Questions

1. Why are communication skills important for your career in relation to the changing
nature of employment?.

2. How would multiple messages interfere with the process of communication and lead to a
misunderstanding?

3. Message for Analysis: Analyzing Communication Effectiveness [LO-1] Read the

following blog posting, and then (1) analyze whether the message is effective or
ineffective (be sure to explain why) and (2) revise the message so that it follows this
chapter’s guidelines.

It has come to my attention that many of you are lying on your time cards. If you come in
late, you should not put 8:00 on your card. If you take a long lunch, you should not put
1:00 on your time card. I will not stand for this type of cheating. I simply have no choice
but to institute an employee monitoring system. Beginning next Monday, video cameras
will be installed at all entrances to the building, and your entry and exit times will be
logged each time you use electronic key cards to enter or leave. Anyone who is late for
work or late coming back from lunch more than three times will have to answer to me. I
don’t care if you had to take a nap or if you girls had to shop. This is a place of business,
and we do not want to be taken advantage of by slackers who are cheaters to boot. It is
too bad that a few bad apples always have to spoil things for everyone.

Practice YOU-VIEW POINT

1. I want to send my congratulations …

2. We will ship the goods by May 8.
3. We pay 2 percent interest on savings accounts.
4. We allow 2 percent discount for cash payments.
5. This is just the kind of job I am looking for, since it offers me a chance to get practical
experience that will help me open my own firm.
6. We value your patronage, for satisfied customers are the foundation of our success.
7. Since we have our own obligations to meet, we must ask your immediate attention to
your past-due account.
8. We do not send receipts, because of the extra work involved for us; of course, you have
your canceled checks anyway.
 9. We hope to have the pleasure of showing you what we think is the finest assortment of
Italian boots in the city.
10. I wish to tell you that we are sending your new coat tomorrow.

ONE - WAY COMMUNICATION

Work in groups of six. One person is to send a one-way message to the others in the group. The
sender is to stand with their back to the receivers. The receivers are to sit facing the sender’s
back.
The sender describes the illustration below.
The receivers are individually to draw the sender’s description of the illustration on a sheet of
paper without speaking or asking questions of the sender or the other receivers. Communication
is to be one way only.
Compare each other’s drawing of the illustration.
Discuss in your groups the reasons for the inconsistencies between one another’s drawing and
the original.
What makes one-way communication ineffective?
Discuss the role of feedback in the communication process.