KEY TERMS ‘After reading this chapter, you will be able to do the following: selectivity principles (p. 70) 1 Identify the principlés that influence listening between supervisor communication omission due to and employees. 4 faulty listening (p. 72) listeningand communication climate in organizations (p. 69) i information sharing (p.72) Develop the listening skills needed to enhance relationship communication, ' Be aware of how listening influences the organizational climate. ' 1 Improve the openness of communication through active listening, E applications. ' Use active listening for accuracy, paraphrasing, and feedback. Avoid communication omissions sa 2.) When people talk, listen completely. Most people L never listen. Ernest HEMINGWAY pressing yourself clearly. It also expects effective listening, a skill set that will improve your communication and make you ¢ stronger leader. Studies in business and the professions have shown | that selating to people is essential to successful organizations. Simply ) put, the development of effective workplace relationships can result in : gains in productivity and morale, By contrast, isolation and alienation i among coworkers can breed dissatisfaction and poor information sharing. As you will observe in the examples in this chaptes, listening | in organizations has powerful effects, ranging, from improved morale | to boosting productivity. Without attention, listening may become | 4 lost communication skill necessary to accomplish business and professional activities. Es communication centers much more than on merely ex-(Chapter 4 » Managing Listening Communication in the Workplace THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LISTENING IN ORGANIZATIONS Relationships are built and maintained in organizations through listening communication processes. This theme echoes in scholarly and applied literature, Bven in some of the earliest days of speech communication studies experts recognized the value of discovering why people don't listen and what sls would be more effective (Rankin, 1930; Nichols & Stephens, 1957). In other words, for several decades business professionals and communication scholars have emphasized how desir- able listening skills are in the workplace, Over the years, groundbreaking insights showed that paying attention to people’ feelings matters to validate others and to genuinely seek to understand, Listening is part of a complex set of communication competence variables such as social cognition ability that researchers like Sypher (1984) identify. Even though listening is central to competence, its neglect in practice and in significant ongoing research is startling, as Flynn, Valikoski, and Grau (2008) observe. One reason may be that itis viewed as a “soft skill” and appears to not be taken seriously at times. Collections of major principles can be distilled into how listening is actually a signifi- cant management skill in today’s the workplace (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008). These next pages document some of the issues, practices, and outcomes surrounding listening in the workplace Managers’ Use of Listening Leaders spend 80 percent of their time communicating, This figure breaks down as 45 percent listening, 30 percent speaking, 16 percent reading, and 9 percent writing. In fact, top executives and senior management spend about twice as much of their time listening as other employees. Perhaps for this reason, general managers ranked listening first out of eight communication be- haviors. There is reason to believe that listening along with general oral communications skils plays an important roe in hiring decisions (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008; Brown, 2008). Organizational Outcomes Associated with Lister ‘We have collected several studies concerning organizational outcomes related to listening in the ‘workplace, Among the scholarly and anecdotal findings, we choose to empliasize these that are best described in articles by recent scholars who have done significant summaries of business and professional contexts (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008; Brown, 2009; Nicholson, 2007; Bruner, 2008), We'll get to the practice part of listening later in this chapter, but here are more of the research findings: + Listening is a key management skill + Listening is a neglected skills in organizations + Listening improvements among employees yield higher performance in these ways: * Relationships improve + Change is easier + Customer service and sales increase Furthermore, a listening environment in the workplace has been linked with the following + Job satisfaction + Increased productivity + Lowered absenteeism (Flynn, Valikoski, & Grau, 2008) 69 ihie « tmerpersonal Communication in Business and Profesional Communication CONCEPTS THAT EXPLAIN LISTENING DEFICITS selectivity in Listening to Information ‘Another principle of interpersonal communication expire why messages seem to be ignored ncn ynesages tat share work-related information among Toworkers seem not to get through at times, as shown in Case 41 enon for such breakdowns i the sletivity rincinis which suggests that people choose to listen to ideas and messages that reinforce What they already knows, believe» oF Tike. Te cre eative repetition and competent istening skis OPE orwaral—beyond these initial per ventions. This helpfl principle explains the Limits of interpersonal communication in terms of three areas: 1. elective exposure. Studies have shown tat individuals Pe themscives up to informa~ aan dens consistent with ther existing knowles ‘beliefs, and tastes. For instance, the primary listeners to religious messages are thems ‘eligious, the participants at politica! Pretend tobe party members, and those who atend metings about fund-raising efforts for, sysa college or university tend to favor that school. 2, eicetlve attention, Once people are exposed to cerain S00 Oy topics, they tend to pay atention 10 or to perceive only the things they already know, believe, and like, For Case 4.1 Separate Conversations pablo and Shaun work in the technology support department 9% medium-sized advertising rene, When the two tied to talk about a paticwar problem they have been experiencing the dialogue went like this: pasos Wenever should have installed the SPSS-P without fi checking on a cen- Fee ee porn teats up too mach RAM ands using robles for the marketing researchers Fike $P88-PC since it allows each person to manage the dat Bete sav anor With connections to 2 centeal serves they can stl mane data and, in fact incorporate alot more information and not oversiress their individual computers. Svan: SPSS corporate support says they've coming ot with a new version that Ses or up ax much space, depending on how you reconfigure the fhard drive. panvor Yin telling you we need to go to a centralized server—that’s it cman Ywant lear more about PC versions [Jove sats shaun and Pablo sem to be having two separate conversat 97 Shaun continues to recycle his sna postive attitude about PC versions of SPSS, while Pablo insists on the need for a cen aac version of the product, Neither asks questions of the other, offers feedback t0 reat leige what the other bas said, or calls for an investigation ‘of the facts. What needs fo happen to make this a productive discussion?