ºÚÁÏÍø

Abstract

Communication is a process of transmitting information from a designated source to a receiver and, providing feedback to the understanding of that transaction. In human communication, listening is a substantial part of this communicative act. Definitions of the term (listening) are noted by various scholars but most are germane to cognition—listening as a behavior has been overlooked. Poor listening skills hinder productivity in organizations. This study focuses on listening and its impact (behavior) on productivity, which is relative to performance. Flynn, Valikoski & Grau (2008) posited for over five decades that business experts believed that productive listening ranks high on the list of priorities in the workplace (p. 142). The purpose of this primal research was to determine what impact listening has on productivity in the workplace. The specific research objectives included: (1) to determine the impact listening skills have on productivity in the workplace, (2) to identify factors that influence listening skills and its impact on productivity in the workplace, and (3) to provide recommendations to improve listening skills to improve productivity in the workplace. A survey was used to solicit responses from participants from two nonprofit organizations, which provided quantitative and qualitative data. The results revealed that listening has a significant impact on productivity, listening skills training was identified as increasing productivity and that listening skills training should be implemented in the workplace.

Biography

Norris Wise is an Adjunct Professor of Human Resource Management at Park University – Camp Pendleton Campus, CA. He is a 21 year Marine veteran, who formerly served as Special Staff Directorate and advised as the subject-matter expert on equal opportunity and diversity management across the largest operational force in the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned a B.A. in Communication Studies, MSA in Human Resources Administration and is currently a doctoral student in the Business Psychology program (Organizational Leadership) at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the National Communication Association.

E-mail: Norris.Wise@park.edu