The Service Manager is demonstrating empathic listening by seeking to understand the consumer's feelings and perspective, rather than just focusing on the factual data that all targets are met. Empathic listening involves understanding the emotional context and the importance of the issue to the stakeholder. By acknowledging the complaint's significance and proposing a collaborative solution (reviewing the SLA), the manager is prioritizing the consumer's experience and the co-creation of value, which are central tenets of the ITIL Drive Stakeholder Value framework.

A. Positive Listening: This is not a standard term in ITIL or formal communication theory. It does not accurately describe the process of understanding a stakeholder's negative feedback.

B. Attentive Listening: While the manager is being attentive, this term only describes the act of focusing on the speaker. Empathic listening is more specific as it includes understanding the emotional state.

C. Selective Listening: This is the opposite of the behavior shown. Selective listening involves hearing only certain parts of a conversation, whereas the manager is fully engaging with the complaint.

1. AXELOS

ITIL® 4: Drive Stakeholder Value. TSO (The Stationery Office)

2020.

Section 4.3.3 (Communication and collaboration): This section emphasizes that "Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It is a key component of emotional intelligence and is vital for effective communication and collaboration." The scenario is a direct application of this principle.

Section 5.1.3 (Understanding and getting to know users): This section discusses the importance of understanding the user's context

experience

and feelings beyond simple metrics. It states

"It is important to remember that users are people

and they should be treated with respect and empathy." The Service Manager's actions align with this guidance.

2. Brouwer

A. M.

& Kirovska

A. (2021). The Importance of Empathy in Service Design. In Service Design and Service Thinking in Healthcare and Hospital Management (pp. 45-59). Springer

Cham.

This academic text

while focused on healthcare

outlines a universally applicable principle in service management: "Empathic understanding allows service providers to look beyond the explicit needs and uncover the latent

unstated emotional needs of the user... leading to higher perceived service quality." This directly supports the Service Manager's approach of looking beyond the SLA data. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56853-34)