Ch. 4 Summary

Naweed Bahaduri
Eng 93

Business Communication Design
Ch. 4 Summary

Chapter four is titled “Listening: A Silent Hero”. It is about the importance of listening in the business field. People listen all the time so most people believe they are good listeners since they do it so much but in reality not too many people are very good listeners. Not in the business setting anyway. Also, people do not realize how much we use listening at the workplace. It is about half of our workday. The chapter states that 85% of what we know or learn comes from listening so we should try to all be better listeners. There is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the physiological process of receiving sound waves through receptors. We do this automatically and not even be conscious of it. Listening however is the conscious effort of focusing on what we hear and attaching meaning to it and decoding it. There is different types of listening. Listening to learn, which is exactly that. Critical listening which is comprehending the information then making assessments and judgments about it. Sensitive listening is supportive in nature. It shows empathy and feeling. Dialogue listening is in an open group setting and is inviting without ideas being judged or negated. I know I myself can be and should be a much better listener. This chapter showed to me how important listening is, especially in the work place where one might not have thought so.