Why does MS Office not allow the Finder to operate

Often when I print from Word or Excel on my ColorCube 8570 by Xerox, the job prints, but I cannot regain control of Finder until I click on some icon other than Word or Excel on the Dock. Clicking on the desktop, any file icon, or Finder window will not work. The menu options in Word are grey so can't be Quit.

This has been an ongoing issue for a number of months. Any ideas would be appreciated.

JD

MacOS 10.7.5

Office 2011 of Mac with updates

Newest driver for 8570