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MyManagementLab CHAPTER 13 • Managing Communication and Information 435

Go to mymanagementlab.com for the following Assisted-graded writing questions:
13-10 What purposes does communication serve? 13-12 MyManagementLab Only – comprehensive writing
assignment for this chapter.
13-11 Describe three barriers to communication and how
managers can overcome those barriers.

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Management Skill Builder BeIng a gooD lIstener

Most of us like to talk more than we like to listen. In fact, it’s been facetiously said that listening is just the
price we have to pay to get people to allow us to talk. Managers must be effective communicators if they are
to do their job well. Part of effective communication is conveying clear and understandable messages. But it’s
also using active listening skills to accurately decipher others’ messages.

PErSONAL INVENTOry ASSESSMENT P I A PERSONAL
INVENTORY
ASSESSMENT

communication styles

What type of communication style(s) do you use? Take this PIA and learn more about
your communication style so you can become a better communicator.

Skill Basics • Avoid distracting actions or gestures. When listening, don’t
look at your watch, shuffle papers, play with your pencil,
Too many people take listening skills for granted. They confuse or engage in similar distractions. They make the speaker
hearing with listening. Hearing is merely picking up sound feel that you’re bored or uninterested.
vibrations. Listening is making sense out of what we hear; and
it requires paying attention, interpreting, and remembering. • Ask questions. The critical listener analyzes what he or she
Active listening is hard work and requires you to “get inside” hears and asks questions. This behavior provides clarifica-
the speaker’s head in order to understand the communication tion, ensures understanding, and assures the speaker that
from his or her point of view. you’re really listening.
Eight specific behaviors are associated with active listen- • Paraphrase. Restate in your own words what the speaker
ing. You can be more effective at active listening if you use has said. The effective active listener uses phrases such
these behaviors. 55 as “What I hear you saying is . . . ” or “Do you mean . . . ?”
• Make eye contact. We may listen with our ears, but others Paraphrasing is an excellent control device to check wheth-
tend to judge whether we’re really listening by looking at er you’re listening carefully and is also a control for accu-
our eyes. racy of understanding.
• Exhibit affirmative nods and appropriate facial expres- • Avoid interrupting the speaker. Let the speaker complete
sions. The effective active listener shows interest in what’s his or her thoughts before you try to respond. Don’t try to
being said through nonverbal signals. second-guess where the speaker’s thoughts are going.