Page 24 - Communication in Organizations Basic Skills and Conversation Models

Listening skills 13

you have any idea what the reason is for the delay?’ While both questions have the same
content, the latter is much more inviting and friendlier in tone and therefore more likely
to be answered than the first one.

Closed (directing) questions

These types of question can be answered with a single word, either a yes or a no will
usually do. Examples of such questions are:
• ‘Do you like that project?’
• ‘Have you contacted the bank about the financing yet?’
•‘Do you get along with your colleagues?’
• ‘Were you disappointed when you failed the exam?’
You can see that the answers to these questions can be minimized to a simple yes or no.
The questions have several negative aspects. First, the speaker is restricted to answer the
question. Second, they are often suggestive because these questions stem from
preconceived ideas, for example: Chef Berman to headwaiter Green arriving too late for
their appointment: ‘Did you have a nice party again last night?’ From this example we
can see that Berman already has an idea of what might be the reason for Green’s lateness.
The leading question stems from that insinuation. The degree of suggestiveness depends
heavily on the tone in which he asks the question. The disadvantageous effect that this
kind of question has on the conversation is that the speaker will start to give short and
maybe defensive answers. However, it is useful to ask closed questions when you want to
find out factual and specific information, or when open-ended questions do not result in
much information.

When to ask open-ended or closed questions

When asking questions you have the option of choosing between different kinds. The one
you choose depends on the goal you have in mind for the conversation (Dohrenwend,
1965). When you want to give the speaker space to express his views in his own way,
you had better ask open-ended questions. When you want to find out something specific
in order to see if you understood it correctly, you should ask closed questions. The use of
closed questions is also helpful when you want more in-depth information about the
subject, for example: ‘At what time exactly is the train arriving?’ There are no general
rules for when to use these type of questions and when not. What is important is that you
are able to use any type of question at the correct moment.

Paraphrasing of content
The second selective listening skill is ‘paraphrasing of content’. This means briefly
stating in your own words what the speaker has said. The chief characteristic of
paraphrasing is that it is based on factual information. This skill serves several functions:
1 Listeners can check that they have understood everything correctly. This is particularly
important when the speaker has given a lot of complex and confusing information.