The Importance of Listening for Business Success - Assignment Example

Listening Skills The paper purpose is to evaluate the importance of listening for the business success. For this purpose, different dimensions of listening has been evaluated and discussed. For example, before going to differentiate between listening and hearing, some light has been put on the importance of listening in which it has been mentioned that for effective negotiations for merger or acquisition, strong and effective listening skills are highly essential. Subsequently, to hear sounds and noise has been defined as hearing whereas the activity of listening includes not only hearing but also understanding of words, meaning of words and their purpose as well. This focus is mainly given by the fact that the ineffective listening is expensive and often creates confusion and misunderstanding as well. Understand the Importance of Listening Listening has become an essential skill for securing success in today’s competitive business world. In the absence of effective listening, companies will not be able to compete and obtain their operational and strategic objectives as well. In this regard, it is important to highlight that merger and acquisitions are common and they are growing in the business world. And there are various reasons that such business activities are growing. First, competition has increased and technological changes have further complicated the business activities. As a result, companies are more inclined to effectively deal with the competition and technological changes through mergers and acquisitions because through merger and acquisition, they become in a position to reduce their business cost and improve their profit as well. In this regard, it is important to mention that the mergers and acquisitions are of strategic nature business activities in which comprehensive and detailed discussion, analysis, understanding and other ranges of issues that are appropriately listened and understood by both parties. And it is a common trend that in such activities some words and sentences are not directly said or spoken and it is considered that they are implied in the discussion. Overall, both merger and acquisition require intensive and extensive negotiations between parties and effective negotiations are only possible if both parties know and understand the effective listening and use them to receive and convey their messages as well Differentiate between Listening and Hearing Listening and hearing are not the same. Both have a considerable difference and this difference has a substantial amount of effect on overall process of communication. Hearing is defined as the capacity to perceive sounds (Gregoric, 2007). In other words, hearing is only restricted to the process of noise and sounds in which the purpose, words, uttered and unuttered words are not taken into account. Moreover, the process of hearing can also be termed as a physical activity (Timm, 2008.p.67). This means in the process of hearing only ears, mouth and tongue are mainly involved and the sound heard by ears and words uttered by tongue are only seen. On the other hand, listening is more than the process of hearing. However, it is important to mention that the activity of hearing is also part of listening because the physical activity, which is mainly performed by human body parts, must perform its routine role in the process of communication. In addition, Kaul (2009.p.87) emphasizes that the both terms should not be understood interchangeably but difference and distinction should be made between both words. Listening is defined as a complex process in which the use and understanding of both spoken and unspoken words is normally adopted (Kaul, 2009. p.87). Kaul (2009) further elaborates that the activity of listening is like a game of ‘mix and match’ in which both speaker and listener understand each other by using their mental strengths from the same platform. Based on the definition and exposition of Kaul, it can be deduced that the activity of listening is not limited to the role of one person involved in the process of exchanging information but it is something more than that. Moreover, it can also be extracted that two individuals who are communicating and sharing their information are using their mental capabilities must have clear understanding about the topic and simultaneously their position should be very clear in the communication process. As a result, the clear position and unequivocal statements and words will enable both sender and receiver of information to understand their the main purpose of communication through listening the spoken words and trying to understand unspoken words which are always inbuilt in the process of communication. Identify Problems Caused by Ineffective Listening in Business Ineffective listening creates misunderstanding (Hendon et al., 1996. p.4). Normally, effective communication is defined as a process in which transmitted message is accurately received along with spoken and unspoken words by the receiver (kaul, 2009.p. 87). In other words, all these activities must simultaneously move together and perform their role in way expected of them. In this regard, it is important to mention that all types of communication will be meaningless if the purpose and position of both speaker and listener are not clear. In other words, context in which the communication is taking place is very central in the process of listening and understanding as well. For example, if the relevant and proper words are not used for a communication process, there are chances that both parties would not be able to listen effective and subsequently misunderstanding would not be avoidable. Ineffective listening is expensive (Harris and Nelson, 2006. p.257). To substantiate their argument, they explain that if a $10 mistake is committed by 100 million customers of a company, it would cost $1000 million loss for the company and subsequently this process would also have multiplier effect on the counting process and the various other costs would also be possible (Harris and Nelson, 2006. p.257). In this regard, it is important to highlight that the above example only highlights the financial cost of ineffective listening whereas abound social, political, cultural, national and international effects of ineffective listening have their own impacts. For example, a government spokesperson announces that the government plans to hold election on 11th of this month but the reporters quote 10th of this month in their respective media. Consequently, majority of voters will not be able to cast their vote and this ineffective listening mistake can bring grave consequences for the entire political system. Recognize How Perception Shapes Listening in Business “Perception is stronger than reality” (Preddy, 2004.p. 24). Generally speaking, perceptions are common views that are developed about persons and issues as well in which a person holds specific views about things and issues and link them with other aspects. For example, it is a popular perception that a new business company does not make profit in its very first year but it requires a number of years in the market before reaching profit level and particularly after crossing the break-even point. In other words, based on this perception, it can be argued that new companies struggle to maintain a balance between income and cost at least for one or two years. Specifically speaking, in a workplace environment, boss and his subordinates also develop and retain perceptions about each other. Sometimes, these perceptions are positive and negative as well. In this regard, it is important to mention that if positive perceptions are developed between the boss and a subordinate, then there are chances that effective listening between both will easily take place and the workplace environment will be congenial for both. However, if there are negative perceptions in the mind of the boss for a particular employee, such type of situation would create listening and communication problems for both. Perceptions are made through a regular trend and pattern adopted by an employee. For example, if an employee comes on time and leaves office on time as well and he does not leave his work unfinished and continuously shows dedication, commitment, sincerity, punctuality with the work, his overall pattern indicates that the employee is loyal to his work. Consequently, a positive perception is developed for the employees. Enhance Strategic Communication with Interactive Listening Skills Good listening skills are highly valuable for all types of interpersonal and interactive listening skills as well (West and Turner, 2011. p.193). Before going to elaborate on the interactive listening skills, it is essential to understand the strategic communication. Strategic communication is a process in which communication of ideas and other information is exchanged between strategic departments or organizations in which strategic issues and other matters of strategic significance are properly discussed and understood as well. For example, if a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of one Business Company is discussing interests of mutual concern with the CEO of other business firm, this type of communication can be termed as of strategic communication. For example, both CEOs can talk about mutual agreements of sharing particular information which may increase the chances of more profit for both companies; similarly, they can formally enter into agreement and determine, design and develop a formal strategic communication process between employees working in both departments. Interactive listening skills include those skills which are of mutual interest and have collective positive impact on their overall listening and understanding process. In this type of interaction, both parties first determine the context or objective for interactive discussion and subsequently they will try to obtain the objectives through interactive discussion. In this regard, it is important to highlight that the interactive listening process is a continuous and uninterrupted communication process in which both parties continue share and discuss issues till they reach agreement on the topic. For example, if both CEOs (as mentioned in the above paragraph) have decided that they plan to merge both small companies. It means this is the objective of their discussion and now they will enter into an interactive session in which both will discuss issues pertaining to the merger and their benefits and drawbacks for the both firms. Subsequently, if they discuss on the merits, it is necessary that both should have effective listening skills to appropriately understand the deeper meaning of the spoken and unspoken words as well. Through this process, they will be in a better position to enhance their interactive listening skills. How Could Manager Gain Control of His Listening Training and development of listening skills enable managers to gain control of their listening. However, it is not about controlling the listening but it is more relevant to listen effectively and understand the matter for which the matter is discussed and communicated as well. In other words, the managers are required to develop a listening framework in which certain points should be noted: purpose of listening, words, common meaning of words and unspoken words. These four areas must be used for controlling and improving the listening activity. For understanding the purpose of listening, it is important to mention that managers should fully and properly know and understand the purpose of listening before going to start a matter. If they have any confusion regarding purpose, it is highly essential that they should remove ambiguity and bring transparency and clarity in the purpose, by doing so, they will become in a position to know the basic theme of any listening process. In addition, the use and selection of words that are going to be listened must be fully understood. Some words are common and have common meaning. However, some words have contextual use and contextual meaning as well. In this regard, it is important for the managers to know and fully comprehend and distinguish between common and contextual meaning of words. If they do not know such distinction, it would create problem for understanding the matter and the activity of effective listening would be meaningless. However, if they are fully conversant with the ordinary meaning and contextual meaning of words, they will be in a position to listen words and will be able to make appropriate understanding and sense of words. In this regard, the role of training and development cannot be undermined. For example, for controlling and effective listening skills, relevant training sessions should be arranged and attended by the managers. The training session should be held after a particular period of time and in each training sessions, progress on the previous performance must be monitored. If the previous progress has met the set goals and objectives in a required manner, then new effective listening goals should be determined and subsequent steps should be taken to complete the steps. Additionally, it is important to mention that there is no perfect recipe for controlling and improving the listening skills but it largely relies on the nature and type of manager job. For example, if a manager works in a service organization where negotiations with the customers and other companies are normally carried out. In this case, the manager should receive training pertaining to the negotiation skills in which effective listening is highly required and relevant for the manager. Give Example of One Business Company Brain Tracy heads the company called Brian Tracy International (a training and development firm for individuals and firms) (Brian Tracy International, 2014). In his blog, Brain Tracy has mentioned that he attaches a considerable significance to the activity of effective listening and has been encouraging his staff members to put their maximum attention and focus on the effective listening (Brain Tracy’s Blog, 2011). In this blog, he has mentioned and recommended a number of staff for effective listening: listen attentively, pause before replying, clarity questions, and feedback (Brain Tracy’s Blog, 2011). Based on these recommendations, it can be deduced that the listening is a process similar to speaking in which ideas are generated and transmitted towards mouth. On the other hand, in the listening process, words, sentences and other facial expressions are listened and seen respectively; ears receive words and sentences and forward those to the mind; subsequently the mind processes them for generating meaning, sense and ideas and comprehensive thought by keeping in view the context of the listening process. Moreover, Brain Tracy’s Blog (2011) highlights that the owner (Brain Tracy) expects that the employees must avoid interrupting to the speaker instead they should offer full opportunity to the speaker to share and exchange their ideas. Summary Listening has become an important art for succeeding in the business world. Without knowing and understanding the steps and importance of effective listening, it would be very difficult to sail through the difficult terrain of today’s complex business world. For this purpose, it is highly essential to understand the significance of listening within the context of business world. Through knowing the importance of listening, the business managers will become in a position to appropriately satisfy the requirements of their job description. Subsequently, it is important for them to make a clear difference between hearing and listening. As the former is more related to the physical activity and only noise or sound is heard whereas the latter is more concerned with not only hearing but also fully understanding the words and their sense as well. However, it has been observed that ineffective listening is expensive and creates misunderstanding. In order to avoid ineffective listening, the managers are required to undergo through the proper and related listening training and development sessions. References Brain Tracy International, (2014). About Brain and Brain Tracy International. Brian Tracy International. Retrieved: http://www.briantracy.com/About/ Brain Tracy’s Blog, (2011). Motivating Employees by Using Effective Listening Skills. Brain Tracy International. Retrieved: http://www.briantracy.com/blog/leadership-success/motivating-employees-by-using-effective-listening-skills/ Gregoric, P. (2007). Aristotle on the Common Sense. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Harris, T.E., & Nelson, M.D. (2008). Applied Organizational Communication: Theory and Practice in a Global Environment. 3rd edn. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Hendon, D.W., Hendon, R.A., & Herbig, P. (1996). Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations. Connecticut, CT: Quorum Books. Kaul, A. (2009). Business Communication. 2nd edn. New Delhi: PHI Learning. Preddy, S. (2004). How to Market Design Consultancy Services: Finding, Winning, Keeping and Developing Clients. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Timm, P.R. (2008). Customer Service: Career Success Through Customer Loyalty. 4th edn. New Delhi: Dorling Kindersley. West, R., & Turner, L.H. (2011). Understanding Interpersonal Communication: Making Choices in Changing Times, Enhanced second Edition. Miami, MA: Wadsworth. Read More