UNITFOUR ImportanceofListening

(AnextractfromMasteringtheArtofBusinessCommunicationbySumitaRoy, SterlingPublishers,NewDelhi,2008)

MODULEONE

III.TEXT
Readthepassageandanswerthequestionsthatfollow: Listening is composed of five distinct activities: hearing, understanding, interpretation, evaluation and response. All these stages have to function in consonancefortheentireprocessoflisteningtobesuccessful. The first act in the process of listening is to hear accurately what is being said. Theremaybephysiologicalortechnologicalproblemsintheprocessofhearingor itmaybethatthespeakersstyle,pitch,rhythmisnotconducivetohearingwhat isbeingsaid.Buttobeagoodlistenerwehavetoovercomealltheseproblems and continue to make an attempt to hear and grasp the words and expressions thatgointothemakingofthemessagebeingtransmitted. Coming to the second stage, language and speed of speaking may make the understandingofamessagedifficult.Alistenerhastobesurethatthesetwoare not impeding his / her listening. Often attitudes, prejudices and culture make listeningandunderstandingdifficult.Intodaysglobalvillageitisessentialtobe abletounderstandmessagesacrossregionalandnationalboundaries. Without interpretation, understanding alone is not enough for listening. A messageissupposedtobecodedbythespeakerandthelistenerisexpectedto decode it. That is why it has been said that all communication is actually translation where the listener reconstructs the message to suit the mental capabilitiesofhis/herownmindbeforehe/shecanmakeuseoftheinformation beinggiven. Often, misunderstandings and conflicts arise out of the inability to interpretamessagecorrectly.Supposesomeonepraisesyou,youmayhearand interpretitassarcasmandgetangryevenwhenthecomplimentissincere.Or,a

personmaybeinsultingyoubyexcessiveflatteryandyouinterpretitonitsface valueandgetdeceived. The next step in listening is evaluation. Once the message has been heard, understoodandinterpreted,itisnecessarytodecidewhattodowithit.Thisis calledevaluation.Whensomeoneistryingtopersuadeyoutodosomething,this is what you bring to play: should you believe what is being said, or should you disregard all that you hear, or should you take only some percentage of it seriouslyandtherestlightly?Allthesecanonlybedecidedduringtheevaluation stageoflistening. Thelastcomponentoflisteningisresponse.Fromthisthespeakercanmeasure theextenttowhichyouhavereceivedthemessage.Whensomeoneisgivinga lecture you may nod at the right places, smile when a humorous comment is made and take some notes when necessary. Though in all these cases your response as the listener is not verbally expressed, the speaker can see that you are with him / her. On the other hand, if you look distracted, fail to make eye contactorappearrestless,yourresponseshowsthatyouarenotreallylistening. Ofcourse,inadditiontoallthis,verbalresponses arisingfromlisteningarealso common. You may use expressions such as I agree, that is right, please continue,yesandsoontoindicatethatyouarelisteningtoandgraspingwhat isbeingsaid.(532words)