Questions and Answers of Business Communication Today

You’ve been assigned the project of videotaping a newemployee welcome message by your company’s vice president of human resources. You have top-notch equipment, attractive locations, and a solid
In addition to telling readers why an illustration is important, why else should you refer to it in the text of your document? [LO-5]
Explain the importance of creating an effective balance between the number of visuals used in a document and the amount of text written. [LO-5]
You have just started a role that requires you to produce sales performance reports for your board of directors.The latest report, produced by your predecessor, has recently been issued to the
What similarities do you see between visuals and nonverbal communication? Explain your answer. [LO-1]
How does B-roll footage help enhance the appeal of business videos? [LO-6]
What is the meaning and the importance of framing a shot? [LO-6]
How does the three-step communication process adapt to the production of videos? [LO-6]
How and why should a visual be referenced? [LO-5]
Why is design important when using visuals to illustrate text? [LO-5]
What improves the effectiveness of pie charts? [LO-3]
How can you use a line chart to predict future data changes? [LO-3]
When would a table be more useful than a chart to illustrate data? [LO-3]
What are the “five Cs” to consider when deciding which points to illustrate? [LO-2]
Why is simplicity important in business visuals? [LO-1]
Media Skills: Microblogging [LO-5] Complete this exercise with a class colleague. Your instructor has asked for some help in using a microblog to help attract students to the course she teaches. The
Media Skills: Microblogging [LO-5] Busy knitters can go through a lot of yarn in a hurry, so most keep a sharp eye out for sales. You’re on the marketing staff of Knitting-Warehouse, and you like
Media Skills: Blogging [LO-4] Working with a colleague, plan a blog that will be restricted to the members of your class only. The subject of the blog can be anything related to the subject of your
Media Skills: Blogging; Creating a Businesslike Tone;Mobile Skills [LO-4] The members of the project team you lead have enthusiastically embraced blogging as a communication medium. Unfortunately, as
Media Skills: Social Networking [LO-3] Joining an ongoing social media conversation, such as a comment thread on Facebook, requires a delicate touch if you work for a company that has a commercial
Media Skills: Social Networking [LO-3] Imagine that you are in charge of strategic planning for Ford Motor Company.Identify one of Ford’s key competitors, and search through social media sources
Media Skills: Social Networking, Team Skills [LO-3]With a team assigned by your instructor, choose one of these companies: Apple, Nordstrom, 3M, or Verizon.Evaluate 10 of its social media posts on
Blogging, Creating a Businesslike Tone [LO-4] Revise this blog post based on what you’ve learned in this chapter.[headline]We’re DOOMED!!!!![post]I was at the Sikorsky plant in Stratford
Why would a company consider moderating and possibly validating wiki entries? [LO-6]
If you know that most readers of your management advice blog access it on mobile devices, should you switch to Twitter instead so the shorter messages would be easier to read on small screens? Why or
What are some of the ways the president of a hiking equipment company can use Twitter to engage potential customers without being overtly promotional? [LO-5]
If one of the benefits of blogging and microblogging is the personal, intimate style of writing, is it a good idea to limit your creativity by adhering to conventional rules of grammar, spelling, and
Having set up and productively maintained a microblog, you have been using hashtags successfully for some time.However, after a product recall following a manufacturing fault, your organization has
In relation to microblogging, what advice would you give to an organization that wants to reach a wider online audience for its website and online shop? [LO-5]
Why is it essential for a company to set goals for its social media effort? [LO-2]
How can social media help a company transition from a traditional structure to a virtual organization? [LO-1]
Why is it important to abandon traditional notions of ownership when writing on a wiki? [LO-6]
Why does Twitter have a more conversational feel than conventional blogging? [LO-5]
For business purposes, how should microblogging be included as a part of overall communication? [LO-5]
What are the challenges for businesses using Twitter?[LO-5]
How would the creation of an active blog help improve the engagement of employees in the workplace? [LO-4]
Why should information be updated quickly in a blog?[LO-4]
What is employee advocacy in the context of social media? [LO-2]
Why are social media metrics important? [LO-2]
What is social customer service? [LO-1]
How have social media tools spurred the growth of communities of practice? [LO-1]
Media Skills: Podcasting, Planning: Outlining Your Content [LO-5] You began recording a weekly podcast to share information with your large and far-flung staff.After a month, you ask for feedback
Media Skills: Web Writing, Planning: Outlining Your Content [LO-4] Find the website of a small company or nonprofit organization; make sure it is a fairly small and simple website. Identify all the
Media Skills: Messaging, Creating a Businesslike Tone[LO-3] Your firm, which makes professional-grade paint sprayers, uses messaging extensively for internal communication and frequently for external
Media Skills: Messaging [LO-3] Assume you need to share news about a schedule slip on a customer project you are managing. You had originally promised it would be finished by June 1, but you now
Media Skills: Email [LO-2] The following email message contains numerous errors related to what you’ve learned about planning and writing business messages. Using the information it contains, write
Media Skills: Writing Email Subject Lines [LO-2]Using your imagination to make up whatever details you need, revise the following email subject lines to make them more informative:a. New budget
Media Skills: Email [LO-4] The following email message contains numerous errors related to what you’ve learned about planning and writing business messages.List the flaws you find in this version,
Message 7.A: Media Skills: IM, Creating a Businesslike Tone [LO-3] The following instant messages caused offence to the recipient. Please rewrite them in a more business-like tone.1. Get on with
Imagine that you’ve been on the job for two or three decades, and you’ve amassed a deep store of leadership wisdom during the years. As CEO, you’d like to share your wisdom with your 800
Your company’s webmaster has become a big fan of tagging, the practice of identifying web content with category labels to make it easy to later retrieve all the content on a particular topic. She
Communication on a major project is suffering because several team members are in the habit of writing cryptic or careless messages on the workgroup messaging system that the team uses. These
What are the risks of using emoticons and emojis in business communication? [LO-2]
What should be considered when composing the subject line for an email? [LO-2]
You have just received an email as a result of being copied in on a message from a colleague and discover that it is part of an email trail of at least ten messages: the original message and various
Your company just designed its website, and you want to include some information on the homepage to help visitors find the information they need. Should you write a summary, an orientation, or a
Is it wise to speak “off the cuff,” with no notes or outline, when recording business podcasts? Why or why not? [LO-5]
Why is it important to have a long-term, sustainable purpose in mind before you launch a podcast channel? [LO-5]
What are the advantages of using podcasts for communication when you have planned them carefully and considered who will be listening? [LO-5]
What is information architecture? [LO-3]
Why should acronyms be used carefully? [LO-3]
What are the benefits of using messaging in business communication? [LO-3]
Why can messaging systems prove to be a security risk?[LO-3]
Why has email become overused and inappropriately used in many situations? [LO-2]
What benefits do social networks offer in internal and external business communications? [LO-2]
What are the situations in which a printed memo or letter might be preferable to a digital message? [LO-1]
The keys to 34A and 35A are in executive hands, with the former belonging to the vice president in charge of sales and the latter belonging to the production manager.
The vice president in charge of sales and the production manager are responsible for the keys to 34A and 35A, respectively.
Don is both a hard worker and he knows social media marketing.Editing for Clarity (Awkward References) [LO-3] Revise the following sentences to delete the awkward references:
This book was exciting, well written, and held my interest.
Both applicants had families, college degrees, and were in their thirties, with considerable accounting experience but few social connections.
She knows not only accounting, but she also reads Latin.
Mr. Hill is expected to lecture three days a week, to counsel two days a week, and must write for publication in his spare time.
It is reasonable to expect that lack of watering meant that the plant died.Editing for Clarity (Parallelism) [LO-3] Revise these sentences to present the ideas in parallel form:
It is apparent that he was admitted to hospital after a heart attack.
There may be some opportunities for international travel when the organization starts to send employees to develop more business in new markets abroad.
There is evidence that sudden failure of the street lighting was a significant factor in causing the first accident.
It seems that a fault in the starter mechanism caused intermittent problems in cold weather.
It seems as if this letter of resignation means you might be leaving us.Editing for Clarity (Indefinite Starters) [LO-3] Re-write the following sentences removing the indefinite starters:
I believe Yolanda apparently has somewhat greater influence over employees in the e-marketing department.
Your report seems to suggest that we might be losing money.
It may be possible that sometime in the near future the situation is likely to improve.
It would seem that someone apparently entered illegally.
The character portrayed in the new book was unbelievably incredible.Editing for Conciseness (Unnecessary Modifiers) Re-write the following sentences to remove unnecessary modifiers:
The new offices were built using modern, contemporary design features specified by experienced architects.
After a trial period of three weeks, during which time she worked for a total of 15 full working days, we found her work was sufficiently satisfactory so that we offered her full-time work.Editing
When all is said and done at the conclusion of this experiment, I’d like to summarize the final wrap-up.
Our goals include making a determination about that in the near future.
In all probability, we’re likely to have a price increase.
We are of the conviction that writing is important.
The expectations of the president for a stock dividend were accentuated by the preponderance of evidence that the company was in good financial condition.
The impending liquidation of the company’s assets was cause for jubilation among the company’s competitors.
There was unanimity among the executives that his behavior was cause for a mandatory meeting with the company’s personnel director.
It is imperative that the pay increments be terminated before an inordinate deficit is accumulated.
Our superannuated content management system has proven to be ineffectual once again.
Words mean different things to different people, and a word such as block may mean city block, butcher block, engine block, auction block, or several other things.
Know the flexibility of the written word and its power to convey an idea, and know how to make your words behave so that your readers will understand.
Unfortunately, no gadget will produce excellent writing, but using a yardstick like the Flesch Reading Ease score gives us some guideposts to follow for making writing easier to read because its two
The next time you write something, check your average sentence length in a 100-word passage, and if your sentences average more than 16 to 20 words, see whether you can break up some of the sentences.
Revising for Readability (Sentence and Paragraph Length) [LO-2] Rewrite the following paragraph to vary the length of the sentences and to shorten the paragraph so it looks more inviting to

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