Paper: 00, Business Communication

Module: 11, Importance & Types of Listening

QUADRANT-I

1. Module 11: Importance & Types of Listening

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Introduction

4. Importance of Listening

5. Types of Listening 6. Summary

1. Module 11: Importance and Types of Listening

2. Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module, students will be able to

• Know the importance of listening in personal and professional life.

• Adopt the right type of listening skills for better interpersonal relationship.

3. Introduction:

“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of the prayer”

- Mother Teresa

Items Description of Module

Subject Name Management

Paper Name Business Communication

Module Title Importance & Types of Listening

Module Id Module no- 11

Pre-

Requisites

Listening, Importance & Types of Listening

Objectives To understand what listening actually is why it is important in our personal and

professional life.

To learn that which type of listening is better & need to be adopted by an

individual while interacting with friends, peers or boss, or in different environment

or at various life situations.

Keywords Listening, understanding, empathy, active, passive, critical

Listening is the most vital part of communication. If there is no listener there is hardly any point in

speaking. Listening is receiver’s ability to listen to the sender properly and decode the message to

have clear understanding of ideas, thoughts or information, which sender wants to share. If the

receivers fail to understand the message which has been expressed by the sender, they will also fail

in providing a substantial and meaningful response. This wrong feedback is the root cause of many

arguments, misunderstandings, and worries, at personal or professional life.

Listening is a skill that needs to be practised. Ability to listen is the most critical skill required in

managers and leaders. It provides them with all the information they need. Listening enables us to

participate effectively in discussions and other interactions. Unless we listen to the points made or

views expressed by the other participants in a speech, we would not be able to react rightly and to put

forward our views. In nutshell, Listening means art of understanding others; it helps in climbing the

ladder of success and is a great source of wisdom in life.

4. Importance of Listening:

“Give thy ear to all but your tongue to a few”

- The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1.3.71)

Listening is very important part of everyone’s life, as through listening we can comprehend the

language; understand the people around us it may be interacting to customers or with subordinates or

even to the whole world at large. Whether in business or personal life, listening is extremely

important.

The time spent on listening is always substantial. In fact listening is an important everyday means of

gathering information and acquiring knowledge, it is even vital for socializing, for relaxation, for

inspiration, and even for gaining new ideas officially or by listening to friends and peers.

As a student one has to listen to lectures, seminars, presentations, discussions & instructions.

Similarly as a professional listening takes place with boss, colleagues, subordinates within the

organization. Likewise a judge, a psychiatrist, and a physician must possess special competence in

listening.

Stephen Covey identifies listening as one of the seven habits of effective people, therefore if one

wishes to become a successful manager, it is essential to adopt and improve listening skills.

According to Adler, R. et al. (2001) Adults spend an average of 70% of their time engaged in some

sort of communication, of this an average of 45% is spent listening compared to 30% speaking, 16%

reading and 9% writing.

Source: Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L. and Proctor, R. (2001) Interplay: the process of interpersonal

communicating (8th ed.), Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt.

4.1 Importance of Listening at Workplace:

Listening has vast importance not only at a personal level in life but also at workplace. Business

owners of any segment, entrepreneurs, and the employees, who so ever develop attentive listening

skills and encourage this ability for others too, will be the most likely to keep their organizations

progressing.

Listening is a lively process that involves focusing on what is said without allowing erstwhile beliefs

to obstruct the process. It is true that if people would concentrate on listening at work, they will gain

profitable results such as increased productivity, more rapid progress towards target and more

pleasant relationships between co-workers.

The below mentioned are some points which further elaborate importance of listening at workplace:

4.1.1 Knowing your organization

Careful listening to the grapevine helps to know the members of the staff, about the company’s

activities and policies. Therefore, it leads to better understanding of organization, it also facilitates in

predicting what changes are required for growth.

4.1.2 Calming complaining employees

Harvey Mackay, a businessman said, “You can win more friends with your ears than with your

mouth”. Very often employees have certain grievances, all that they need is a listener. If a manager or

a leader listens to them patiently their anger will be drained out and it will lead to calmness & peace

of mind.

4.1.3 Formulating better policies:

If a manager listens to his/her subordinates carefully, he/she will know that which policies are

acceptable to all other members and are better suitable for the organizational success. This step may

also accomplish the willing support of employees.

4.1.4 Open door strategy:

Some managers use open door strategy and keep the doors open for employees to walk in and talk. It

leads to better understanding and better upward communication. Sometimes it also happens that their

doors are open but their ears are closed. This bad listening of managers leaves the employees in

distress. Despite of this, if a manager listens patiently, employees will be encouraged to talk, and there

will be free upward communication.

4.1.5 Spotting sensitive areas:

Problems if not resolved could lead to serious disputes. It is important for managers and leaders to

spot the sensitive areas and resolve complaints by finding better solutions to avoid serious disputes.

Mahatma Gandhi as a leader was like an expert therapist, by analyzing the problems he listened

patiently to the grievances of the people, and helped them to live a better life.

4.1.6 Increasing confidence:

People, who listen well and carefully, tend to have better knowledge and clear understanding.

Therefore, they are more confident in day to day activities and even while taking major

decisions.

4.1.7 Forming a bond:

True listening generates respect and trust between speaker and listener. Employees like to

respond to those bosses who they think are listening to them.

4.1.8 Boosting productivity:

Instead of only giving an advice, if a manager listens carefully to the explanation of problems

and start working towards solution, employees will be more dedicated towards work and the

productivity will rise.

4.1.9 Advancing innovations:

If a leader or a manager listens properly to the ideas of people, and motivates them to

implement it instead of controlling or curbing. This technique will show the way of new and

innovative tactics of work. Listening makes employees feel better as it recognizes not only

the value of the employee viewpoint but also the value to the employee of being listened to.

4.1.10 Enhancing accuracy:

Listening in a better way leads to a huge recollection of important facts and issues, resulting

in more accuracy while solving complex issues, with lesser miscommunication and faults.

A wise man once said, “We never learn anything with our mouth open. We can only learn by reading,

by listening, by observing and by doing” (Rega, M.). Thus, the importance of listening is at the core

of communication, it may be anywhere with anyone. In business it is important for a manager to

encourage employees to listen one another in order to build an environment that promotes cooperative

team work and innovative problem solving.

Brown, M. (2004) wrote, that “Listening is a learned behaviour. Just as decoding the written word is

not the same as comprehending its meaning, hearing a sound is not the same as understanding what is

being said”. Proper listening is again very important in making a comfortable environment, to attract

and retain good people in an organization, to develop healthy relationships and for the growth of the

organization.

The consequences of not listening carefully could be disastrous:

Source: Taylor, S. (2006) Communication for Business, Pearson Education ltd

5. Types of Listening

According to Ralph G. Nichols, who is regarded as the father of Listening, “The most basic of all

human needs is to understand and to be understood...The best way to understand people is to listen to

them”. Thus, being listened to, is one of our most basic needs.

But Listening is not a single term which says that listener clearly understood what the speaker

conveyed i.e. it is not necessary that every time there is same understanding of the content. The

response of the listener depends on the way listening. There are some listeners who focus too much on

people, some on technical points and some on other aspects of message. Some are so impatient that

they finish your statement instead of giving time to formulate the ideas and communicate them in

their own easy way. Therefore, recognizing the types of listening is essential, as this understanding

will help mould us as listeners and make us aware which type of listening we should adopt in various

instances of our life.

There may be some particular instance when we have to listen to get information, another can be

while discussing a certain experience, or while listening to a demonstration from a sales agent. For

understanding all these aspects we need different approaches of listening

The major types of listening are discussed below:

5.1 Partial Listening

Partial - the word itself suggest that this type of listening is one sided or incomplete, i.e. when partial

listening takes place people do not listen to the full content, or do not show interest in the message.

This type of listening is further divided into selective listening, passive listening & discriminative

listening.

5.1.1 Selective Listening:

This is the way where the listening is done partially. People listen to that part of communication

which they really want to listen. They listen primarily for those things with which they agree or feel

are important while filtering out those points which don’t echo. The mind of the listener is wandering

and is not attentive to the message. Selective listening takes place when receiver is not in a position to

concentrate or some other reason which hinders in proper listening.

Types of Listening

Partial Listening

Selective Listening

Passive Listening

Discriminative Listening

Analytical Listening

Content Listening

Comprehensive Listening

Critical Listening

Full Body Listening

Active Listening

Attentive Listening

Visual Listening

Empathatic Listening

5.1.2 Passive Listening:

Silent and patient listening without interfering or participating in a talk is known as passive listening.

The listener is physically present but not participating in the communication process. The message is

not absorbed and the passive listener will not be able to recall the message in future. This type of

listening takes place due to many constraints like tiredness, ill health, lack of interest etc.

Passive listening is merely hearing the words and not the message. It leads to misunderstanding as the

sender would be under the impression that the receiver has grasped the message as intended.

5.1.3 Discriminative Listening:

It is an attempt by the listeners to listen to a particular sound which is important for them and ignores

other sounds. For Example while the teacher in the class is taking attendance at the same time

students are talking to each other, despite of so many sounds in the class room, each student waits for

his/her name to be announced for attendance as they are required to respond for their presence.

Discriminative listening may also be “identifying sounds/ voices, and making distinctions within

those sounds, such as distinguishing emotionally loaded words, or hearing fear or pain in the voice”

(Bentley, S., 1998) and responding accordingly. As words do not always communicate true feelings,

the way they are said, or the way the speaker acts may be the key to understand the true or intended

meaning.

5.2 Analytical Listening:

The word “analytical” is defined as “using or skilled in using analysis”. Analytical listening offers fast

and simple way to feedback. People use this listening skill when they want to critically evaluate the

message, or need to extract some information, or required to highlight the content. These uses of

analytical listening are discussed below:

5.2.1 Critical Listening:

When a listener requires specific information from the entire speech or an external speaker is invited

to share the message, one has to critically analyse the content in order to make best use of it.

Therefore, the task is to actively scrutinize the reliability, clarity and accuracy of that particular

information only.

For example when a sales person describes about his company’s product and only discusses its

benefits, or might deliver positive feelings of that product and at the same time try to associate

negative feelings with what the competitor has to offer. At this point the listener should be cautious

and need not to take decisions on the basis of immediate feelings, but rather take time before

concluding or before taking any actions. One needs to analyze and evaluate the message in order to

determine whether to accept or reject it.

5.2.2 Comprehensive Listening:

This involves understanding of the complete substance conveyed by the speaker. The problem is that

many people often interpret the same conversation in different ways, depending on their individual

and social backgrounds. The value of this type of listening is that the listener needs to remember the

matter. It is useful when the purpose is to extract information from the speaker. Mostly this skill is

used in classrooms by students and even at the workplace, when we listen to understand new practices

or procedures for better performance.

In order to properly use comprehensive listening and to gain understanding the listener first needs

suitable vocabulary and language proficiency. Using overly difficult language or technical

terminology, therefore, can be a barrier to comprehensive listening. The ultimate goal of

comprehensive listening is to understand the message the speaker is communicating.

5.2.3 Content Listening:

It describes a situation when one has to pay attention to the content for receiving some information

like highlights of your organization or learning some technical or creative aspects. While getting

information it would not be good on the listener’s part to challenge the speaker. The focus in this type

of listening should be on gathering information, rather than making judgement. Taking notes and

asking questions is important to make the listening interactive.

5.3 Full Body Listening:

It is to listen not only with your ears but by keeping full body in a listening mode. Full body listening

is very important and is required to adapt in day to day activities. This type of listening can be done

by keeping mind & heart open, by openly using the five senses of body, and even by building an open

posture while interacting. The components of full body listening are active listening, attentive

listening, visual listening & empathetic listening.

5.3.1 Active Listening:

Source: Tripathi, A. (2014) “Empathy and Ego Drive : A right blend helps to achieve Sales Goal”,

available online at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/empathy-ego-drive-right-mixture-tripathi

Complete involvement of the listener in speaker. He/ She make the conscious efforts to listen

attentively, decode the message and use it through properly participating. “Active listening is a

process in which a listener receives messages, processes them, and responds so as to encourage

further communication”(Alessandra, Wexler & Barrara , 1987).

Here the listener not only listens to the words but also understands the body language too, even shows

regard for the speaker, concentrates on what is being conveyed and in a way helps speaker to

meaningfully deliver the message. It also includes suggestions by the listener, and speaker is provided

by the space to agree or disagree with the suggestions. This type of listening is required at the time of

discussions & interview process when it is important to recall comprehend and response to the

message. Colombo (2004) said, “Active listening is like a willingness to dig even deeper when only a

small silver of treasure is visible and the rest is buried under a pile of trash”.

Source: Sharples, J. “The Japanese Symbol for listening” available online at http://www.s-

group.co.uk/home/listening-japanese-pictogram/

5.3.2 Attentive Listening:

It means, being fully aware of speakers; what they are saying; how they are saying it, i.e. the tone,

pitch of voice, what they are doing, i.e. gestures, movements, postures, etc., and receiving and

interpreting the message they are sending (Bentley, 1993). Attentive listeners have relational goals

like giving a positive impression, advancing the relationship, or demonstrating care. It is difficult and

very tiring to maintain a state of attentive listening.

5.3.3 Visual listening:

This kind of listening is used when words are strange. It generally happens when we do not

understand the language, as it may be a foreign language. Visual listening also takes place when the

message is unspoken, here the messages are understood through body movement, facial expressions,

gestures, and especially with eye contacts.

Visual listening may also be the next step in online reputation management. Visual listening is the

practice of observing and tracking images and attracting customers by using creative logos with

perfect colour combinations.

Visual listening opens up a world of image-centric conversation, and, with it, a world of possibilities

for engaging customers more perfectly and efficiently.

5.3.4 Empathetic listening:

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/johnavedissian/empathetic-listening-13dec-2045

Empathy means to ‘Put your foot in another’s shoe’, i.e. to keep yourself at other persons place to

understand and realize the feeling of the speaker. Raman & Singh(2006) said, “Empathic listener is

able to go into the world of another- to see as others sees, hear as other hears, and feel as the other

feels”. The purpose is to give a patient listening to a friend or an acquaintance and allow him to talk

through a problem. It involves comprehending what kind of mental state the speaker is at the time of

conversation. There may be some personal issues, or overloading at workplace or something else, an

empathetic listener will analyze the situation and respond accordingly. Brownell (1990) have

considered it to be an antecedent, in that empathetic people tend to be good listeners.

6. Summary

Listening is one of those soft skills which are essential in our day to day life; it may be with family,

friends, colleague or boss. A proper listening is important for understanding a message in a right way.

Three major types of listening are discussed here i.e., Partial Listening, Analytical Listening and Full

body listening. Partial Listening consist: selective listening, passive listening & discriminative

listening. Critical listening, comprehensive listening and content listening comes under Analytical

listening and the components of full body listening are active listening, attentive listening, visual

listening and empathetic listening.

Of these the most important is full body listening as it requires active and empathetic listening skills

with greater self-control and discipline.

Sometimes we just listen partially to a message, like selecting something which interests us, or being

passive where no interaction takes place. Therefore, many times we are not able to work efficiently

because of the half knowledge through partial listening. Thus it is required to have not only analytical

but full body listening i.e., to understand and comprehend the message with full feelings and actions.

Listening as a skill can be practised and improved. A better listening will help us to be a better friend,

relative, employee, employer, subordinate and in all a better human being.