Download INCO 3005 Chapter 1 Questions

INCO 3005-05 Group C
Chapter 1 Chapter Review Questions
Dr. Jesús López
1. What are the three purposes for which people communicate? What percentage
of a manager’s time is spent communicating? Give examples of the types of
communication managers use.
The 3 purposes for which people communicate are: to inform, to persuade, and
to entertain. Managers typically spend 60 to 80 percent of their time
communicating.
Examples:
 Attending meetings and writing reports related to strategic plans
and company policy.
 Presenting information to large and small groups.
 Explaining and clarifying manage3ment procedures and work
assignments.
 Coordinating the work of various employees, departments, and
other work groups.
 Evaluating and counseling employees.
 Promoting the company’s products, services and image.
2. Describe the five stages in the communication process using the following terms:
(a) sender, (b) encode, (c) channel, (d) receiver, (e) decode, (f) feedback, and (g)
interferences or barriers.
Five stages in the communication process:
 The sender encodes the message: the senders selects and organizes the
message, known as encoding.
 The sender selects an appropriate channel and transmits the message: to
increase the likelihood that the receiver will understand the message, the
sender carefully selects an appropriate channel for transmitting the message.
 The receiver decodes message: the receiver’s task is to interpret the sender’s
message with as little distortion as possible. The process of interpreting the
message is called decoding.
 The receiver encodes the message to clarify any misunderstanding: when the
receiver responds to the sender’s message, the response is called feedback.
This may prompt the sender to modify the original message to make it clearer
to the receiver.
 Interferences hinder the process: differences in educational level, experience,
culture, and other characteristics can increase the misunderstanding of a
message.
3. What is the difference between intrapersonal and interpersonal communication?
Intrapersonal communication is when we communicate with ourselves.
Interpersonal is when two people communicate with each other.
INCO 3005-05 Group C
Chapter 1 Chapter Review Questions
Dr. Jesús López
4. How is the formal flow of communication different from the informal flow of
communication?
The formal flow of communication is used by management to control individual
and group behavior and to achieve the organization’s goals. The informal
develops within the formal and external systems.
5. What are some common causes of unethical behavior in the workplace?
Causes of unethical behavior:
a. Excessive emphasis on profits
b. Misplaced corporate loyalty
c. Obsession with personal advancement
d. Expectation of not getting enough caught
e. Unethical tone set by top management
f. Uncertainty about whether an action is wrong
g. Unwillingness to take stand for what is right
6. Describe several intercultural communication barriers and how they might be
overcome.
Intercultural barriers:
 Ethnocentrism: Problems occur between people of different cultures
primarily because people tend to assume that their own cultural norms are
the right way to do things.
 Stereotypes: Mental picture of the main characteristics of another group,
creating preformed ideas of what people in this group are like, it influences
the way we interact with members of the other group.
 Interpretation of time: Some cultures, like the North Americans, believe
that each second of their lives is precious, and they can’t waste time.
Other cultures believe that time is the cheapest commodity so they have
no problem when it comes to having long casual conversations.
 Personal Space Requirements: Proxemics studies the different cultural
space requirements. In all cultures, the distance between people functions
in communication as “personal space” or “personal territory”.
 Body language: The study of body language is known as kinesics. Body
language is not universal, but instead is learned from one’s culture.
Gestures, eye contact, posture and facial expressions carry different
meanings throughout the world.
 Translation limitations: Words in one language do not always have an
equivalent meaning in other languages, and the concepts the two words
describe are often different as well.
 Lack of language training: Even if you’re going to spend a short time in
another country, doing business or in a meeting, you should try to learn
common phrases of that country. They will appreciate the effort.
INCO 3005-05 Group C
Chapter 1 Chapter Review Questions
Dr. Jesús López
7. Describe several ways that communication technology can assist individuals and
organizations.
Communication technology can help:



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Collecting and analyzing data
Shaping messages to be clearer and more effective
Communicating quickly and efficiently with others over long distances
Telecommuting offers various advantages, including reduced travel time and
increased work flexibility
8. What legal and ethical concerns are raised over the use of technology?
Technology raises issues of ownership, as in the case of difficulties that
arise in protecting the copyright of documents transmitted over the Internet.
Technology poses dilemmas over access, that is, who has the right to certain
stored information pertaining to an individual or company.
9. How does communication in work teams differ from that of traditional
organizations?
Communication in team work makes workers happier by causing them to
feel that they are shaping their own jobs, increase the efficiency by eliminating
layers of managers whose job was once to pass orders downward and also
because teams enable a company to draw on the skills and imagination of a
whole workforce.
10. Why has communication been identified as perhaps the single most important
aspect of team work?
Communication has been identified as the single most important aspect of
team work because communication increases interaction between employees
and management.