Literature Review of Effective Business Communication Issues

Literature Review of Effective Business Communication Issues

 During our interactions with other people, we may find some difficulty to get along with, especially at the workplace. A myriad of explanations is available attempting to explain why these tendencies occur, like interrupting, or lack of proper listening skills. Most researchers attribute this breakdown in willingness to communicate to a lack of practical listening skills. Therefore, there is a need to train employees and equip them with practical listening skills to increase efficiency and ultimately improve productivity.

Academic research on workplace listening skills is limited because it is currently irrelevant despite the growing need to improve listening skills at the workplace (Flynn, 2008). Flynn further posits that listening is a skill that is highly sought after in potential employees from as early as 1952, according to the Harvard Business Review (2008). Active listening implies hearing and understanding, coupled with the ability to perceive and understand to react accordingly adequately. Active listening at the workplace also entails organizational listening to enhance interpersonal relations between management, staff, customers, and other businesses (Flynn, 2008). Even though numerous research articles aver that listening is a crucial skill to possess, it is the most neglected facet in business organizations.

Listening is considered to be more important than speaking as a communication skill in business (Brownell, 1990). Various research studies established its importance. The 1974 study conducted by Weinrauch and Swanda Jr. sought to illustrate the amount of time spent listening by business people to determine its importance (1975). Another study conducted by Hunt and Cusella in 1980 identified the importance of listening in an organization premised on the need to instill specific behavioral skills (1983). Lewis and Reinsch, Jr. interrogated the impact of listening to the business environment (1988). Finally, Sypher, Bostrom, and Seibert examined the relationship between listening and its impact on other communication abilities (1989). Their study also seeks to establish what impact listening has to the upward movement of an employee in the organization.

Listening is the most important, yet most ignored element of communication in the organization (Weinrauch, 1975). Their study analyzed activities involving listening and contrasted them with other aspects of communication. They sought to find out the total amount of time spent listening compared to other communication functions. They then classified the time spent listening as well as the time spent on other communication practices. Finally, they drew scientific conclusions from their findings. The businessmen sampled in this study originated from South Bend, Indiana, who filled in questionnaires (Weinrauch, 1975). The two-part questionnaire involved a descriptive part, where participants give personal information about themselves, while the second part sought to get information on the amount of time taken listening vis-à-vis other communication practices.

The participants sampled were mostly male, and from the results of their questionnaires, listening was the most time-consuming communication practice while speaking followed closely. According to the study, reading and writing are the least important when it comes to effective communication (Weinrauch, 1975). The study also established that despite the time of day, listening took up most of the respondents’ communication activity (Weinrauch, 1975). Consequently, Weinrauch and Swnada Jr. opined that active managers should focus on cultivating listening skills in the organization to enhance productivity (1975). This study also implies that listening skills should be inculcated in training institutions to equip learners with these skills.

The importance of listening was reinforced by Hunt and Cusella, who are of a similar opinion of the role it plays in the organization (1983). The information available on listening is only limited to how it can be done, with very little else published (Hunt, 1983). Their study interrogates whether the ability to listen is considered to be a hindrance to effective communication. They sampled over 250 top American organizations using a questionnaire that focused on organizational conditions that inhibit active listening by the employees (Hunt, 1983). The study also sought to establish what problem areas existed that require further training and education to improve listening.

The results of the study cast light on the inadequacy of current training programs on developing listening skills, thus reducing productivity in the organization (Hunt, 1983). The organizations also failed at instilling necessary communication skills like asking questions and giving feedback necessitating further training. The employees also need to be motivated by providing a safe climate to ensure that there is effective communication in the organization (Hunt, 1983). The conclusions drawn from this study are that priority should be placed on proper training and instilling communication skills by providing a safe environment that promotes employee participation by valuing their feedback.

Listening skills taught and applied in learning institutions differ from those utilized in organizations (Lewis, 1988). Lewis and Reinsch, Jr. sought to answer whether listening in a business organization meant the same thing to scholars and academics. They believe that listening skills are overwhelmingly underdeveloped, as did Hunt and Cusella. Their study employed the critical-incident technique that aims at establishing a new definition of listening targeted at business organizations as opposed to definitions in the realm of academia (Lewis, 1988). They sent out questionnaires to two organizations in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and the results generated suggested that in an organization, listening is complicated. They also found that the sending or receiving of correspondence is affected by attitudes of listening and that listening in business organizations dramatically differs from the meaning ascribed by educators in academic institutions because they are subject to many variables (Lewis, 1988).

To improve listening skills in the organization, practical training of the correct type is necessary. It is dependent on the type of organization, constitutions of employees, and the organization’s culture (Lewis, 1988). The connection between listening and other communication skills barely exists in research. For this reason, Sypher, Bostrom, and Seibert sought to bridge this gap in knowledge by expounding on listening in organizations specifically and its relationship with other communication practices; and its impact on upward mobility in the workplace (Sypher, 1989). The study sampled Thirty-six people from a large American insurance company of various levels. According to this study, listening intertwines with other communication processes in the organization (Sypher, 1989). They also found that people with general intelligence exhibit interpretive listening skills, and those supervisors had more deficient listening skills than their subordinates (Sypher, 1989).

Sypher et al. (1989) argued that the reason supervisors are poor listeners is that they are accustomed to giving orders as opposed to their subordinates who take orders, thus exhibiting better listening skills. Therefore, understanding the role that listening serves in an organization helps us fathom its importance to the achievement of personal and organizational goals (Sypher, 1989). Effective communication by the management of an organization is vital. How subordinates view managers is dependent on their ability to listen (Brownell, Perceptions of active listeners: A management study., 1990). The Brownell study found that young employees thought of managers over the age of 45 as poor listeners. Therefore, training on practical communication skills should be tailor-made to suit the needs of the organization and its employees.