Exam 9: Communicating in Organizations

A fertilizer company with salespeople in remote operations recently introduced e-mail throughout the company. Previously, salespeople received most information through formal communication channels and the annual sales meeting. Many salespeople complained that they were kept in the dark about company activities. Now, with the e-mail system in place, salespeople receive most of their information informally through this network. None of them complain about isolation from company information. Furthermore, senior executives had to intervene recently to stop incorrect rumours that the fertilizer company might be acquired by a larger chemical company. Using your knowledge of organizational grapevines, explain what might have happened in this company when salespeople were connected to an e-mail network.

When sending a message, the choice of medium also communicates information from the sender to receiver.

The introduction of e-mail in organizations tends to increase the volume of communication.

The first three steps in the communication process model are:

The organizational grapevine is useful because it

What effect do public websites dedicated to company gossip have on the corporate grapevine?

Empathy, emotional contagion, and anger are three types of noise in the communication process.

Language differences represent one of the most obvious cross-cultural communications challenges.

Media richness refers to the financial cost of using the medium relative to its frequency of use in the organization.

Wikis can provide common space for collaborative content development

Social acceptance refers to how well the communication is approved and supported by the organization.

If you have to communicate negative information, the other person is more likely to listen if you focus on the problem rather than the person.

The Marketing Director of a national car parts retail company wants to keep the 20 district managers across the country informed about marketing initiatives and experiences within the company. This information ranges from technical marketing strategies to simple stories about successful marketing experiences within the company. One or two pieces of information are communicated each week and the Marketing Director wants to communicate this information as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible. If you had to choose just one specific medium and form of communication within that medium, which would you choose?

Companies have been reluctant to introduce communications tools such as social media.

Which of the following is NOT a function of communication discussed in your text?

Which of the following statements about cross-cultural communication is FALSE?

Which of these forms of communication is the poorest for communicating emotional meaning and providing social support in the workplace?

One function of communication is to change behaviour.

The three main components of active listening, in order, are

In the communication process model, ''decoding the message'' occurs immediately: