Climate Essay

Climate Essay
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Climate Essay
In a typical workplace, part of one’s job in any workplace is likely to involve listening to individuals their concerns, ideas as well as instruction. Notably, active listening can be considered as a skill in itself. Instead of one passively absorbing what is being articulated, active listening entails trying to comprehend what the speaker is saying and helping the clarify for both of you what they mean. It is important to note that it is easy to listen without hearing what is being said. Some of the common reasons for failure to listen actively include the lack of attention, workplace distractions as well as the interpersonal distractions among others. Therefore, active listening has various advantages because it implies that the listener is wholly engaged in the listening process and pays considerable attention to the spirit behind the spoken words as to their surface meaning.
Active listening is essential for career success, organization effectiveness as well as worker satisfaction. Guffey and Loewy (2010) highlight that good listeners make good managers and that the best listeners are likely to advance more rapidly in their organizations. Notably, listening is particularly relevant to the workplace because employees spend a great deal of time doing it. On the job, a worker should expect to be involved in various types of listening. These include listening to the supervisors, to colleagues as well as the customers. Considering that the health care industry is service-oriented, an entire healthcare organization ought to listen to its clients, employees as well as government agencies and other stakeholders.

One of the most crucial tasks in the workplace is listening to the supervisors. This often entails listening to instructions, assignments as well as explanations regarding how activities should be conducted. While taking instructions, one should listen to learn as well as understand. Pertinent questions should be asked in a non-threatening way to avoid making mistakes when doing the work. An active listener avoids criticizing and arguing when listening to his or her supervisor.
Additionally, active listening enables one to evaluate what his colleagues and teammates are communicating critically. Active listening ensures that one remains objective particularly when you disagree with what is being articulated. Ultimately, active listening ensures that one evaluates the message by determining the main ideas as well as the logical argument. Active listening is important because it is an acknowledgment of caring as well as a potent retention tool (Rothwell & Kazanas, 2004). Therefore, it is important for any organization, particularly those in the healthcare industry to emulate active listening. By doing so, the firms fulfill a great human need.
Communication climates are often associated with the cooperative as well as competitive tactics. It is important to note that defensive communication may be as a result of an attempt to ensure that the information disclosed may not be used against oneself. As individuals become defensive, behavior patterns may be consciously or subconsciously recognizable to the other parties. The inner feelings are responsible for outward defensive postures. Consequently, the defensive signals may distort the message being conveyed. According to Emmitt and Gorse (2009), defensive behavior renders communication less effective whereas supportive or less defensive behavior allows the receiver to concentrate more on the meaning of the message.
There is some defensive as well as supportive climates that are contended to help or hinder the communication process and hence relations in the workplace. Some of the defensive climates include evaluation, control, strategy, neutrality, superiority as well as certainty. On the other hand, supportive climates include a description, problem orientation, spontaneity, empathy, equality as well as professionalism. The defensive and supportive climates are evident in many workplaces, an active listener or receiver of a message from a colleague will always be on their guard for any defensive climate. Further, both climates are often interactive, so the defensiveness of an evaluative climate by a colleague or supervisor may be countered by spontaneous action that demonstrates support. Therefore the utilization of supportive communication techniques reduces the potential of defensive barriers to communication and ultimately harboring good relations in the workplace. Defensive as well as supportive climates are cap-able of influencing relations in the workplace. Therefore, it is important for one to distinguish between such climates when communicating. Moreover, communication climates are within one’s control, and they can be changed by being an active listener. For instance, for each defensive statement, one should respond to the statement by using the opposing supportive strategy.
Conclusively, individuals have various models of reality. Therefore, it is important for a communicator to be always prepared to comprehend the perspectives of other people that may not be able to communicate effectively. Moreover, it is important for one to pay attention to all communication signals to responding in an appropriate manner. Further, other signals including tone of voice, the tempo of speech, facial expressions as well as body language may alter the literal meaning of the words involved. Therefore, the failure to adopt a more sensory approach may lead to a partial understanding of the message.

References
Emmitt, S., & Gorse, C. A. (2009). Construction communication. John Wiley & Sons.
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. (2010). Business communication: Process and product. Cengage Learning.Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (2004). Improving on-the-job training: How to establish and operate a comprehensive OJT program. John Wiley & Sons.