Journal

HRM 3301, Human Relations and Development 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit IV Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

2. Determine methods for developing interpersonal skills on the job. 2.1 Explain the five-stage process for listening. 2.2 Discuss the five functions of listening. 2.3 Describe tips for active listening that can improve one’s communication.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 7: Listening Actively Unit Lesson

What Is Listening? Who among us has not been caught daydreaming rather than listening? Listening is defined as a primary skill because it is the first communication skill developed, as well as the most frequently used communication skill in adult life. It can be improved to serve our interests and to better our relationships with others (McCornack & Morrison, 2022). The listening process unfolds over time and consists of five related stages:

(McCornack & Morrison, 2022)

Receiving, the first stage of listening, combines the physiological processes of seeing (acquiring visual information) and hearing (acquiring auditory information). Receiving is impacted by environmental, psychological, and noise pollution. Sources of noise pollution include crowds, music, cell phone alerts, and traffic. Becoming aware of noise and taking necessary steps to control or eliminate it can enhance receiving. Failing to limit noise pollution can lead to hearing impairment, the restricted ability to receive sound input.

UNIT IV STUDY GUIDE Listening

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Attending refers to the amount of attention you give to the information you are receiving (McCornack & Morrison, 2022). The more significant you think the information is, the more likely you are to process it fully. For example, if you are meeting your financial advisor to discuss retirement, you are more likely to give them your full attention than if they are telling a story about their grandchildren. Information that is visually or audibly stimulating, unexpected, or personally important invites our attention. You can improve your attention in two ways: limiting multitasking online and elevating attention. Multitasking online involves using multiple forms of technology at once (McCornack & Morrison, 2022). Our minds adapt to our behaviors because of brain plasticity. Since multitasking reduces attention span, reducing the amount of time you spend multitasking will train your brain to sustain attention. For example, studying while watching television is less effective than studying in a quiet place. Elevate your attention with the following steps:

1. Take notice of when you are the most attentive and how stress affects you. 2. Pay close attention to situations when critical listening is prevalent. 3. Identify the level of attention needed for a given situation. 4. Notice the attention gap, or the amount of attention you gave versus what was needed. 5. Learn to keep your mind from wandering (McCornack & Morrison, 2022).

Understanding is a more complicated next step. Once you receive and process the information you learn, the messages can become short and long-term memories, depending on the level of importance. Messages that are only needed for a brief instance become short-term memories. For example, you may quickly notice something, such as funny social media post, that does not have any significance to you and quickly forget it. Messages that are more significant, such as an important date, will move to the long-term memory since your mind recognizes this information an essential. These two memory systems work together to affect our understanding of information that we have attended to and received (McCornack & Morrison, 2022). Responding consists of clearly and constructively providing feedback to the speaker. It can be either positive or negative. Positive feedback supports a speaker’s confidence, whereas negative feedback disrupts communication. Back-channel cues are a form of positive feedback where the listener shows they are listening through body language and verbal feedback. On the other hand, looking at one’s phone or avoiding eye contact show someone is not listening. Another form of positive feedback is paraphrasing or summarizing others’ comments after they have finished speaking. Clarifying the speaker’s points communicates your desire to understand the other person, but paraphrasing can lead to conversational lapses (McCornack & Morrison, 2022). Recalling is remembering information after you have processed the information. Accurate recall depends on the quality of the early stages of listening as well as the situation in which the information is conveyed. Recall can be improved by using mnemonics—devices that aid memory by focusing on sensory cues that will trigger our memory of the encounter. To increase your recall accuracy, try to use all five senses when listening: write detailed notes, draw diagrams, or reduce complex information to simple sayings or symbols (McCornack & Morrison, 2022).

Listening Functions Listening often occurs through what is known as mediated listening, receiving, attending to, understanding, responding to, and recalling sounds and images through electronic channels. Both in-person and mediated listening are characterized by five different listening functions (McCornack & Morrison, 2022).

• When listening to comprehend, you work to perceive the information and possibly store it for later. • When listening to discern, your focus is on hearing the exact words and sounds. • When listening to analyze, you carefully evaluate a message to judge it. • When listening to appreciate, you are enjoying the sounds for entertainment. • When listening to support, you aim is to provide guidance and support (McCornack & Morrison,

2022). Your listening purposes may change within the same encounter. To listen effectively, you must adapt your listening purposes to the changing demands of interpersonal encounters.

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Listening Styles

Your listening style is the way your personality and culture affects your ability to receive messages. Different situations require different listening styles. There are four listening styles as shown below:

(McCornack & Morrison, 2022, p. 189)

Our listening styles are learned when we are young and are influenced by the adults around us, such as our parents and teachers. Our gender and culture can also influence our listening style. We can become active listeners by strategically using each of the four different listening styles with different people and types of interpersonal encounters (McCornack & Morrison, 2022).

What to Avoid An effective active listener avoids the five incompetent types of listening (McCornack & Morrison, 2022):

1. Selective listening occurs when someone only listens to the information they want to hear. 2. Eavesdropping occurs when someone is listening to a conversation that is not intended for them. 3. Pseudo-listening occurs when you pretend to listen but do not. 4. Aggressive listening (also called ambushing) is focusing on what conversational partners say for the

sole purpose of identifying opportunities to attack them. Aggressive listening is related to verbal aggression and chronic hostility.

5. Narcissistic listening occurs when someone is only concerned with their own interests and fails to listen to others.

Reference McCornack, S., & Morrison, K. (2022). Reflect & relate: An introduction to interpersonal communication (6th

ed.). Bedford/St. Martin’s. https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781319395827

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UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Reviewing the below chapter presentation will reinforce the unit topics: Chapter 7 Presentation PDF of Chapter 7 Presentation The below article shows the impacts of mindful and meditative listening in order to improve relationships: Goh, E. C. L. (2012, August). Integrating mindfulness and reflection in the teaching and learning of listening

skills for undergraduate social work students in Singapore. Social Work Education, 31(5), 587–604. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=asn&AN=77350389&site=ehost-live&scope=site

The following article demonstrates how job-stress impacts the ability for supervisors to listen critically to their employees and the effects on their relationships: Teng, E., Zhang, L., & Lou, M. (2020). I am talking but are you listening? The effects of challenge and

hindrance stressors on effective communication. Human Performance, 33(4), 241–257. https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?dire ct=true&db=asn&AN=145323074&site=ehost-live&scope=site