Listening
Listening is an important part of the organizational communication process. Communication is dependent on listening. The accurate reception and interpretation of messages is essential for effective organizational communication to take place (Harris 2002). Listening is the process of converting sounds into meaning. This includes the four stages of sensing, interpreting, evaluating, and responding. Listening is the most used channel of communication (Harris 2002). In the process of interaction, the process of listening is of crucial importance. In order to respond appropriately to others, we must pay attention to the messages they are sending and link our responses to these. Listening is a fundamental skill and the foundation for other communication skills (Hargie and Dickson 2003). Listening is the complex, learned human process of sensing, interpreting, evaluating, storing and responding to oral messages (Steil 1991 cited in Hargie and Dickson 2003, p. 171). Listening is the process by which spoken language is converted to meaning in the mind (Lundsteen 1971 cited in Hargie and Dickson 2003, p. 171).
Active Listening
Active Listening is a process where the listener sends back to the sender signals indicating what the listener thinks the sender meant. The receiver becomes part of the transaction and takes an active responsibility for understanding the feelings of the other person (DeVito 1986). Understanding the sender’s total message, including the verbal and nonverbal information, along with the content and feelings expressed, is the receiver’s responsibility. Active listening enables receivers to check on the accuracy of their understanding of what the sender said, express acceptance of the sender’s feelings, and stimulate the sender to explore more fully his or her thoughts and feelings (Wilson et al 1989). Active listening according to Gottlieb (2003) includes interpretation and appraisal, a constant and critical consideration of the ideas presented, the materials by which these ideas are supported or explained, the purposes that motivate them, and the language in which they are expressed (p. 98).
The active listening process can be developed by using three techniques. These techniques are paraphrasing, expressed understanding, and questioning (DeVito 1986). Paraphrasing is stating in the receiver’s own words what he thinks the sender meant. The receiver provides a summary of the content of the sender’s message. By paraphrasing, the receiver checks the accuracy of his perception. Expressed Understanding or the restatement of the feelings that the receiver hears from the sender as accurately as possible allows the receiver to check more accurately on how well the sender’s feelings have been perceived and understood.
Questioning
Asking questions is also an active listening technique. Asking questions designed to stimulate the sender to express the feelings he wants to express is important. By allowing the sender to explain his thoughts and feelings, the receiver encourages the sender to provide additional information (DeVito 1986).
Active listening often requires the use of open-ended questions in responding to the speaker or sender. Open-ended questions are questions that cannot be answered by yes or no. This type of questions encourages the speaker to provide more information. Open-ended questions are best for discussion and encourage conversation because they allow for discussion of feelings.
Feedback
Feedback is the receiver’s response to a sender’s communication (DeVito 1986). Although feedback can be considered as a message sent in reply to the initial message as Krone et al (1987) believes, it is actually an ongoing part of the relational process (Watzlawick et al 1967). Feedback according to Heath and Bryant (2000) is defined as information a person receives and interprets that allows him or her to determine whether his or her action (such as message) had the desired effect to achieve a goal, such as inform a receiver.
Verbal feedback keeps the speaker going, keeps the information flowing, encourages more sharing, and helps the speaker feel they are being listened to actively. Feedback according to Montana and Charnov (2000) is crucial to the message sender. By examining and evaluating the feedback, the sender can gain valuable insight into the way in which the message is being received (p. 332). Successful communication occurs when the message is understood and accomplishes its purpose, and this can be done only through feedback from the intended message receiver (Taylor 2006).
Effective Listening
Active listening, together with the techniques in active listening and positive feedback all result to effective listening. Through effective listening and techniques such as questioning, a receiver is able to receive and interpret the sender’s message. Through positive feedback, the receiver takes an active role in the communication process and provides the sender with responses that will aid the sender to assess how effective he was in achieving his goals. Effective listening involves more than simply hearing what the speaker has said; it involves the search for a full and accurate understanding of the meaning of another’s verbal and non-verbal messages. Effective listening is composed of four basic communication skills (Egan 1998 cited in Hayes 2002, p. 54):
- Attending – refers to the way listeners orient themselves to speakers, both physically and psychology.
- Listening – involves receiving and understanding the verbal and non-verbal messages transmitted by speakers.
- Empathy – involves listeners understanding messages from within the speakers’ frames of reference and communicating this to them.
- Probing – involves encouraging and prompting speakers to talk about themselves and to define their concern in more concrete and specific terms.
In organizations, as well as everybody’s personal life, the advantages of effective listening are almost endless. Listening has been shown to be a vital skill for successful managers, supervisors, and professional employees. According to Yukl (1994) misunderstandings are reduced, innovation increases, and morale improves at the workplace because of effective listening (Harris 1993). Listening, is being linked by Bone (1988) with learning, building relationships, being entertained, making intelligent decisions, saving time, enjoying conversations, settling disagreements, getting the best value, preventing accidents and mistakes, asking intelligent questions, and making accurate evaluations (Harrris 1993). In addition, it paves the way toward better personnel relationships, fewer mistakes and errors, more successful meetings, shared viewpoints and perspectives, a stronger culture, and a greater organizational cohesiveness (Wolvin and Coakley 1985). Thus the benefits of effective listening are summarized below:
At Work
- Greater customer satisfaction
- Increased employee satisfaction
- Higher levels of productivity
- Fewer mistakes
- Improved sales figures
- More information sharing
- Greater innovation and creativity (Hargie and Dickson 2003)
Personally
- Better family relationships
- Improved social network
- Greater interpersonal enjoyment
- Improved self-esteem
- More close friends
- An enriched life (Hargie and Dickson 2003)
References
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DeVito, J A 1986, The Communication Handbook: A Dictionary, Harper and Row, New York.
Egan, G 1998. The Skilled Helper (6th edn), Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA.
Gottlieb, M R 2003, Managing Group Process, Praeger, Westport CT.
Hargie, O and Dickson, D 2003. Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research,
Theory, and Practice, Routledge, London.
Harris, T 2002. Applied Organizational Communication: Principles and
Pragmatics for Future Practice, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ.
Hayes, J 2002. Interpersonal Skills at Work, Routledge, New York.
Heath, R L and Bryant, J 2000, Human Communication Theory and Research: Concepts, Contexts, and Challenges, Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, Mahwah NJ.
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Montana, P J and Charnov, B C 2000, Management, Barron’s Educational Series.
Steil, L 1991. 'Listening Training: The Key to Success in Today's Organizations', in D. Borisoff and M. Purdy (eds) Listening in Everyday Life, Maryland: University of America Press.
Steil, L K, Barker, L L, and Watson, K W 1983, Effective Listening: Key to Your Success, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Taylor, J 2006, A Survival Guide for Project Managers, AMACOM.
Watzlawick, P, Beavin, J H, and Jackson D D 1967, Pragmatics of Human Communication, Norton, New York.
Wilson, G L, Hantz, A M, and Hanna, M S 1989, Interpersonal Growth through Communication, Brown, Dubuque.
Wolvin, A D and Coakley, C G 1985. Listening (2nd ed.). Brown, Dubuque, IA.
Yukl, G A 1994. Leadership in Organizations (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall, Englewood
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