Organizational Listening for Strategic Communication

Introduction

Katie R. Place

DOI: 10.4324/9781003273851-1

Listening is the practice of receiving, constructing meaning from, and responding to spoken or nonverbal messages (International Listening Association, 2007). It involves respect of all partners engaged in dialogue, commitment to understanding shared messages, hearing diverse voices across contexts, and openness to multiple narratives (Parks, 2019). In organizations, listening necessitates structures, resources, skills, policies, and personnel for being responsive to the needs of organizational publics, particularly via two-way flows of communication (Macnamara, 2016a, 2016b; Worthington & Fitch-Hauser, 2018).

Unfortunately, an organizational listening crisis remains, as organizations ...