The Purpose Of Listening

1096 Words3 Pages

In any workplace there are certain skills of communication that are important to have. Listening is a main skill that is needed, of course there are different functions or purposes of listening, and these different functions are more important to certain careers than others. Communication has to do with more than just listening though; you must also consider verbal and non-verbal communication, and the ability to manage conflict. As a Digital Media and Animation student my future career as an animator relies on excellent communication and listening skills in order to succeed. Knowing and applying the purposes of listening and communication skills will be the key to my future success. There are five listening functions, or purposes, that are …show more content…

(McCornack, pg. 217) With nonverbal communication it is important to remember the fact that it has different meanings across different cultures. (McCornack, pg. 213) Miscommunications can happen if one doesn’t know about what specific nonverbal gestures may mean. This is especially important when considering the facts that some animators may have to travel to many different countries to gain research materials for a film project. Nonverbal communication can give more meaning than verbal communication can; this becomes truer when people display mixed messages. (McCornack, pg. 213) When it comes to listening to comprehend nonverbal communication can help if you don’t understand something, you can attempt to understand what the person is trying to convey by noticing their body language and nonverbal movements. This is more applicable to when you change your listening style to discern, which is usually for distinguishing sounds but in this case I believe that you can use it to distinguish movements, this helps to tell what a person might be feeling. (McCornack, …show more content…

According to McCornack conflict is “the process that occurs when people perceive that they have incompatible goals or that someone is interfering with their ability to achieve their objectives”. (McCornack, pg.246) In terms of listening, if I am in a meeting and the director of the film is about to assign work for the film I might stop listening if I have an issue with the work I was assigned. For example if I was assigned to work on backgrounds but I wanted to be animating I might have an issue with the director and see them as interfering with my goals of being an animator. This example also has to do with certain people having more power over others and thus this can form some conflict, however, power is also useful because once you understand it than it can be a crucial part to constructively managing conflicts with others. (McCornack, pg. 248) A director on a film generally has the most power over who is working on it, so my want to be an animator rather than a background artist doesn’t matter as much to them since they are just trying to get to their goal of getting the film done. Understanding that that is happening as a power struggle and working it out with whoever is in power, in this case the director could help to work towards a solution. (McCornack, pg.250) Once the conflict is settled I could return to listening properly without resentment

Open Document