Business Communication Online Test (Communication Quiz - 43)

1. Regardless of whether the situation calls for appreciative, critical, discriminative, or active listening, listening skills can be improved with conscious effort. A person engaged in ________ listening tries to understand a speaker’s message in totality to interpret the meaning as precisely as possible.
[A]Comprehensive
[B]Composite
[C]Complicated
[D]Convex



2. The communication between the interviewer and the respondent should be guided by certain ethical guidelines. Which of the following do not come under the ethics of interviewing?
I. Do not make unrealistic promises.
II. Do not reveal confidential information.
III. Do not ask illegal questions.
IV. Do not ask personal questions.
[A]Only (II) above
[B]Only (IV) above
[C]Both (I) and (II) above
[D](I), (II) and (III) above



3. Audience analysis is relatively easy when you are communicating with
[A]Strangers
[B]Co-workers
[C]Large groups of people
[D]Customers on a mailing list



4. Sara is deciding whether to prepare a memo to announce a new procedure or to hold a staff meeting to discuss how the new procedure should be implemented. Which segment of the communication process is she involved in?
[A]Message encoding
[B]Message transmission
[C]Idea formation
[D]Message decoding



5. Every message has its own purpose. Selection of message, media depends on the purpose of the message. Which of the following statements about the purpose of a message is not true?
[A]A purpose should be specific enough to serve as a yardstick for judging the success of a message
[B]Purpose of the message unnecessarily restricts the scope of the report
[C]A purpose should be specific enough to guide you in writing your document.
[D]A clear-cut statement of purpose lets you focus on content and organization.



6. The following sentence has missed a semicolon “This year the company has not declared a bonus and the workers are very unhappy about it.” In which of the following ways the sentence can be rewritten?
[A]This year; the company has not declared a bonus and the workers are very unhappy about it
[B]This year the company has not; declared a bonus and the workers are very unhappy about it
[C]This year the company has not declared a bonus and the workers are very unhappy about it
[D]This year the company has not declared a bonus; the workers are very unhappy about it



7. Conflicts are inevitable. Even the most amicable people get upset at times. Disagreements arise because individuals see, hear, and interpret things differently. Which of the following is not a recommended approach to manage a conflict?
[A]Collaborating
[B]Compromising
[C]Articulating
[D]Competing



8. From the writer’s point of view, details that support a refusal are very important. If the supporting details are understood and believed by the reader, the message may be readily accepted and a good business relationship preserved. Which of the following statements is false regarding the explanation portion of the bad-news message?
[A]It should question the reader's actions
[B]It should tell people only what they need to know
[C]It should use passive voice to reduce the harshness of the news
[D]It should use clear language and avoid technical jargon



9. While structuring the resume, never let your prospective reader out of sight. A resume that emphasizes the compatibility of your qualifications and the prospective employers’ job requirements is more likely to get a favorable response than one that highlights all your strong points but is of little use to the employer. What does a functional resume emphasize?
[A]A list of skills and accomplishments
[B]Academic background
[C]Career objectives
[D]Employment history



10. Imagine you are an HR manager in a medium sized firm, which recently put out an advertisement of sales representatives. The company needs three people. You get nearly 500 application letters. After all, it is the appearance that makes the first impression. When it comes to paragraph length
[A]Use long paragraphs with detailed information for direct-mail letters
[B]Use long paragraphs if you want your document to look more inviting
[C]Keep all paragraphs to fewer than 60 words
[D]Use one-sentence paragraphs only occasionally, for emphasis



11. Visual aids help communicate the subject matter clearly. Imagine reading a paragraph of text describing your company’s share of sales and your competitor’s share of sales per sales region. It should be unreadable and incomprehensible. If the same information were tabulated, the information would not only be crystal clear, it would also be easy for the reader to make the necessary comparisons of differences in market share. Visual aids thus clarify and simplify data. Which of the following bar charts identify positive and negative values or winners and losers?
[A]Deviation
[B]Paired
[C]Histogram
[D]Stacked



12. Reports are business tools. By conveying information objectively from one organizational area to another or from one institution to another, they assist in decision making and/or problem solving. What are the most common ways of structuring analytical reports?
[A]Focusing on conclusions, recommendations, or logical arguments
[B]Focusing on neutral, positive, or negative points
[C]Focusing on agreement or debate
[D]Focusing on strengths or weaknesses of the idea



13. The style and purpose of an interview depend on its purpose and on the relationship between the two parties involved. In a problem solving interview the flow of communication is always
[A]Informal
[B]One way
[C]Vertical
[D]Two ways



14. While you are making a presentation either oral or written you have to keep in mind two types of audience, primary and other. The primary audience is made-up of
[A]All who receive it
[B]The decision makers or opinion leaders
[C]People with the highest status
[D]People who represent the majority



15. Whether you are speaking, writing, or listening, communication is more than a single act. Instead, it is a chain of events that can be broken into five phases. Which of the following is not a phase in the communication process?
[A]The sender has an idea.
[B]The sender has a headache.
[C]The idea becomes a message.
[D]The message is transmitted.