CQP Foundation Level

Communication and Customer Relations flashcards

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Complete Flashcard Reference

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What is communication, and what separates it from mere transmission?

The process of transmitting information, ideas, attitudes and feelings from one person or group to another through a shared system of symbols, so that the meaning received is the meaning intended. The last clause is the test: a notice pinned on a board that nobody reads has been transmitted but not communicated.

What are the 7Cs of communication, and how are they used in an answer?

Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete, Courteous. Use them as an editing checklist: work through a faulty memo C by C, name the C each fault breaches, then rewrite it.

What are the directions of communication in an organisation?

Downward: superior to subordinate (policies, instructions). Upward: subordinate to superior (reports, grievances, quality data), prone to filtering. Horizontal: peers in different functions, the channel that makes the process approach work. Diagonal: different levels in different functions, fast but it bypasses line managers. External: customers, suppliers, regulators, media. Informal: the grapevine, which fills any vacuum management leaves.

What is the difference between verbal and oral communication?

Verbal means in words, spoken or written. Oral means spoken. An email is verbal but not oral; a whistle blast or a groan is oral but not verbal.

Name the types of non-verbal communication.

Kinesics: body language. Proxemics: use of space. Haptics: touch, such as the handshake. Chronemics: use of time. Paralanguage: tone, pitch, volume, pace and pauses. Appearance and artefacts: dress, uniform, office. Oculesics: eye behaviour. Silence.

When do you close a letter 'Yours faithfully', and when 'Yours sincerely'?

Yours faithfully: after an impersonal salutation (Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Sir/Madam). Yours sincerely: when the recipient is named (Dear Mr Otieno, Dear Ms Wanjiru).

What is a quorum, and why does the chairperson confirm it first?

The minimum number of members who must be present for business to be validly transacted. Without a quorum, decisions taken are void, so it is confirmed before any business and the minutes record that it was.

Compare structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews.

Structured: fixed questions in a fixed order; comparable, defensible, reduces bias, but rigid. Semi-structured: core questions with freedom to probe; the audit standard, but it needs a skilled interviewer. Unstructured: conversational; rich and exploratory, but not comparable and highly exposed to bias.

What is the structure of a formal report?

Title page, table of contents, executive summary, terms of reference, methodology, findings, analysis or discussion, conclusions, recommendations, appendices, references. The executive summary is written last and read first.

How does public relations differ from customer care?

Public relations: goodwill and mutual understanding with all publics (media, community, regulators, investors, employees), long term and continuous. Customer care: service to customers before, during and after a purchase, aimed at satisfaction, retention and loyalty, encounter by encounter.

What are the elements of communication?