Key Terms
Chapter 1: Thriving in Digital, Social, and Mobile Workplace
Ad hoc teams: Nontraditional project-based teams that disband after they accomplish their
objectives; the opposite of standing teams.
Collectivist: Emphasizes membership in organizations, groups, and teams; it encourages
acceptance of group values, duties, and decisions.
Cultural convergence: A lessening of group differences and a trend toward greater global
similarity particularly in higher individualism and lower power distance.
Culture: The complex system of values, traits, morals, and customs shared by a society.
Context: The stimuli, environment, or ambience surrounding an event.
Emotional intelligence (EQ): A concept from a bestselling book by Daniel Coleman arguing
that EQ is just as important as the intelligence quotient (IQ) for success; the ability to understand
and manage our own emotions as well as the ability to understand and influence the emotions
and behavior of others.
Empathetic listening: Listening in an effort to see the world through another’s eyes, be less
judgmental, and seek common ground.
Gig economy: A sector of the labor market that relies on free agents hired on a project basis or
doing short-term independent work.
Individualism: An attitude of independence and freedom from control.
Interpersonal skills or professional skills: A combination of communication, logical reasoning,
critical-thinking, teamwork, and management skills.
Mindful: Being fully present in an effort to build trust and gain respect.
Nonverbal communication: Includes eye contact, facial expression, body movements, time,
space, territory, and appearance and affects how a receiver interprets, or decodes, a message.
People skills or soft skills: Powerful social skills employers expect.
Professional skills or interpersonal skills: A combination of communication, logical reasoning,
critical-thinking, teamwork, and management skills..
Sharing economy: An economic model in which individuals rent or borrow assets owned by
others through disrupting services such as Uber, Lyft, Bird, Lime, Spin, and Airbnb.
Smartphone apps: Software applications designed to work on mobile devices.
Soft skills or people skills: Powerful social skills employers expect. 2qq
Speech-thought differential: The difference between our rate of speaking and our rate of
listening/thinking.
Chapter 2: Planning Business Messages
Channel: The medium (such as a computer, wireless network, smartphone, social network,
letter, memorandum, report, announcement, picture, spoken word, fax, or web page) over which
a message travels.
Communication: The transmission of information and meaning from a sender to a receiver.
Decoding: Translating a message from its symbol form into meaning.
Empathy: Trying to see the world through another’s eyes, being nonjudgmental and eager to
seek common ground.
Encoding: Converting the idea of a sender into words or gestures that will convey meaning.
Feedback: Verbal and nonverbal responses of the receiver to a transmitted message.
Informational messages: Messages that merely explain procedures, announce meetings, answer
questions, or transmit findings.
Jargon: Technical or specialized terms within a field.
Meaning: The idea, as the sender intended it.
Noise: Anything that interrupts or disturbs the transmission of a message in the communication
process.
Persuasive messages: Messages that use argument or reasoning to sell products, convince
managers, motivate employees, and win over customers; usually organized indirectly.
Receiver: The individual for whom a message is intended.
Richness: Involves the extent to which a channel or medium recreates or represents all the
information available in the original message.
Chapter 3: Organizing and Drafting Business Messages
Active voice: Sentences in which the subject is the doer of the action (such as Shawn posted the
message).
Brainstorming: The spontaneous contribution of ideas from members of a group; a popular
method for generating ideas.
Coherent: Ideas are coherent when the ideas cohere—that is, when the ideas stick together and
when one idea logically leads to the next.
Comma splice: A sentence error that results when a writer joins two independent clauses with a
comma.
Dangling modifier: A modifier dangles when the word or phrase it describes is missing from its
sentence (e.g., pressing the wrong key, the document suddenly disappeared).
Direct strategy = frontloading: An organizational strategy that describes an order in which the
main idea comes first, followed by details, an explanation, or evidence; used when the writer
expects the reader to be pleased, mildly interested, or neutral.
Dovetailed: A technique consisting of an idea at the end of one sentence that connects with an
idea at the beginning of the next.
Indirect strategy: An organizational strategy that describes placing the main idea later in a
message, after the details, explanation, or evidence; used when the writer expects the reader to
be uninterested, unwilling, displeased, or hostile.
Mind mapping: A brainstorming process to generate and sort ideas using visual concepts such
as a tree with branches illustrating connected ideas.
Misplaced modifier: A modifier is misplaced when the word or phrase it describes is not close
enough to be clear; for example, A wart appeared on my left hand that I want removed.
Paragraph: A group of sentences about one idea.
Parallelism: A writing technique that uses similar construction, such as researching, organizing,
and writing to create balanced writing.
Passive voice: Sentences in which the subject is acted upon, such as The message was posted by
Shawn.
Primary data: Data that comes from firsthand experience.
Research: Collecting relevant information about a topic before beginning to write a message.
Run-on (fused) sentence: A sentence error that results when two independent clauses are
incorrectly joined (fused) together without a conjunction or a semicolon; also called a fused
sentence.
Secondary Data: Data that comes from reading what others have experienced or observed and
written about.
Supporting sentences: Sentences that illustrate, explain, or strengthen the topic sentence.
Topic sentence: A sentence that tells readers what to expect and helps them understand the
paragraph’s central thought immediately.
Transitional expressions: Words (such as meanwhile, although, furthermore, and for example)
that show connections and indicate where a message is headed to help readers anticipate what is
coming.
Chapter 5: Short workplace messages and digital media
Blog: A website or social media platform with journal entries usually written by one person with
comments added by others.
Blogrolling: Providing links to other sites or blogs on the Web that you find valuable and that are
related to your business or industry; a way to attract repeat visitors to your blog
Brand ambassador: Influential online opinion leaders who are powerful product champions.
Cloud computing: The storing and accessing of data along with software applications in remote
networks clusters (the cloud).
Crowdsourcing: Asking the public or employees to share their feedback in order to solve
business problems.
Cyberbullying: A form of bullying committed with digital devices aimed at scaring, angering,
or shaming victims.
Dark web: The black market of the Internet, a mostly illicit network of websites that cannot be
accessed by standard search engines and browsers.
Deepfakes: Doctored video footage that makes people seem to say or do something they did not
do.
Discovery: Disclosure of records that can become evidence in lawsuits.
Disinformation: False news stories, doctored narratives, and propaganda spread on social media
to confuse and incite the public.
Down-editing: Inserting your responses to parts of an incoming e-mail message to which you
are responding.
Doxxing: A form of bullying committed with digital devices aimed at scaring, angering, or
shaming victims.
Echo chambers: Online communities of like-minded people who embrace narratives confirming
their existing views.
Evangelize: To advocate for brands and services in exchange for compensation and perks.
Fake news: News stories that have no factual basis but are presented as facts; in partisan
politics, unwelcome evidence that some find uncomfortable because it clashes with their
convictions.
Influencers: Influential plugged-in opinion leaders who boast large online audiences and
followers.
Instant messaging (IM): Enables two or more individual to use the Internet or an intranet to
chat in real time by exchanging brief text-based messages.
Malware: Malicious software designed to disrupt the operation of a network or computer.
Misinformation: Accidental untruth, as opposed to intentional untruth or deception described as
disinformation.
Phishing: The fraudulent use of e-mail, instant messaging, and texting to persuade recipients to
disclose personal information.
Podcast: A digital audio file that is distributed over the Internet and usually downloaded on
smart electronic devices; formed from the words broadcasting and iPod.
Post-truth era: Circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public
opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.
Presence functionality: A benefit of instant and text messaging that enables coworkers to locate
each other online, thus avoiding wild goose chases hunting someone who is out of the office.
Propaganda: Untruths often planted by bots and fake accounts to divide Americans, disrupt
public discourse, and even interfere in democratic elections.
Rich communication services (RCS): A new system offering advanced features such as
multi-media enhanced texting.
Salutation: A greeting at the beginning of a message that helps recipients recognize whether
they are the primary or secondary receivers.
Short message service (SMS): A service provided by a cell phone service provider or a voice
over Internet protocol (VoIP) service that makes texting possible.
Text messaging/texting: Exchanging brief messages in real time, usually delivered from a
smartphone; also called texting.
Troll: Social media users who fake their identity, provoke arguments, and disrupt discussions.
Think critically: Voicing opinions that are backed by solid reasons and factual evidence.
Viral marketing: The rapid spread of messages online, much like the spread of infectious
diseases that pass from person to person.
Virtual private network (VPN): Secure access to an organization’s information from any
location in the world that provides an Internet connection.
Wearable devices (wearables): Wearable technology such as heart rate monitors, fitness
trackers, smartwatches, and skin response sensors that enables companies to monitor worker
productivity and lifestyles.
Chapter 9: Informal Reports
Routine reports: keep managers informed about work in progress
In-Depth reports: help managers analyze the challenges they face before recommending
solutions
Business reports: Varying greatly in length, content, form, and formality level, they all have one
or more of the following purposes: to convey information, answer questions, and solve problems.
Informational reports: present data without analysis or recommendations
Analytical reports: Reports that analyze data, draw conclusions, and typically try to persuade
the reader to accept the conclusions and act on the recommendations.
Direct strategy: the purpose for writing close to the beginning of a report
Indirect strategy: the conclusions and recommendations appear at the end of the report
Informal writing style: Characterized by a friendly tone, first-person pronouns, and shorter
sentences, it is often used to send short internal business reports to familiar audiences on
noncontroversial topics.
Formal writing style: Characterized by objectivity, authority, and impartiality, it is appropriate
for proposals and long research reports.
Infographics: Visual representations of data or information.
Functional headings: One- or two-word labels that show the outline of a report but provide little
insight about the contents.
Talking headings: to provide more information and spark interest.
- Informational reports
Conference (trip) reports: Also referred to as trip reports, they often inform management about
business trends, new procedures, innovative equipment, legal requirements, or other information
that would affect their products, operations, and services.
Interim (progress) reports: Also known as project reports, they describe the status of continuing
projects.
Meeting minutes: Summarize the proceedings of meetings.
Summary: compress the main points from a book, report, article, website, meeting,..
Executive summary: summarizes a long report, proposal, or business plan, concentrating on
what management needs to know from a longer report
- Analytical business reports:
Justification/Recommendation Reports: Reports distributed within a company that justify or
recommend something, such as buying equipment, changing a procedure, hiring an employee,
consolidating departments, or investing funds; also called justification/recommendation reports.
Feasibility reports: Examines the practicality and advisability of following a course of action.
Yardstick reports: examine problems with two or more solutions; establish criteria to compare
-> determine the best solution
Letter format: Contains a date, inside address, salutation, and complimentary close and usually
longer and more carefully organized than typical letters.
Manuscript format: Usually printed on plain paper without letterhead or memo header, they
begin with a title followed by systematically displayed headings and subheadings.
Memo format: Reports that begin with essential background information, using standard
headings: Date, To, From, and Subject and differing from regular memos in length, use of
headings, and deliberate organization.
Portable document format (PDF): A file type, invented by Adobe, that condenses documents
while preserving the formatting and graphics.
Primary data: Results from firsthand experience and observation.
Problem statement: Helps clarify the task and defines the report’s purpose and scope.
Purpose statement: Defines the focus of a report and provides a standard that keeps the project
on target.
Secondary data: Comes from reading what others have experienced or observed and recorded.
Slide deck: A digital slideshow.
Templates: Digital forms usually made available on the company intranet or the Internet and
suitable for repetitive data, such as monthly sales reports, performance appraisals, merchandise
inventories, and personnel and financial reports. .
Chapter 10: Proposals and Formal Reports
Proposals: can mean life or death for an organization, written offer to solve a problem, provide a
service, pitch a project, or sell equipment.
Classification of proposals: (a) informal or formal; (b) internal or external; (c) solicited or
unsolicited.
Grant proposal: written to obtain funding from agencies that support worthwhile causes.
Request for proposal (RFP): a document that specifies their requirements.
Solicited proposal: the response to an RFP.
Unsolicited proposal: companies looking for work or special challenges submit this, that had not
been explicitly requested.
Letter proposal: A proposal presented in manuscript format (usually no more than ten pages) or
in a short (two- to four-page) letter; sometimes called informal proposal.
Purpose statement: define the focus of the report and provide a standard that keeps the project
on target.
Scope statement: prepare the audience by clearly defining which problems will be researched
and analyzed.
Limitations: As part of the scope statement, these further narrow the subject by focusing on
constraints or exclusions.
Work plan: a tentative schedule that guides the investigation, including a problem statement,
purpose statement, description of the research method
Outline: A way of organizing your ideas by arranging your main topics and subtopics.
Database: A collection of searchable information stored digitally so that it is accessible by
computer or mobile devices.
APA Style: American Psychological Association, an organization determining the format of
using and listing sources of research in the social sciences.
Appendixes: Part of proposal, business plan, or formal business report that contains ancillary
material of interest only to some readers.
Area charts: (also called segmented line charts) Illustrate how the components of a whole
change over time.
Back matter: Includes a reference section and one or more appendixes; the reference section
includes a list of sources, and the appendix contains supplemental information or source
documents.
Bar charts: Enable writers to make emphatic visual comparisons by using horizontal or vertical
bars of varying lengths.
Browser: A software application that connects to servers and displays their webpages.
Search engine: Scans hundreds of millions of webpages to locate the desired content.
Survey: A method of gathering information from a sample of people, usually with the goal of
generalizing the results to a larger audience
Budget: The section of a proposal that lists the proposed project costs; can also be called a
statement of costs.
Citation formats: A way to direct readers to your sources with parenthetical notes inserted into
the text and with bibliographies.
Contract cheating: Buying essays and other papers on demand on the Internet.
Deliverables: Tangible items produced by a proposal project for the customer. Documentation:
Giving credit to information sources.
Executive summary: A time-saving device that summarizes a proposal, business plan, or formal
business report and concisely addresses all its sections or chapters.
Experimentation: Producing data that suggests causes and effects.
Flowchart: A simplified and clarified way of diagramming procedures.
Front matter: Refers to the preliminary sections before the body section.
Formal report: A document in which a writer analyzes findings, draws conclusions, and makes
recommendations intended to solve a problem; is the product of thorough investigation or
analysis; and presents organized information to decision-makers in business, industry,
government, and education.
Grant proposal: A formal document submitted to a government or private organization that
explains a project, outlines its budget, and requests money in the form of a grant.
Infographic: Visual representation of complex information in a format that is easy to understand.
Interview: The questioning of subject experts to generate information, particularly on topics
about which little has been written.
Line charts: Show changes over time, thus indicating trends.
Memorandum of transmittal: A memo written to the recipient of an internal formal business
report and delivered with the document; announces the topic of the report, tells how it was
authorized, briefly describes the project, highlights the report’s findings, conclusions, and
recommendations, and expresses appreciation.
MLA Style: Modern Language Association, an organization determining the format of using
and listing sources of research in the humanities.
Observation: A way of gathering primary data by viewing individuals and/or organizations
firsthand.
Organization charts: Provide such information as who reports to whom, how many
subordinates work for each manager (the span of control), and what channels of official
communication exist.
Paraphrasing: Restating an original passage in your own words and in your own style.
Periodicals: Publications that are produced on a set schedule.
Pie charts: Enable readers to see a whole and the proportion of its components, or wedges.
Plagiarism: The unethical, and in some cases illegal, act of using others’ ideas without proper
documentation.
Primary research: The act of generating or gathering firsthand data by conducting interviews,
surveys, or systematic observation.
Primary sources: Information and data authors gather themselves from firsthand experience.
Interviews, observations, surveys, questionnaires, and meetings.
Problem statement: Helps clarify the task and defines the report’s purpose and scope. Proposal:
A written offer to solve a problem, provide a service, or sell equipment.
Purpose statement: Defines the focus of a report and provides a standard that keeps the project
on target.
Request for proposal (RFP): Prepared by firms and governmental agencies when they know
exactly what they want; the RFP specifies their requirements and solicits competitive bids from
vendors.
References: Lists all sources consulted in the research project; called References if using APA
style.
Research: The methodical search for information relevant to the report topic.
Scope statement: Prepares the audience by clearly defining which problem or problems will be
researched and analyzed.
Secondary research: The use of existing data that result from reading what others have
published, experienced, or observed.
Secondary sources: Information that has been previously compiled, analyzed, and, in most
cases, published.
Segmented line charts: (also called area charts) Illustrate how the components of a whole
change over time.
Table: Presents quantitative or verbal information in systematic columns and rows.
Table of contents: The part of a proposal, business plan, or formal business report that shows all
headings and their beginning page numbers.
Work plan: A tentative schedule that guides the investigation.
Works Cited: Lists all sources consulted in the research project; called Works Cited if using
MLA style.
Chapter 12: Business Presentation
6-x-6 rule: Specifies six bullets per screen and six words per bullet maximum on a PowerPoint
slide.
Blueprint slide: A slide that provides an overview of major points and later provides transitions
as the speaker moves from point to point.
Chartjunk: Crowded or otherwise poorly prepared multimedia slides and other unclear graphics.
Extemporaneous: Speaking freely without reading from notes or a manuscript after preparing
and rehearsing.
Impromptu: Speaking that’s improvised, unrehearsed, and spontaneous
Fight-flight-freeze-response: Involuntary reactions of the human body to frightening situations.
Glossophobia: The fear of public speaking.
Performance anxiety: Stage fright, the fear of performing before an audience.
Pictorial superiority: A scientific concept suggesting that information conveyed in images is
more memorable than text alone.
PowerPoint Phluff: A term coined by Edward R. Tufte describing poor, misused PowerPoint
presentations.
Rapport: A feeling of mutual trust and respect; a bond established between the speaker and the
audience.
Software as a service (SaaS): A cloud-based software licensing model allowing users to access
software online on demand.
Stage fright: Nervousness before or during a presentation/appearance before an audience.
Take-away: A specific audience benefit or thought-provoking idea resulting from a presentation;
the main message of a talk.
Visual clichés: Overused templates and clip art that come preinstalled with PowerPoint, Canva,
and Prezi and can weary viewers who have seen them repeatedly in presentations.
Chapter 13: The job search, resume and cover messages
Key Terms
Applicant tracking system (ATS): Software that helps organizations automatically post job
openings, screen résumés, rank candidates, and generate interview requests.
Big Five: An assessment tool which groups people into five personality types (openness,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism).
Career e-portfolio: The professional electronic portfolio is a purposeful collection of digital
files and documents showcasing the accomplishments of a students’ academic career. Some
e-portfolios are built like personal websites and feature sophisticated media.
Chronological résumé: A résumé that lists work history job by job, starting with the most
recent position.
Cover letter/letter of application: A letter of application used to (a) introduce a résumé, (b)
highlight the candidate’s strengths in terms of benefits to the employer, and (c) gain an
interview; may be solicited or unsolicited.
Elevator pitch: A concise speech that job seekers can give in 60 seconds or less describing who
they are and what they can offer.
Functional résumé: A résumé that focuses attention on a candidate’s skills rather than on past
employment; also called a skills résumé.
Headline: In the context of LinkedIn, a type of tagline or branding slogan, a short phrase that
sums up a user’s professional self. It should include keywords in the field and a brief description
of what the job seeker wants.
Hidden job market: Jobs that are never advertised or listed.
Letter of application/cover letter: A letter of application used to introduce a résumé, highlight
the job seeker’s strengths in terms of benefits to the employer, and gain an interview; can be
solicited or unsolicited; also called a cover letter or cover message.
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator: A useful tool for self-analysis before a job search measuring
personality, interests, skills, and values; divides people into four temperaments (guardian,
idealist, rational, and artisan.
Networking: Developing a supportive system of person-to-person contacts during a job search;
involves meeting people and talking to them about your field or industry so that you can gain
information and possibly open doors to job vacancies.
Open job market: Jobs that are advertised or listed.
PDF (portable document format): A file type invented by Adobe that condenses documents
while preserving the formatting and graphics.
Plain-text format: An electronic version of a résumé that is saved with .txt file type; suitable for
e-mailing or pasting into online résumé bank submission forms.
Profile statement/summary of qualifications/résumé summary: A bulleted list at the top of
your résumé that lists the candidate’s most impressive qualifications; also called summary of
qualifications or résumé summary.
Reskilling: Continuous education and (re)training required to remain relevant and employable in
the workplace.
Résumé padding: Adding false or exaggerated information to boost an applicant’s credentials for
a job.
Video résumé: An opportunity to expand employment possibilities that enables job candidates to
present their experience, qualifications, and interests in video form; candidates can demonstrate
their public speaking, interpersonal, and technical skills more impressively than they can in
traditional print résumés.
Chapter 14: Interviewing and Following up
Behavioral question: A question that requires the candidate to tell success stories; they usually
begin with something like Tell me about a time when ….
Ghosting: Rejection by cutting off all communication and vanishing, considered a rude and
cowardly practice, depriving the other of closure.
Group interview: A type of job interview in which many candidates are interviewed together;
also may refer to multiple hiring managers interviewing one candidate individually.
Hiring/placement interview: An interview conducted with the most promising candidates to
learn whether they are motivated, qualified, and a good fit for the position and the organization.
Live video interview/two-way video interview: Also called two-way video interview, a two way
video interview is similar to a face-to-face interviewing, but it is typically conducted through
video chat.
One-on-one interview: An interview during which the candidate sits down with a company
representative to talk about the job and the candidate’s qualifications.
One-way video interview: One in which candidates at their leisure respond to a list of scripted
questions prepared by the hiring organization.
Panel interview: An interview conducted by a team of two or more people who will be the
candidate’s supervisors and colleagues.
Screening interview: An interview used to screen candidates to eliminate those who fail to meet
minimum requirements; may be done in person during job fairs or on college campuses, by
telephone, or by video.
Sequential interview: An interview in which a candidate meets individually with two or more
interviewers one-on-one over the course of several hours or days.
Situational question: A question that helps employers test a candidate’s thought processes and
logical thinking; interviewers describe a hypothetical situation and ask how the interviewee
would handle it.
Two-way video interview/live video interview: Sometimes called a live video interview, a
two-way video interview is similar to a face-to-face interviewing, but it is typically conducted
through video chat.
