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Coms 110 Y1s1 2009/2010 Academic Year Question Paper
Coms 110 Y1s1 2009/2010 Academic Year
Course:Bachelor Of Commerce
Institution: Kabarak University question papers
Exam Year:2009
COURSE CODE: COMS 110
COURSE TITLE: COMMUNICATION AND STUDY SKILLS I
STREAM: Y1S1
DAY: WEDNESDAY
TIME: 4.00 – 6.00 P.M.
DATE: 02/12/2009
INSTRUCTIONS
1. There are four sections in this question paper (A, B, C & C)
2. Answer questions from ALL the sections.
3. Read and follow instructions given at the beginning of each section
4. Your answers should be supported by illustrations as much as possible.
SECTION A: (COMPULSORY) 20 MARKS
Answer ALL Questions from this section.
1. Whys is listening sometimes referred to as a lost art? (4mks)
2. Using appropriate examples discuss four barriers to effective listening (16mks)
SECTION B: (COMPULSORY) 20 MARKS
Answer ALL Questions from this section.
3. With adequate examples discuss the following types of libraries.
(i) Special libraries
(ii) Private libraries (10mks)
4. (a) Why it is important to teach library skills in Kenyan universities (6mks)
(b) Briefly explain why the reserve section in the library is called the short loan.
(4mks)
SECTION C: (Answer only ONE questions from this section) 15 marks
5. Read this passage and answer the questions that follow
Most of the time, crises blindside leaders: You first learn there’s a problem when someone
stops you in the cafeteria to ask a perplexing “Did you hear?” kind of question, or you
receive an e-mail about a possible “irregularity,” or there’s an unexpected phone call at an
odd hour. Now, sometimes a crisis erupts with a single event-for example, when Johnson &
Johnson suddenly discovered that someone was tampering with bottles of Tylenol. But
more often, a crisis will emerge in fits and starts, picking up weight and speed like a
snowball rolling down a mountain. You can never be entirely sure where its part will end.
You can be sure, however, that it will end. The trip to the bottom of the mountain will
probably be unpleasant, but eventually it will be over and normal life resumes. That is,
until another crisis emerges.
In times of crisis, there are five assumptions a leader should keep in mind the majority of
crises are bigger in scope than you could ever imagine. More people will be involved than
you first estimated, more lawyers will poke their noses in than you’d ever imagined
possible, and the terrible things that will be said and published wil exceed your worse
nightmares. So adjust your mindset early on. Go into every crisis assuming that as
important that you completely own the problem. In other words, get into a worse-case
scenario mindset and start digging for the facts.
You can be sure that you try to suppress information during a crisis, it will eventually be
disseminated, and as it spreads, it will certainly morph, twist and darken. The only way to
prevent that is to expose the problem yourself. If you don’t, someone will do it for you. 3
Your lawyers will tell you to say as little as possible during a crisis; push them to let you
say as much as possible. Just make sure that what you do say is the whole truth, with no
shades of gray. Johnson & Johnson probably set the gold standards for full disclosure with
its handling of the Tylenol crisis in the 1980s. It held press conferences every day, opened
its packaging factories to scrutiny and kept the public posted on its investigation and its
recall efforts. It was the company’s transparency that saved its credibility. This holds true
during any crisis. The more you speak about the problem openly, the more trust you will
earn-inside the organization and out. No matter how much positive media coverage you’ve
received over the course of your career, all bets are off during a crisis. You and your
organization will be portrayed so negatively that you won’t recognize yourselves. Don’t
hunker down – you’ve got to stand up and define your position before someone else does.
If you don’t, your silence will be taken as an admission of guilt.
Now, not all organizational crisis generate public scrutiny, but even if the media has no
interest, your people will. The same principles still apply: openly discuss the situation,
define your position, and explain why the problem happened and how you’re handling it.
And just as with big public crisis, don’t ever forget that you have a business to run. Make
sure you’re running it.
Most crises officially end with a settlement of some kind-financial, legal or otherwise.
Then comes the cleanup, and cleanups mean change. Processes usually get overhauled first.
Sometimes to fix is enough. Usually not. That’s because the people affected by the crisis,
or sometimes those just watching it, will demand that someone be held responsible. This
will not be easy or pleasant. But sadly, it is often necessary so the company can move
forward again. After a crisis is over, there’s the tendency to want to forget about it. Don’t
use a crisis for all its worth: teach its lessons every chance you get. In doing so, you’ll
spread the immunity. When a crisis erupts, it feels you’re trapped in a house that’s on a
fire. But try to remember that the flames will eventually die down because you’re keeping
your head and remembering how to handle the situation. You’re going to face the problem
and own its solution, all the while running the business as though there will be a tomorrow.
The one day, you will realize that tomorrow has arrived and, stepping back you may be
startled by what you discover: the whole place looks better than ever.
(Adapted from the Daily Nation of October, 12 2009).
QUESTIONS
a) Supply a title for the passage. (1mk)
b) Identify four assumptions every leader should bear in mind during time of crisis
(4mks)
c) Identify one highlight and one signpost used by the author. (2mks)
d) Why is it important for a leader to freely give information during crisis
(2mks) 4
e) Explain what the author means by ‘cleanup’ at the end of a crisis (2mks)
f) Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as used in the passage.
(i) Blindside
(ii) Disseminate
(iii)Shades of gray
(iv) Credibility (4mks)
6. (a) What is eulogy? (1mk)
(b) You are attending a funeral where you are going to eulogize your colleague. Explain
seven essential elements that you must include in your speech. (14mks)
SECTION D: (Answer only ONE Question from this section) 15 MARKS
7. (a) Give another name for the following elements of the communication process
(i) Sender
(ii) Audience
(iii)Message
(iv) Feedback
(v) Recipient
(5mks)
(b) Explain two roles of each of the elements above (10mks)
8. (a) What is an essay? (2mks)
(b) You are planning to write an essay:
(i) Choose one wide topic
(2mks)
(ii) Reduce the topic above to a manageable topic (2mks)
(c) Write a paragraph of Six sentences that illustrates a paragraph that lacks unity.
(6mks)
(d) Briefly explain what the introduction of an academic writing entails.
(3mks)
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