Business Communication Essentials 5th Canadian Edition by Courtland L Bovee test bank

Diff: 2     Type: ES     Page Ref: 16
Objective:  1-5
 
119) What are the advantages and challenges of a diverse workforce?
Answer:  A diverse workforce offers a broader spectrum of viewpoints and ideas, helps companies understand and identify with diverse markets, and enables companies to benefit from a wider range of employee talents. More diverse teams can tend to be more innovative over the long term than teams composed of people from the same culture. For all their benefits, diverse workforces and markets do present some communication challenges, and understanding the effect of culture on communication is essential. The subconscious effect of culture can create friction because it leads people to assume that everybody thinks and feels the way they do.
Diff: 2     Type: ES     Page Ref: 17
Objective:  1-6
 
120) Define "cultural diversity" and give examples to support your answer.
Answer:  Cultural diversity includes all the elements that make people different from one another. This may include things like race, class, gender, ethnicity, language, family structure, religion, educational background, and others.
Diff: 2     Type: ES     Page Ref: 17
Objective:  1-6
 
121) Give examples of how you can improve your sensitivity to cultural diversity within the workplace.
Answer:  Adapting to cultural diversity allows workers from different ethnic backgrounds to work together. Being sensitive to generational differences recognizes that people of different ages often work together. Being aware and considerate of others is more important than ever in an increasingly technology-based world. Polishing workplace sensitivity skills allows a person to work in a culturally diverse workplace.
Diff: 2     Type: ES     Page Ref: 20
Objective:  1-6
 

122) How can a worker adjust his or her attitude toward diversity in the workplace?
Answer:  Take responsibility for communication, and don't assume it is the other person's job to communicate with you. Empathize with the receiver's feelings and point of view. Withhold judgment, listen to the whole story, and accept differences in people. Be flexible by changing habits and attitudes when communicating with someone from another culture or age group.
Diff: 2     Type: ES     Page Ref: 20
Objective:  1-6
 
123) Explain the concept of information overload. How can you guard against information overload when using communication technology?
Answer:  Information overload refers to people receiving more information than they can effectively process. Information overload makes it difficult to discriminate between useful and useless information, inhibits the ability to think deeply about complex situations, lowers productivity, and amplifies employee stress both on the job and at home—even to the point of causing health and relationship problems.
As a sender, make sure every message you intend to send is meaningful and important to your receivers. As a recipient, take steps to control the number and types of messages you receive. Don't activate visual alerts for incoming messages unless you absolutely need to know the instant a message arrives; each alert breaks your concentration and requires time for you to refocus. Many systems have powerful filtering and tagging capabilities that can automatically sort incoming messages based on criteria you set. Use this feature to isolate high-priority messages that deserve your attention. Also, be wary of subscribing to too many blog feeds, Twitter follows, and other sources of recurring messages. Take care when expanding your social networks online so that you don't get buried with inessential posts and updates. Identify the information you really need and focus on those sources.
Diff: 1     Type: ES     Page Ref: 23
Objective:  1-7
 
124) Discuss tips for writing for a multilingual audience.
Answer:  -Use plain language. Use short, precise words that say exactly what you mean.
-Avoid words with multiple meanings. As much as possible, choose words that have only one obvious meaning in the context in which you're using them. For example, "right" has more than 30 distinct meanings and can function as a noun, an adjective, a verb, and an adverb. Whenever it is appropriate, use a synonym that conveys the specific meaning you intend, such as correct, appropriate, desirable, moral, authentic, or privilege.
-Be clear. Rely on specific terms and concrete examples to explain your points.
-Cite numbers carefully. Use figures instead of spelling numbers out (twenty-seven).