Questions and Answers of Business Communication Essentials

The next time you’re involved in a difficult conversation, check in with yourself by asking the questions in Figure 7. Try to reflect intellectually, emotionally, and physically. What does your
Think about a time when you felt you belonged. What contributed to your feeling this way? In other words, what did you and others do? Think about a time when you didn’t feel you belonged. What
Watch a segment of a movie, series, or TV show in which someone has a closed mindset. How is this person unfairly judging another? Write down examples that demonstrate failing humility and other
In small groups, look at a few pictures of people. Identify only what you see, for example, that someone is wearing a blue shirt, leaning forward, or looking sideways. Try not to include any
Identify parts of your resume that might lead to bias in the hiring process. Assume the worst: that someone is biased against your name, address, dates, hobbies, interests, volunteer work, and/or
You’re a candidate for a new job and ask to meet your prospective team. You’re glad you did because no one on the team is like you; you are the only ______________. (Fill in the blank.) What is
As you watch movies or other shows this week, notice examples of conflicts. For each, identify the type of conflict—task, relationship, or values. How do people work through them? How do they
Think about a team conflict you had in the past. Or, if you’re working as part of a team now, discuss a conflict you had. Identify whether it was a task, relationship, or values conflict. How did
Talk with a partner in class about a conflict you’re currently experiencing. Walk through the questions in Figure 4 about ambiguity, vulnerability, and loss to decide whether to engage in the
Imagine that one of your team members submitted her section of a report for a class project, but you suspect it’s not the student’s own work. In a footnote on the last page are someone else’s
Using the scenario described in Exercise 8, have the student leading the discussion follow the steps for encouraging a dialogue. Start the conversation, listen actively and openly, share your
Use the process described in Exercises 8 and 9 to plan and role-play another situation. Imagine that a coworker’s behavior falls into the “obnoxious aggression” category of radical candor.
Think about a situation you may have been avoiding. Use the steps in Figure 5 to prepare yourself to have a difficult conversation. Before choosing a time and place, talk with a partner about your
Find and compare diversity, inclusion, and/or belonging statements from two or three of your favorite companies. Answer the following questions, and then share your responses with another student:●
In small groups, discuss how you feel about using inclusive language, for example, the advice in Figure 12. Allow space for everyone to be honest and respectful of different points of view. For
With a classmate, describe a time each of you were misjudged because of your affiliation or identity. Next, describe a time when you misjudged someone else. What are the similarities and differences
Imagine that a colleague is traveling abroad and wants your advice. With a classmate, choose one country that neither of you knows well. Prepare a short email with suggestions about greetings,
Choose a large, global company and explore its website. Do you find multiple versions of the company’s site for different countries? In what ways does the company adapt its writing style, use of
Choose two countries and compare their cultures at https://www.hofstede-insights.com/ product/compare-countries. What similarities and differences do you notice? What, if anything, surprises you?
If your country of origin is different from where you’re studying, you may volunteer to describe the culture to the class. Or you may volunteer if you have traveled to another country. Answer the
Describe two approaches for shifting your mindset.
Define three types of conflict common in business environments and how to approach each.
Apply steps to engage in a difficult conversation in a business situation.
Identify ways to adapt language to audiences to honor differences.
Compare how people in high- and low-context countries communicate.
What has been your experience with writing? Think about a few pivotal projects or assignments throughout your life. What feedback have you received about your writing from family, friends, coworkers,
In Figure 20, rate how you feel about your writing. When you finish, consider how your responses affect your writing. How can you dispel negative messages and shift your thinking about yourself and
As you’re working through your next writing assignment, document how you spend time and how confident you feel at each step of the writing process. Use the chart in Figure 21.Figure 21You might
Consider why you experience writer’s block, if you do. What could be getting in your way of enjoying the writing process more?
Do you tend to rush through the process of analyzing your audience? Do you sometimes feel as though you know best what information to include and how to present it? If so, what could prevent you from
Spend 10 minutes freewriting—continuously, without judgment—about a current assignment. How do you feel about the assignment and your work so far? What issues are you facing? What are your plans
Review the Peloton situation and email in Figure 3. Imagine that you’re an executive coach for the CEO of Peloton. Describe the steps in the writing process that he should take to ensure that
Find a company message you consider to be a failure. What steps in the writing process may have been missed? For example, is the purpose not specific; the audience not well defined; the organization
Imagine that you work for a wealth management firm, which manages financial assets for individuals. You have a prospective new client, whose previous financial manager was her brother-in-law, who
Your college is merging with another local college. Identify the many audiences affected by this decision—both internal and external to the college. Who needs to know about the change? Once you
If you were a business communication instructor and received this email from a student, how would you react? Analyze your instructor as an audience for this student’s message and consider changes
When a football team changed its name from the Washington Redskins, the leaders had many audiences to consider. Find articles to read more about the story, and then list the audiences who would have
Prepare for your next writing assignment by putting your ideas on coggle.it. Use one of their designs without paying. Practice writing freely, organizing your thoughts, and moving main and subpoints
Read the following situations and write a general-purpose statement and a specific communication objective—the results you want—for each.● As the manager of a small retail clothing store, you
For the situations in Exercise 9, imagine what the audience reaction might be and write a sequential outline of your points. Explain why you chose the order you did.Exercise 9Read the following
Working in groups of three or four—without censoring your ideas—come up with as many new ice cream flavors as you can. Make a list of all the suggestions, and then share your list with the other
Prepare to write a review of a product you used or purchased recently. Use the process outlined in this chapter:● Brainstorm ideas. What do you think is important to include in your review? Draw a
Now that you have your outline for Exercise 12, draft your product review. Practice freewriting for this activity to avoid moving to the revision stage too quickly. Don’t worry about formatting for
Using the principles discussed for effective email communication, write a draft email to members of an organization to which you belong. This can be real or imagined—a sports team, fraternity or
Imagine that you work for your favorite company and have been asked to write a few entries on their blog. Write three short posts (about 50 words each). Write one post about an upcoming national
With a small group, select a keyword that interests you. Search for the word in any search engine and analyze the results. When you follow pages that rank highly, note how they use the word, for
Look at one of your favorite websites. Evaluate whether the site meets accessibility guidelines outlined in this chapter. What criteria are met, and what, if anything, should the designers do to make
Look at the same website you evaluated in Exercise 19. Now consider the design. Which reading pattern seems to drive the design? Where are the most important elements, and how does the design draw
Browse a few websites to find good examples of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity. With a small group, discuss how these principles improve the site design and your user experience.
Find a dense document that has little white space and few headings or graphics. You might look at a legal court filing, a company’s privacy statement, or an apartment lease. How could you redesign
Revise your draft email to the student organization. What changes will you make to improve the message? Follow these steps for the revision process:a. Read the email once, revising for content. Make
Exchange draft emails (from Exercise 23) with other students in class (so that you’re not revising the paper of the person who is revising yours). Using the process described in Exercise 23, revise
Bring in a one-page message (email, memo, or letter) you have written in the past. Exchange papers with other students (so that you’re not revising the paper of the person who is revising yours).
Proofread the following lines of a letter using the line numbers to indicate the position of each error. Proofread for content, typographical errors, and format. For each error, indicate by a
Review the following passage and see how many errors you can find. Look for spelling, formatting, and punctuation errors.
Describe steps in the business process.
Answer five questions to analyze a business audience.
Describe one approach to organizing your ideas for a message.
Identify differences between writing emails and writing for the web.
Explain four principles for designing documents and websites.
Apply steps to revise and proofread a business message.
Think about a topic you know well, for example, a stock or investment, a business, a video game, a sport or hobby, a political issue, or an academic area. Write an email to someone who is also an
How would you describe your typical writing style? Now that you learned guidelines for business writing, how willing are you to flex your style to meet the needs of your audience? In what ways is it
Some students find learning business writing frustrating because they believe they can’t be creative. Do you feel this way? Business messages do follow some standard formats. Try to identify ways
Think about a time when someone felt hurt or offended by something you wrote. This could be a business, school, or personal situation. What did the person say about your writing? How would you
Find an email that you received recently from a company or organization. Analyze the writing style by looking carefully at the words, sentences, paragraphs, and tone. How do you describe the style?
Read these paragraphs, which are from the retailer BJ’s website during the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the major style issues?We are here to serve you in these challenging times. BJ’s provides
Imagine that you’re trying to convince world leaders to develop initiatives to reduce food waste. You found this information: Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human
Rewrite to clarify these sentences:a. The actor was accosted after the play by a young man.b. To become a policy, the management team must agree unanimously.c. After attending the meeting, the
By how many words can you reduce this paragraph without changing the meaning? New York City is the most natural choice of a location for an innovative restaurant like Fellerton. It is no secret that
Find any legal document, for example, one of the many privacy or user agreements you click through to use apps. Copy the original text, and then revise it for clarity and conciseness. By how many
Copy a few paragraphs from an article in a major online newspaper. In a new document, identify whether each sentence is simple, complex, or compound. Find the percentage of simple, complex, and
Place a number (from 1 to 7) next to each sentence to represent its position within the paragraph. The broadest statement will be the first sentence—the topic sentence.
Place a number (from 1 to 8) next to each sentence to represent its position within the paragraph. The broadest statement will be the first sentence—the topic sentence.
Revisit the Honda Accord paragraph in Exercise 18. Now that you have sentences in a logical order, add transitions to improve coherence.Exercise 18Place a number (from 1 to 7) next to each sentence
Hi Raj, I’m wondering whether you enjoyed our first shipment of organic vegetables that we dropped off last week. Did you receive them? How did they look and taste to you?If you would like to
In small groups, discuss text messages you received recently that caused misunderstandings. What was the situation and what went wrong? If you can, share the messages to gauge how your classmates
Revise this note to convey a better tone. This can be casual and fun but try to build a better relationship. To Apartment 4, You guys are so inconsiderate. You’re way too noisy and keep me up all
Revisit BJ’s website in Exercise 2. You probably noticed that every sentence starts with “we.” Revise the text using “you” to focus on the customer instead.Exercise 2Read these paragraphs,
Identify four principles of writing style.
Explain ways to choose the best words for a business message.
Write three types of sentences.
Describe components of a logical paragraph.
Compare examples of appropriate and inappropriate tone.
If you have business experience, either as an intern or a full-time employee for a company, do you relate to negative stereotypes about work? How did you contribute to the culture—either positively
Have you experienced anxiety on Sundays or another day of the week in anticipation of the next work or school day? What were the circumstances? What patterns did you observe when this happened, and
Within how many minutes or hours, on average, do you respond to email? Does your answer vary for different contexts, for example, work, school, volunteer, or club/organization email? How would others
Think about someone who had a positive influence on your life—a former teacher, coach, pastor, friend, relative, etc. Write a thank-you note following the guidelines in this chapter. Reflect on the
Think about a recent time when someone close to you suffered a tragedy. Did you write a sympathy note or offer compassion in a different way?Reflect on the experience. Did offering compassion come
In small groups, describe your ideal work environment. Try to be specific. Identify the people, the office or home space, and the work itself. If you had to prioritize, what would be most important?
With a partner, describe the best and worst manager you have had. If you haven’t had work experience, think about a coach, teacher, or someone else who inspired you to be your best—and another
Review the past 50 or so emails or texts you received. Place them in categories: neutral, positive, sales/persuasive, bad news, and others. What conclusions can you draw based on the types of
Read the neutral messages you received recently, identified in Exercise 3. Where is the main point in each? What percentage of the messages include the main point up front?Analyze the messages that
Whether you’re graduating this year or a few years from now, you may want to join a local alumni organization. Write an email to the head of the alumni association in the area you might live.
Find a company’s website that provides a form for submitting questions or requests online. Complete the form and analyze the process with a classmate. How easily could you find and complete the
In small groups, discuss a request you received that you didn’t fulfill. Provide context, including relevant background about the person making the request, your situation at the time, and what the
Imagine that your favorite high school teacher asks you to speak to the junior class. You receive the following email:Write a response to your high school teacher to accept the invitation. Next,
Imagine that you’re a store manager for a local Costco. Brian, one of the sales associates who reports to you, has a reputation of going above and beyond to help customers. You just received a copy
Imagine that you just received an offer for a summer internship. You got the job through someone you know, who connected you to the hiring manager to discuss possibilities at the company.Write an
Think about someone you know who recently suffered a significant loss—e.g., a job, a health issue, a divorce, or a death. Write a message that you can send as a handwritten note or in an email.

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