Listening in organizations: An analysis of error structures in models of listening competency

Abstract

Who do organizational members perceive as competent listeners? The Organizational Listening Survey was used to recall listening behaviors and attitudes through self‐ and other‐reports of typical interactions of employees participating in communication training. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a single General factor model was proposed. While the results were defensible, analysis of the error structures suggested that three additional factors were reliably discriminable and somewhat predictive of impressions of listening effectiveness and satisfaction with the work relationship. Similarly, a General factor plus two “error factors” was seen to be useful in describing perceptions of co‐workers.