Questions:
Communication Situations
1. What are five communications situations in which this medium could be appropriately used?
a. Sending a short report to a co-worker
b. Placing an order with a supplier
c. Sending the results of a medical test to a doctor's office
d. Providing the agenda to attendees in advance of a meeting
e. Sending an assignment to an instructor's home
2. What are two communications situations in which it would be inappropriate to use this medium?
a. Notifying employees of a company layoff
b. Sending personal messages in an office environment
3. What are five non-verbal communications elements characteristic of this medium?
a. The resolution with which the fax was sent (e.g., standard, fine, halftone)
b. Whether the message is typed, hand written, or printed
c. The writing style of the sender
d. The font and type size used in the message
e. The physical layout of the message elements on the page
4. What types of noise is this communications medium subject to (e.g., anything in the environment that delays, distorts, or destroys the message)?
a. Corruption of the message data being transmitted to the receiving fax
b. The receiving fax being out of paper
c. The fax message being illegible
d. The fax not being delivered to the right person
e. The fax line being busy
5. What types of feedback are possible with this medium?
a. The receiver can send a return fax
b. The sending fax could print a report that told the sender the distant fax had received the message (but not whether the message had been read or understood)
c. The receiver could send a message via another medium telling the sender the message had been received and understood
6. What are five communication skills necessary to effectively use this medium?
a. The capacity to provide accurate information in written form
b. The ability to compose a coherent and understandable written message
c. The capability to determine the information needs of the receiver
d. The ability to create a readable document
e. An understanding of the urgency, or lack thereof, with which the faxed information is needed
7. Is this medium appropriate for sending an urgent message? Explain.
This medium could be used for and urgent message if the sender knows that the receiver is present and waiting to receive the message. If this is not the case, the sender must be able to accept a delay in the delivery of the message.
Communications Scenarios
State which medium or media you consider the best for use in the following communications situations. You may assume your intended audience has the capability to receive your message. Explain your choices.
? You have an urgent message for a co-worker who is out of the office visiting a customer's location.
I would use a pager, rather than, say, a cellular telephone. With a pager, I could let my co-worker know that she was urgently needed, without putting her in the embarrassing situation of having to answer her cell phone while possibly in a meeting with her customer.
Another possibility could be to phone the customer's office and ask for my co-worker to be found and told she had an urgent message.