Business Communication

Topic

Art of listening

SUBMITTED BY

Ravikant Sharma

Introduction
Communication is a very important part of the life of a human being. Communication consist of two thing first is Sender and the second thing is receiver. We talk too much and listen carefully very less. Many researchers have been done on how to talk effectively, how to be a good communicator but the subject of listening is undervalued. We often spend too much time in listening consciously or unconsciously. We actually listen according to our choice and according to relevance thing we feel is for us. We can say it we are biased in our listening. The human being should be good on both the part. They should not be just a good communicator but also be a smart listener. He should listen very carefully and critically analyzed while thinking and skillfully try to understand what the speaker wants to say. This called critical thinking. According to International Listening association Listening is the process of receiving, constructing from and responding to spoken and non-verbal message (ILA, 1996). From the above definition we can say that listening is not just the process of receiving message but it is also include the process of finding out the meaning from the message and responding to the sender in any form either verbal or non-verbal. There are lots of problem which affects the effective listening. Literature review Various authors shared different views about listening and trying to relate importance of listening in human life. According (Abrams, 1995) listening is a vital skill in effective communications and human relations. It is very important to understand people and to be understood by the people humans needs basic need to listen the people (Nichols, 1957). Another researcher has given his point that, the better the communication you have the better the life you live, and to be a better communicator you need to be a better listener (Adler, 1999). These entire researcher has given their view points according to the prospects of life and very true. Problems to listening Barriers to listening are those things which distract the other to listen carefully the speech and search for the relevant points of the speech. Barriers to listening is not good for any business, any institution, not even for an individual because it block all the learning process, all incoming information and all the relevant things. According to Lewis and Reinsch Listening is an activity which is consistent, with this it needs noticeable thoughtfulness, non verbal behavior, verbal behavior, attitude, memory and behavioral responses. Some of the important barrier which affects the listening process and flow of the information are the topic which are uninteresting is an important barriers because whenever peoples thinks that they are not interesting in the topic they will not get what the speakers wants to speak. External distraction shows another problem to listening which means distraction may come from anything it may be a sound, a noise, or any one passing comment while the speaker says. To prepare responses mentally is another problem because whenever we start preparing the responses in-between the speaker saying we tend to lose the information given by the speaker at that time & finishing the speakers sentence is another

problem because whenever we finish the sentence before the speaker do we try to assume what the speaker wants to say it is a kind of assumption we make. Ego is also an important problem letting your ego come in the way of communication act as barriers or being self centered. Cultural barrier is a barrier which shows that people from different cultural background use to say the same sentence in different accents or different language.

Methodology
I have done the extensive research on internet, article, and books. All the sources of information are secondary. First I have collected all the data and organized the data according to the importance of the listening. The idea behind the research is to identify the importance of listening. I have tried to explain the importance of listening under different head first introduction, literature review, problems of listening, method of study, observation, discussion and conclusion.

Observation
During my research I observed that listening really play an important role in the communication process because listening makes you to learn new things. Listening carefully and skillfully makes you think critically what you have listen. Listening not just help in critical thinking but it also help you make good personal and professional relationship because when you listen someone carefully that person thinks that you are giving him importance.

Discussion
According to me not to listen carefully is really a barrier to communication. While communicating there are many things which come in the way of listening and distract. These distractions not only stop the people to listening but also to get information from the speaker. According to Lawson, confusion, conflict and many errors occurs on the job due to poor listening skill. Poor listening not affect the professional life but also the personal life. Listening barriers should be avoided and Biasness is very vital and crucial barrier in the listening and people should avoid this barrier.

Conclusion
Yes I agree to Roethlisbergers that communication without proper listening act as a barrier to communication. According to Osborn & Osborn We generally avoid the reality that listening is a vibrant activity which seeks out information, assess correctness of logic and consistency of their substantial proofs. If you dont listen carefully you will not get what the speaker wants to say. It is certainly the barriers to communication and it can be very harmful without proper listening skills and knowledge. It can be corrected through listening with open mind, listen to understand, get clarification, being patient, and take a pause before speaking. These are the some activities which can reduce the barriers to listening. Roethlisberger is surely correct that communication without listening is really a barrier.

References
Abrams, Arnold G., (July 1995) The art of listening, Life & health insurance, Vol-138.7, pp-65 Adler, Stan. (Aug 9, 1999) The lost art of listening, Twice, vol-14, 18, pp. 14

International listening association (2012), (Online) (cited 05 September 2012). Available from <URL:http://www.listen.org>

Lawson, K. (2007) The importance of listening, Lawson consulting group, Inc, pp-2-4, (Online) (Cited on 22 Sep, 2012) Available from <URL: http://www.growinggreatness.com>.

Lewis, M. and Reinsch, N.L., Jr. (1988). Listening in Organizational Environment., The Journal of Business communication, Vol-25(3), pp.49-67

Nichols, R. G. (1957). Listening is a 10-part skill: Nothing equals an executives willingness to listen, and learning how is an inside job, Nations business, Vol-45, pp. 56-59.

Osborn, Michale. And Osborn, Suzanne. (1999), Public Speaking (3rd edn), Delhi, A.I.T.B.S. Publisher & Distributor (Regd).