Examining the Significance of Listening: An Exploratory Study of Contemporary Management

The authors evaluate the role of listening among managerial levels in several business organizations. The study expands upon the often quoted 1927 Rankin study by analyzing the amount of time spent in listening and other communicative functions. The data are broken down by days of the week and the time of the day. These results provide justification for the inclusion of listening in the traditional business com-munication curriculum. IT IS AXIOMATIC that effective communication skills are vital to man-agement performance. The issue of communication usually occupies a near central position among the various literary and research efforts related to the management field. For example, in the area of organizational develop-ment the elements and problems of communication are given major atten-tion. In this perspective and context, there is usually concern with at-tempting to improve overall communication within the organization. Alternatively, when dealing with specific communicative skills, the busi-ness communication field will usually cover the topics of business, writing