Chapter 9Business Communication
Short Questions
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List three advantages of written communication over oral communication.(6 marks)
Answer:
Written messages are usually more organised and clearer than oral messages.(2 marks)
Graphics can be used if needed in written communication. (2 marks)
Written communication provides records which can be kept by both the sender and the receiver.(2 marks)
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In what situation is a letter a better means of communication than a phone?(2 marks)
Answer:
A letter is a better means of communication than a phonewhen
the message contains important information in terms of legality. (1 mark)
the message is lengthy and complicated. (1 mark)
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Explain why large companies are more likely to have communication problems.(4 marks)
Answer:
Large organisations have more departments and staff. They usually have a lot of working procedures. When messages pass through layers of departments, communication problems are more likely to occur. The sender’s message may be distorted and delayed during the process of being transmittedto the receiver. (2 marks)
Large organisations usually have a complex organisational structure.The more complex the organisational structure is, the more difficult it is for the people in the organisation to communicate with each other. Therefore, large companies are more likely to have communication problems. (2 marks)
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How to overcome the barrier of filtering of information during the communication process?(4 marks)
Answer:
Filtering of information means the sender may purposely screen information to make the message pleasant to the receiver. To overcome this barrier, the sender of the message should be reliable. (2 marks)
The sender and receiver should build a trustful relationship. When people trust each other, they will communicate honestly. This prevents information from being filtered by the sender. The receiver can then receive all the information, whether it is good or bad. (2 marks)
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Explain why cost-effectiveness is a criterion of quality business information.(3 marks)
Answer:
Cost-effectiveness means that the benefits one gets must outweigh the cost of collecting the information. (1 mark)
Information is used by managers to make decisions and thus it should be gathered and processed at a reasonable cost. Otherwise, the company may suffer a loss and cannot benefit from the information collected. (2 marks)
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What are the advantages of using emails to transmit messages?(6 marks)
Answer:
Senders can transmit messages to receivers within seconds. (1.5 marks)
Messages can be stored and printed out if needed. Senders and receivers can keep a copy of the messages. (1.5 marks)
Senders can send messages to many receivers at a time.(1.5 marks)
Senders can also attach graphics files, audio and video files as well as text files to their emails.(1.5 marks)
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John worksat an international cosmetics company as a general manager.The international cosmetics company has 20 shops in Hong Kong. Every month, he reports to the USheadquarters about the sales of the company’s products in Hong Kong.
John also devotes a lot of time communicating with the shop managers. They have a sales meeting every month. At the sales meeting, they will discuss operational problems and try to work out solutions together. John also informs shop managers about the new company policiesat the sales meeting.
Today, John has a sales meeting as usual with the shop managers. Chantel, one of the shop managers, suggests that they should not meet so often. She suggests the shop manager should hand in a written report to John every month. Moreover, company policy can be conveyed to shop managers by email. The sales meeting should be cancelled.
(a)Identify the directions of communication in the following situations:
(i)John reports to the international manager at the USheadquarters about sales in Hong Kong.
(ii)John informs the shop managers about company policy.
(iii)Chantel asks John to cancel the sales meeting.
(iv)The shop managers hand in sales reports to John.
(v)The shop managers exchange opinionsafter the meeting about cancelling the sales meeting.(5 marks)
(b)How important is the sales meeting to the international cosmetics company?(6 marks)
(c)In what situation would a sales report be a better means of communication than a sales meeting?(3 marks)
(d)Give four reasons why John rejects Chantel’s idea to have the sales meeting replaced by a sales report and email.(8 marks)
Answer:
(a)(i)Upward communication(1 mark)
(ii)Downward communication(1 mark)
(iii)Upward communication(1 mark)
(iv)Upward communication(1 mark)
(v)Lateral communication(1 mark)
(b)
The sales meeting enables shop managers to coordinate their activities, exchange information and solve problems.
The sales meeting facilitates the management process. In daily operations, John must communicate frequently with the shop managers. e.g., he must give instructions to them, explain their duties and responsibilities, listen to their concerns and problems, monitor their performance, etc.
Communication can strengthen social ties and foster harmonious relationships among staff at the cosmetics company. The sales meeting helps establish social relationships. The performance of the cosmetics company would be improved.
The sales meeting transmits informationso that John can make decisions. As a result, John can better monitor and control the operations of the cosmetics company.
(Any three of the above, 2 marks each)
(c)
The message contains a lot of details and complicated concepts.(1 mark)
There are graphics and pictures with the message. (1 mark)
The receivers and the senders want to keep a record. (1 mark)
(d)
John will have to devote a lot of times to reading the sales reports of different shops. This is very time consuming.
Message cannot be transmitted quickly. It takes time for the shop managers to prepare the reports.
Two-way communication takes place at sales meetings and feedback can be encouraged. Shop managers may need to discuss the issue with John at the sales meeting. When John informs the shop manager about the company policy, he may want to listen to their concerns and have their feedback immediately.
The sales meeting serves to encourage lateral communication. The shop managers cannot communicate with each other if the sales meeting is cancelled. They may fail to coordinate their tasks, solve problems or share their working experience.
Feedback can be obtained almost immediatelyat a sales meeting. This allows the sender to make sure that the receiver has received the message. The sender can also check whether the message has been received correctly by the receivers. Sales reports and emailsare written communication and are one-way communication. Misunderstandings can occur.
Sales meetingsoffer two-way communication which can promote trustful relationships and mutual understanding between people.
(Any four of the above, 2 marks each)
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Silver Tiger Ltd is a public listed company, with more than 3,000 local staff in Hong Kong. Following the financial tsunami, Silver Tiger has been in financial trouble. The price of its stockhas plummeted drastically. It is rumoured that the company is going into liquidation. The newshas spread quickly in the company as emails are passed across levels and departments.
Recently, Silver Tiger Ltd’s sales performance has been even poorer. Moreover, employees are losing confidence in the company. In order to enhance their morale, the management at Silver Tiger Ltd wants to make it clear to the staff that the company will overcome its problems.
Bogle, anative English speaker and the CEO of Silver Tiger Ltd, decides to hold a staff meeting. He will give a speech to address rumours about the companyat the staff meeting. There will be a question-and-answer session afterwards. Martin, the human resources manager is responsible for organising the staff meeting.
(a)Identify the seven components of the communication process at the staff meeting.(7 marks)
(b)Martin has to inform the employees about the staff meeting which will be held in three days. What ICT devices allow him to do so? (2 marks)
(c)Bogle thinks that more information should be given to the Hong Kong staff. He will begin his speech with an introduction about Silver Tiger Ltd’s history. The English speech will run for two hours. Explain why Martin does not agree with Bogle in terms of the principle of effective communication. Describe how the principles of effective communication should be applied. (6 marks)
Answer:
(a)
The sender is Bogle. He will deliver the speech. (1 mark)
Encoding is the process of converting an idea into symbols. The idea of addressing rumoursabout the company is encoded into a speech. (1 mark)
The message is the physical product resulting from the encoding. In this case, the message is the speech. (1 mark)
The channel is the medium through which a message travels. Bogle uses a staff meeting as the channel to communicate messages to the employees. (1 mark)
Decoding is the process of translating a sender’s message. The employees will decode the messages from Bogle and try to understand them. (1 mark)
The employees of Silver Tiger Ltd are the receivers because the speech was delivered to them.(1 mark)
Bogle gets feedback from his employees when the employees ask him questions at the question-and-answer session. (1 mark)
(b)As there are a lot of receivers, Martin can use email to inform all of them within a short time. (2 marks)
(c)
Clarity: The sender should always use simple language. Most of the staff are Chinese. They may not understand English so well. The language may need to be translated. Bogle may employ a simultaneous interpreter to ensure that the employees can clearly understand the speech. (2 marks)
Conciseness: Before sending a message, Bogle must think about what the employees need to know. The employees may not be interested in the history of the company. They need to know whether the company will close down and whether they will be fired. Lengthy messages can cause confusion. Bogle should deliver a shorter speech. (2 marks)
Concreteness: The aim of the staff meeting is addressing various rumours. The company may have a history of success. However, this does not mean that it will do well now and in future. Bogle should make the purpose of the message clear.i.e., the company will not go into liquidation. He must make sure that the message contains useful facts,e.g., he can gather information about its competitors and inform employees about the relative strength of the company. (2 marks)
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Shirley is the owner of a snack shop. Her assistant, Jane, has just checked the stock for her. As some of the products are going to be out of stock, Shirley asks Jane to place an order with a supplier in Guangzhou.
Jane has prepared a list of new stock to order, including candy, chocolate, chips and chewing gum. She sends the purchase order by faxto the Guangzhou supplier. She then leaves the shop in a hurry.
A few days later, Shirley is angry to find that the stock has never arrived. Some of the shelves are already empty. She telephones the supplier herself. The supplier says that they have not received any purchase order from her.
(a)What factors should be considered in determiningasuitable form of communication? (4 marks)
(b)Evaluate Jane’s decision to send the purchase order by fax based on your answer in (a). (8 marks)
(c)How can the problem be avoided?(4 marks)
(d)In view of the problem, Shirley suggests that they should telephone the supplier to order the stock. There is no need to fax the order to the supplier. Explain to Shirley why this is not a good way to solve the problem. (3 marks)
Answer:
(a)The factors used to determine a suitable form of communication are:
The importance of the message
Complexity and length of the message
Speed of transmitting
Legality of communication
Requirement of feedback
(Any four of the above, 1 mark each)
(b)
Importance of the message: The placement of an order is very important. Any mistakes may lead to disruption of the shop’s operations.
Therefore, a fax can be a good form of written and formal communication in this case.However, Jane may also need to ensure that the supplier has received and clearly understood the purchase order; she must use two-way communication.
Complexity and length of the message: The purchase order may contain many details such as the quantity and price of the products. Thus written and two-way communication should be used.A fax serves as a good written communication. However, Jane failed to use two-way communication.
Speed of transmitting: If Jane wants to place the order quickly, she should use oral communication. Shirley needs the stock badly. As a written communication, faxing fails to fulfill her need.
Legality of communication: Written and formal communication is better than oral and informal communication in terms of legality. In order to avoid disputes in future, written communication is recommended.
Requirement of feedback: It is important to know whether the supplier has received the purchase order or not. Moreover, Jane should also find out whether the supplier has clearly understood the purchase order. Two-way communication should be used.Jane failed to get feedback from the supplier.
(Any four of the above, 2 marks each)
(c)
After Jane has faxed the purchase order to the supplier, she should contact the supplier again by phone. (2 marks)
She should ask the supplier to confirm the purchase order orally, by email, SMS or fax. By obtaining feedback, Jane can easily find out whether the supplier understood the purchase order clearly. (2 marks)
(d)If Shirley places the order orally by phone, there will be no written record. Written communication such as letters, documents and contracts can be used in court when legal action is needed. If disputes arise in future, it will be difficult for Shirley to provide evidence. (3 marks)
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Mr Chan is the CEO of a famous international hotel, Prestige Hotel. During an interview with the Times, he said,
“The key toour success is internal communication. We have built up a trustful relationship between the staff and the company. The management of the company will trytheir best to understand the concerns of the staff, and the problems they face in their jobs.We also collect their new ideas and feedback on a regular basis.
Prestige Hotel has its own intranet to keep the staff informed of everything that is going on. Recently, we have also made use of a chatroom and ICQ to enhance communication. Thanks to advancesin technology, we have improved our communication between the company and the staff a lot. The efficiency of the hotel has been greatly enhanced.”
(a)Explain how internal communication can enhance the efficiency of the hotel. (6 marks)
(b)Intranets have grown in popularity in recent years. List three advantages of using an intranet.(6 marks)
(c)As Mr Chan’s competitors read the above news, they follow what Mr Chan has been doing. This year, Mr Chan intends to further enhance internal communications. Suggest two methods that he can consider. (4 marks)
Answer:
(a)
The management tries to understand the needs and problems faced by the staff. Employees feel that management is concerned about their needs. They are likely to support the management in return. The morale of the employees is enhanced.
New ideas and feedback are welcomed by the management. Employees feel that the company values their opinions. The company can win the support of its employees. Employees will be motivated to work harder. As a result, employee productivity will increase.
Employees understand what is going on in the hotelbecause of the intranet. This helpsreduce mistakes and delays caused by misunderstandings that occur from ineffective communication.
Employees can communicate with each other by chatroom and ICQ. They can better coordinate among themselves, exchange information and solve problems together.
(Any three of the above, 2 marks each)
(b)
Company information can be put on the intranet so that employees can obtain information quickly. Decisions made by senior management can be announced on the intranet and all employees can be informed immediately. (2 marks)
Employees can gain access to the company’s databases and documents not only at the office but also anywhere in the world. (2 marks)
Employees can easily communicate and share information with each other over the intranet. This facilitates collaboration between employees in different departments or companies within a group, particularly those living in other countries. (2 marks)
(c)
He can design a better officelayout to enhance internal communication.
He can write a blog to communicate with employees.
He can organise more social functions for his employees. This can strengthen social ties and foster harmonious relationships with one another.