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Unit 1: Speaking Skills
Besides beings critical to organizational effectiveness, listening is also a determinant of individual notes
efficiency and effectiveness. When evaluating an individual’s competence as a communicator,
the listening ability of that person is a major consideration. Without a demonstrated ability to
listen well, a person cannot be considered as an excellent communicator.
Did u know? While investigating the link between communication and health researchers
in the US had observed that a dog’s blood pressure rises when the dog barks, and drops
when the dog is quite. They later on found that the same holds true for humans. Our blood
pressure also rises when we talk and rapidly drops when we listen. Hence, from the point
of view of maintaining good health, listening is better than speaking.
Employers are becoming increasingly aware that listening relates to almost all forms of business
communication. It is an essential skill in gathering information for running every activity of a business.
It is also important in working in a small group, in interviewing as a management tool or to get a job,
and in communicating effectively across cultures. Executives have to understand the importance of
listening with respect to development of writing skills, reading skills and speaking skills.
Notes A research study conducted long back found that organizational message with a
comprehension rating of 100% at the board level gets reduced to 20% by the time it trickles
down to the worker:
Board 100%
Vice President 63%
General Supervisor 56%
Plant Manager 40%
General Foreman 30%
Worker 20%
A similar distortion takes place in upward communication by the time the message reaches
the top managers from the workers. If a worker wants to communicate any message
upwards, the top management consisting of the board may get only 20%.
No oral communication can be effective without proper listening on the part of the receiver
of the message. A tactful manager can positively handle the grapevine or informal channel of
communication by ‘empathic’ listening.
Poor listening may defeat the very purpose of oral communication. It has been found by
authorities on the subject that generally people retain only about one fourth of what they hear
after two days. In this way listening becomes the weakest link in oral communication.
A few basic observations about listening will clarify the concept of listening:
l Listening is the accurate perception of what is being communicated. It is the art of separating
fact from statement, and accusation.
l Listening involves the following four major operations. They are as follows:
Hearing,
Understanding,
Retaining, and
Recalling
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