Abstract:
This study examines the listening styles of six corporate Chief Executive Officers
(CEOs), particularly focusing on employees’ perspectives of their CEOs listening
styles and the implications of these listening styles on the organisations’ internal
communication. The study used the Schema Listening Model, the Affection
Exchange Theory, Buber’s theory of “I-Thou”, and the Leader-Member Exchange
(LMX) Theory to discuss and analyse the listening styles of CEOs and their
implication on internal communication. The study used the qualitative research
approach and a case study design, blending data from interviews and observation for
analysis. The findings of this research indicate that CEOs predominantly used the
people-oriented listening style where the focus was on the source of the message and
in this case, the employee. The study also reveals that most employees perceive their
CEOs as listening people except in a few situations where the CEOs are busy.
Internal communication was found to be satisfactory among both CEOs and
employees except for a few employees who said they only participated in meetings
for ‘formality sake’. The study concludes that all stakeholders in an organisation,
especially supervisors and senior management staff, should intentionally adopt the
appropriate listening style for every situation and not just listen as a function of habit.
The study therefore recommended that, CEOs should understand the importance of
communication and listening to the success of their organisations and invest in
professional development opportunities on active and effective listening as a skill for
all staff in the organisation.
Description:
A Thesis in the Department of Communication and Media Studies,
Faculty of Foreign Language Education and Communication,
submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy
(Business Communication)
in the University of Education, Winneba
MARCH, 2021