The following questions are worth one (1) point each. There are 40 questions.
The comprehensive exam has a total point value of 40. There will be no excuse for a
late exam. In the event you turn it in late a twenty (20) percent penalty shall be
imposed.
Please do not share any of your answers with any other person. The professor
will look for common patterns in your answers from prior students’ exams: I have
exams from prior students for three years. I will randomly check passages on
every test for plagiarism. Plagiarism is an offense that could lead to
expulsion from the university. Type all your answers in Times New Roman, size
11 font with one inch margins all around. Use single space lines for each of the 40
questions you answer. Number your responses. Your 40 responses MUST NOT
EXCEED 30 typed pages; however, I will accept half inch margins all around. Use
this test as your template. Be sure to include a cover page on your final
examination, including your name and contact information, including email and
phone numbers. The cover page does not count as a page.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Chapter 1: The Nature of Managerial Communication
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
1.
What is the best way to describe the role of managerial communication
from the perspective of top, middle, and frontline management?
a.
Top managers hold positions like chief executive officer (CEO), Chief Financial
officer (CFO), and are responsible for the planning the overall direction of the company with
two to five year time frame. They are responsible for creating a context for change. Once the
vision and mission is set top managers are responsible for getting employee commitment
and agreement to implement the change. Top managers are also responsible for creating a
positive organisational through communication and action both inside and outside the
company. Finally top managers monitor their business environments, customer needs,
competitors’ strategies and long term business, economic and social trends. Top managers
tend to spend more time on planning and organising.
b. Middle managers hold positions like factory manager, regional manager or
divisional manager. They are responsible for setting objectives consistent with top
management’s goals and for planning and implementing subunit strategies for
achieving these objectives within a six to eighteen month time frame.
They coordinate and link groups, departments and divisions within the company and monitor
and manage performance of subunits and individual managers that report to them. Finally
middle level managers are responsible for implementing changes and strategies designed by
top managers. Middle managers tend to spend more time on leading and organising.
c. Front-line managers hold positions like department manager, office
manager or shift supervisor. They are the only managers who don’t supervise
other managers. They are closest to operational employees as they have daily contact
with them and deal with customers on a day-to-day basis.
Front line managers inspire, monitor and compensate the performance of their employees and
communicate to entry-level personnel how to do their jobs. Front-line managers also make
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detailed schedules and operating plans based on middle managements intermediate-range
plans (six to 18 months) but that produce results within two weeks. Front-line managers tend
to be more involved with leading and controlling.
2.
The president of a medium size regional automobile dealership, with a
fleet of 10,000 autos, wishes to communicate to her 400 employees located in three
different states her new vision that “Every customer is a customer for life.” The
average age of her sales force is 35-years-old. The average age of all employees is
41-years-old. If the president communicates her short-term corporate vision how
does this affect the view that stakeholders will have for the company’s long-term
results? What is the role of managerial communication in this case? In this case is a
formal or informal communication channel going to be more efficient?
Chapter 1: Case 1.1–The Owner of a CPA Firm Who Asked for Too
Much
The tax season was coming to a close and the owner of a small accounting
firm called John Smith Accounting was under a lot of stress. The employees were
starting to complain because many of them were spending 12 to 14 hours on the
job each day. Crucial documents from clients had begun to trickle in, but much to
the chagrin of the owner the documents were often the wrong documents and
nearly half of the clients’ tax returns would possibly need to be extended. This was
a problem with individual returns, not so much for business clients whose tax
season ended in the middle of September. Because employees’ bonuses were
predicated on John (the owner) collecting all fees, the uncompleted tax forms could
not be used when calculating bonuses.
Clients do not like to, and some refuse to, pay penalties and interest on
unfinished tax returns—even when they did not provide crucial documents!
Extensions for some clients meant a call from these clients to the owner screaming
in his ears. John knows the seven employees, all of whom but one is a CPA, can do
the work. Nonetheless, asking them to make these deep sacrifices has the
ramifications of spilling over into their personal lives, causing friction between
employees and their spouses, especially those with very young children at home.
The previous year, some employees threatened to quit due to the stress. Others
deliberately ignored jobs logged into the work schedule leading to nearly 40% of all
returns needing to be extended. The IRS penalties and interest falls on the firm in
such cases where clients provided all documents on time to the firm needed to
complete their tax returns.
The owner did not wish to hire any additional accountants because he would
lose money during the off- tax season down times. His only solution was to motivate
and communicate with the employees.
CASE 1.1 QUESTIONS
3.
What are two immediate steps John could take to get the employees
motivated?
4.
What are some face-to-face tips you would suggest for him in terms of
interpersonal communication strategies?
5.
If a CPA employee storms into John’s office complaining and frustrated
at the workload, what could John do to communicate solace to the employee?
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Chapter 2: The Business Communication Model and Its Uses
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
6.
You were born in 1965 and you see a number of teenager’s texting or
emailing today rather than using the face-to-face or phone as a channel of
communication. What are the pitfalls in developing a personal relationship with
these youths if they only choose to use texting and emailing as their main channel
choices?
7.
Asma Chradiki is from India and she is Buddhist. She is a new
employee in a firm specializing in bottled water. This company wishes to expand
into areas where water is very hard to find in the Sub-Saharan African regions. What
does Asma need to communicate to her co-workers and supervisors about her
feelings of some of the religious views of radical Muslims living in the region? How
should she use communication channels to build relationships with the natives?
Which channels are richer and which are weaker? How does having a personality
that is introverted or extraverted affect her choices of channels?
Chapter 2: Case 2.2–Rolling out a New Product
Jennifer is in charge of rolling out a new generation of computer technology.
The desire is to have the technology staged for delivery the day before the
advertising hits the public. As the Market Manager, Jennifer has to coordinate
manufacturing, distribution, advertising, and sale of the new product.
Jennifer first has a meeting with all of the departments involved to get their
input and time lines on their part of the process. Manufacturing warns that with a
new product you can have setbacks in the manufacturing process due to new
equipment problems, new procedures and such. Distribution wants to know why
they have to use additional warehousing—why cannot the stores have the product
before the sales date. The stores want to be sure that no one else has the product
before they do, and they want to have sufficient product for their customers so they
do not want to run out of product. Advertising says that they can break the
advertisements around the country at the same time but have to buy the space a
minimum of three months in advance.
CASE 2.2 QUESTIONS
8.
If you were Jennifer, what kind of a strategic time line would you
project?
9.
How would you be sure that the timeline is working and that problems
are being communicated between all of the departments on a timely basis?
Chapter 3: Power, Climate, and Culture
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
10.
The president of a small manufacturing firm located in Springfield,
Missouri has been awarded a $15 million contract from the U.S. Department of
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Defense to develop night vision equipment. The contract terms are in the final
stages of the being hammered out and secrecy on the project is of the upmost
importance. The president has placed a gag-order on all executives involved in the
project negotiations from speaking of the matter until after all final signatures are
received. However, one junior level manager working for the vice president of
business development has been known to be a gossip. This employee is also the
son of one of the founding partners. Would you describe the junior manager as a
spy or a gossip? How can the vice president keep a lid on private matter without
telegraphing it to the talkative junior manager? What MC solutions would you
recommend to the vice president?
11.
The two owners of a chain of 100 convenience stores seek to improve
sales by reducing employee turnover in the stores. The 100 stores are located in
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Of the $200 million in Gross Sales,
turnover costs $4 million annually in lost sales, shortages, training, etc. The owners
feel culture is a major problem for the high turnover, along with theft and lethargy
among employees in problem stores. If you were to consult with the owners, how
does the definition of “culture” and “corporate culture” best help the owners
achieve their goal? Do you believe the turnover, theft, and lethargy problems with
employees to be more visible or more invisible elements of culture?
Chapter 4: Ethical Issues in Management Communication
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
12.
One very large United States bank wishes to sell securities to a very
large government owned bank in China and two regional banks located in India. The
Chinese and Indian banks have criticized the United States bank for dealing in subprime mortgages in the past. How will organizational communication policies for the
United States bank need to change with globalization and the growth of China and
India as economic powers in the next ten years? Which of the ethical theories you
learned about in this chapter is possibly a good way to defend why the United
States bank purchased and sold the sub-prime mortgage securities costing its
depositors’ billions.
13.
Ethical dilemmas have always surrounded businesses. For example,
Jeffrey is a Senior Auditor working for a large commercial bank. He just realized Bob,
the company’s vice president of marketing, has been using his expense account to
purchase salacious materials online using his office computer; in addition, there are
hotel bills charged to the account that cannot be explained by travel receipts.
Jeffrey suspects the VP is having an affair with someone in the company. Jeffery is a
CPA and the company where he works is publically traded. The CPA code-of-ethics
and company policy requires Jeffrey to report the violation. Nevertheless, Bob is
Jeffrey’s first cousin! Reporting the violation could destroy relations between
Jeffrey’s mother and his aunt, Bob’s mother. What can Jeffrey do as a senior auditor
to set the ethical standards in the company that he is working in? Which of the
ethical theories best explains Jeffrey’s moral dilemma? How can one of the six
theories you learned about in this chapter help Jeffrey to justify whistle blowing or
help him to rationalize not whistle blowing?
14.
Jeff, the Director of Business Development, promised a promotion to
Anne, his Assistant Regional Director, to become Regional Director when the old
Regional Director was to leave her post in two weeks for another position outside
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the company. Jeff did not clear this decision with his boss Fred, the Vice President of
Marketing, before he made the promise to Anne. Jeff thought that it was within his
authority to offer the position to Anne without first clearing it with Fred, or
consulting human resources. The company was a fairly large developer of
residential properties operating in 12 states in the southern United States. Thus, its
human resources department was professionalized and balked at the arbitrariness
of Jeff’s promise to appoint a person in a job without a fair and open hiring process,
citing EEOC laws, and the backlash of regulatory consequences of such behavior.
The brakes were put on the entire hiring process, and Anne did not get the job. An
outside hire (Mary) eventually received the position. Anne quit immediately! Several
projects had to be put on hold for several months until Mary could be brought up to
speed, costing thousands of dollars. What ethical theory can best explain this moral
problem? Did Jeff violate an ethical standard or was he truly ignorant of the hiring
process? Should Jeff be blamed for Anne’s resignation? Should there be any
consequence or punishment for Jeff? Can Jeff’s promise to Anne be defended
ethically?
Case 4.3—Would you blow the whistle in this situation?
You are the CEO of an industrial chemical plant named Johnson Chemicals.
You manufacture the inert chemicals for more than 100 different manufacturers.
They range from military to paint companies. Fifty percent of your gross revenue
comes from one company that manufactures fuel for military and commercial
aircraft: this is 30 percent of your bottom line. Your second largest customer
manufactures fuel additives and it represents five percent of your bottom line. That
company is also a wholly owned subsidiary of your number one customer.
You have found out that your number one customer has been dumping
millions of gallons of waste products into a local small river that feeds into the
Mississippi river. If you “blow the whistle” you could be responsible for losing 30 to
50 percent of your bottom line revenue. This would result in the unemployment of
nearly half of your 5,000 employee work force. Also, there could be a backlash
among your 98 remaining customers. Your reputation could be ruined if you are
deemed to be a “whistle blower” or “rat.” Still, you know that people unaware of the
dumping will use the water for fishing, drinking, etc. You also know that people will
die from too much exposure to the kinds of chemicals being dumped.
CASE 4.3 QUESTION
15.
What on earth are you to do? Please write two paragraphs. The first
paragraph should show how you would justify exposing the dumping. The second
paragraph should address justifications for you not exposing your number one
client. The two paragraphs should each be at least six sentences long and not more
than twelve sentences long. Use at least two of the theories on moral problems you
learned about earlier in this chapter to justify your position as proponent or
opponent of blowing the whistle or remaining silent. Be prepared to discuss your
position (as pro or con) on this ethical dilemma in a class debate.
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Chapter 5: Conflict Resolution
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
16.
List three ways you would resolve different types of conflict between
people or divisions in your firm.
17.
A Japanese business man invited to a trading company’s annual
holiday Christmas party purchased a round of very expensive champagne for the
entire staff at an uptown bar in Manhattan. The waiter asked the Japanese business
man, “Would you like another round for everyone?” And, without hesitation, he said,
“Yes.” The president of the company, known to be a penny-pincher and struggling to
make his payroll for the month because of the tight economy immediately
interrupted the exchange and said, “No, please Mr. Yishisha, let this round be on
me!” Can you explain what weapon of influence was being used in this case by Mr.
Yishisha? Who were the victim and victor in this social exchange? Why did the
president feel a compulsion to buy a round of drinks that he could not afford?
18.
You have a global corporation and your public relations and advertising
firm is working on a new slogan and marketing plan for the rollout of a new product.
What issues do you need to be aware of when going global with a new product
slogan?
19.
How can unions in the United States persuade companies to build more
plants in the United States than abroad?
20.
A very handsome sales executive named Charlie purchased a handbag
for the administrative assistant working for a rival firm’s vice president of
marketing. The administrative assistant had shared with the sales executive her
longing for a very expensive handbag when he was visiting the office on separate
business a week prior. The administrative assistant was perusing the pages of a
glossy style magazine and lamented to the sales executive her desire for the bag,
but that her income prohibited her from purchasing it. She decried, “An $800 bag
like this is a third of my weekly take-home pay!” She continued, “My boyfriend
cannot afford such luxury gifts at this point in his career.” A week later a courier
delivered that exact bag to the administrative assistant with a simple note that
read, “Thanks a bunch—Charlie!” She accepted the bag! A couple days later Charlie
was on the phone asking the administrative assistant for a dinner date. Although
the administrative assistant had a boyfriend, she felt obligated to go out on the
dinner date with Charlie. What weapons of influence are at play in this situation?
What harm could the rival firm suffer from the administrative assistant’s behavior?
Why would the rival firm be unhappy with this type of gift-giving behavior between
its employee and the executive?
Chapter 6: Communication Technology and Conducting Meetings
End-of-Chapter Discussion Question
21.
A corporate operations manager (OM), while conducting a quarterly
scheduled walk-through of one of his industrial bakeries, finds several workers
operating mobile devices while working on the line where food is being prepared.
This appears to be a direct violation of both OSHA standards and company-wide
policy. The OM is responsible for 10 bakeries located in Texas, Oklahoma and
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Louisiana, selling bakery items to major companies, such as Hostess and Lawry’s
Restaurants. In contrast, this one particular bakery is 40 percent more efficient than
the other nine, yielding an operating income 15 percent higher than the other nine
locations. Before the OM can utter a word, the Floor Supervisor guiding the tour
mentions, “You might also want to know that we’ve been using text messaging
alerts to troubleshoot problems on the production lines. Saves us a ton of time and
‘dough’—if you know what I mean?” What solutions would you suggest to the OM
about alleviating the apparent hygiene issues of cell phone usage near food
preparation? How might the cell phone usage issue over possible OSHA standards
violations be resolved while keeping the communication technology in use? Are
mobile devices in this case the best communication technology or what technology
would be a better solution?
Case 6.1—A Fly on the Wall, a Text Message, and a Runaway Rumor!
Rene is an Assistant Director working for a large 500 seats call center for an
international insurance company. While meeting with Susan, the Director of
Customer Care, Rene is talking to her about an employee who has been consistently
on time for every scheduled shift for the past two years. She explains to Susan that
the employee, in addition to being on time for each scheduled shift is a model
worker. The employee, Fred, fills in for other workers at a moment’s notice. Fred is
able to do every entry level-job in the call center. His cross-training has saved the
department time and money. Fred is friendly to customers and extremely helpful.
Rene explains how she has received a large number of verbal praises from
customers regarding this particular employee. Moreover, Jennifer argues, “Fred has
made my job very easy and I appreciate the job he has done.” All this discussion
took place because it is now time for the employee’s annual evaluation. In addition
to the evaluation conducted by the employee’s immediate supervisor, Rene has not
yet decided to write a letter to the Director on Fred’s behalf, but she would like to do
so. She asks Susan “Is awarding $3.50 per hour increase for a model entry level
employee feasible?” Fred currently earns $13.50 per hour. Both Susan and Rene are
unaware there is a “fly on the wall,” someone is eaves dropping on the back-end of
their conversation.
Frank, whose cubicle is just 10 feet from Susan’s office, is the unknown third
party to Susan’s and Jennifer’s conversation; he hears that if Fred is given the raise
he will be the highest paid hourly employee in the department. Frank is a supervisor
and knows that Fred does not have the most seniority for an entry level employee.
In fact, $17.00 per hour is the pay rate for entry-level supervisors. Hearing about
this disparity causes a sense of immediate resentment in Frank towards Rene and,
jealousy towards Fred.
Frank fires off a text message to two other supervisors, Liza and Geraldine.
The text reads, “Guess what guys, they are now going to pay an entry-level worker
what we make!” Frank adds, “Is there any reason entry-level workers should make
what supervisors make?” Liza and Geraldine add their takes on the original text
message and forward their concerns in text messages to three other supervisors
each! By the end of the evening shift, 30 supervisors and leads are buzzing about
the rumor. The gossip is now spreading to the entry-level call center billing
representatives with seniority, and even the claims representatives know about it.
Before the end of the next day, emails were being exchanged about the rumor and
open and public criticisms about fairness began to brew. Even though Frank heard
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only a fraction of the conversation, he was willing and able to ignite a rumor that
sparked a flame of gossip that clearly could burn out of control like a California wild
fire.
CASE 6.1 QUESTIONS:
22.
In this case, what should the Director’s and Assistant Director’s
communication technology response be?
23.
Which communication technology would be more convenient,
expedient and effective to quash the rumor?
24.
How should Susan and Rene who clearly understands the pitfalls of
communication technology abuses deal with the rumor and also maintain a sense of
fairness and good morale?
25.
How could they turn the tides and use the immediacy of modern
technology to circumvent such rumors in the future? Please use the case method to
answer these questions.
Chapter 7: Effective Presentation Skills
End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
26.
A frontline manager working in a Detroit automobile manufacturing
plant feels tremendous trepidation when it comes to public speaking. He has been
asked by the union foreman to talk to a group of union planners and executives
concerning a few recent safety issues that could be construed as a violation of
terms of the collective bargaining agreement. Although the frontline manager has a
college degree, he still feels tremendous pressure. Should the frontline manager
prepare a persuasive speech or an informative speech? What would be the dangers
of the frontline manager attempting the presentation off-the-cuff?
27.
The Chairman of the Board of a regional bank with 400 employees has
been called on by the CEO to give an after-dinner speech on behalf of honoring the
vice president of business development’s acquisition team for their efforts on a
recent takeover of a $15 million rival. In terms of possible visual aids, what would be
the best choice for the occasion and what would be the worst choice for the
occasion? Why?
28.
The company lost 20 percent of its market share, not due to
competition, but the general trend in the recessionary economy. This is a US paper
company whose major client is the U.S. Treasury. The comptroller feels the company
is three months away from bankruptcy. The president has called a meeting with all
the heads of departments to brainstorm on an action plan. Each person is required
to give a five minutes presentation. In terms of imagery and pictorial quality in
effective oral presentation, should the comptroller open with a joke, a story, an
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