Robert Bostrom’s Contribution to Listening in Organizational Contexts

Abstract

Robert Bostrom has not only left a listening legacy, but he was also a pioneer in the larger discipline of communication. Bostrom was one of the first scholars to focus on the dynamics of interpersonal contexts, thereby directly contributing to the transition of our field from “speech” to “communication.” Early on he recognized the importance of relational issues and reciprocity, concepts that would later become particularly important to listening researchers and practitioners. In this early work, when the discipline was concerned almost exclusively with the creation and sending of messages, he emphasized the importance of “listener involvement” in the communication process and, from the beginning, demonstrated a commitment to reveal the relevance of communication in everyday contexts (Andersch, Staats, & Bostrom, 1969).