Free Essay

Listening: an Essential Part of Communication Skills

In: English and Literature

Submitted By marhis
Words 2941
Pages 12
Listening: An Essential Part of Communication Skills

I. Introduction: Communication comes from the Latin word communis, meaning commonness. It is a process wherein knowledge, ideas, information, attitudes, and feelings are transmitted (Padilla et al, 2003 p. 3). Communication is a two-way process by which information is changed between or among individuals through a common system of symbols, sign and behaviour (Martinez, p1). It is an essential function of civilization. Basically it consists of writing, reading, speaking and listening. Listening is a skill that has to be practiced and learned. Among the four skills of communication, listening is the most ignored, yet it takes up the greatest amount of time in the study of these four skills (Igoy, 2004 p 85). Listening like any other skill, has to be practiced because we listen everyday and we think we know how to do it. Yet, like any other skill, we can learn to do it better and continue to improve our listening skills throughout our lives (Diaz, 2005, p. 28). At the end of the communication line is an indispensable element – the listener, the active participation of whom either makes or unmakes communication. How good at listening this element is, spells a big difference in the communication process. At this point, it part, comes though a constant awareness and study of how listeners respond. This is especially so if we consider the axiom that meaning is altogether in the mind of the listener.
II. 1. What is the listening? (Diaz, (2005 p. 28) simply states that listening is the active Intellectual process of decoding, interpreting, understanding and evaluating messages. It is a mode of communication just as important as the other modes like speaking, reading and writing. It is sad to note, however, that this mode has been observed to be the most neglected area in teaching English towards communicative competence. This is lamentable considering that we spend most of our working hours communicating, the greatest portion of which is listening. It is in some ways, more complicated than reading. You cannot re-listen as you can reread. The place is set for you. The listener must be determined and word meaning must be perceived immediately (Deighton 1971, p. 43).
2. Importance of listening. Norma D. Martinez( 2001, p. 15) discusses that to effect successful interaction and to share equal responsibility in achieving effective communication, you as the receiver of the message must realise how important listening is. Whatever purpose you have – say, you listen to follow directions, to obtain knowledge, to arrive at decisions, to evaluate information or to show appreciation; you must understand that listening plays a very important role to effect purposeful interaction. Rafael H. Diaz, (2005, P. 28) states that in school you do a lot of listening, but how good a listener are you? If you expect to go through college to earn a degree and be a successful professional someday, much of this skill will be required of you. Learning to cultivate this skill is therefore a must for you. This shows how vital the listening skill is. In today’s world, which is fast turning into a global village and where communication is highly developed, the demand to sharpen our listening power is high.
3. The Act of Listening. The act of listening involves four distinct processes: receiving, perceiving, interpreting, and responding (Bradley, 1991, pp. 41-43). 1. Receiving. The first listening process consists of two aspects: seeing and hearing. Seeing is important to listening because it enables us to observe the non-verbal forms of communication such as facial expression, gestures, and bodily movement. It is also important in recognizing sounds and words. Effective receiving involves good eyesight. This is physiological in nature because the brain interprets any given stimuli received by the sense of sight. It also involves hearing. If the person is deaf, listening is prevented because hearing cannot occur. 2. Perceiving. It is not enough to hear sounds in the environment; we must perceive them by focussing attention on the ones we want to listen to. The essence of paying attention comes in. When you notice something and mentally pick it up, there is processing involved. 3. Interpreting. Once we have received and perceived the visual and aural symbols, we then interpret them. Interpreting sounds is relative to the ability of the person listening. If the words are not familiar, there is difficulty in interpreting the meaning of speech. If it is a language we know, we try to determine the intended meaning. We must interpret not only the language, but also the meaning of the non-verbal communication. 4. Responding. A person responding to the speech communication exhibits listening by an organized set of movements. These responses cause speakers to be affected by listeners. You can’t simply be a recorder; you must interpret the meaning of the words and respond internally and externally to them.
4. The Listening Process According to Rafaela H. Diaz (2005, pp. 31-32), the listening process is made up of four stages. They are as follows: 1. The Physical or Attention Stage In this stage, listening begins with the ability to hear or to catch sounds with the use of the auditory system. A person must, therefore, be in the position or right mood to listen. He must be ready to listen. He must be free from distractions. The setting must, likewise, be conducive to listening. Then, can mental concentration be expected. 2. The logical or Auditory Discriminatory Stage Sounds caught by the hearing mechanism are transmitted to the brain to be sorted out, interpreted and given meaning. This second stage involves the listener’s ability to recognize, categorize and discriminate sounds analyzing them on the basis of the attributes of voice quality, pitch, volume and rate. It also involves his grasp of vocabulary. 3. The Semantic or Comprehension Stage This is the process of translating and interrelating sounds into thought symbols. This involves the listener’s ability to understand and give meaning to what he hears at the denotative and connotative levels to respond to the messages received. This has also something with the effective context of language. The listener’s feelings and emotions will affect his reaction and interaction with others. 4. The Retention Stage This refers to the listener’s ability to retain/remember the ideas conveyed and later to use these ideas in reacting with others in a definite speech setting.
5. Guides in Effective Listening To obtain the meaty substance and content of every speech, try these guides according to Alex V. Abelos et al (2006, pp. 139-140). 1. Know Your Purpose. Every speech has its purpose. The speech is effective if this is delivered with a purpose.” Likewise, the first thing good listeners do is figure out why they’re listening. You have to determine why you are listening. In effect, purpose directs and controls all the decisions why you listen. Wolvin and Coakley (1982, pp. 3-11) identified five kinds of listening that reflect purposes you may have when communicating with others. A) Appreciate listening or purposeful listening focuses on something other than the primary message. B) Discriminative listening or active listening requires listeners to draw conclusions from the way a message is presented rather than directly from what is said. C) Therapeutic listening is intended to provide emotional support for the speaker. D) Constructive listening for comprehension occurs when you want to gain additional information or insights from the speaker. E) Critical listening demands that you both interpret and evaluate their message. It is the most sophisticated and difficult kind of listening. It requires you to go beyond understanding the message to interpreting it, evaluating, and assessing its strengths and weaknesses, and comprehending its message and value. 2. Comprehend the Message. You’ve got to understand clearly what ideas you’re being asked to accept, how they are related to each other, and what sorts of facts and opinions underlie them. Listening for comprehension will help you understand the three essential aspects of speech content: ideas, structure, and supporting materials. 3. Assess the Speech. The main reason why the speaker is talking is because of you. So you’re the one who must make the judgments: good or bad, beautiful or ugly, just or unjust, fair or unfair, or true or false. Making such evaluations is the only way to keep yourself protected from inflated claims, distorting information, and vague advertisements. 4. Take Good Notes. To be an effective listener, train yourself to be a good note taker. This is necessary for you to document important information.
6. Listening Strategies Listening strategies are techniques or activities that contribute directly to the comprehension and recall of listening input. Listening strategies can be classified by how the listener processes the input. 1. Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next. Top-down strategies include * listening for the main idea * predicting * drawing inferences * summarizing 2. Bottom-up strategies are text based; the listener relies on the language in the message, that is, the combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies include * listening for specific details * recognizing cognates * recognizing word-order patterns 3. Strategic listeners also use metacognitive strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate their listening. * They plan by deciding which listening strategies will serve best in a particular situation. * They monitor their comprehension and the effectiveness of the selected strategies. * They evaluate by determining whether they have achieved their listening comprehension goals and whether the combination of listening strategies selected was an effective one. 4. Listening for Meaning
To extract meaning from a listening text, students need to follow four basic steps: * Figure out the purpose for listening. Activate background knowledge of the topic in order to predict or anticipate content and identify appropriate listening strategies. * Attend to the parts of the listening input that are relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the rest. This selectivity enables students to focus on specific items in the input and reduces the amount of information they have to hold in short-term memory in order to recognize it. * Select top-down and bottom-up strategies that are appropriate to the listening task and use them flexibly and interactively. Students' comprehension improves and their confidence increases when they use top-down and bottom-up strategies simultaneously to construct meaning. * Check comprehension while listening and when the listening task is over. Monitoring comprehension helps students detect inconsistencies and comprehension failures, directing them to use alternate strategies (http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm).
7. Barriers to Good Listening Skills. Julita G. Aquino (2006, pp.137-138) discusses that listening is easy to define but hard to practice. You’ve probably developed some barriers to good listening. You’ll have to remove those barriers from your mental habits if you’re going to improve. Each of us has idiosyncatic listening habits, but many people share these four problems. 1. Passive listening. Many of us are just plain lazy listeners, hoping that the speaker will be exceptionally clear. In turn, we forget more brilliant speeches and conversations than we care to remember. 2. Drifting thoughts. You can comprehend more words per minute than someone can utter; you can probably process about 300 to 500 words per minute, while speakers produce only about 100 to 150 words per minute. A time lag is created in your mind that occupies your thoughts. You are disrupted by internal perceptual field or the world of your own thought about a friend arriving from other country and many more. You may be distracted by elements in your external perceptual field such as an irritating tricycle engine passing by and many more as well. Listeners tend to drop in and out of the speeches, taking time out to play in the internal and external perceptual fields. 3. Intrusion of the past. Memories of past events can be triggered by a mere word or a reference to a place. That “nostalgia” effect affects our feelings, values, and attitudes into the speech setting. Many people spend time mentally debating with speakers, thereby remaining stuck on one idea in the past while the speaker moves ahead to others. Past feelings you recall from previous encounters with a speaker can color the way you understand the person today. 4. Self-fulfilling prophecy. Preset ideas can get in the way a good listening. You may have heard that the speaker in that particular seminar you’re supposed to attend is a boring lecturer and previous listeners attest that they keep yawning on him, so you entered the class expecting to be bored too. There is nothing wrong with having beliefs and attitudes about topics and people when you’re in an audience, but if you let your feelings and guesses occupy your interest and enthusiasm, you’re likely to miss the important parts of the speeches. Avoid this by becoming an active, engaged listener.
8. Ways on how to improve your listening skills. 1. Maintain eye contact with the instructor. Of course you will need to look at your notebook to write your notes, but eye contact keeps you focused on the job at hand and keeps you involved in the lecture. 2. Focus on content, not delivery. Have you ever counted the number of times a teacher clears his/her throat in a fifteen minute period? If so, you weren't focusing on content. 3. Avoid emotional involvement. When you are too emotionally involved in listening, you tend to hear what you want to hear--not what is actually being said. Try to remain objective and open-minded. 4. Avoid distractions. Don't let your mind wander or be distracted by the person shuffling papers near you. If the classroom is too hot or too cold try to remedy that situation if you can. The solution may require that you dress more appropriately to the room temperature. 5. Treat listening as a challenging mental task. Listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act--at least it shouldn't be. You need to concentrate on what is said so that you can process the information into your notes. 6. Stay active by asking mental questions. Active listening keeps you on your toes. Here are some questions you can ask yourself does this fit with what I know from previous lectures? How is this lecture organized? 7. Use the gap between the rate of speech and your rate of thought. You can think faster than the lecturer can talk. That's one reason your mind may tend to wander. All the above suggestions will help you keep your mind occupied and focused on what being said. You can actually begin to anticipate what the professor is going to say as a way to keep your mind from straying. Your mind does have the capacity to listen, think, write and ponder at the same time, but it does take practice http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_listening.html). lll. Conclusion Communication is extremely important because it allows us to transmit instructions, convey feelings attitudes and cope rationally with problems that besiege us. The most effective communicator develops ways and means that becomes credible and a better giver and sharer of meaning with others. We should remember that no element can be entirely isolated from the rest. With an appreciation and knowledge of these elements, we can proceed rationally to improve our communicative skills. The techniques for listening calls for a deep involvement with the speaker. We must lend our ears with complete attention and thorough concentration. We must shut out the presence of other persons to absorb the substance of what is being said. We should entirely remove the irrelevant noises and sounds. More importantly, we ought to listen logically and analytically. We should form pictures and images of what the speaker is saying. To elevate the listening to an art, there must be total communion with the speaker. There has to be complete rapport in mind and spirit for it to be a meaningful dialogue. Active listening is the most effective types of listening. We should listen with open minds. We can do this by listening purposefully, actively, constructively, therapeutically, and comprehensively. We should use them every time we go to church, when we are at home, in school and in the community. We can ask God to help us to be a good speaker especially in telling the good news of salvation to others and a good listener by reading His words every day. It depends on our choice. May we choose to listen effectively to enjoy life to the fullest.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

* Martirez, N. D. Responsible Speech Communication. Eco Friendly Projects, 2001.

* Igoy, J. I. Ph. D., Saymo S. A. Effective Speech Communication in Various Situations. Trinitas Publishing Inc. 2004.

* Verderber, R. F., Verdeber, k. S., The challenge of Effective Speaking, Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2007.

* Menoy, J. Z., Oral Communication and public speaking: A Practical Approach, Book At bp. Publishing Corp., 2010.

* Eggerich, E., Craacking the Communication Code, Integrity Publishing., 2007.

* Tindero, E. V., Antonio, M. T., Fundamentals of Affective Speech and Oral Communication., Mutya Publishing house., 2004.

* Diaz, R. H., Speech and Oral Communication for College Students., National Bookstore., 2005.

* Listening skills. http://www.d.umn.edu/kmc/student/loon/acad/strat/ss_listening.html

* Strategies for Developing Listening Skills. http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm

* Teaching Children Listening Skills Through Reading. http://www.littleonesreadingresource.com/teaching-children-listening-skills.html

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Listening: an Essential Part of Communication Skills

...state in opposition to a culture of collaboration is thought provoking. However, this paper argues that it is not as simple as that in reality. Intensive case study research suggests that it is possible to have components of both these states working side by side in one school. The case study that underpins the paper finds that the definitions of collegial cultures are too narrow to adequately describe the practicalities of collegial staff relationships. The data reveal that in a regular, middle-sized primary school, characteristics of both contrived collegiality and collaborative culture coexist. Much of the collaborative work is spontaneous and voluntary, development oriented, and pervades both time and space. However, there are other parts of collaborative work which are more regulated or contrived by principals. There is an element of collaboration built into the work of all teachers. The school’s leaders are comfortable with the knowledge that all teachers do not collaborate to the same extent, and feel that staff morale and student learning do not suffer because of this. Collegial consonance is not destroyed by a degree of either isolation or compulsory collaboration. Healthy staff relationships may be the glue of the collegial bond. 4.  The Department of Education, public postsecondary educational institutions, public school districts, public...

Words: 920 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

To Reveal the Enormity of Communication Skills for Business Students

...the importance of communication. Businesses are finding that it is in their best interest to learn about national, cultural and ethnic groups they need to communicate with to grow their businesses. Communication is so important in business; in fact businesses want and need people with good communication skills. Effective communicators are, therefore high demand besides not surprisingly there is a high correlation between communication skills and income. Whatever the position ones have in business, performance will be judged mostly by the ability to communicate. Evidence of the importance of communication in business is found in numerous surveys of executives, recruiters, and academicians .Without exception, these surveys have found that communication ranks at or near the top of the business skills needed for success. 1.1.0 Background of the Report: This survey report is based on the topic ‘Communication skill plays key role for employment of business students. ‘Basically this report is the partial requirement for ‘Business Communication’ course of MBA program at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). This report will help us to understand the enormity of communication skills for employment of business student. It was a nice experience for us to combine our theoretical knowledge with relevant practical field. 1.2.0 Objective(s): 1.2.1 Broad Objective: The key objective of this report is to reveal the enormity of communication skills for business students...

Words: 2734 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Therapeutic Interventions

...Communication plays an important part of all therapeutic interventions in mental health nursing. Most importantly, knowledge and interpersonal skills, used by mental health nurses is to communicate with people with mental health issues. It also facilitates and develops a positive relationship between a nurse and a client. In mental Health nursing, Communication is the foundation of each intervention. To gain effective communication mental health nurses have to be experienced in using the communication tools. Listening has been referred as the core and more challenging skill. Through listening to a client, this gives them a chance to interact. There has been a report from number of studies...

Words: 400 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Communicate

...Communication is an important facet of life. Communication skills are essential in all spheres of life. Be it an interview or dealing with the project leader or working out a solution with a team or writing a report, getting across the point effectively is what matters. The success of an endeavour hinges on the ability to communicate effectively in today's fast paced life, everyone is asked to do more with less. In such a scenario effective communication holds the key. Effectively communication centers round the usage of words, speed of delivery of words, pitch modulation and body language. Using the right tools to communicate the right messages at the right time can salvage a crises and motivate people to work towards success. Truly said, communication works but for those who work at it. In the existing globalization scenario, most of the Information Technology, I.T Enabled Services, management institutes, public and private sector, multi-national Companies, Union Public Service Commission, and State Public Service Commission are search for a right and suitable fresher for executive posts. Whatever be the recruiting criteria that I.T, ITES, industry giants had in their agenda, once this was clear a first class degree would not serve the purpose, the candidate have to satisfy the skill sets that the companies were looking for. And unanimously, the skills set that they were looking for communication skills. People in organisations usually spends 75 percent of their daily time...

Words: 3552 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Team Communication

...Team Communication Skillset #1 – Presenting and Persuading Team communication is essential in business and everyday life. Employers place a heavy importance on communication skills for effective job placement, performance, career advancement, and organizational success. Communication skills are one of the most required skills during the hiring process. However, people are not born with great communication skills. Although personal traits can improve communication skills such as the ability to read, write, and speak, they still need to be learned and improved. Understanding the process of communication is important for team communication. The process of communication begins with the sender who as an idea. The idea can be influenced by mood, frame of reference, background, culture, and physical makeup, as well as the context of the situation. Once the idea is formed, the sender encodes the idea in a message. When encoding the message, the encoder must be aware of the target audiences’ culture, background, and attitudes. After the idea is encoded in a message, it is travels over a channel such as computer, phone, spoken words, letters, fax, and so on. For example, when companies send brochures to your mail, they are delivering a message to you. When the receiver receives the message, he or she decodes it. Lastly, feedback is generated by the receiver and sent back to the user through a channel. When communicating in a team, there can be many barriers to communication. For example...

Words: 1343 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Communication in the Workplace

...Communication in the Workplace Regardless of the environment in which one works, communication is always vital and a key factor of success. Communication happens both physically and verbally and is absolutely essential if you want to inform someone about something. Communication has two main components, sending out a message to someone, and ensuring the message is received correctly to the other member of the conversation. It is therefore fair to say speaking and listening are vital to effective communication. I will talk about how effective communication is needed in my current position, as well as the future. Computer Science is the name of my degree choice. Once graduated, I intend on becoming an Information Technology Consultant. The position will be on a contract basis, meaning I will only be employed by a company for a period of time, until a certain project is finished. If my help is still needed within the organization, then an extension may be drawn. Otherwise I will move on and work with another organization. Although the role seems temporary, the pay will make up for this. The main thing that is carried forward is my experience. Alongside experience, my communication with the other members of the organization is extremely important, as a lot of jobs in this industry are promoted via ‘word of mouth’. If I am an effective communicator, I will be able to get a lot of recommendations and will be successful in the industry. If I am not an effective communicator then...

Words: 1557 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Communication

...Effective Business Communication: A Key to an Outstanding Business Organization Communication is the lifeblood of any organization. But these days, effective business communication is often regarded to be natural like breathing. Individuals within organizations do not seem to feel the need for development because they think that it is innate and that they all know how to communicate already. For that reason, various predicaments transpire in the workplace; employees decide to resign; or even worse, a business starts to break down. It is therefore imperative that individuals within business organizations recognize the significance of effective communication to business organizations and be able to enhance it because it develops flexibility, increases productivity, improves morale and ensures better management. This paper offers a discussion on effective business communication as a key to an outstanding business organization in six parts. The first part provides a discussion on the definition, forms, categories, skills, and barriers of an effective business communication. The second, third, fourth and fifth parts mention some arguments that despite the fact that business communication is being overlooked by stakeholders within some business organization, it is still and will always be an essential tool for their success. The last part presents personal interviews and consultations with business professionals and proprietors regarding their thoughts about the...

Words: 1444 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

My Paer.Doc

...Listening, Not Hearing * It's one thing to hear the sound of someone talking. It's another thing to pay attention to what they are communicating, absorb the information and respond appropriately. This is listening vs. merely hearing. Listening skills are the first step to understanding another person and where they are coming from. In a classroom setting, listening skills allow a student to grasp the concepts that the teacher is trying to convey, rather than being distracted and therefore unable to properly respond. * As mentioned, good listening and responding skills are a vital part of every role and necessary in countless situations. Some careers in which they are central are teaching, counseling, administration, caregiving, customer service and clergy. Listening and responding skills are essential in romantic and marriage relationships, friendships, parent-child, service-clientele and any other relationships that involve meeting on common ground. These skills are tools for learning, bonding and resolving conflict that improve with practice. * Listening Barriers * There are several factors that can get in the way, or detract from the ability to listen. Strong personal emotion, pre-conceived judgments, cultural differences and environmental distractions are some of these factors. These can be overcome by intentionally focusing on the speaker, making eye contact, and putting aside personal bias. Empathy, identifying with another's feelings, can overcome these...

Words: 405 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Practical Book Review

...Liberty University SUMMARIZE The focus of James Petersen’s text “Why Don’t We Listen Better: Communicating & Connecting in Relationships” surrounded the topic of communication and how to better improve on it. More specifically, how to become a better listener. Petersen divided communication into three parts consisting of the stomach, heart, and head; the stomach holds the emotions, the heart considers the possibilities, and the head processes the logics and thinking. All three, however, were shown to intertwine ultimately leading to a condition Petersen labeled “flat brained”. Flat-Brain Syndrome comes into form when the functions of the three are off track. The stomach becomes full of emotions pushing the heart which in turn causes the brain to go flat. This all interrupts the ears, eyes, and mouth making it difficult for an individual to actually think, listen, act, and relate to other. So when faced with this condition, it’s essential that one releases all the emotions so that they may resume a way of thinking that’s effective. When looking at the skill of listening, the author elaborates on how it involves so much more than just hearing. He even provided a Talker-Listener Card which was to help with reminding individuals they have to rotate when it comes to talking and listening. As the talker you must own the problem and work it out. This is done by disclosing one’s thoughts and feelings with an understanding that the problem is not at the hands of...

Words: 1618 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Listening Skills

...Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Listening Skills People use different forms of communication. Communication can be both verbal and nonverbal and both are equally important when a person is communicating. Verbal communication is communication that can be had over the phone, face to face, via fax or via email. Nonverbal communication is communication that is conveyed through body language, eye contact, the tone of a person’s voice or the distance in which the persons communicating are to each other. Nonverbal communication expresses thoughts and feelings without words and is meant to help with the message you are trying to get across with your words. I tend to communicate nonverbally with my facial expressions. My facial expression usually give away my true feelings on the matter I am discussing. Knowledge of Nonverbal Communication Knowledge of nonverbal communication can help when communicating with others because it can help you bring your point across if you use it correctly. If you want to relay a serious message you will have to keep your tone serious, if you are relaying a serious message with a joking tone and laughing then the person you are talking to will not know if they are to take you serious or not. The same can be said for the opposite. If you are communicating with someone about something that is light and jolly but you have a mean tone the person will not know how they are to receive the message. Making sure that your tone and words match is important...

Words: 938 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Communications an Art or Science

...Communication Art or Science? Abstract Communication is very important in today’s society. No matter how one feels about communication it is the key for successful personal and professional relationships. There are many individuals that just don’t know how to communicate effectively. It could be from shyness, social or interpersonal skills. Whatever the case they are unable to communicate effectively. Communication is not a skill that is learned it is an art. Either you have it or you don’t. Either you are comfortable in conveying your message in a clear and concise manner, your listening skills are effective, you are able to use nonverbal and verbal communication skills as well being comfortable in presenting information. Not everyone knows how to communicate in a manner that is effective. Many non-communicators play the guessing game. They won’t say what the message is that they are trying to convey or they say half of the message. People are not mind readers. If you don’t communicate the message in its entirety then how can you expect an individual to understand exactly what is being conveyed. Communication is an Art My first thought is what is the process of effective communication? Communication is the process of sharing thoughts, ideas, or emotions with another individual. In order to communicate effectively you must possess some of the following skills: attention, attitude, and feedback. It is important...

Words: 1842 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Effective Workplace Communication

...Listening and Effective Workplace Communication James Humes, a former presidential speech writer, stated that, "the art of communication is the language of leadership" (Leading Thoughts, 2010). Communication is an essential process that is common in the workplace.  Everyone in the workplace especially leaders must communicate with others.  Ideas, conversations, disagreements, and commitments can all be exchanged through communication.  Anyone can communicate but it takes discipline and skills to effectively communicate.   These skills can include feedback, presentation, non-verbal communication, and listening. Listening is the most valuable skills to effective workplace communication because it enhances job effectiveness, relationships and responses. Most people equate hearing with listening and they do not take time to improve their listening skills. To be an effective communicator a person must understand the differences between hearing and listening. Listening is an active process that requires more effort than it takes to hear. “Listening is the conscious desire to determine the meaning of what is heard” (Behera, 2010). Hearing a message rather than listening could cause a person to agree to something that they did not intend to. An active listener participates in the communication process by being focused on the message that is being communicated. The in-depth process of listening will result in a verbal or non-verbal response to let the communicator know that...

Words: 1325 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Group Communication

...Group Communication Paper Learning Team C Mandy Garvin, Dominique Longoria, and Rosheda McGee BCOM/230 June 9, 2014 Jamie Barmach Group Communication Paper Congratulations on the recent promotion to our department, the following information on group communication will allow the transition to be as smooth as possible. Group communication can be successful when there is an understanding of the group and general knowledge of how to communicate with them in an essential manner. Group communication can pose many issues that will hinder communication, but can also make for a rewarding group experience. Communication occurs whenever a person, the sender, sends a message to another person, the receiver. If the sender is unable to communicate effectively, the receiver may have complications understanding the information given. Spoken words can be barriers in terms of understanding. Using a language that can be understood by the audience is key. If necessary, use words that are below the educated level of the audience to ensure information relays in a way it is proposed. A word that might have a particular meaning to one person could mean something to someone else. In turn, the person might have a defensive reaction to a statement when in fact it meant nothing of the sort. This is known as bypassing or “when two people assign different meanings to the same word” (Beebe and Masterson, 2006, pg.137). Barriers often occur when individuals decide to work together. It is from these barriers...

Words: 1085 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Communication Competency

...Communication Competence in the Workplace Communication is an essential piece of daily life; it is found everywhere you look in either verbal or nonverbal form. The workplace is no different, every person in every workplace uses some form of communication constantly throughout the day, it is important that each person is aware of the signals that are being sent out, verbally and nonverbally, to coworkers, superiors, clients, customers, etc. According to Donald Baack, “Communication may be defined as transmitting, receiving, and processing information. Information consists of any item that evokes or has meaning” (2012, Chap 1). It is important for employees in all organizations to have the ability to communicate effectively and to get the message across clearly, limiting the possibility of misunderstanding. Communication competency consists of knowledge or awareness of different communication elements, such as interpersonal communication skills and soft skills, management communication skills, communication barriers, and listening styles. The communication competence in a workplace is important at all levels of an organization and the higher the overall competence level the better the working environment. Interpersonal Communication Skills “Interpersonal communication takes place between individuals or one individual with a small set of other people” (Baack, 2012, Chap 1). Everyone has communicates daily with other people, some people are better at this communication...

Words: 2349 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Person-Centred Care

...Using ‘Person Centred’ Communication Skills and Models to Help Clients Admitted for the First Time to a Mental Health Hospital Introduction Communication is one way of exchanging information and feelings from one person to another (Bach and Grant 2009). It is transmitted through verbal and non-verbal behaviour. Communication is an essential and fundamental aspect of nursing care (Timmins 2011). It is a major and important part of daily nursing practice in the nurse-client relationship (Sheldon et al. 2006). Communication in nursing is unique and it is different from communication between healthcare providers because nurses are at the start of the healthcare service as they spend more time with the client than other healthcare professionals (McCabe and Timmins 2006). Therefore, nurses have to pay more attention to improving their communication skills for better client care. In order to establish a positive relationship with the client, it is necessary to communicate effectively and subsequently improve the quality of nursing care (McCabe and Timmins 2006). Effective communication is key to a therapeutic relationship with the client. It is defined as a ''purposeful form of communication used in the helping relationship'' (Ruesch 1961 cited in Arnold and Boggs 2007, p18). It is developed by the nurse for the purpose of assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating client care (Arnold and Boggs 2007). The establishment of a nurse-client relationship was a key element...

Words: 5688 - Pages: 23