Internal communication and listening styles of corporate chief executive officers, a study of six selected organizations

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.