Amir Greenstein is a lecturer and researcher in marketing and entrepreneurship at Northeastern University in Boston and VU in Amsterdam. writes on Twitter about behavioral research @AmirGrinstein
Jana Schechterman is an organizational consultant, executive coach and teacher at Northeastern University in Boston. yanashechterman.com
Am; Lek: The abstract of the study in 4 sentences
1. The research question: Are different listening techniques equally effective in different countries and cultures?
2. The research process: An experiment comparing listening techniques among 1,029 subjects from 8 countries, who were rated on a cultural continuum of individualism/collectivism.
3. Conclusions: All listening techniques helped the listeners to improve memory and understanding of messages, but it was found that their effectiveness varies according to the nature of the country.
4. Side by side: Listening has tremendous value for any organization, and it can be practiced and improved. Managers in international companies should adapt the technique to the employees.
In a dynamic world with so much background noise – we are constantly exposed to information, voluntarily and involuntarily – listening has become a particularly desirable behavior. In the corporate world, it has been found, managers’ listening to employees makes the latter more satisfied, creative and involved in the organization. From the point of view of the managers, listening helps to better understand the employees and their feelings, makes for a more pleasant and effective work environment and creates employees who are more loyal to the organization.
Listening has tremendous value also in terms of understanding the needs of customers, the ability of salespeople to connect with the target audience, and in general – the mistakes caused by the inability to listen can cost a lot of money: loss of employees and customers, intensification of conflicts and more.
On the other hand, one of the advantages of listening is the ability to learn it and improve it. Indeed, global organizations such as Pfizer, IBM and Ford train employees and managers in listening techniques.
Three techniques to improve listening
Previous research on listening identifies three main techniques:
1. The Perspective-Taking technique, which prompts the listeners to imagine that they are in the speaker’s place, and it encourages empathic thinking.
2. The Tuner Transmitter technique that motivates the listeners to listen especially to the concrete elements in the conversation (and invest less energy in following the abstract elements), assuming that concreteness is more memorable and enables better learning. With this method, it is also recommended to point out to the listeners that after listening they had to make use of the information they received – this also increases effective listening.
3. The Bird’s Eye technique which encourages listeners to visually imagine the situation the speaker is in. Visualization enhances memory and emotional connection.
A new study (2022) examines whether the different listening techniques are equally effective in different countries. The study, published in the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, focused on cultural differences between countries and especially on the dimension considered the most central: differences between cultures that are more individualistic versus those that are more collectivist.
On one side of the spectrum can be found the individualistic approach, where the individual is at the center. The central reference group here is “me”, and what value will “I” get from this or that decision. The USA is a good example of this cultural mindset. On the other hand, there is the collectivist approach, where the individual’s reference groups are the family, the ethnic or religious group, the sports team or the country, and accordingly it becomes clear what value they will receive from this or that decision. Japan is an excellent example of this .
An individualistic or collectivist approach has many consequences for the conduct of employees and managers and for making organizational, team or private decisions. For example, the cultural nature of the country where the organization operates will influence the decision on how to reward a team for meeting goals. In an individualistic country, personal awards will be given and emphasis will be given to individual success, while in a collectivist country, a team award will be given and emphasis will be placed on the success of joint work.
What works well where, and for whom
The researchers conducted an experiment, in which they compared the three listening techniques against each other and against control conditions (in which no listening technique was used). The experiment was carried out in eight countries: Brazil, Egypt, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the USA. 1,029 subjects participated, who were randomly divided between the four groups.
In each group, the subjects were asked to listen to one of three TED talks that were perceived in a preliminary test as relatively boring, with speakers who presented a lot of information that was difficult to remember. Before listening, the subjects were trained on the various listening techniques. In the control group, the subjects listened to the lecture without prior instruction.
The subjects were asked to answer a series of questions in order to test their memory and understanding of the lecture. The first part of the findings showed that the three listening techniques improve memory and understanding compared to the control group, and all three were found to be equally effective.
The second part examined differences between the countries. The study divided the countries into those that are high on the dimension of individualism and low on collectivism (according to a common ranking created by the Dutch researcher Hofstede): USA (91), Ireland (70) and India (48) in front of countries that are on the opposite side of the spectrum: Brazil ( 38), Mexico (30), Malaysia (26), Saudi Arabia (25) and Egypt (25).
It was found that the Bird’s Eye technique was particularly effective for subjects from the more collectivist countries, and the least good for those from the individualistic countries. The findings were reversed in the Tuner Transmitter approach. This technique was most effective for subjects from the individualistic countries and least effective for those from the collectivist countries. Regarding the Perspective Taking technique – no differences were found between the different countries.