Effective Listening Free Essays

In a monthly marketing meeting, the marketing manager wants 5 of his staffs to conduct a research on market share on 5 different areas. Each staff is assigned a territory. The manager rejects, one month later in the same meeting, one of the 5 reports because the research is on the wrong territory. We will write a custom essay sample on Effective Listening or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we assume the ability of all staffs is the same, then it is obviously a communication breakdown that causes the wrong research was conducted. The consequence of misunderstanding may be costly to a company. Often when a misunderstanding occurs on the job, it is attributed to a lack of communication, which most of time implies that whoever was delivering the message did not do an effective job. But what about the other side, the listener? Listening is important in business because it is the communication skill most often used in human interaction (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.56). Between 45 and 55 percent of people’s communication time will be spent in listening to others (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.6, Werner 1975, p.26). However, listening is not a skill that most people perform well. Studies show that people do not listen effectively. On an average, people listen only at 25% efficiency (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.ix). It is difficult to define listening, but generally it can be defined as † a receiver orientation to the communication process; since communication involves both a source and a receiver, listening consist of the roles receivers play in the communication process† (Floyd 1985, p.9). Listening is a process that includes hearing, attending to, understanding, evaluating and responding to spoken messages. (Floyd 1985, p.9) Our own listening habits have been developed since we were born. Such habits are so well established that we perform them without thinking. But unfortunately, such habits are usually undesirable and lead to poor listening. There are numbers of reasons for ineffective listening. These do not apply equally to all listeners and the degree to which they do apply will vary from different situation, speaker, topic and so forth, They represent common and important reasons for ineffective listening: Rehearsing Your whole attention is designing and preparing â€Å"what to say next†. You look interested, but your minds are miles away because you are thinking about the next comment. Judging Negatively labeling people can be extremely limiting. Everyone has biases, but it leads to ineffective listening. For example you hear a speaker discuss an idea that you don’t like, you might stop paying attention to that speaker says, you might distort the message, and therefore failing to understand it because of prejudgment. As a result, your evaluation of the speaker and /or message could be unfair or in error (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.59). So, A basic rule of effective listening is to that judgements should only be made after you have heard and evaluated the content of the message (Johnson). Identifying You take everything people tell you and refer it back to your own experience. They may want to tell you about a car’s braking system, but that reminds you of your car accident. You launch into your story before they can finish theirs (Johnson). Talking rather than listening We too often love to hear our own voice and feel that our comments and ideas are always right (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.58). You are a great problem solver that you do not have to hear more than a few sentences before you begin searching for the right advice. But, while you are coming up with suggestions, you may have missed what is most important. Sometimes, people argue and debate with others who never feel heard because these people are so quick to disagree. In fact these people’s main focus is on finding things to disagree with. Filtering We usually filter out messages and listen only to those topics and materials that we want to hear. We will stop paying attention to those topics that we do not want to hear, such as messages that criticize us. Then we cannot be corrected, and we cannot take suggestions to change (Johnson). Placation As we have been taught to be nice, pleasant and supportive to others, we seldom criticize others especially when others are telling you things that we want to hear. But too hasty acceptance of messages that tells us what we like and want to hear can lead to serious problems (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We may half-listen just enough to get the drift, but not really involved. Instead, we should be careful to pay attention, to comprehend, and then to analyze and evaluate what speakers say (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60) Distraction A distraction is anything that pulls your attention away from that which you want, or need, to pay attention to (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). It is difficult to avoid distraction. There may be distraction in the environment and within you – day dreaming. When we dream, we pretend to listen but we actually drift about in our interior fantasies. Instead of disciplining ourselves to truly concentrate on the input, we turn the channel to a more entertaining subject. We may have missed some important points while we are dreaming. It is the major reason for ineffective listening. Fear of difficult This block applied when we need to listen and understand new materials or subjects that are new, difficult and challenging to us. In such situation, it is difficult to listen (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We always try to avoid or rationalize these subjects and not to listen. It is mainly due to the fear of failing. People does not like failing and try any methods to avoid it. There are numbers of ways to avoid failure. We stop paying attention to the subject and spend our time to somewhere else. Then we may tell ourselves, we are not fail to understand the topic, but refused to deal with it. Rationalization also helps people to avoid failure (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We usually hold someone else responsible for the consequences of not listening or understanding by saying the material is â€Å"boring†, † stupid†, â€Å"nothing to do with my daily work† and so forth. But as a result, we still do not understand the material. Like any other skill, the first step to improve listening is to understand of what you can do or stop doing in order to get better. The second step is to practice the new skill over and over again to make it as your habit. We have examined the blocks for effective listening. Let us move on to the elements to improve effective listening. There are 2 major elements to improve effective listening, namely comprehension and Analysis/Evaluation. Comprehension means that you are able to understand the speaker (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). There are some basic ways to improve our ability to understand speakers. The first step towards more effective listening comprehension is paying increased attention (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). Attention is your focus to the speaker and his/her material and sustaining the focus. Paying long and well enough attention help you to keep these verbal and nonverbal stimuli into your long-term memory. Then you are able to compare the information with new and old materials. Otherwise, information not stored in long term memory will be lost in a second and you are not able to understand the content because you will bot remember it (Tyson 1982). Everyone can increase attention by realizing its importance, avoid common tendency to day dream, fighting the tendency to give in to external and internal distractions, remove distractions if possible or learn to listen over distraction. We have the ability to listen to and understand speech even when there are severe distraction (Moore 1977, p.239). The second step to improve your ability to understand speaker is to understand the nature of non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is any communication expressed not in words but in body motion, paralanguage (how something is said), proxemics (the use of space), artifacts (physical objects), or environment (Knapp 1980, p. 4-11). It serves a variety of functions that to repeat, contradict, substitute, complement, accent, or regulate verbal communication (Knapp 1978, p. 38). However, it does not mean nonverbal communication is more important than verbal communication. In case nonverbal communication is contradicted to verbal communication, it does not always the case that nonverbal communication is more reliable. The third step towards more effective listening is to increase your ability to comprehend verbal symbols, or message (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63). Although it is the speaker’s responsibility to make himself/herself clear and meaningful, communication is a two way process that listener has the same responsibility to understand speaker’s materials. This task can be accomplished by (1) increasing the quality and quantity of your experience, (2) learning to use context as a mean of increasing your understanding, (3) keeping your bias away, (4) controlling any fear of failure, (5) improve your vocabulary (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63-64), and (6) feedback to confirm your interpretation. The next element that helps to improve effective listening is analysis and evaluation. Once you have attended to and understood the speaker, you are ready to analyze and evaluate the message. Analysis is to examine the message in order to learn what the meanings are. Evaluation is the rendering of judgement on message to decide the value of the message. Both analytical and evaluative functions require you to examine a speaker’s support and reasoning, such as data, conclusion, reasoning process, examples and statistics. Effective listening will benefit as well as those who work with you. It breaks up the barriers between people and can understand each other more. In workplace, effective listening minimize the losses of potential revenues which may result from shipping the wrong products to customers. Or from miscommunication objectives and priorities among staffs. Or even from time lost because of having to re-communicate a second or third time to get things straightened out. To listen effectively, one must be positive, active, prevent affected by blocks we mentioned earlier, paying and sustain enough attention to the speaker, able to analyze after understanding. It is not an easy skill, but it is the most fundamental and powerful skill we need. When someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening to others, all of their interactions become easier, and communication problems are all but eliminated. How to cite Effective Listening, Essay examples Effective Listening Free Essays In a monthly marketing meeting, the marketing manager wants 5 of his staffs to conduct a research on market share on 5 different areas. Each staff is assigned a territory. The manager rejects, one month later in the same meeting, one of the 5 reports because the research is on the wrong territory. We will write a custom essay sample on Effective Listening or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we assume the ability of all staffs is the same, then it is obviously a communication breakdown that causes the wrong research was conducted. The consequence of misunderstanding may be costly to a company. Often when a misunderstanding occurs on the job, it is attributed to a lack of communication, which most of time implies that whoever was delivering the message did not do an effective job. But what about the other side, the listener? Listening is important in business because it is the communication skill most often used in human interaction (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.56). Between 45 and 55 percent of people’s communication time will be spent in listening to others (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.6, Werner 1975, p.26). However, listening is not a skill that most people perform well. Studies show that people do not listen effectively. On an average, people listen only at 25% efficiency (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.ix). It is difficult to define listening, but generally it can be defined as † a receiver orientation to the communication process; since communication involves both a source and a receiver, listening consist of the roles receivers play in the communication process† (Floyd 1985, p.9). Listening is a process that includes hearing, attending to, understanding, evaluating and responding to spoken messages. (Floyd 1985, p.9) Our own listening habits have been developed since we were born. Such habits are so well established that we perform them without thinking. But unfortunately, such habits are usually undesirable and lead to poor listening. There are numbers of reasons for ineffective listening. These do not apply equally to all listeners and the degree to which they do apply will vary from different situation, speaker, topic and so forth, They represent common and important reasons for ineffective listening: Rehearsing Your whole attention is designing and preparing â€Å"what to say next†. You look interested, but your minds are miles away because you are thinking about the next comment. Judging Negatively labeling people can be extremely limiting. Everyone has biases, but it leads to ineffective listening. For example you hear a speaker discuss an idea that you don’t like, you might stop paying attention to that speaker says, you might distort the message, and therefore failing to understand it because of prejudgment. As a result, your evaluation of the speaker and /or message could be unfair or in error (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.59). So, A basic rule of effective listening is to that judgements should only be made after you have heard and evaluated the content of the message (Johnson). Identifying You take everything people tell you and refer it back to your own experience. They may want to tell you about a car’s braking system, but that reminds you of your car accident. You launch into your story before they can finish theirs (Johnson). Talking rather than listening We too often love to hear our own voice and feel that our comments and ideas are always right (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.58). You are a great problem solver that you do not have to hear more than a few sentences before you begin searching for the right advice. But, while you are coming up with suggestions, you may have missed what is most important. Sometimes, people argue and debate with others who never feel heard because these people are so quick to disagree. In fact these people’s main focus is on finding things to disagree with. Filtering We usually filter out messages and listen only to those topics and materials that we want to hear. We will stop paying attention to those topics that we do not want to hear, such as messages that criticize us. Then we cannot be corrected, and we cannot take suggestions to change (Johnson). Placation As we have been taught to be nice, pleasant and supportive to others, we seldom criticize others especially when others are telling you things that we want to hear. But too hasty acceptance of messages that tells us what we like and want to hear can lead to serious problems (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We may half-listen just enough to get the drift, but not really involved. Instead, we should be careful to pay attention, to comprehend, and then to analyze and evaluate what speakers say (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60) Distraction A distraction is anything that pulls your attention away from that which you want, or need, to pay attention to (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). It is difficult to avoid distraction. There may be distraction in the environment and within you – day dreaming. When we dream, we pretend to listen but we actually drift about in our interior fantasies. Instead of disciplining ourselves to truly concentrate on the input, we turn the channel to a more entertaining subject. We may have missed some important points while we are dreaming. It is the major reason for ineffective listening. Fear of difficult This block applied when we need to listen and understand new materials or subjects that are new, difficult and challenging to us. In such situation, it is difficult to listen (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We always try to avoid or rationalize these subjects and not to listen. It is mainly due to the fear of failing. People does not like failing and try any methods to avoid it. There are numbers of ways to avoid failure. We stop paying attention to the subject and spend our time to somewhere else. Then we may tell ourselves, we are not fail to understand the topic, but refused to deal with it. Rationalization also helps people to avoid failure (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We usually hold someone else responsible for the consequences of not listening or understanding by saying the material is â€Å"boring†, † stupid†, â€Å"nothing to do with my daily work† and so forth. But as a result, we still do not understand the material. Like any other skill, the first step to improve listening is to understand of what you can do or stop doing in order to get better. The second step is to practice the new skill over and over again to make it as your habit. We have examined the blocks for effective listening. Let us move on to the elements to improve effective listening. There are 2 major elements to improve effective listening, namely comprehension and Analysis/Evaluation. Comprehension means that you are able to understand the speaker (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). There are some basic ways to improve our ability to understand speakers. The first step towards more effective listening comprehension is paying increased attention (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). Attention is your focus to the speaker and his/her material and sustaining the focus. Paying long and well enough attention help you to keep these verbal and nonverbal stimuli into your long-term memory. Then you are able to compare the information with new and old materials. Otherwise, information not stored in long term memory will be lost in a second and you are not able to understand the content because you will bot remember it (Tyson 1982). Everyone can increase attention by realizing its importance, avoid common tendency to day dream, fighting the tendency to give in to external and internal distractions, remove distractions if possible or learn to listen over distraction. We have the ability to listen to and understand speech even when there are severe distraction (Moore 1977, p.239). The second step to improve your ability to understand speaker is to understand the nature of non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is any communication expressed not in words but in body motion, paralanguage (how something is said), proxemics (the use of space), artifacts (physical objects), or environment (Knapp 1980, p. 4-11). It serves a variety of functions that to repeat, contradict, substitute, complement, accent, or regulate verbal communication (Knapp 1978, p. 38). However, it does not mean nonverbal communication is more important than verbal communication. In case nonverbal communication is contradicted to verbal communication, it does not always the case that nonverbal communication is more reliable. The third step towards more effective listening is to increase your ability to comprehend verbal symbols, or message (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63). Although it is the speaker’s responsibility to make himself/herself clear and meaningful, communication is a two way process that listener has the same responsibility to understand speaker’s materials. This task can be accomplished by (1) increasing the quality and quantity of your experience, (2) learning to use context as a mean of increasing your understanding, (3) keeping your bias away, (4) controlling any fear of failure, (5) improve your vocabulary (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63-64), and (6) feedback to confirm your interpretation. The next element that helps to improve effective listening is analysis and evaluation. Once you have attended to and understood the speaker, you are ready to analyze and evaluate the message. Analysis is to examine the message in order to learn what the meanings are. Evaluation is the rendering of judgement on message to decide the value of the message. Both analytical and evaluative functions require you to examine a speaker’s support and reasoning, such as data, conclusion, reasoning process, examples and statistics. Effective listening will benefit as well as those who work with you. It breaks up the barriers between people and can understand each other more. In workplace, effective listening minimize the losses of potential revenues which may result from shipping the wrong products to customers. Or from miscommunication objectives and priorities among staffs. Or even from time lost because of having to re-communicate a second or third time to get things straightened out. To listen effectively, one must be positive, active, prevent affected by blocks we mentioned earlier, paying and sustain enough attention to the speaker, able to analyze after understanding. It is not an easy skill, but it is the most fundamental and powerful skill we need. When someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening to others, all of their interactions become easier, and communication problems are all but eliminated. How to cite Effective Listening, Essay examples

Effective Listening Free Essays

In a monthly marketing meeting, the marketing manager wants 5 of his staffs to conduct a research on market share on 5 different areas. Each staff is assigned a territory. The manager rejects, one month later in the same meeting, one of the 5 reports because the research is on the wrong territory. We will write a custom essay sample on Effective Listening or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we assume the ability of all staffs is the same, then it is obviously a communication breakdown that causes the wrong research was conducted. The consequence of misunderstanding may be costly to a company. Often when a misunderstanding occurs on the job, it is attributed to a lack of communication, which most of time implies that whoever was delivering the message did not do an effective job. But what about the other side, the listener? Listening is important in business because it is the communication skill most often used in human interaction (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.56). Between 45 and 55 percent of people’s communication time will be spent in listening to others (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.6, Werner 1975, p.26). However, listening is not a skill that most people perform well. Studies show that people do not listen effectively. On an average, people listen only at 25% efficiency (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.ix). It is difficult to define listening, but generally it can be defined as † a receiver orientation to the communication process; since communication involves both a source and a receiver, listening consist of the roles receivers play in the communication process† (Floyd 1985, p.9). Listening is a process that includes hearing, attending to, understanding, evaluating and responding to spoken messages. (Floyd 1985, p.9) Our own listening habits have been developed since we were born. Such habits are so well established that we perform them without thinking. But unfortunately, such habits are usually undesirable and lead to poor listening. There are numbers of reasons for ineffective listening. These do not apply equally to all listeners and the degree to which they do apply will vary from different situation, speaker, topic and so forth, They represent common and important reasons for ineffective listening: Rehearsing Your whole attention is designing and preparing â€Å"what to say next†. You look interested, but your minds are miles away because you are thinking about the next comment. Judging Negatively labeling people can be extremely limiting. Everyone has biases, but it leads to ineffective listening. For example you hear a speaker discuss an idea that you don’t like, you might stop paying attention to that speaker says, you might distort the message, and therefore failing to understand it because of prejudgment. As a result, your evaluation of the speaker and /or message could be unfair or in error (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.59). So, A basic rule of effective listening is to that judgements should only be made after you have heard and evaluated the content of the message (Johnson). Identifying You take everything people tell you and refer it back to your own experience. They may want to tell you about a car’s braking system, but that reminds you of your car accident. You launch into your story before they can finish theirs (Johnson). Talking rather than listening We too often love to hear our own voice and feel that our comments and ideas are always right (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.58). You are a great problem solver that you do not have to hear more than a few sentences before you begin searching for the right advice. But, while you are coming up with suggestions, you may have missed what is most important. Sometimes, people argue and debate with others who never feel heard because these people are so quick to disagree. In fact these people’s main focus is on finding things to disagree with. Filtering We usually filter out messages and listen only to those topics and materials that we want to hear. We will stop paying attention to those topics that we do not want to hear, such as messages that criticize us. Then we cannot be corrected, and we cannot take suggestions to change (Johnson). Placation As we have been taught to be nice, pleasant and supportive to others, we seldom criticize others especially when others are telling you things that we want to hear. But too hasty acceptance of messages that tells us what we like and want to hear can lead to serious problems (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We may half-listen just enough to get the drift, but not really involved. Instead, we should be careful to pay attention, to comprehend, and then to analyze and evaluate what speakers say (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60) Distraction A distraction is anything that pulls your attention away from that which you want, or need, to pay attention to (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). It is difficult to avoid distraction. There may be distraction in the environment and within you – day dreaming. When we dream, we pretend to listen but we actually drift about in our interior fantasies. Instead of disciplining ourselves to truly concentrate on the input, we turn the channel to a more entertaining subject. We may have missed some important points while we are dreaming. It is the major reason for ineffective listening. Fear of difficult This block applied when we need to listen and understand new materials or subjects that are new, difficult and challenging to us. In such situation, it is difficult to listen (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We always try to avoid or rationalize these subjects and not to listen. It is mainly due to the fear of failing. People does not like failing and try any methods to avoid it. There are numbers of ways to avoid failure. We stop paying attention to the subject and spend our time to somewhere else. Then we may tell ourselves, we are not fail to understand the topic, but refused to deal with it. Rationalization also helps people to avoid failure (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We usually hold someone else responsible for the consequences of not listening or understanding by saying the material is â€Å"boring†, † stupid†, â€Å"nothing to do with my daily work† and so forth. But as a result, we still do not understand the material. Like any other skill, the first step to improve listening is to understand of what you can do or stop doing in order to get better. The second step is to practice the new skill over and over again to make it as your habit. We have examined the blocks for effective listening. Let us move on to the elements to improve effective listening. There are 2 major elements to improve effective listening, namely comprehension and Analysis/Evaluation. Comprehension means that you are able to understand the speaker (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). There are some basic ways to improve our ability to understand speakers. The first step towards more effective listening comprehension is paying increased attention (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). Attention is your focus to the speaker and his/her material and sustaining the focus. Paying long and well enough attention help you to keep these verbal and nonverbal stimuli into your long-term memory. Then you are able to compare the information with new and old materials. Otherwise, information not stored in long term memory will be lost in a second and you are not able to understand the content because you will bot remember it (Tyson 1982). Everyone can increase attention by realizing its importance, avoid common tendency to day dream, fighting the tendency to give in to external and internal distractions, remove distractions if possible or learn to listen over distraction. We have the ability to listen to and understand speech even when there are severe distraction (Moore 1977, p.239). The second step to improve your ability to understand speaker is to understand the nature of non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is any communication expressed not in words but in body motion, paralanguage (how something is said), proxemics (the use of space), artifacts (physical objects), or environment (Knapp 1980, p. 4-11). It serves a variety of functions that to repeat, contradict, substitute, complement, accent, or regulate verbal communication (Knapp 1978, p. 38). However, it does not mean nonverbal communication is more important than verbal communication. In case nonverbal communication is contradicted to verbal communication, it does not always the case that nonverbal communication is more reliable. The third step towards more effective listening is to increase your ability to comprehend verbal symbols, or message (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63). Although it is the speaker’s responsibility to make himself/herself clear and meaningful, communication is a two way process that listener has the same responsibility to understand speaker’s materials. This task can be accomplished by (1) increasing the quality and quantity of your experience, (2) learning to use context as a mean of increasing your understanding, (3) keeping your bias away, (4) controlling any fear of failure, (5) improve your vocabulary (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63-64), and (6) feedback to confirm your interpretation. The next element that helps to improve effective listening is analysis and evaluation. Once you have attended to and understood the speaker, you are ready to analyze and evaluate the message. Analysis is to examine the message in order to learn what the meanings are. Evaluation is the rendering of judgement on message to decide the value of the message. Both analytical and evaluative functions require you to examine a speaker’s support and reasoning, such as data, conclusion, reasoning process, examples and statistics. Effective listening will benefit as well as those who work with you. It breaks up the barriers between people and can understand each other more. In workplace, effective listening minimize the losses of potential revenues which may result from shipping the wrong products to customers. Or from miscommunication objectives and priorities among staffs. Or even from time lost because of having to re-communicate a second or third time to get things straightened out. To listen effectively, one must be positive, active, prevent affected by blocks we mentioned earlier, paying and sustain enough attention to the speaker, able to analyze after understanding. It is not an easy skill, but it is the most fundamental and powerful skill we need. When someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening to others, all of their interactions become easier, and communication problems are all but eliminated. How to cite Effective Listening, Essay examples Effective Listening Free Essays In a monthly marketing meeting, the marketing manager wants 5 of his staffs to conduct a research on market share on 5 different areas. Each staff is assigned a territory. The manager rejects, one month later in the same meeting, one of the 5 reports because the research is on the wrong territory. We will write a custom essay sample on Effective Listening or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we assume the ability of all staffs is the same, then it is obviously a communication breakdown that causes the wrong research was conducted. The consequence of misunderstanding may be costly to a company. Often when a misunderstanding occurs on the job, it is attributed to a lack of communication, which most of time implies that whoever was delivering the message did not do an effective job. But what about the other side, the listener? Listening is important in business because it is the communication skill most often used in human interaction (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.56). Between 45 and 55 percent of people’s communication time will be spent in listening to others (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.6, Werner 1975, p.26). However, listening is not a skill that most people perform well. Studies show that people do not listen effectively. On an average, people listen only at 25% efficiency (Nichols and Stevens 1957, p.ix). It is difficult to define listening, but generally it can be defined as † a receiver orientation to the communication process; since communication involves both a source and a receiver, listening consist of the roles receivers play in the communication process† (Floyd 1985, p.9). Listening is a process that includes hearing, attending to, understanding, evaluating and responding to spoken messages. (Floyd 1985, p.9) Our own listening habits have been developed since we were born. Such habits are so well established that we perform them without thinking. But unfortunately, such habits are usually undesirable and lead to poor listening. There are numbers of reasons for ineffective listening. These do not apply equally to all listeners and the degree to which they do apply will vary from different situation, speaker, topic and so forth, They represent common and important reasons for ineffective listening: Rehearsing Your whole attention is designing and preparing â€Å"what to say next†. You look interested, but your minds are miles away because you are thinking about the next comment. Judging Negatively labeling people can be extremely limiting. Everyone has biases, but it leads to ineffective listening. For example you hear a speaker discuss an idea that you don’t like, you might stop paying attention to that speaker says, you might distort the message, and therefore failing to understand it because of prejudgment. As a result, your evaluation of the speaker and /or message could be unfair or in error (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.59). So, A basic rule of effective listening is to that judgements should only be made after you have heard and evaluated the content of the message (Johnson). Identifying You take everything people tell you and refer it back to your own experience. They may want to tell you about a car’s braking system, but that reminds you of your car accident. You launch into your story before they can finish theirs (Johnson). Talking rather than listening We too often love to hear our own voice and feel that our comments and ideas are always right (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.58). You are a great problem solver that you do not have to hear more than a few sentences before you begin searching for the right advice. But, while you are coming up with suggestions, you may have missed what is most important. Sometimes, people argue and debate with others who never feel heard because these people are so quick to disagree. In fact these people’s main focus is on finding things to disagree with. Filtering We usually filter out messages and listen only to those topics and materials that we want to hear. We will stop paying attention to those topics that we do not want to hear, such as messages that criticize us. Then we cannot be corrected, and we cannot take suggestions to change (Johnson). Placation As we have been taught to be nice, pleasant and supportive to others, we seldom criticize others especially when others are telling you things that we want to hear. But too hasty acceptance of messages that tells us what we like and want to hear can lead to serious problems (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We may half-listen just enough to get the drift, but not really involved. Instead, we should be careful to pay attention, to comprehend, and then to analyze and evaluate what speakers say (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60) Distraction A distraction is anything that pulls your attention away from that which you want, or need, to pay attention to (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). It is difficult to avoid distraction. There may be distraction in the environment and within you – day dreaming. When we dream, we pretend to listen but we actually drift about in our interior fantasies. Instead of disciplining ourselves to truly concentrate on the input, we turn the channel to a more entertaining subject. We may have missed some important points while we are dreaming. It is the major reason for ineffective listening. Fear of difficult This block applied when we need to listen and understand new materials or subjects that are new, difficult and challenging to us. In such situation, it is difficult to listen (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We always try to avoid or rationalize these subjects and not to listen. It is mainly due to the fear of failing. People does not like failing and try any methods to avoid it. There are numbers of ways to avoid failure. We stop paying attention to the subject and spend our time to somewhere else. Then we may tell ourselves, we are not fail to understand the topic, but refused to deal with it. Rationalization also helps people to avoid failure (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.60). We usually hold someone else responsible for the consequences of not listening or understanding by saying the material is â€Å"boring†, † stupid†, â€Å"nothing to do with my daily work† and so forth. But as a result, we still do not understand the material. Like any other skill, the first step to improve listening is to understand of what you can do or stop doing in order to get better. The second step is to practice the new skill over and over again to make it as your habit. We have examined the blocks for effective listening. Let us move on to the elements to improve effective listening. There are 2 major elements to improve effective listening, namely comprehension and Analysis/Evaluation. Comprehension means that you are able to understand the speaker (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). There are some basic ways to improve our ability to understand speakers. The first step towards more effective listening comprehension is paying increased attention (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.61). Attention is your focus to the speaker and his/her material and sustaining the focus. Paying long and well enough attention help you to keep these verbal and nonverbal stimuli into your long-term memory. Then you are able to compare the information with new and old materials. Otherwise, information not stored in long term memory will be lost in a second and you are not able to understand the content because you will bot remember it (Tyson 1982). Everyone can increase attention by realizing its importance, avoid common tendency to day dream, fighting the tendency to give in to external and internal distractions, remove distractions if possible or learn to listen over distraction. We have the ability to listen to and understand speech even when there are severe distraction (Moore 1977, p.239). The second step to improve your ability to understand speaker is to understand the nature of non-verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is any communication expressed not in words but in body motion, paralanguage (how something is said), proxemics (the use of space), artifacts (physical objects), or environment (Knapp 1980, p. 4-11). It serves a variety of functions that to repeat, contradict, substitute, complement, accent, or regulate verbal communication (Knapp 1978, p. 38). However, it does not mean nonverbal communication is more important than verbal communication. In case nonverbal communication is contradicted to verbal communication, it does not always the case that nonverbal communication is more reliable. The third step towards more effective listening is to increase your ability to comprehend verbal symbols, or message (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63). Although it is the speaker’s responsibility to make himself/herself clear and meaningful, communication is a two way process that listener has the same responsibility to understand speaker’s materials. This task can be accomplished by (1) increasing the quality and quantity of your experience, (2) learning to use context as a mean of increasing your understanding, (3) keeping your bias away, (4) controlling any fear of failure, (5) improve your vocabulary (Curtis, Floyd and Winsor 1992, p.63-64), and (6) feedback to confirm your interpretation. The next element that helps to improve effective listening is analysis and evaluation. Once you have attended to and understood the speaker, you are ready to analyze and evaluate the message. Analysis is to examine the message in order to learn what the meanings are. Evaluation is the rendering of judgement on message to decide the value of the message. Both analytical and evaluative functions require you to examine a speaker’s support and reasoning, such as data, conclusion, reasoning process, examples and statistics. Effective listening will benefit as well as those who work with you. It breaks up the barriers between people and can understand each other more. In workplace, effective listening minimize the losses of potential revenues which may result from shipping the wrong products to customers. Or from miscommunication objectives and priorities among staffs. Or even from time lost because of having to re-communicate a second or third time to get things straightened out. To listen effectively, one must be positive, active, prevent affected by blocks we mentioned earlier, paying and sustain enough attention to the speaker, able to analyze after understanding. It is not an easy skill, but it is the most fundamental and powerful skill we need. When someone is willing to stop talking or thinking and begin truly listening to others, all of their interactions become easier, and communication problems are all but eliminated. How to cite Effective Listening, Essay examples

US Construction Law

Questions: 1. What specific types of claims does WAR have against us and why?2. What specific factual and legal arguments does WAR have? Be specific and in detail?3. What else should we require from WAR to substantiate its claims for lost productivity?4. Do we have a claim(s) against the Owner or ArchitectPlus to recover some or all the costs we may have to pay to WAR? If so, what specific types of claims do we have? Answers: 1. Because of the lapses in the conduit design specifications, WAR faced problems in completing the work on time and within the allocated budget. WAR has claimed that it incurred extra costs because of these non-specifications. It had to trace and measure the requirements on its own, then it had to cut into the insulation system. Keith has expressed this concern (437). WAR claimed that rigidness of the conduit on the concrete roof deck did not permit its technical crew to install tapered insulation. To complete this work, WAR had to employ extra manpower, material and working expenses which were not covered in the original contract. When it had signed the contract document, WAR had planned to work with one crew, who would move from one building to other, as and when they were completed and handed over to them. Keith has expressed this concern (437). 2. WAR is right in asserting that the original contract documents were not specific about the conduit laying. There was lack of detailed information in the drawings prepared by ArchitectPlus. There were no specific details about the actual placement of the rigid conduit electrical runs, their size and quantity. Although the contract documents specify that WAR should verify the actual conditions at the site before bidding, there is no indication that it also covers the lapses which occur in the drawings prepared by ArchitectPlus, which was engaged by DesignKing and WAR was not responsible to coordinate with or report to ArchitectPlus. Legally also, Bailey has expressed this concern (225) that WAR took precautions of notifying the lapses in the rigid conduit after it inspected Building-1, which was completed before WAR signed the contract with DesignKing. 3. As per Paragraph 2 of the subcontract between DesignKing and WAR, it is clearly stated that the subcontractor has examined the site to its full satisfaction and has made itself familiar with the construction layouts. Paragraph 3 further clarifies the probabilities of any lapses which may occur because of an oversight in the preparation of the contact documents concerning working conditions, design notifications and construction misappropriations. Paragraph 3 (a) clearly specifies that subcontractor must report, within 15 days of finding such lapses, to DesignKing and the work should be stopped forthwith until an inspection and clearance has been obtained from the Project Manager, the Architect and Owners On-site representative. Kelleher, Mastin and Robey have expressed this concern (234) that WAR did not comply with this after finding the fault in Building-1 and even after reporting the matter to DesignKing and went ahead with rectification of the fault on its own. 4. Although the main contract was signed between DesignKing and the Owner and ArchitectPlus was engaged by DesignKing and WAR was also engaged by DesignKing as the subcontractor, all these were parties to the project and were interlink through the main contract document and the subcontract document which made it a part of the main contract document. From the records it is clear that the major lapse was committed by ArchitectPlus by not incorporating the detailed fixing locations of the rigid conduit electrical runs. The owner cannot become a party to any losses incurred by DesignKing because of any faults committed by the subcontractors which have been engaged by DesignKing. But DesignKing is within its legal rights to claim the loss from ArchitectPlus and ArchitectPlus is morally responsible and legally bonded to fulfil and/or share the loss. Gibbs and Hunt have expressed this concern (489). List Of References Bailey, Julian. Construction Law. Oxon: CRC Press, 2014. Print. Gibbs, Kenneth. C and Hunt, Gordon. California Construction Law, 13th ed. New York: Aspen Publishers, 2010. Print. Kelleher, Thomas J, Mastin, John M and Robey, Ronald G. A Practical Guide for the Construction Professional, 5th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, 2014. Print. Pickvance, Keith. Construction Law and Management. Oxon: CRC Press, 2013. Print.

Presenting Symptoms after Hard Knock Baehind Knee

Question: Discuss about the Presenting Symptoms after Hard Knock Baehind Knee. Answer: A person can get injury at any phase of life. Human body is very sensitive to the injury. Injuries on leg behind the knees can happen during walking, sitting or getting slipped because of unnecessary friction. The area behind the knee is called popliteal fossa. This area is very sensitive to pain. Injury in this place may cause weakness, tingling, pain and numbness in lower leg. According to Peterson and Renstrom (2016) leg injury can happen during paying or performing certain activity. A hard knock on the leg behind the knee area can happen due to playing outdoor games like football, rugby and cricket. Sometimes extra fluid deposited behind the knee which is called inflammation. Inflammation is very painful and the person feels complication in moving the leg. The knocks may result either less or serious injuries. The primary presenting symptoms of the knocking can be the result of swelling, tearing of ligaments in the region of knocks. The swelling may be the result of fractures o s everal damage. The symptoms can result serious problems in future. Therefore the injuries should be treated as early as possible. Swelling is a condition, in which the blood is released from vessels in the injured area. It gets accumulated near the wounded part of body. Swelling can develop generally within first few hours of injury. The swelling develops with time and the pain also increases gradually. The swollen is noticeable easily and need appropriate medication. Swelling cause serious problems i8n the body and may last for long period if not treated properly. The second reason of knock on the area behind the knee is wearing and tearing of ligament placed on that particular area of leg. Ligaments are made of soft tissues. If the ligament is tore then it can take a long period of time for example, few months to heal. However, Sampson (2016) mentioned that ligaments help to keep the joints flexible. The injured person feels much pain if the ligament is tore. The damage of ligaments or swollen is the key symptom of fracture, which is very painful. Fracture refers to the breakdown of hard bones or tissue of bo dy. Fracture takes fifteen days to few months to be healed completely. The injured feel huge pain whenever the person moves the knee (Evans and Ratchford 2016). Sprains may occur and cause of fatigue to the area behind the knee of leg. Basic medical treatment is much necessary to get relief from pain. Therefore, swollen or tearing of ligament is known as the basic symptom of knock behind the knee. The person needs to consult with medical professionals for immediate treatment to avoid the major injury. Acute injury healing starts with acute vascular inflammatory response (Shahi et al. 2015). The aim of vascular changes is to develop the blood flow to the regional area, transport cell and mobilize to the region to begin healing. The injured cells are separated and the body starts to make new collagen in the place of injury. References Evans, N.S. and Ratchford, E.V., 2016. The swollen leg.Vascular Medicine, p.1358863X16672576. Peterson, L. and Renstrom, P.A., 2016.Sports Injuries: Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation. CRC Press. Sampson, B.A., 2016. Patient Outcomes Following Hip and Knee Joint Replacement Surgery: Role of the Social and Physical Environment in Recovery. Shahi, A., Saleh, U.H., Tan, T.L., Elfekky, M. and Tarabichi, S., 2015. A Unique Pattern of Peri-Prosthetic Fracture Following Total Knee Arthroplasty: The Insufficiency Fracture.The Journal of arthroplasty,30(6), pp.1054-1057.

Creating an Essay Format That Works For You

Creating an Essay Format That Works For YouIn order to make your writing skills more effective, it is necessary to learn the most appropriate essay format. Your academic training and work experience will also be of some help in choosing a proper essay format. Reading a sample essay format and gaining some knowledge of writing style will give you the tools needed to develop your own essay format.First of all, take a college level course in English composition. Reading a sample essay format and learning about the required aspects of the essay will be essential if you wish to specialize in essays. Study the paper format and take a look at your own student essays for ideas on what the format should be. A sample essay format is one of the important things that you can use to understand the format.If you are studying at a college level course in composition, then you have an opportunity to choose from a variety of sample essay formats. Choose one or two formats and adapt them according to your needs. Choose a format that suits your style and interests. This is your chance to choose what works best for you.Use student samples from your favorite subject to develop a plan of action. Determine which format is suitable for your essay. Also decide if you want to revise it from time to time.Also take a look at your true style. Are you able to compose and outline an effective essay in this format? Are you sure that your style is appropriate for the format? Analyze your ability to take a look at the structure of the format, your current level of education, and your preferences in the essay format.Search through student essays for samples. You can use these essays as a basis for developing your own format. Look at the different levels of the essay format, from the first paragraph up to the last paragraph. Study how they developed the essay.Write the sample essay as if you were completing a regular paper. Research the writing techniques, structure, and vocabulary used in the ac tual article. Read some sample essays to gain familiarity with the format. Use the sample essay format as a guide to build your own essay.

The Problem Of Violence In Schools Essays - Criminology, Crime

The Problem Of Violence In Schools The problem of violence in schools today is a major concern. Crime in and around schools threatens the well being of students, as well as the school staff and the surrounding communities. It also holds back learning and student achievement. The problem is more defined in the public school system than in catholic schools. Catholic schools seem to express a better-rounded teaching environment. Most catholic schools have less tolerance than they do in public schools. It is said that the wearing of a uniform helps to keep more peace in the school. The students do not get made fun of for not wearing brand name clothing. The laughing and making fun of the other students is what contributes to low self-esteem, which one of the traits for a student who is likely to bring violence into school. More than half of U.S. public schools have reported at least one crime incident in 1997. Also one in ten schools reported at least one serious violent crime during this school year. Ten percent of all public schools had experienced one or more serious violent crimes (e.g. murder, rape, suicide, sexual battery, and physical attack of fighting with a weapon or robbery) reported to police or other law enforcement during 1997. Crime and violence seem to be more of a problem in middle and high schools than in elementary schools. In 1997 forty-five percent of elementary schools reported one or more acts of violence. Seventy-four percent of middle schools and seventy-five percent of high schools had reported incidents of violence. One of the goals of the National Education Goals states that by the year 2000, ?all schools in America will be free of drugs and violence and the unauthorized presence of firearms and alcohol, and offer a disciplined environment that is conducive to learning.? This goal has obviously not yet been reached, but there still is some time left for them to reach this goal. The crimes that are most frequently occurring in most schools are vandalism, theft/larceny, and physical attack or fight without a weapon. Six percent have reported physical attack or fight with a weapon. Even though the percentage of weapon related crimes is not as high as many of the rest, it is still one of the biggest and must be eliminated. It is the one of the worst acts of violence that could happen in a school. The school administration should adopt a policy that will help to eliminate the violence. They should either consider a zero tolerance strategy or something similar. The school environment should be a safe one for staff and students. Students should be able to go to school and not be concerned with any in or outside forces that will distract them from learning, or injure them in some way. Many potentially violent incidents continue to plague schools. School administrators are reviewing security and crisis plans, but many administrators are quick to point out that there is no one answer to providing a safe school environment. Everyone wants a simple solution, but the is not a one. People have to work towards getting and maintaining school safety. But no matter how well prepared or how safe everyone thinks a plan to be; it will never be one hundred percent foolproof. Someone will always find a way to get around even the most strategized effort to control the violence. Most incidents could and can be prevented by students, parents, teachers, or citizens coming forward and sharing the information that they know with either the school or police. It is known that prior to a major violent attacking, in most schools someone knows that it is going to happen other than the person who is planning it. But they do not go forward because they think that something like that could never happen in their school. Violence can happen anywhere, at any time. For example, take the Jonesboro incident or Columbine, it is common knowledge that someone knew about what the students were planning, but did not share it with the school or police officials. Schools should pay attention to not only the major incidents like Columbine, but also to the smallest threat. Schools in Allen, Texas,

101 Annotated Bib and Political Ideology Professor Ramos Blog

101 Annotated Bib and Political Ideology Using Sources Quick Write Do you think the average person is good or bad? Is human nature fundamentally good or bad? Any questions on research? Using Sources What are the ways you can use sources in your essay? Evidence Support Explain Provide information Examples Credibility Quotes Research data Ideas! Annotated Bibliography An annotated bib is a works cited or references page with additional information added to each citation. You begin with the correct reference citation for your sources. For this assignment we will have at least five sources. Here is a good explanation of  citations in MLA. Explanation and example of an  Annotated Bibliography  from Cornell Example 2  Annotated Bibliography  from Purdue OWL Here is the format: Author(s). â€Å"Article Title.†Ã‚  Source, vol. #, no. #, season year, pp. xx-xx.  Database,  URL. Example: Kong, Les. â€Å"Business Sources for Education Majors.†Ã‚  Education Graduate Students Journal, vol. 75, no. 4, 2014, pp. 12-19.  JSTOR,  jstor.org/stable/52506788. To each entry you will add the annotation, the paragraph or two that explains the source, why you are using it, and its reliability. Each professor you will have in the future may have specific guidelines for what to include in an annotated bibliographic entry. Always follow their instructions. For this assignment, you should include: Summary of Source, 2-4 sentences How you are using it in your report, 1-3 sentences Reliability of source, 1-3 sentences In total, you should have a short paragraph, 4-10 sentences, explaining the three points above. MLA Style We will be going over the 8th edition MLA citation Style. You can look under our  resources page  for MLA or APA guides. There are three things to consider for each style guide you use: Page Formatting In-Text Citations /References Page Here is a  Power Point presentation covering MLA style 8th edition  and the recent changes. Krikorian, Mark. â€Å"Two Immigration Priorities.†Ã‚  National Review, Dec, 2016, pp. 18-20, SIRS Issues Researcher,  www.sks.sirs.com. This article goes into detail on some of the other less talked about factors of the changes in how we deal with illegal immigrants under our new president and his policies. The author is the director of the Center for Immigration Studies so I assume he is a credible expert in immigration. I will use this source to get more specific in my critique of the border wall proposal. Krikorian, Mark. â€Å"Two Immigration Priorities.†Ã‚  National Review, Dec, 2016, pp. 18-20, SIRS Issues Researcher,  www.sks.sirs.com. This article goes into detail on some of the other less talked about factors of the changes in how we deal with illegal immigrants under our new president and his policies. The author is the director of the Center for Immigration Studies so I assume he is a credible expert in immigration. I will use this source to get more specific in my critique of the border wall proposal. In total, you should have a short paragraph, 4-10 sentences, explaining the three points above. Any questions before we move on? Why Rural America Voted for Trump Robert Leonard, â€Å"Why Rural America Voted for Trump† [p. 279] Democrats think people are fundamentally good. Republicans think people are fundamentally bad. Do   you think people are good? Jonathan Haidt: Can a Divided America Heal? 20 Minutes. Jon Haidt is a Social Psychologist. Write down anything you think is important or that stands out to you. Write down any words you don’t know so we can make a list for everyone. So the first thing that you have to always keep in mind when you’re thinking about politics is that we’re tribal. We evolved for tribalism. One of the simplest and greatest insights into human social nature is the Bedouin proverb: â€Å"Me against my brother; me and my brother against our cousin; me and my brother and cousins against the stranger.† Chapter 7, Who Cares? Chapter 7 explains the importance of addressing the â€Å"so what?† and â€Å"who cares?† questions when writing and making an argument. You essays will become stronger once you begin addressing these questions in your writing. The â€Å"who cares?† question considers who has a stake in the argument. The â€Å"so what?† helps the reader understand what the larger implications or consequences of the topic are. These questions work great in many parts of your essays. They are especially helpful for writers who struggle with introductions and conclusions. A good tip is to address these questions in the introduction and conclusions. Report Topic, So What? Who are the people that care about your topic? Who has a stake in the matter? Brainstorm for three minutes all the groups who have a stake in the argument. Homework Finish research on your topic Annotated Bib. Print and hand in.