Business Communication Quiz - 27

1. When businesspeople speak of reports, they are, in general, thinking of written, factual accounts that objectively communicate information about some aspect of the business. Which of the following is not true of business reports?
[A]Reports are usually prepared for managers
[B]Select the format, style, and organization of the report according to your needs
[C]A report is any factual, objective document that serves a business purpose
[D]Reports can be printed on paper



2. What techniques can you use to make the data comprehensible? How can you make important points stand out and complex data easy to understand? Your computer can draw any type of graph you want, but you have to decide what type of illustration you want and where you want to place. Simple bar charts are used to
[A]Compare differences in quantities by lengths of the bars
[B]Compare groups of two or three different kinds of quantities over time
[C]Show plus and minus differences
[D]Compare divisions of a whole



3. Your boss has been telling the staff that he would welcome suggestions about how to improve the organization. You take him at his word and meet him to discuss some of your ideas with him. As you begin to outline the changes you propose, he fixes you with an icy stare and folds his arms across his chest; as you go on, the frown on his face gathers intensity. When you finish, he gets up abruptly and says, with barely suppressed menace in his voice, “Thank you very much. Your ideas are priceless.” If a person says one thing but sends a conflicting message nonverbally,
[A]People are more likely to believe the verbal message
[B]People are more likely to believe the nonverbal message
[C]People are more likely to just stop listening
[D]People are likely to become more interested in listening



4. “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 re-written using a semi-colon?
[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



5. Regardless of whether the situation calls for appreciative, critical, discriminative, or active listening, listening skills can be improved with conscious effort. If you are listening mainly to understand and retain information imparted by a speaker, you are engaging in
[A]Content listening
[B]Critical listening
[C]Empathic listening
[D]Active listening



6. If you are interested to resolve conflicts in the work place, there are many ways to do so. However, if you do not want to resolve, which of the following measures can you take?
[A]Proaction dealing with minor conflict before it becomes major conflict
[B]Communication getting those involved in conflict to participate in resolving it
[C]Determination making sure your viewpoint prevails
[D]Openness getting feelings out in the open before dealing with the main issues



7. Sometimes some members of a group have a better social standing or are better qualified than the others. Which of the following members determines the manner in which they interact with each other?
[A]Size of the group
[B]Leadership
[C]Status
[D]Longevity



8. Letter writing does not involve magic; you just have to think about it. Different types of letters are used in the business for different purposes. Which of the following situations requires a persuasive letter instead of a claim letter?
[A]A wholesaler marked down the price of a product two days after you placed the order
[B]A wholesaler charged more for the product than advertised
[C]A company did not deliver a product by the date promised
[D]A product does not live up to advertised expectations



9. All business messages are essentially persuasive messages. After all, writers convey messages with the aim of persuading readers to their point of view. In this light, AIDA stands for
[A]Attention, Interest, Deception, Action
[B]Attraction, Interrogation, Decipher, Action
[C]Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
[D]Attraction, Intuition, Demand, Allocation



10. You have identified the position for which you would like to apply. You have prepared an effective resume. The next step is to write a letter of application. If you have three paragraphs in your application letter, which one should contain most information about your qualifications?
[A]The first paragraph
[B]The last paragraph
[C]The middle paragraph
[D]You can't give enough information about yourself in three paragraphs, so a fourth paragraph has to be added for that purpose



11. Two punctuation styles are customarily used in business letters: open and mixed. Standard or mixed punctuation uses which of the following after the salutation and a comma after the complimentary close?
[A]A period
[B]An exclamation mark
[C]A semi colon
[D]A colon



12. When business people speak of reports, they are, in general, thinking of written, factual accounts that objectively communicate information about some aspect of the business. A report investigating differences in patterns of swimsuit sales in different climatic regions would be subdivided on the basis of
[A]Time
[B]Hypotheses
[C]Quantity
[D]Place



13. While zeroing in on the problem, which of the following will serve as a guide to what you are trying to solve or what question you are trying to answer in the report?
[A]Drafting a written statement of the problem being investigated
[B]Drafting a written statement of the customers to be interviewed
[C]A diagram showing the progress of the report
[D]A statement of the principal results, conclusions and recommendations



14. Information that supplements material in the body of the report but does not logically fit within the report is included in a(n)
[A]Summary
[B]Bibliography
[C]Executive summary
[D]Appendix



15. Positive nonverbal messages in the workplace are sent by maintaining direct but not prolonged eye contact, expressing warmth with frequent smiles, conveying self-confidence with an erect stance, and
[A]Saving time by arriving late and leaving meetings early
[B]Dressing comfortably in old clothes that make you feel good
[C]Being on time and using time judiciously
[D]Answering all e-mail with "quick and tentative" messages