TU Exam 2080 (Partial): Business Communication BBS

Candidates are required to give their answers in their own words as far as practicable.
The figures in the margin indicate full marks.

Attempt ALL the questions.

Group ‘A’

1. Rewrite the following paragraph, supplying the appropriate words or phrases, to complete a brief summary of “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell. [5]

In the essay, Orwell shows the struggles of being an English man in an English colony. He tells us that the natives hate Europeans and they always ……. them. Orwell does not agree with colonialism and actually sympathizes with the natives. However, Orwell does not want to be taunted by the natives. The conflict in the story arises when Orwell is ……. that an elephant is ravaging through the bazaar. When he arrives, Orwell notices a dead coolie and ……. an elephant rifle, which attracts the natives because they think he is going to kill the elephant. The natives follow Orwell in search of the elephant, which has now settled down. He feels that there is no need to …… the elephant, but he knows the natives are expecting a spectacle and elephant meat. In order to avoid being ……. by the natives, Orwell shoots the elephant.

2. Why do you think Bessie Head provide so many details about the games of children in her short story “Looking for a Rain God”? [5]

3. Sketch the character of Augustus from George Bernard Shaw’s play “Augustus Does His Bit.” [5]

4. What does Ernest Hemingway’s short story ‘The Old Man at the Bridge’ suggest about the consequences of armed struggle? Do you think armed struggle always bring negative consequences in the society? Or it is sometimes necessary to bring about change? Defend your position with reasons. [10]
OR
Does a mad person actually see sounds and hear sights? How do you account for such paradoxical statements? What are the differences between a conventional lunatic and the lunatic in Laxmi Prasad Devkota’s “The Lunatic”? Explain why the poet takes the persona of a lunatic.

5. Examine father-son relation in E.B. White’s essay “Once More to the Lake.” [10]
OR
The doctor resorts to violence to examine the throat of the young girl in “The Use of Force.” Is it justifiable to use force for medical reasons? Give reasons in support of your position.

6. Why does Phil’s wife maneuver the non-verbal cues not to let her true feelings about her late husband show on her face as the company president appreciates Phil’s workaholism? Drawing on “The Company Man” as well as your own experience, also shed light on the importance of non-verbal cues in business dealings. [15]
OR
Modeling on R. Scholes, N.R. Comley and G.L. Ulmer’s commentary on an advertisement of the ‘Lucky Strike’ cigarette in “Light my Lucky,” write a commentary on any popular advertisement highlighting what makes the ad click with the target consumers.

Group ‘B’

7. Define the following business communication terminologies/phrases. [5]
a. Stereotyping
b. Downward flow following communication
c. Passive listening
d. Visual aids
e. Memorandum

8. Rewrite the following issues choosing the best alternatives. [5]
A. Communication starts with ……. 
a. encoding
b. sender
c. channel
d. feedback

B. The two broad areas of communication are: 
a. Oral and written communication 
b. Verbal and written communication
c. Verbal and non-verbal communication 
d. Oral and non-verbal communication

C. …..……. means exchange following information, feelings and thoughts with others.
a. Communication
b. Marketing
c. Advertising
d. stereotyping

D. Communication problems otherwise known as…..
a. enquire
b. parries
c. encoding
b. Decoding

E. What is the final step in the communication cycle?
a. Encoding
b. decoding
c. Feedback
d. Receiving

9. Define visual communication. Why has it become the most popular type of communication these days? Discuss. [6]

10. Write a letter of complaint to a hotel, a restaurant, a business agency, or an educational institution. Explain why you are unsatisfied with their product or service and ask for a fair resolution to the issue. [8]

11. If you were to lead a business firm, what leadership communication skills would you need to work on? Discuss each in brief. [8]

Group ‘C‘

12. Read the given case and answer the following question. [2×9=18]

The Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) would have been the preeminent instrument on the planet for probing the fine structure of matter and the nature of the early Universe. Its price tag was $10 to $15 billion. It was cancelled by Congress in 1993 after about $2 billion had been spent – a worst of both worlds outcome.
But this debate was not, I think, mainly about declining interest in the support of science. Few in Congress understood what modern high-energy accelerators are for. They are not for weapons. They have no practical applications. They are for something that is, worrisomely from the point of view of many, called “the theory of everything.” Explanations that involve entities called quarks, charm, flavor, color, etc., sound as if physicists are being cute. The whole thing has an aura, in the view of at least some Congress people I’ve talked to, of “nerds gone wild” – which I suppose is an uncharitable way of describing curiosity-based science. No one asked to pay for this had the foggiest idea of what a Higgs boson is. I’ve read some of the material intended to justify the SSC. At the very end, some of it wasn’t too bad, but there was nothing that really addressed what the project was about on a level accessible to bright but skeptical non-physicists. If physicists are asking for 10 or 15 billion dollars to build a machine that has no practical value, at the very least they should make an extremely serious effort, with dazzling graphics, metaphors, and capable use of the English language, to justify their proposal. More than financial mismanagement, budgetary constraints, and political incompetence, I think this is the key to the failure of the SSC.

Questions:
a) What was the significance of the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC)? Why, according to the writer, did the American Congress cancel this ambitious project after about $2 billion had been spent in 1993? Do you agree with the writer’s opinion? Why? Why not? Explain

b) Modelling on the case above, present a case, which involves the cancellation of a project by the funding organization as the entrepreneurs or innovators failed to make the concerned officials understand the significance of the proposed project.