Faculty & Research
Building Managers' Skills to Create Listening Environments
By: Judi Brownell Ph.D.
Executive Summary: Managers’ ability to listen to employees and colleagues is an essential skill for developing a strong, successful service culture in their hospitality operation. By improving their own listening skills, managers can create a “listening environment” within their organization. One problem in this scenario is that most managers believe that their listening skills are better than they really are—as judged by their employees. Effective listening involves a set of related skills, and managers can improve those listening skills once they determine where their weaknesses lie. This tool explains the HURIER framework for analyzing listening effectiveness. HURIER is an acronym for hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding. Each of those six interrelated skills contributes to effective listening. The tool includes a self-assessment questionnaire that allows a manager to see which of those skills needs work. It also provides a second, companion questionnaire that enables a peer or employee evaluation of the manager’s listening skills. Comparing those assessments is the first step in developing the effective listening skills that will help create a successful and effective service culture.
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- Building Managers' Skills to Create Listening Environments By: Judi Brownell Ph.D.
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Comments
Recently the turning of learning organizations to listening organizations has been remarkable. As mentioned in this article the role of management and their team in the hospitality industry today is to emphasize on listening rather than any other activities in order to recognize the service needs of our clients. There is an old saying in Persian language which says: you have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen two times more than you speak. This is wise and really more practical.
Best Regards
Mohammad Reza Jabbari
Executive Advisor
Parsian International Hotels Co.
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- Why Trust Matters in Top Management Teams: Keeping Conflict Constructive, by Tony Simons and Randall Peterson
About Judi Brownell Ph.D.
Judi Brownell is a professor and dean of students at the School of Hotel Administration. She teaches courses in organizational behavior and management communication. Brownell has international teaching experience and her on-line eCornell executive courses are taken worldwide. Brownell’s research projects include studies on managerial listening behavior and the competencies required for global hospitality leaders. She has created tools to assess employee-organization fit and the communication of service values. Her current research focuses on listening as it relates to communicating and maintaining service quality standards in the international cruise industry. Brownell has authored several textbooks, published over 80 articles and serves on several editorial boards. She is also past president of the International Listening Association and has received awards for her research in this field. Brownell has conducted training and consulting for a wide range of hospitality organizations. Among her projects, she has designed assessment centers for hospitality leadership development. A seasoned administrator, Brownell has served as the school's associate dean for academic affairs and as its director for graduate studies. She has also been academic area director for both the organization behavior and management communication disciplines.
For more information visit http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/facultybios/faculty.html?id=7