Effective Listening Factors in Organizational Communication (COMM3501)

This case study examines a scenario involving a juvenile training facility facing communication challenges due to rapid growth and new staff members. The manager, Jennifer, aims to implement an open-plan office layout to enhance teamwork. However, a group meeting to design the new space reveals significant communication breakdowns. The analysis identifies three key factors affecting effective listening: lack of eye contact, inattentiveness, and interruptions. The case highlights instances where team members, particularly a new employee named Bryce, fail to engage in active listening, leading to unproductive discussions and interpersonal conflicts. The assignment concludes with two recommendations to improve communication: emphasizing proper attention and encouraging open sharing of thoughts among team members. These recommendations aim to foster a more collaborative and productive work environment within the facility, ultimately improving organizational communication and teamwork.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The man purpose of this discussion will be on the factors that are essential for
effective listening in the business houses or in any other institutional purposes. Three factors
that affect effective listening will be identified and discussed in this paper. Apart from this,
two possible recommendations will be stated which need to be followed by the people of the
business entities in order to carry out effective organizational communication. Possessing
effective listening skills is the main discussed topic of this paper.
Overview of the Case Study
The case study revolves about Jennifer and a training facility for juvenile delinquents,
who are the minors, between 10 to 18 years of age, and possessed the acts which violate the
rules and regulations of the law system of a country. She is the manager of that training
facility, which has recently faced huge growth in their entire processes, due to which they
have recruited some new employees. As there are no more open spaces available in the old
system, Jennifer is looking for a fresh plan for open office layout, which will help the teams
to work effectively in the new system. She has decided to appoint separate team in order to
design the fresh space, which is going to affect five fresh as well as ten old employees. The
members of the group for the allocated project included William, the accounts clerk; Bryce,
the marketing officer; Jacqui, the receptionist; and Samantha, a software designer. Among the
four members, Bryce is the only new member of the group.
But, in the very first group meeting, no one was following the way showed by
Jennifer and Bryce, the new member did not follow others and their instructions and instead
spent the time playing with his phone. Whereas Jacqui is eagerly waiting to share her part-

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time interior design knowledge on designing the new office space. But she was de-motivated
by Bryce, and they quarreled about each other’s attitude which forced Bryce to leave the
room, who has nothing to do except disrespecting Jacqui and all other women of the world.
William asked whether the other two are aware about the budget of the project or not, but
Samantha interrupted and suggested that she would design an online survey for rest of the
employees of the training facility, which would help them in the planning process. But at the
end of this entire meeting, no conclusion is drawn, and William also walked out of the group,
by saying that he is not able to work under such conditions. One thing is clear that there is no
bonding or relationship between the team members, which is the minimum or basic
requirement in order to carry on an allocated task or project.
Three Factors
After analyzing the issues in the case study, it can be said there are requirements of
some factors for effective listening. They are described as follows:
1. Maintaining of Eye Contact – This is the first and foremost thing which is
required to perform an effective listening between the members of a group which
are assigned to carry out a specific task. It has been found in various studies and
researches that eye contact is considered to be a basic factor required for effective
communication between the members or the employees of an organization
( Anwar, 2018). It has been seen in the above discussed case study that Bryce was
not at all performing eye contact while they were discussing about designing of
the new office plan, rather he was busy with his phone and the only thing which
he was paying attention was to argue with the other team members and
disrespecting the women of the group as well as his wife. More focus can be made

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on the discussion if proper eye contact is made between the speaker and other
persons who are listening to him or her.
2. Paying attention – Another important factor which affects effective listening is
attention. Improper attention to a discussion affects the effective listening between
the persons related in a group. Paying proper attention often saves the time of
discussing a particular thing, as no repetition need to be done of every members of
a group are paying attention in the discussion (Thomson et al., 2015). Focused and
effective discussions help to come into an effective conclusion which ultimately
aids the organization from where the discussion team belongs. It has been seen in
the case study that all the four members were less attentive to the task allotted by
Jennifer, rather than they were busy with quarrelling with each other, and the main
problem was caused by Bryce, who was the only new member of the group.
3. No Interruption – This is another factor that affects effective listening in a group
engaged in a meeting. Interruption hampers the flow of a discussion, and takes
longer time as well as repetition of discussions which often results in zero
conclusions (Tyagi, 2013). It has been seen in the case study that Bryce was busy
in giving heavy sighs and shaking his head, which distracted the attention of other
members of the group who are busy in serious discussions, and trying to come out
at a final conclusion of designing the office plan of the new office as required by
Jennifer, the manager of the training facility for juvenile delinquents (Fedesco,
2015).
Recommendations
The two possible recommendations required to assure that each person models
effective listening skills should the team meet again are described as follows:

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1. Paying Proper Attention – Proper attention will be required for each of the team
members, so that it will lead into an effective listening, so that less time will be
required to come to an effective conclusion required by the manager of the training
facility. It will lead the organization to maintain the flow of the tasks allotted to each
of the employees of the training facility for juvenile delinquents (Ghobadi &
Mathiassen, 2016).
2. Sharing of thoughts – Sharing of the thinking of a member of the group with other
members will lead to an effective discussion as well as sharing of the ideas of each
other, which will lead to come to an effective conclusion at the end and will help the
training facility to get a fresh design plan for their new office space (Clarke & Braun,
2013).

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References
Anwar, M. N. (2018). Acquisition of Skills for Listening Comprehension: Barriers and
Solutions. International Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, 7(3),
50-54.
Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2013). Teaching thematic analysis: Overcoming challenges and
developing strategies for effective learning. The psychologist, 26(2), 120-123.
Fedesco, H. N. (2015). The impact of (in) effective listening on interpersonal
interactions. International Journal of Listening, 29(2), 103-106.
Ghobadi, S., & Mathiassen, L. (2016). Perceived barriers to effective knowledge sharing in
agile software teams. Information Systems Journal, 26(2), 95-125.
Thomson, K., Outram, S., Gilligan, C., & Levett-Jones, T. (2015). Interprofessional
experiences of recent healthcare graduates: A social psychology perspective on the
barriers to effective communication, teamwork, and patient-centred care. Journal of
interprofessional care, 29(6), 634-640.
Tyagi, B. (2013). Listening: An important skill and its various aspects. The Criterion An
International Journal in English, 12, 1-8.