Communication Structures That Hold Us Hostage: Conceptualizing Unlistening as an Organizational Practice

Listening is central to organizational life, yet many employees report persistent experiences of not being genuinely heard. This study conceptualizes such experiences as organizational unlistening and examines how they are socially coordinated and sustained despite rhetorical commitments to listening. Drawing on critical and sociocultural communication traditions and using Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) theory, the research analyzed 18 semi-structured interviews with employees. Thematic analysis identified a set of patterned communicative practices that normalize unlistening, including ritualized responsiveness, selective resonance, and symbolic legitimacy, showing how organizations structure what is heard and by whom. These findings reveal unlistening as an active, power-laden organizational practice that reinforces communicative closure and knowledge inequalities. They position unlistening as a distinct construct in business communication and emphasize the need for reflexive, system-level approaches to responsiveness that address communicative closure and sustain employee engagement.