Chapter Review
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.
To inform, to persuade and to entertain. Managers typically spend 60 to 80 % of their
time involved in communication.
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 of
barriers.
3. What is the difference between intrapersonal and interpersonal communication?
That the intrapersonal have communication within oneself and interpersonal has
communication between two people.
4. How is the formal flow of communication different from the informal flow of
communication?
The formal flow is typified by the formal organization chart, which is created by
management to control individual and group behavior and to achieve the organizations
goals. Essentially, the formal system is dictated by the technical, political and economic
environment of the organization. And the informal communication develops as people
interact within the formal, external system, and certain behavior patterns emergepatterns that communicate social and psychological needs. Because the informal
channel undergoes continual changes, it cannot be depicted accurately by any graphic
means.
5. What are some common causes of unethical behavior in the workplace?
-Excessive emphasis on profits
-Misplaced corporate loyalty
-Obsession with personal advancement
-Expectative of not getting
-Unethical tone set by top management
-Uncertainly about whether an action is wrong
-unwillingness to take a stand for what is right
6. Describe several intercultural communication barriers and how they might be
overcome.
Ethnocentrism- problems that occur between people of different cultures primarily
because people tend to assume that their own cultural norms are the right way to do
things. Is certainly natural; but learning about other cultures and developing sensitivity
will help minimize ethnocentric reactions when dialing with other cultures.
Stereotypes- mental picture of the main characteristics of another group, creating
performed ideas of what people in this group are like.
Interpretation of time- study of how culture perceives time and its use is called
chronemics. The time efficient American business person is likely to fret about the
waste of precious time.
Personal space requirements- the study of cultural space requirements is known as
proxemics. In all cultures, the distance between people functions incommunication 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 ones culture. Similarly eye contact, posture and an
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 words describe are often different as
well.
7. Describe several ways that communication technology can assist individuals and
organizations.
Data organization- the ability to organize large amounts of data
Data integrity- assurance that the data will be accurate and complete.
Data security- assurance that the data are secure because access to a database is
controlled through several built in data security features.
8. What legal and ethical concerns are raised over the use of technology?
- Collecting excessive amounts o information for decision making and maintaining too
many files.
- Monitoring the exact time employees spend on a specific task and between tasks
and the exact number and length of breaks, and supervisors or coworkers reading of
another employees electronic mail and computer files.
- Integrating computer files containing information collected from more than one
agency without prermission.
9. How does communication in work teams differ from that of traditional organizations?
- Teams make workers happier by causing them to feel that they are shaping their
own jobs.
-
Teams increase efficiency by eliminating layers of managers whose job was once to
pass orders downward.
- Teams enable a company to draw on the skills and imagination of a whole
workforce. A key element in team success is the concept of synergy, defined as a
situation in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
10. Why has communication been identified as perhaps the single most important aspect of
team work?
Because communication open lines of communication increase interaction between
employees and management. All affected parties should be kept informed as projects
progress.