Assessment Task: Given that listening accounts for 45 per cent of time spent on communication (Eunson 2012:310), argue the importance of listening skills in the workplace. Your analysis should identify three specific listening behaviors and provide examples to demonstrate how these skills promote communication and understanding. Support your analysis with relevant communication theory and evidence from appropriate academic sources. Listening skills play a significant role in evaluating communication capabilities in the workplace throughout the globe. It affects all kinds of interactions and becomes part of problem solving.
Thought communication encounters, workers are able to learn why they trust or distrust each other. Although listening skills are not the main aspect required in the workplace. Slightly less than half of the time it spends on listening than writing, reading, and speaking, by employee. Listening skills have become one of the major tools in the workplace, due to the improvement of productivity and satisfaction. There are a number of factors that could support listening skills becoming more active and effective such as giving concentration and full attention.
Therefore, three important listening behaviours in the workplace and how this behaviour could help communication between co-worker, namely active and effective listening behaviour, remaining silent, and effective questioning will be discuss in more depth in this essay. Active and effective listening allows speakers to deliver or articulate the information more fluently (Eunson 2012). As a rule, effective listening involves paying full attention and concentrating as well as responding because it helps the speaker to transfer the message easily.
In addition, by showing verbal and non- verbal responses, such as smiling and nodding or saying yes or no, effectively affect the speaker to communicate and transfer the information (Harvey 2006). Further more, by nodding their agreement to keep a person talking shows the information they transfer is interesting (Theobald & Cooper 2004). In one stage of communication, the quality of conversation can be improved when the workers are engaged in active listening. For instance, note taking during meetings which challenge both ndividual listening and writing skills, encourages co-workers to improve their sort-term memory to be more active later that day (Hybels & Weaver 2008,). It helps listeners to verify their understanding, and it gives the other person an opportunity to elaborate on main point of the information. Active and effective listening behaviours have a huge impact on the growth of business in the work place, because it shows the interaction between co-workers and how they deal with problems in their environment (Eunson 2012).
Active and effective listening demonstrates the ability of workers to hear and feel what the other people want so say without judgment. Thus, active and effective listening skills have positively impact on the workplace. Remaining silent is an essential component of communication based on listening skill. This skill encourage people to participate, giving attention to listen to other people when they talking without interruption (Hybels & Weave 2008). More over, as people they make an ethical agreement to listen to the other, they focused their attention on them without acknowledging competing thoughts (Gamble & Gamble 2013).
It is widely recognized that, listening can be defined as paying attention to other people when they talk. In addition, as human beings people have an agreement whether they should be silent and agree with the information which has been delivered or pointed out down in order to make information more accurate (Eunson 2012). In fact, interruption during conversation affects the speaker in negative way, for instant, asking a question in the middle of presentation sometimes could affect the sort-term memory of the speaker.
It means speaker might not know how to deal with the question and material which should be delivered if forgotten. Thus, remaining silent is one of fundamental skills to support good listening behaviors. In fact, appearing to listen appropriately has the significant benefit of making the other person feel respected, while giving others enough time to express a proper feedback. That could be beneficial method in a formal interview (Theobald & Cooper 2004). Thus, remain silent shows respectively of listening skills based on communication.
Effective questioning goes beyond listening skills and it has become an efficient method of communication. Effective questioning can be shown through personal and interpersonal communication, such as interviewing, delivering presentations, and sales (Eunson 2012). In addition, effective questioning is a powerful learning skill and becomes a monitor of co-worker behavior or performance during transaction or negotiation. In the world of negotiation, the efficiency of effective questioning systems has gradually become recognized.
It is important to use questioning skills as part of communication to show people interest and evaluate audience understanding of the information that has been transported. (Gamble & Gamble 2013). Individuals own understanding could be strengthened by asking a question because that stimulates and supports the speakers feelings when they elaborate on their information (DeVito 2011). However, people need self-control, which means using the exact types of questions in different situations when interacting with different characters.
It is clear that, individuals have different ways and behaviors to accept and answer the question (Eunson 2012). Good questioning helps listening skills become more effective and it has power to make communication more valuable. In conclusion, listening skill have a massive influence on communication in the workplace. It has become an imperative tool which helps people become active and aware because they require certain amount of concentration, and attention. Furthermore, communication is affected by listening. Good listening behavior could improve the productivity and satisfaction of the company.
As a result, more than half of the time is spent on listening in the workplace rather than writing, reading, and talking. Thus, listening becomes an essential skill in the workplace. Moreover, three listening behaviors such as, active and effective listening behavior, remaining silent, and effective questioning help the listener to engage with the speaker in order to deliver information. This kind of information could help a community solve or tackle the problem. In the work place it could help improve relationship with co-workers and thereby increase a company’s productivity.
Therefore, listening skill is essential in the workplace. : DeVito, J 2011, Human Communication, Addison-Wesley Longman, New York. Eunson, B 2012, C21 Communicating in the 21st Century, 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Milton, Queensland. Gamble, T & Gamble, M 2013, Communication Work, 11th edn, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Harvey, N 2006, Effective Communication, 2nd edn, Gill & Macmillan, Park West, Dublin. Hybels, S & Weaver, R 2008, Communicating Effectively, 9th edn, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Theobald, T & Cooper, CL 2004 Shut up and listen! : the truth about how to communicate at work, Kogan Page, London ; Sterling, VA.
