Overview of chapter 7
The Chinese characters that make up the verb 'to listen' are: ear, you, eyes, undivided attention and heart. All focus on the characteristics of effective listening.
To start you thinking
- Complete the Checklist exercise 'How Good a Listener Are You?' on page 89 of the textbook.
- How carefully do you listen to a person in whom you are disinterested or to a subject with which you disagree or are bored?
- Why is listening important?
Most people consider that they listen well, but do we? We spend more of our communication time listening than speaking, writing or reading. Business executives are said to spend approximately 45% of their working time listening (Caudill & Donaldson in Kreitner & Kinicki 1995), while university students spend 53% of their time listening (DeVito in Dwyer 2005). However, the average listening efficiency is only about 25%. This chapter highlights the processes involved in effective listening and the barriers that might affect good listening habits.
Learning objectives
On completion of this chapter you should be able to:
- understand the listening process and define effective listening
- apply the four listening skills used in the active listening approach
- compare different approaches to listening
- describe barriers to listening
- listen effectively.
Topics
- 7.1 Overview of listening
- 7.2 The listening process
- 7.3 Approaches to listening
- 7.4 Barriers to listening
In your text
Read Chapter 4 in your text by Dwyer, J. 2005, Communication in Business: Strategies and Skills, 3 rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest , Australia .
