Organizational Listening in Local Public Administration - Expanding the scope of organizational listening through a qualitative study of local public officials

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discover different activities of organizational listening at the local public administration and their correlation with organizational objectives. Theory: Drawing on the theory of organizational listening, this study incorporated the perspective of democratic theory and policy process to examine organizational listening in local public administration. Method: A qualitative research methodology was employed in the conduct of 16 semi-structured interviews with public officials from 13 Japanese local governments. The data was subjected to thematic analysis in order to identify themes that resonate with the participants’ experiences and perceptions of listening in their daily practice. Results: Thematic analysis of the interviews yielded the identification of six components of organizational listening in the local public administration. In more concrete terms, the orientation, the presence of different purposes, forms, modes, and participants of listening were identified. These components were employed to identify four distinct types of organizational listening, which were subsequently classified according to the factors that determined the drivers of listening and the intention. These types were designated as strategic listening, legal listening, daily listening, and cold listening, which incorporated a wider variety of listening activities that were considered outside the scope of organizational listening. Furthermore, the presence of relational goals such as civic education, and normative goals, such as building trust, beyond the instrumental goals to be achieved through listening were also highlighted in accordance with the organizational goals. The findings contribute to the understanding of the listening activities in the local public administration and suggest the expansion of the scope of the theory of organizational listening to integrate the divergence between the ideal and practice.