Author Question: Describe a business situation in which passive listening could lead to a costly mistake. What ... (Read 93 times)

ap345 · **on:** Jun 23, 2018

Describe a business situation in which passive listening could lead to a costly mistake.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

As you're packing up to leave the office on a Friday afternoon, your boss tells you that she'd like a status report from you as soon as possible.

You head out for the weekend and complete the status report first thing Monday morning. When your boss receives it, she complains that she needed it sooner. How could you have avoided this breakdown in communication?
What will be an ideal response?

at · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 23, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: Students' answers will vary. Failing to listen actively can result in mishearing, misinterpreting, misunderstanding, and misremembering. For example, while discussing some products that your boss wants you to order, he can say that he would like to have the items the next day, but the expedited shipping is just too costly. If you're not paying close attention, you might just focus in on your boss saying he would like to have them the next day and accrue expensive shipping charges he specifically didn't want. Another situation can be a meeting of three people in which various project tasks are discussed. If you're not listening closely, or bothering to verify who is supposed to do what, multiple people might do the same tasks leading to wasted effort and possibly expense, and other tasks might get left undone.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: The problem is most likely a difference in the interpretation of as soon as possible. The boss seems to have intended the report to be completed before the employee leaves on Friday or at some point over the weekend. The employee interprets the statement to mean as soon as she is back in the office again. There are two ways that this could have been avoided. The employee could have been an active listener, and responded to acknowledge her understanding of what was said. If the employee had asked, OK, so do you want this report from me first thing Monday morning? the boss would have corrected this misinterpretation and said clearly when she actually needed it. The other way to avoid this issue would have been for the boss to refrain from using an ambiguous term like as soon as possible, that is so open to interpretation. If she had specified that she needed it that afternoon or by Sunday morning, etc., this problem would also have been avoided.