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A Victim of Identity Theft Wants Your Help (Obj. 1)

Consumer

Your friend Lisa Williams, whose banking experience consisted mainly of ATM use, knew something was wrong when a Citibank debt consolidation representative called her. Lisa was astounded to learn that she had an overdue credit card balance of $4,600. Impos- sible! she thought. She didn’t even own a Citibank credit card! Un- fortunately, Lisa is one of more than 27 million Americans who have been victimized by fraud or identity theft in the past five years.55

Your Task. Lisa asks you to help her through this mess. Using the critical-thinking steps outlined in this chapter and listed here, decide on a problem-solving strategy. At the same time, learn more about identity theft for your own protection. To find information, search the Web or use a campus database. Answer the following questions in a class discussion or in a memo to your instructor. (See Chapter 7 and Appendix B for information about writing memos.) 1. Identify and clarify the problem. How do banks issue credit cards? What information is needed? How is it verified? How do identity thieves get your personal information?

2. Gather information. Should Lisa ask Citibank for its application record for this fraudulent card? How can you learn more about identity theft in general?

3. Evaluate the evidence. Should Lisa investigate this herself or involve the police? Should she go to credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) and ask for their help in clearing her credit record?

4. Consider alternatives and implications. What actions can a victim of identity theft take?

5. Choose and implement the best alternative. What should Lisa do first, and what follow-up actions should she take? How can people reduce the chances of identity theft?

Video Resources

Video Library 1. Building Workplace Skills presents five videos that introduce and reinforce concepts in selected chapters. These excellent tools ease the learning load by demonstrating chapter-specific mate- rial to strengthen your comprehension and retention of key ideas.

The recommended video for this chapter is Communication Foundations, which illustrates how strong communication skills can help you advance your career in today’s challenging world of work.

Be prepared to discuss critical-thinking questions your instructor may provide.

Responses to the Wall Street Journal Workplace Ethics Quiz in Activity 1.13

1. Thirty-four percent said using company e-mail for personal reasons is wrong.

2. Thirty-seven percent said using office equipment to help your children or spouse do schoolwork is wrong.

3. Forty-nine percent said playing computer games at work is wrong.

4. Fifty-four percent said using office equipment to do Internet shopping is wrong.

5. Sixty-one percent said blaming your own error on faulty technology is unethical.

6. Eighty-seven percent said visiting pornographic Web sites using office equipment is unethical.

7. Thirty-five percent said making a $50 gift to a boss is unacceptable.

8. Thirty-five percent said accepting a $50 gift from the boss is unacceptable.

9. Seventy percent said accepting a $200 pair of football tickets from a supplier is unacceptable.

10. Forty percent said accepting a $75 prize won at a raffle at a supplier’s conference is unacceptable.

Grammar and Mechanics Skills With C.L.U.E.

Each chapter includes an exercise based on Appendix A: Grammar and Mechanics: Competent Language Usage Essentials (C.L.U.E.).

This appendix is a business communicator’s condensed guide to language usage, covering 50 of the most used and abused language elements. It also includes a list of frequently misspelled words as well as a list of confusing words. The first ten exercises presented with each chapter will systematically focus on specific grammar/mechanics guidelines. The last six chapter exercises will cover all the guidelines plus spelling and confusing words.

Sentence Structure

Study sentence structure in Guides 1–3 of Appendix A beginning on page A-2. Each of the following sentences has one sentence fault. On a sheet of paper, write a correct version and identify which guide is violated. Avoid adding new phrases or rewriting sentences in your own words. You may need to change or delete one or more words.

However, your goal is to correct the sentence with as few marks as possible. When finished, compare your responses with the key beginning on page Key-1.

1. To succeed as a knowledge worker in today’s digital workplace.

You need highly developed communication skills.

2. Companies are looking for individuals with strong writing and grammar skills. Because employees spend at least 50 percent of their time processing documents.

3. Businesses are cutting costs they are eliminating many layers of management.

4. Knowledge workers may be distracted by multitasking, however clear communication requires shutting out interruptions.

5. Face-to-face conversations have many advantages. Even though they produce no written record and sometimes waste time.

6. The grapevine can be a major source of information, it is also fairly reliable.

7. Knowledge workers must be critical thinkers they must be able to make decisions and communicate those decisions.

8. Management uses many methods to distribute information downward. Such as newsletters, announcements, meetings, videos, and company intranets.

9. Ethical companies experience less litigation, they also receive less resentment and less government regulation.

10. Horizontal communication starts with coworkers downward communication starts with decision makers.

Chapter 2

Developing Team, Listening, and

Etiquette Skills

OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you should be able to

1 Recognize the importance of soft skills and teamwork in today’s workplace.

2 Understand how to contribute positively to team performance, including resolving workplace conflicts, avoiding groupthink, and reaching group decisions.

3 Plan and participate in productive meetings.

4 Explain the usefulness of collaborative technologies such as voice conferencing, videoconferencing, Web conferencing, instant messaging, blogs, and wikis.

5 Describe and implement active listening techniques.

6 Understand the forms of nonverbal communication and how they can be used to advance your career.

7 Develop a competitive edge with professionalism and business etiquette skills.

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LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1 Recognize the importance of soft skills and teamwork in today’s workplace.

Recognizing the Importance of Soft Skills in Today’s Workplace

Toyota is among the many companies expecting employees to possess team and other soft skills. When you look for a job, employers will typically want to know about four key areas:

education, experience, hard skills, and soft skills. Hard skills refer to the technical skills in your field. Soft skills, however, are increasingly important in our knowledge-based economy. These include both oral and written communication skills, which you learned about in Chapter 1.

Soft skills also include other competencies such as listening proficiency, nonverbal behavior, and etiquette expertise. Employers want team players who can work together efficiently and productively. They want managers and employees who are comfortable with diverse coworkers, who can listen actively to customers and colleagues, who can make eye contact, who display good workplace manners, and who possess a host of other interpersonal skills.

These skills are immensely important not only to be hired but also to be promoted.

Hiring managers expect you to have technical expertise in your field. A good résumé and interview may get you in the door. However, your long-term success is greatly influenced by your ability to communicate with your boss, coworkers, and customers as well as your ability to work as an effective and contributing team member. Even in technical fields such as accounting and finance, employers are looking for soft skills. Based on a survey of international accounting executives, CA Magazineconcluded that “the future is bright for the next Soft skills—including team,

listening, nonverbal, and etiquette skills—are key in hiring and promotion processes.

Soft skills—including team, listening, nonverbal, and etiquette skills—are key in hiring and promotion processes.

How does an international corporation that sells cars to customers in more than 170 countries manage employees in its 580 different companies around the world? For Toyota Motor Corporation, the answer is a strong corporate culture that provides a consistent basis for its operations worldwide. Called “The Toyota Way,” these guiding principles are a major factor in driving Toyota to No. 3 in revenue, No. 2 in vehicles produced, and No. 1 in profitability among major automobile manufacturers.

Toyota is also one of the world’s most admired companies—not only for the quality of its vehicles but also for its commitment to its people and the environment. From its Lexus luxury line to the new youth-oriented Scion brand and its eco-friendly hybrid vehicles, Toyota sets the bar high.

Associates (employees) are at the core of The Toyota Way, which focuses on respect for people, and kaizen, or continuous improve- ment. Its 14 principles emphasize self-motivation, employee involvement, teamwork, and consensus decision making. Because associates may not be familiar with the skills required for effective teamwork, Toyota devotes considerable resources to education and training in this area. Toyota encourages its employees, from top managers to assembly plant workers, to collaborate and take proac- tive steps to improve productivity and solve problems.1 Instead of bureaucracy and supervisory control over workers, team members take responsibility for and pride in their efforts. “ ‘Can I prevent it, can I predict it, can I see it?’ That’s the mentality we’re always reinforcing to the staff,” said Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.2

Even a company dedicated to collaboration can run unto problems implementing effective work teams, however. At Toyota’s North American Parts Center California, 400 workers process and ship about 250,000 parts a day to U.S. regional centers. This center was conceived as a team-based facility. Unfortunately, it opened before team training was complete. Under pressure to ship parts on time, managers reverted to a more traditional bureaucratic structure, with 13 supervi- sors calling the shots for large work units. “Our focus shifted to doing

Teamwork Drives Toyota to Success

Communicating at Work Part 1

everything necessary to process and ship our customers’ orders,”said Joe Kane, NAPCC’s national customer support financial administra- tion manager.3 The Center’s associates, who had been promised a team-oriented work environment, were unhappy—and criticized management for not following through.4 You will learn more about this case on page 43.

Critical Thinking

● How does Toyota’s consistent corporate culture and emphasis on teamwork throughout its global operations contribute to its success?

● What types of barriers to listening and collaboration might arise on an international design team that must conduct its meetings using e-mail, teleconferencing, and other technologies?

● Why do you think it was easier for North American Parts Center California to deliver parts on time using a traditional bureaucratic structure than the promised team environment?

http://www.toyota.com © TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP / Getty Images

generation of accounting and finance professionals provided they are armed with such soft skills as the ability to communicate, deal with change, and work in a team setting.”5 A survey of chief financial officers revealed that a majority believed that communication skills carry a greater importance today than in the past.6 Increasingly, finance professionals must be able to interact with the entire organization and explain terms without using financial jargon.

Employers want team players who can work together productively. If you look at current online or newspaper want ads, chances are you will find requirements such as the following:

● Proven team skills to help deliver on-time, on-budget results

● Strong verbal and written communication skills as well as excellent presentation skills

● Excellent interpersonal, organizational, and teamwork skills

● Required competencies: interpersonal and team skills plus well-developed communication skills

● Good people skills and superior teamwork abilities

This chapter focuses on developing team, listening, nonverbal, and etiquette skills. These are some of the soft skills that employers seek in today’s increasingly interconnected and competitive environments. You will learn many tips and techniques for becoming a good team member as well as how to expand and perfect your listening, nonverbal, and etiquette skills.

Preparing to Work With Groups and Teams

As we discussed in Chapter 1, the workplace and economy are changing. In response to in- tense global competition, businesses are being forced to rethink and restructure their operations. They must find new and faster ways to develop advanced products and bring them to market efficiently and profitably.7 Many are turning to teams to innovate, share knowledge, and solve problems. The reasoning behind this thrust is that many heads are better than one.

As a result, today’s workplace is teeming with teams. You might find yourself a part of a work team, project team, customer support team, supplier team, design team, planning team, functional team, or cross-functional team. You might be assigned to a committee, task force, steering group, quality control circle, flat team, hierarchical team, advisory team, action team, or some other group. All of these teams are being formed to accomplish specific goals.

Why Form Groups and Teams?

Businesses are constantly looking for ways to do jobs better at less cost. They are forming teams for the following reasons:

● Better decisions. Decisions are generally more accurate and effective because group and team members contribute different expertise and perspectives.

● Faster response. When action is necessary to respond to competition or to solve a problem, small groups and teams can act rapidly.

● Increased productivity. Because they are often closer to the action and to the customer, team members can see opportunities for improving efficiencies.

● Greater “buy-in.” Decisions arrived at jointly are usually better received because members are committed to the solution and are more willing to support it.

● Less resistance to change. People who have input into decisions are less hostile, aggressive, and resistant to change.

● Improved employee morale. Personal satisfaction and job morale increase when teams are successful.

● Reduced risks. Responsibility for a decision is diffused, thus carrying less risk for any individual.

Despite the current popularity of teams, however, they are not a panacea for all workplace problems. Some critics complain that they are the latest in a succession of management

Employment advertisements frequently mention team, communication, and people skills.

Organizations are forming teams for better decisions, faster response, increased productivity, greater “buy-in,” less resistance to change, improved morale, and reduced risks.

Some companies rejected teams because they slowed decisions, shielded workers from responsibility, and reduced productivity.

fads. Others charge that teams are a screen behind which management intensifies its control over labor.8 Companies such as Ford, Levi- Strauss, Honda, and GM’s Saturn plant retreated from teams, finding that they slowed decision making, shielded workers from responsibility, and created morale and productivity problems.9 Yet, in most models of future organizations, teams, not individuals, function as the primary performance unit.

Examples of Effective Teams

Teams can be effective in solving problems and in developing new products. Take, for example, the creation of Red Baron’s “Stuffed Pizza Slices.” Featuring a one-of-a-kind triangular, vented design, the product delivers taste, convenience, and style. But coming up with an innovative new hit required a cross-functional team with repre- sentatives from product development, packaging, purchasing, and operations. The entire team worked to shape an idea into a hit product using existing machinery.10

German auto manufacturer BMW likes to “throw together” designers, engineers, and marketing experts to work intensively on a team project. Ten team members, for example, working in an old bank building in London, collaborated on the redesign of the Rolls-Royce Phantom. The result was a best-selling superluxury automobile that remained true to the Rolls heritage. But the new model had twenty-first century lines with BMW’s technological muscle under the hood.11

The Democrat, the only newspaper in Tallahassee, Florida, found that its advertisements were riddled with errors. In one instance, a sloppy ad arrived by fax. It was unreadable, looking as if a rat had crossed the page. Yet, it found its way into print even after passing through the hands of seven employees. No one felt responsible for making it right. They just passed it along. The editor decided to appoint a special team of workers charged with eliminating all errors in advertisements. It took the name ELITE, standing for “ELIminate The Errors.” A year later, under ELITE’s leadership, advertising accuracy was greatly improved. It reached 99 percent and stayed there.12

Virtual Teams

Many organizations are creating virtual teams. These are groups of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries using technology.13 The author of this textbook, for example, works in her office in Santa Barbara, California. Her developmental editor is located in Kentucky, the production editor is in Minnesota, and the publisher is in Ohio. Important parts of the marketing team are in Singapore and Canada. Although they work in different time zones and rarely see each other, team members use e-mail and teleconferencing to exchange ideas, make decisions, and stay connected.

Virtual teams may be local or global. At Best Buy’s corporate headquarters in Rich- field, Minnesota, certain employees are allowed to work anywhere and anytime—as long as they successfully complete their assignments on time. They can decide how, when, and where they work.14 Although few other organizations are engaging in such a radical restructuring of work, many workers today complete their tasks from remote locations, thus creating local virtual teams. Hyundai Motors exemplifies virtual teaming at the global level. For its vehicles, Hyundai completes engineering in Korea, research in Tokyo and Ger- many, styling in California, engine calibration and testing in Michigan, and heat testing in the California desert.15 Members of its virtual teams coordinate their work and complete their tasks across time and geographic zones. Work is increasingly viewed as what you do rather than a place you go.

In some organizations, remote coworkers may be permanent employees from the same office or may be specialists called together for temporary projects. Regardless of the assign- ment, virtual teams can benefit from shared views and skills. However, not all teams auto- matically work well together and are productive. The suggestions in the accompanying Tech Talk box offer helpful strategies for avoiding pitfalls.

Virtual teams are groups of people who work interdependently with a shared purpose across space, time, and organization boundaries using technology.

Spotlight on Communicators As head of the team producing Boeing’s new 787 aircraft model, Mike Bair put together a team of suppliers and engineers from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea. “The mix of people and knowledge is turning out to be a powerful tool,” he said, in creating a better aircraft design and more efficient manufacturing process. “In school, teaming is a called cheating, but we’re encouraging our people to find other people’s ideas and then improve on them.” Working together means team meetings at all hours of the day and night to accommo- date colleagues in different time zones.

Developing Critical Thinking and Consumer Skills

Guide to Business Etiquette and Workplace

Confirmation Memo: Verifying a Job Severance