1. Outline three circumstances when non-verbal communication is used to pass information. (3 marks)
2. State three directions in which information can flow in an organization. (3 marks)
3. Define the following terms as used in communication: (3 marks)
(i) audience;
(ii) completeness;
(iii) barriers.
4. Outline three factors that may interfere with the transmission of information. (3 marks)
5. List three consequences of holding a meeting without giving a notice and an agenda. (3 marks)
6. State four advantages of effective external communication. (4 marks)
7. List four ways in which an interviewee should conduct herself during a job selection interview. (4 marks)
8. State three reasons why official etiquette is important in the workplace. (3 marks)
9. State three disadvantages of oral reports. (3 marks)
10. Outline three reasons why an organization may write a press release. (3 marks)
SECTION B (68 marks)
Answer ALL the questions in this section.
11. (a) Your organization sent a group of officers for a two-day workshop at Peponi Hotel.
However, the services rendered by the hotel were not satisfactory. As the Assistant Public Relations Officer, write a letter of complaint to Peponi Hotel. (12 marks)
(b) Explain three roles of the minutes of a meeting. (6 marks)
12. You work as the personal assistant to the proprietor of Kingsway Cleaning Services. The company collects garbage in residential areas. In the last three months, the number of clients has declined steadily. The proprietor has requested you to investigate the matter and write a report giving your recommendations. Assume you have completed the investigations and write the report.
13. (a) Explain three reasons why telephone interviews are gaining popularity in organizations. (6 marks)
(b) Explain five challenges that an organization may face when dealing with customers. (10 marks)
14. Read the passage below and then answer the questions that follow.
Communities living in rural areas, especially in the developing world, face a number of socio economic challenges. These challenges, to a large extent, are as a result of limited access to resources. Some of the socio-economic challenges faced in rural areas include unemployment, poor housing, ill health, food insecurity, lack of access to land for cultivation and illiteracy.
Furthermore, the poverty gap between urban and rural areas have been widening as urban areas attract more investment in the form of industries.
Due to the persistent rural-urban inequalities in Kenya, the government has embarked on a number of strategic actions geared towards reducing these inequalities. Among these strategies is the creation of the Kenya Rural Development Strategy (KRDS). KRDS recognizes that agriculture and rural development play a critical role in poverty reduction as well as the achievement of economic growth in rural areas. As a result, it has focused on reviving the agricultural sector through increased funding of research and empowerment of women. This is especially crucial where subsistence farming is carried out to ensure household food security. Another strategy is the implementation of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NPEP). NPEP mandates the government to create adequate employment opportunities. This is by increasing domestic investments and savings to levels that can support economic growth and improve livelihoods.
In turn, literacy levels are raised and communities empowered to manage their local resources. In addition, the government has put in place a favourable tax regime in order to attract investment capital. This strategy is aimed at steering the economy towards a sustainable growth path, especially in rural areas. Other efforts include the implementation of the Vision 2030 which
aims to transform Kenya socially, economically and politically to a medium income nation by the year 2030. There are three pillars under Vision 2030 namely social, economic and political.
The social and economic pillars are fundamental to the economic growth and social development of the nation.
A further strategy is the enactment of the new constitution in 2010 which created a devolved governance structure. In this structure, the counties should become engines of social and economic development in the rural areas. This means that every county should have its own governance structure identifying the priority areas for development. It is hoped that the counties will create an investor friendly environment based on the natural resources as well as other opportunities aimed at transforming the lives of residents of the counties.
Another strategy the government can adopt to develop rural areas is setting up industrial parks. An industrial park is a site set aside for factories and other industrial businesses. The concept of industrial parks in not common in Kenya, especially in the rural areas. It is an alternative that the government can explore to promote the social and economic development in the rural areas where the majority of the population resides. Such industrial parks, which comprise private enterprises set up in rural areas with support from the government, are more likely to transform the communities. The rural industries are associated with benefits such as provision of clean water, electricity, road construction and support for education and health services as well as creation of employment opportunities and growth of small businesses. Rural industrial parks should therefore be encouraged because they involve establishment of industries by private
enterprises that are supported by the government.
In addition, the government supports community-based microcredit groups (chamas) through initiatives such as the Women Enterprise Fund. This strategy provides capital for small businesses eventually reducing high levels of poverty associated with limited opportunities in rural areas. Consequently, this drives down crime and attracts more investments in the industrial zones. Improving the quality of life for rural people is an enormous and challenging problem. Solutions to this problem are to be found within the rural areas. In essence, it comes down to generating employment, increasing income, harnessing the primary and secondary resources that are found
in the rural areas and utilising them.
Adapted from: International Journal of Education and Research, Volume 1, No. 8 August 2013.
(a) State the meaning of each of the following words and phrases as used in the passage:
(i) widening;
(ii) carried out;
(iii) put in place;
(iv) transforming;
(v) comprise;
(vi) consequently.
(6 marks)
(b) In about 110 words, and according to the passage, explain the strategies the government has embarked on to reduce the inequalities between urban and rural areas.
