IIA IIA Certifications IIA-CIA-PART3 Questions & Answers

• Question 491:

  Organizational characteristics that may be barriers to effective communications include all of the following except:

  A. Organizational status differences.

  B. Lack of formal channels.

  C. Listening problems.

  D. Departmental needs and goals.

  Correct Answer: C

  Listening problems are personal characteristics, not organizational characteristics that may cause communication problems.

• Question 492:

  Which of the following is false with regard to email policies?

  A. Employees may use informal writing because email is often informal in nature.

  B. Employees should understand that the organization has a legal right to monitor the employees' use of the email system.

  C. Filters should be used to protect against spam.

  D. Emails should be concisely written.

  Correct Answer: A

  The principles of good writing still apply to emails. Therefore, emails should be written like any other formal communication within the organization.

• Question 493:

  Which of the following is a potential disadvantage to listening by a manager?

  A. Demonstrates concern for subordinates by the manager.

  B. Concentration may be focused on the words spoken to the exclusion of the ideas.

  C. Gain more information about the workplace.

  D. May result in higher employee morale.

  Correct Answer: B

  If a manager is focused on the words spoken by someone else and not the intended ideas, there is a decoding problem. Effective listening requires understanding the message the communicating party is trying to convey.

• Question 494:

  An individual who has been formally assigned the task of facilitating communication through a variety of media is sometimes called a:

  A. Gatekeeper.

  B. Liaison.

  C. Opinion leader.

  D. Channel selector.

  Correct Answer: B

  A liaison, or media liaison, is an individual in an organization who has been formally assigned the job of facilitating communication. This is usually in the form of a public relations liaison, but in large organizations, internal communication could also be a part of the job.

• Question 495:

  Which one of the following will not help overcome communication problems between the Accounting Department and other departments?

  A. Interdepartmental task forces.

  B. Cross traininand job rotation.

  C. Organization-wide social events.

  D. A performance appraisal prepared by your immediate supervisor.

  Correct Answer: D

  Horizontal communication between departments is often subject to more problems than either upward or downward communication within a single department. Examples of these problems include the use of technical terms understood by only one side in the communication process, faulty channel selection, and interpersonal problems. To overcome these difficulties, the sender must encode the message in the context of the receiver's perceptions; that is, the sender mustunderstand the receiver. The sender must establish an interpersonal climate that encourages the elimination of interpersonal barriers to communication. A performance appraisal prepared by the accountant's supervisor will not help the accountant understand the perceptions of people in other departments.

• Question 496:

  Which of the following actions is most likely to minimize the effect of perceptual errors?

  A. The sender should ensure that the receiver understands the message by allowing onlyonewaycommunication.

  B. The receiver should consider how the sender decodes the message.

  C. The sender alone should minimize noise in the flow of communication.

  D. The receiver should try to understand the sender's perspective.

  Correct Answer: D

  Perceptual errors can be minimized in several ways, including feedback from the receiver concerning his/ her perceptions and interpretations of the message, understanding of the sender's perspective by the receiver, the sender's sensitivity to the receiver's problems, and implementation of a training program to improve communication skills throughout the company.

• Question 497:

  Which of the following perceptual errors is the tendency for one party to attribute his/her traits to the other party when communicating?

  A. Expectancy.

  B. Projection.

  C. The halo effect.

  D. Stereotyping.

  Correct Answer: B

  Perception is the process used to adapt the message to the receiver during encoding or to interpret the message from the sender when decoding. Perceptual errors cause misinterpretation of the intended message. Projection is the tendency for the sender to attribute his/her traits, values, and emotions to the receiver and vice versa.

• Question 498:

  Select an additional deficiency in the communication chain.

  A. The receiver of the communication was inappropriate; the personnel department should have received the memorandum and then informed the buyer.

  B. The message is improperly encoded because the buyer does not know why the termination is to be completed.

  C. Because the supervisor and buyer have conflicting vacation schedules, no possibility exists for feedback.

  D. The supervisor should not be the sender of the memorandum; the personnel department is the appropriate source.

  Correct Answer: C

  The communications process has five elements:1) the sender of the message, 2) symbols used to encode the message, ) the medium chosen to send the message, 4) the receiver of the message, and 5) feedback acknowledging interpretation of the message by the receiver. Because the supervisor and buyer have conflicting vacation schedules, no possibility exists for feedback, and the buyer is not referred to anyone else in the organization for any additional information.

• Question 499:

  What link in the communications chain is defective?

  A. The meaning of the message would be unclear to the buyer.

  B. The supervisor chose the wrong channel for the communication.

  C. The supervisor should not be the source of this type of communication.

  D. The supervisor did not account for the noise in the communication chain.

  Correct Answer: B

  In the communications process, the medium is the channel through which the communication flows. The defect in this case was the channel chosen to inform the employee of his/her loss of job. The supervisor should have spoken directly with the employee. The supervisor ofpurchasing reviewed a memorandum prepared for a buyer in the department. The memo read, "Effective September 30, the corporation has determined that your functions will be absorbed into our parent company's small-unit purchasing function.

  This will reduce operating costs, improve communications, and facilitate production engineering changes. You will be provided with outplacement support." That should cover the situation," thought the supervisor. Its too bad that I am leaving on vacation before the buyer returns from vacation, but this memo will give the buyer the general idea."

• Question 500:

  All of the following statements about communication are false except:

  A. Managers spend more of the workday involved in written communication than oral communication.

  B. Written communication encourages feedback.

  C. Breakthroughs in electronic technology will blur the distinctions between written and oral communications.

  D. The grapevine rarely provides accurate information.

  Correct Answer: C

  Breakthroughs in electronic technology may lead to oral messages being recorded and subsequently written out. The supervisor of purchasing reviewed a memorandum prepared for a buyer in the department. The memo read, "Effective September 30, the corporation has determined that your functions will be absorbed into our parent company's small-unit purchasing function. This will reduce operating costs, improve communications, and facilitate production engineering changes. You will be provided with outplacement support." That should cover the situation," thought the supervisor. Its too bad that I am leaving on vacation before the buyer returns from vacation, but this memo will give the buyer the general idea."