The Association of Business Executives

QCF
Introduction to Business
Communication
Thursday 11 June 2015, Afternoon

1. Time allowed: 3 hours.

2. Read the instructions at the top of each section carefully.

3. Follow the recommended timing guide for each question.

4. No books, dictionaries, notes or any other written materials are allowed in this
examination.

5. Calculators, including scientific calculators, are allowed provided they are not
programmable and cannot store or recall information. All other electronic devices,
including mobile phones, are not permitted.

6. Candidates who break ABE Examination Regulations will be disqualified from the
examinations.

7. Question papers must not be removed from the examination room.

Structure of paper: Answer both sections

Section A: Answer all seven questions Q1

Q2
Q3
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7

Section B: Answer one question Either Q8 or Q9

4IBC0615 ABE 2015 F/600/0593

 This paper consists of two sections.
Follow the instructions at the top of each section.

Section A
You must answer all seven questions in this section.
You should spend approximately 20 minutes on each question.

Q1 Explain the meaning of any four of the following terms, showing how they apply to business:

(i) Celebrity endorsement

(ii) GPS
(iii) Hot desking
(iv) A middle man
(v) Mute button
(vi) PR
(vii) Scam
(viii) Temping

Q2 You are the manager of a small business in a busy part of town. There is a private gate into
your compound. A new firm has recently opened nearby, and you have noticed that some of
the workers from that firm are using your compound as a short cut on their way to and from
the new office. Last week you telephoned the manager of the new company to ask her to
stop her employees from doing this, but it is still happening.

You have decided to write a letter to the manager of this other company explaining your
feelings about the situation.

Inventing all details as you wish, write the letter.

Q3 (a) Describe good business practice when receiving a telephone call in the office.

(b) Explain the business purposes of a briefing meeting.

Q4 (a) 
Describe how someones personal grooming can have a positive effect on other
people.

(b) Explain the importance of each of the following, giving two examples of each:

(i) Symbols
(ii) Signs
(iii)
Logos

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Q5 (a) 
A sender of a written message knows that the receiver has poor reading skills.
Describe what the sender can do in order to make this written message easier for the
reader to understand.

(b) (i) Describe how a message that is sent orally can be affected if the sender is
suffering from stress.
(ii) Describe how a reader might respond to a notice written by someone whom she
dislikes.

Q6 (a) State three benefits of e-commerce for buyers and three benefits for sellers.

(b) Explain what is meant by the term peripheral device. Give one example of an input
device and one example of an output device.

Q7 
Summarise the information in each of the following paragraphs. The word limit of each
summary is indicated at the beginning of the paragraph. Do not exceed these word limits,
and use your own words wherever possible.

(a) Read the following information, and using no more than 10 words present the main
points as a notice to be placed on the door of a storage room in a hospital.

No-one except nurses and doctors is allowed to enter this room unless they have
the proper authority, because this is the room where we store things that might be
dangerous to peoples health. The sort of things we keep inside are needles, liquid
medicines, and pills. Sometimes there are other medical supplies stored in here, too.

(b) The following passage is the beginning of a newspaper article. Create an appropriate
headline for the article, using no more than 10 words.

Investors in flooring company Cliff Carpets have been left stunned by the news that
its founder and major shareholder, Delila Cliff, is being investigated over allegations of
fraud, dating back to deals that she made as long ago as 2005. The news has sent the
value of Cliff Carpets shares down from 2 to 1.50 in less than an hour, although
they later recovered slightly to end the day at 1.67.

(c) A manager has left the voicemail below for her secretary. Using no more than
20words, present the main points of this message as the body of an email that the
secretary will send to the staff. There is no need to invent email headings.

Give my apologies to the staff, please. I have been called away unexpectedly to a
meeting with an important client, and I will not be able to attend the staff meeting
scheduled for 3pm this afternoon. The client meeting is out of town at 2pm, and I will
not be able to get back to the office in time. Please reschedule the staff meeting for
3pm tomorrow, and once again, give my apologies for the postponement at such short
notice.

End of Section A
Turn over to Section B

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 Section B
You must answer one question in this section. Do not answer both Q8 and Q9.
You should spend approximately 20 minutes on your chosen question.

EITHER:

Q8 (a) (i) Describe a Chain communication and give an example of when it is used.
(ii) State how a Chain communication can be turned into a Circle communication.

(b) Describe how the language of communication is different when you are trying to
request someone to do something, compared to when you are trying to instruct
someone to do something. In your answer you should consider use of words and body
language.

OR:

Q9 (a) 
You have made a mistake at work and you will have to apologise to your manager.
State the benefits and drawbacks of using the following methods in order to make the
apology:

(i) A letter
(ii) A face-to-face conversation

(b) Considering both words and body language, describe how your greeting of another
person face-to-face will change depending on how well you know that person.

End of Section B
End of question paper

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