1.8 End of Chapter Activities
1a. Thinking About the Content
What are your key takeaways from this chapter? What is something you have learned or something you would like to add from your experience?
1b. Review Questions
Discussion Questions
- Recall one time you felt offended or insulted in a conversation. What contributed to your perception?
- When someone lost your trust, were they able to earn it back?
- Does the communicator have a responsibility to the audience? Does the audience have a responsibility to the speaker? Why or why not?
1c. Applying chapter concepts to a situation
Communicating with a Supervisor
Mako is an international student enrolled in a post-degree program in Vancouver. She has been working at a grocery store for the past three months on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when she doesn’t have class. Mako enjoys working at the grocery store and gets along well with her colleagues and supervisor. Customers often comment on her professionalism and friendliness and she has noticed that her communication skills have improved.
When she applied for the job and filled out her available hours, she made sure to state that she could only work a maximum of 20 hours per week as an international student. She mentioned it once more during the interview and was told it would not be a problem.
Since then her supervisor has asked her to work overtime in a few instances to accommodate a colleague who was running late. That was not a problem. However, recently her supervisor asked if she could pick up an extra shift for two weeks because one colleague was out sick. Mako is not comfortable working so many hours over her maximum, but she is worried her supervisor might be upset and think she is not a team player.
What should Mako do? How should she communicate her decision to her supervisor?
1d. Summary Writing
Read this article from Salesforce.com on the 10 Must-Have Communication Skills for Business Success. Summarize the article and identify which of these skills you would like to improve.