier for managers to influence people or groups involved in the networkd. all of the above
27. Cultural barriers to communication include all of the following EXCEPT _____.a. stereotypingb. ethnocentrism c. cultural distanced. selective perception
28. Which of the following is NOT an interpersonal barrier to communication?a. emotionsb. languagec. stereotypesd. nonverbal cues
29. A person can use _____ to screen out parts of a message; moreover, a person can use _____ as a way to simplify the interpretation of a message. a. cultural distance; frames of referenceb. selective perception; frames of referencec. nonverbal communication; cultural distance
30. Individuals tend to adopt frames of reference in order to _____.a. minimize cultural distanceb. increase the accuracy of communicationc. validate lateral communication channelsd. help them make sense of complex communications
31. Selective perception and frames of reference are _____ that inhibit the process of communication.a. cultural barriersb. interpersonal barriersc. organizational barriersd. transactional barriers
32. A monthly interdepartmental meeting goes badly because the managers could not agree on an agenda. Sales managers argued that new advertising strategies should be a top priority because sales have dropped; operations managers argued that equipment acquisition should take precedence because a key system is down. The failure of this meeting can be most clearly attributed to _____.a. cultural barriersb. emotional barriersc. interpersonal barriersd. organizational barriers
33. A manager from a low-context culture plans to contact a potential supplier in a high-context culture. To facilitate communication, the manager must recognize that _____.a. the situation will not affect the style of communicationb. nonverbal cues will not matter when they meet face-to-facec. the content of the message will be more important than the way it is sentd. the rank of the supplier will affect the content and medium of the message
34. According to the textbook, _____ is probably the greatest single barrier to effective communication across cultures.a. body languageb. ethnocentrismc. cultural distance d. oversimplification
35. _____ is the belief in the superiority of one’s own group; _____ is the tendency to oversimplify and generalize about groups of people.a. Stereotyping; ethnocentrismb. Ethnocentrism; agoraphobiac. Ethnocentrism; stereotyping d. Cultural distance; social anxiety
36. A manager is told by his staff that the IT supervisor is often rude when asked to help them with any technical problems they have. The manager dismisses their complaints by saying: “What are you going to do? Those IT guys are like that. Being around computers all the time stunts their social skills.” What best describes the manager’s judgment in this case?a. stereotypingb. ethnocentrismc. selective perceptiond. cognitive referencing
37. The term _____ embodies the overall difference between two cultures, such as language, level of economic development, and traditions and customs. a. ethnocentrismb. cultural distancec. selective perceptiond. cognitive dissonance
38. _____ refers to the overall difference between the basic characteristics of two cultures.a. Nationalismb. Ethnocentrism c. Cultural distanced. Multicultural context
39. All of the following EXCEPT _____ can help to improve your listening skills.a. listening actively b. developing empathyc. observing nonverbal cuesd. relying on frames of reference
40. During negotiations with a customer, a manager says, “What I understand you to be saying is . . . .” The manager is _____ in order to facilitate communication.a. empathizing b. developing rapport
c. asking a clarifying questiond. applying a frame of reference
41. Large companies can do all of the following EXCEPT _____to achieve organization-level improvements in communication. a. developing particular communication networksb. decentralizing the management of communication activitiesc. implementing rules and procedures to increase formal communicationd. replacing some face-to-face communication with electronic communication
42. According to the Hitt, Black, and Porter, _____ is perhaps the single best thing a sender can do to improve the effectiveness of a business message.a. developing empathyb. simplifying language use c. understanding the audienced. organizing written communication
43. _____ is the process of conferring in order to arrive at an agreement between two different parties.a. Empathyb. Compromisec. Collaborationd. Negotiation
44. Which of the following should be avoided by managers if they wish to be successful negotiators?a. focusing on the interests of the two partiesb. lessening competition between the two partiesc. focusing on the people involved and their positionsd. requesting intervention from a neutral third party, as needed
45. In a negotiation with the CEO of her company, Barbara argues that she would be perfect to head up the company’s expansion into Brazil since she speaks fluent Portuguese, and knows the local culture. The CEO disagrees, pointing out she does not have enough experience to be a team leader, but her skills could be put to good use as a senior assistant to whomever is chosen for the position. In this scenario, the CEO is trying to conclude the negotiations in an acceptable manner by _____.a. pointing out the flaws of Barbara’s argumentb. identifying the mutual interests of Barbara and the companyc. asking Barbara to acquiesce to the best interests of the company
d. showing how Barbara’s skills do not match the skills sought by the company
46. A non-profit urban renewal organization must both increase funding and address a pressing need for a local playground. To decide where to allocate limited resources, the organization’s coordinator schedules a meeting between marketing and operations managers. Before the managers arrive, the coordinator arranges all the chairs on one side of the conference table and places several charts on the other side of the table. In this case, the coordinator is striving to change the _____ in order to decrease potential _____ and increase _____.a. people; empathy; competitionb. process; intervention; compromisec. process; compromise; collaborationd. situational circumstances; competition; collaboration
47. Which of the following is NOT one of the five key stages in a negotiation?a. collaborationb. persuasion attemptsc. relationship buildingd. planning and preparation
48. In the negotiation process, _____ comes immediately after _____.a. information exchange; planning and preparationb. persuasion; concessions and agreementc. information exchange; relationship buildingd. planning and preparation; information exchange
49. A US manager is assembling a team to negotiate with a Japanese company and wishes to minimize any miscommunication arising from cultural distance. Which of the following is NOT an accommodation that the US manager should make? a. The U.S. negotiating team should have members of roughly equal status to those
in the Japanese negotiating team.b. The U.S. negotiating team should get right down to business when dealing with
the Japanese negotiating team.c. The U.S. negotiating team should be about the same size as the Japanese
negotiating team.d. The U.S. negotiating team should have members of about the same age and
authority to those in the Japanese negotiating team.
50. The graphic in “A Manager’s Challenge: Globalization” shows that Japanese negotiators believe that _____ is most important, and American negotiators believe that _____ is most important.a. persuasion; planningb. planning; persuasionc. relationship building; persuasiond. relationship building; planning
Short Essay Questions
51. What are the actions and components of communication?
All communication involves four actions: encoding, sending, receiving, and decoding. There are also five components: sender, message, medium, noise, and receiver. The actions and components combine to transfer meaning from the sender to the receiver.
52. What is meant by “media richness”?
Different media are classified as rich or lean based on their capacity to help shared meaning. Interpersonal face-to-face interactions would be regarded as rich because they provide several types of information and multiple ways to obtain mutual understanding between the sender and receiver. In contrast, a general email message sent to a number of receivers would be leaner, and less likely to help shared meaning.
53. What is the difference between formal and informal communication channels?
Formal channels of communication are authorized, planned, and regulated by the organization; and they are directly connected to its official structure. Thus, the designated structure of the organization indicates the normal paths of downward, upward, and lateral formal communication. Informal channels of communication are not controlled by the organization; instead, they develop through the interpersonal activities of people at work.
54. What is a communication network and why is it important?
Communication networks are stable systems of interconnections, or identifiable patterns of communication that occur with some regularity within and between organizations, whether using formal or informal channels. Such networks are important because they provide consistent linkages between senders and receivers. These networks can provide
significant and regular sources of information and may serve as a source of influence over people involved in the network.
55. What are the three types of barriers to effective communication?
The three types of communication barriers are interpersonal, organizational, and cultural. Interpersonal barriers include frames of reference, emotions, language, nonverbal cues, and selective perception. Organizational barriers are hierarchical and functional Cultural barriers include language, stereotyping, ethnocentricity, cultural context, and cultural distance.
56. What are the principal differences between high- and low-context cultures relative to communication?
Individuals in high-context cultures tend to pay great attention to the situational factors surrounding the communication process and change what they say and how they say it based on the context. Individuals in low-context cultures tend to pay less attention to the context; therefore, they make fewer and smaller adjustments from situation to situation.
57. Outline the negotiation process.
The negotiation process has five stages. Stage one (planning and preparation) involves laying the foundations through advance planning and analysis, prior to any face-to-face contact. Stage two (relationship building) involves “non-task time,” in which each side attempts to establish comfortable working relationships with the other side. Stage three (information exchange) involves each party learning about the needs and demands of their counterparts. Stage four (persuasion attempts) focuses on attempts to modify the position of the other party and to influence that side to accept the negotiator’s desired set of exchanges. Stage five (concessions/agreement) involves cooperation and concessions that let all sides take away something of value.
