C. Glenn Pearce

Assessment of the Listening Styles Inventory Progress in Establishing Reliability and Validity

This article describes the authors’ progress in establishing the validity and reliability of the Listening Styles Inventory (LSI) following their initial report in an earlier study (Barker, Pearce, and Johnson). The LSI provides managers with a self-administered tool for determining their own perceived listening effectiveness. The authors examined the data provided by 359 respondents in diverse managerial groups using factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, Spearman’s rank order coefficient, structured interviews, expert observation, the Statistical Analysis System General Linear Model (GLM) procedure (analysis of variance), and a Tukey Student Range (honestly significant difference or HSD) test. The results yielded further evidence of the validity and reliability of the LSI as a self-administered diagnostic listening tool. The authors conclude that the LSI in its present form can serve as a guide for assessing a manager’s perceived listening effectiveness, but further research is needed to refine the instrument and to test other managerial groups.

Internet Recruiting in the Banking Industry

The Internet has brought about changes in the job search and application process. For this article, recruiters at several large commercial banks in the US were inter viewed on the usage of Internet recruiting tools. The interviews identified a number of trends that are fairly uniform across these banks, including the following: 1. Recruiters are using the Internet at an increasing rate. 2. While job site services are popular, most recruiters we interviewed preferred using the corporate Website. 3. The percentage of Internet-recruited applicants actually hired varies widely and is still a small percentage of the whole. 4. Diversity programs are not hampered by Internet recruiting.

An Investigation of Perceived Managerial Listening Ability

This study employed a listening effectiveness inventory to measure perceived listening ability among managers who were leaders in a professional management association in the United States and Canada. Analysis of variance results revealed statistically significant differences for training and gender. Those who had taken more than one listening training seminar or course scored higher on the inventory than did those who had had no listening training. Females perceived themselves as better listeners than males did. No statistically significant differences were found for age. On the whole, the inventory developed in this study may provide another dimension to measures of listening effectiveness.

Enhancing the Student Listening Skills and Environment

This article reports the results of an investigation using an interactive approach to teaching listening skills that appears to be ideal for a business communication class. The authors describe their experiences with integrating listen ing activities into the content of an undergraduate organi zational behavior course. The conclusion is drawn that this can be done quite successfully.

Self-Imposed Silence and Perceived Listening Effectiveness:

Thus far, listening training has been limited to lectures on the process of listening and experiential exercises designed to provide for practice in listening and for assisting in a persons ability to recognize his or her own beneficial and detrimental listening behaviors. Using a new process—silence—for developing listening skills, this study compared the effects on perceived listening effectiveness of a self- imposed period of silence versus attending a lecture on listening skills versus a combination of a self-imposed period of silence and attending a lecture. While no significant differences were found for either lecture or silence or the combination of the two on measures of perceived listening effectiveness, qualitative data from journals kept by the participants suggest that the act of self-imposed silence greatly improves awareness of ones listening effectiveness and the value of developing beneficial listening skills.

A Comparison of Business Communication Quality between Computer Written and Handwritten Samples

The present study compared handwritten reports with those written on computers for ten precisely defined quality factors. Reports written under both conditions by 160 upper division college students in a business communication course were submitted to the Grammatik II program for quality analysis and the results were subsequently analyzed for significant differences using ANOVA. More similarities than differences were found as six of the ten tests did not show significant differences. The findings of the study do not support a general conclusion that basic writing quality will improve when documents are written by computer as compared to writing them by hand. The importance of the present findings as they relate to earlier research and future re search directions are discussed.

Personal Attributes and Computer Writing Quality.

This article reports the results of a study testing whether any of seventeen personal attributes related to the quality of documents university undergraduates wrote by hand and on the computer. Chi-square analysis showed significant differences for age, class, and word processing and keyboarding experience. The researchers concluded that some attributes do relate to computer writing quality and suggest further study to benefit computer writers and computer writing curriculum and instruction.

Communicating Truthfully and Positively in Appraising Work Performance.

Audrey has been the manager of the check-processing division of a local bank for nearly six months. The time has come for her to conduct performance appraisals for the six subordinates she supervises. Three of them Hugh, Al, and Maria have had perfect attendance, have performed well in the expected manner, and have maintained good relationships with bank customers. A fourth, Sue, a pleasant person, has been late on numerous occasions and has sloppy work habits. The fifth, Bob, can’t seem to get along with his fellow employees, but he works hard and reports to work on time. In fact, he works overtime every time he’s asked or knows it is available. The sixth, George, works slowly, so slowly that Audrey chuckles to herself when she privately compares his pace to that of a snail. Also, George is often late to work. What strategy should Audrey use in evaluating these employees’ performances? Should she call them into her office and tell them the unadorned truth? If she tells them the truth, should she communicate it positively or negatively ? And what reactions should she expect from these employees as a result of their appraisals? Audrey could use the information in this article to answer these questions so she could give the appropriate feedback and predict the probable results. Using the JPM Behavioral Feedback Model, she could plan her strategy for improving performance. But, before dealing with Audrey’s problem, we will set out the foundation for the use ofthe model.

Classroom Speaking Techniques That Help Students Listen Better.

When conversations among business communication instructors turn to student learning, discussions often focus on poor student listening skills. Even as informed professionals, we may perceive listening as solely the student’s responsibility. Thus, as busy instructors, it’s easy to do little more than hope that students will start listening. Perhaps the best chance that students will start listening is to take matters into our own hands. As instructors, we can take charge by actually helping our students listen better. We can assume more responsibility as speakers in the speaker-listener exchange with students. Specifically, we can speak with students in ways that promote good listening habits to ensure that they don’t just hear but listen as well.

Communication Effectiveness: a Relevant Consideration in the Teaching of Business Subjects

Business educators have looked for many years at teaching methods and devices from the perspective of learning theory, and this has been a proper course to pursue. However, developments during the past two to three decades in the study of human communication have shown a need to enlarge the scope of learning theory to include an examination of teaching methods and devices from the following perspectives: 1. Viewing teaching as a communication act.