Interpersonal Communication

Course link: Interpersonal Skills with Cultural Knowledge & Intrapersonal Awareness (linkedin.com)

Interpersonal Communication

Practice Quiz

1. Communicating with Your Colleagues

1. Your largest client prefers to have all communication by email, even though the client does not always reply promptly. What should you do?

Continue using email, but follow-up with phone calls.

Use the phone for time-sensitive communication.

Continue using email to communicate with the client.

Use the phone for brief questions.

2. How should you best express gratitude to someone who has done a favor for you?

Explain why the favor was important to you.

Acknowledge the favor with a financial reward.

Acknowledge the favor with a thank you.

Explain why the favor is important to the person doing the favor.

3. You ask your colleague Li for another favor, since you have asked her for favors before and she has complied. Why might Li be reluctant to help you this time?

You have not built up a favor bank with Li.

You present the favor as an urgent request.

Li feels you have been taking her for granted.

2. Communicating with Your Supervisor

1. What is meant by a meta-conversation with a supervisor, when you are taking the first step in asking for guidance?

It is a conversation regarding the best places to look for guidance.

It is a conversation regarding the type of guidance you are seeking.

It is a conversation regarding the scope and responsibilities of your job.

It is a conversation regarding how you will have conversations.

2. Once you have learned a project’s priority, which step should you take next to effectively manage expectations?

Seek time estimates from your supervisor.

Know where the project falls in importance among other projects.

Create time estimates for the project components.

Understand the deadlines for every project component.

3. Why should you always share your opinion with management, even if you know management will disagree?

You can share your professional opinion, while excluding your personal feelings.

You will feel better, and you can persuade management to adopt your position.

You will feel better, and you will do your duty to the organization.

You will do your duty to the organization, which protects you from being disciplined.

4. It is your first meeting on a project team you have been added to. The project is a new quiet-motor dishwasher. You worked on a similar product with your previous employer. Should you talk or listen?

You should talk, so you can establish your credentials with the new team.

You should talk, because you have recent related experience that can help the team.

You should listen, so you do not appear like a know-it-all that will demean the team’s efforts.

You should listen, so you can get an understanding of the team’s dynamic.

5. A good strategy for asking your boss the right questions is to create a PowerPoint of your project execution plan. What makes this a good strategy?

It will get your boss’s buy-in for the plan that you have spent time writing down and charting out.

It lets you ask your boss whether you are missing anything, after doing the planning work that is expected of you.

It lets you ask whether there is anything your boss would like to see in your execution plan.

It will show your boss that you have established the project’s priorities.

3 . Communicating in Tricky Situations

1. You know you are going to receive a poor performance evaluation in your position as department manager due to some problems that were beyond your control. What should you do?

Map out a worst-case scenario, with specific evidence of how others were to blame.

Avoid preparing in advance, so your responses will be spontaneous and honest.

Avoid the problems, and highlight your total performance over the evaluation period.

Map out a worst-case scenario, with draft responses and an action plan.

2. You are working with a international project team, and the timeline is slipping to the point where deadlines might be missed. You need to communicate the situation to your European and Asian teams while being sensitive to the cultural differences between the teams. What is the best way to phrase the situation for the Asian team?

We’re working hard, and I know this is a difficult timeline.

The timeline is slipping, and we need to catch up.

The project is in trouble, and it will not be ready on time.

I’m becoming concerned about this project’s timetable.

3. Your US company’s culture is addressing both colleagues and friends by their first names. This being said, should you address your higher-ranking Chinese regional manager Huan by his first name?

No; you will come off looking presumptuous and disrespectful.

Yes; informality is desirable in most Asian cultures.

Yes; employees in your company need to adopt your company’s US culture.

No; you would have had to build a personal relationship with Huan first.

4. Introverts typically have a tendency to freeze up when called on in a meeting. If you are an introvert, how can you best avoid this?

Avoid having the meeting moderator call on you.

Try to be the first person to speak up.

Take good notes during the meeting.

Create a set of talking points before the meeting.

5. How can you proactively prepare yourself to be open for feedback?

Make it a point to stop asking anyone for feedback.

Stop paying attention to feedback from people at a parallel level to yours.

Determine whose feedback you should pay attention to.

Start by developing an immunity to unsolicited advice.

6. You appoint an interruption monitor who informs you that your presentations are frequently interrupted. How should you proceed with this information?

Identify the individuals who interrupt you the most.

Leave the presentations to another meeting facilitator.

Set up brainstorming sessions prior to the meeting.

Have the monitor shut down the interruptions.

7. How do business people in the United States and Canada view personal relationships while conducting business?

Personal relationships are secondary to the business that is conducted.

It is important that business is being conducted fairly and ethically.

Personal relationships must be established before business conversations take place.

It is important that both parties leave the table knowing they have gained something.

Final Exam

1. When is it better to have a phone conversation with a colleague?

when the topic involves an emotional conversation

when the information you need to convey is simple

when your colleague tends to be wordy in emails

when you need to ensure your colleague receives certain information

2. How can you best describe the “irony” of interpersonal communication in the technology age?

The advances in technology actually increase the chances of miscommunication.

The technology age actually provides fewer ways for people to communicate.

The advances in technology have reduced the chances for miscommunication.

The technology age has led to lesser competitive advantage in having strong communication skills.

3. You are brought onto a project team that has worked together for a few months. You have ideas for how the team can work together more effectively. Is the first meeting the time to speak or to listen?

It is the time to speak, so you can start moving the team in your desired direction.

It is the time to listen, because you are not in a position where you can add anything.

It is the time to listen and observe the team dynamic, and then you can contribute later on.

It is the time to speak, because otherwise the team will wonder why you are there.

4. A great time to speak up in a group is when you have _____.

a reputation for great ideas

something to prove

no background information

relevant experience

5. When you’re asking for a favor, it’s first important to explain _____.

what the other person owes you

the penalty

the power dynamics

the context

6. In the business world, what is the most important aspect you can apply from having knowledge of interpersonal communication?

Understand how to resolve problems resulting from miscommunication.

Be able to speak with individuals across various cultures.

Understand how to find your voice in meetings and presentations.

Be able to mitigate miscommunications before they happen.

7. To most honestly respond to adverse feedback and show you accept it, what should you do?

Respond to the feedback immediately, to show the feedback was meaningful to you.

Respond to the feedback immediately, and present your side based on whatever the feedback states.

Acknowledge receiving the feedback, and then respond after taking time to digest it.

Pay less attention to the feedback, and instead aim your response at the person providing it.

8. One of the best questions you can ask is, “What can I be doing that’s most _____ right now?”

helpful

high profile

big picture

efficient

9. If you’re an introvert, you can communicate more effectively in meetings by using this strategy.

all of these answers

Enlist a friend to help you get heard.

Email your thoughts to participants beforehand.

Create talking points to guide you.

10. When your boss is hard to pin down, the first thing to do is _____.

ask how she’d like to communicate

implement weekly meetings

email your questions to her

ask her boss for guidance

11. As you are speaking with a new client in person, you observe some odd facial expressions. What should you conclude from this?

These are hints that the client would like you to change the subject.

These are cues that you should take as hints, along with other information.

These are cues indicating the client is not interested in what you are saying.

These are cues indicating the client is trying to decide whether or not to believe you.

12. As you are making a presentation to management personnel, nearly every management attendee continually interrupts you. This is most likely occurring because _____.

you are running over the allotted time for the presentation

it is your company’s culture

it is an invitation for a one-on-one follow-up

the attendees lack interest

13. During a meeting you are conducting, one of your team members continually interrupts. Before you respond angrily after the sixth interruption, what should you do?

Step back and ask yourself why you are being interrupted.

Tell the team member you do not appreciate the interruptions.

Tell the team member again that a Q&A will occur after your presentation.

Stop talking and let the team member take over the meeting.

14. Which of these is a sign of ‘closed’ body language?

all of these answers

crossed arms

hunched over

hands covering midsection

15. The first step in managing expectations is asking your boss about his/her _____

priorities

passion projects

deadlines

past experiences

16. What is an example of the psychological term “leakage” pertaining to nonverbal cues when you are talking to another person?

the person’s eyes rolling as you are talking

the person’s closed body language displaying nervousness

the person’s face showing visible signs of contempt

the person’s feet pointed toward the door when you are talking

17. Your office is in Chicago and your Southeast Asia office is in Okinawa, a twelve-hour time difference. An urgent matter comes up in the middle of the afternoon. How should you relay the information?

You should send an email, because your colleague will likely not appreciate a phone call at 3:00 in the morning.

You should make a phone call, because the matter is urgent and your colleague will understand.

You should send an email, because it gives your colleague a chance to digest the information before responding.

You should make a phone call, because urgent matters cannot be properly stated in an email.

18. If your colleague is from a culture that values separation between the personal and professional, you might consider _____.

sticking to business

inviting him out to dinner

suggesting a double date

asking about his family