Nonverbal Communication

BUSN 334 Business Communication

Shawn J. Ouradnik 3/9/2014

Research paper on nonverbal communication for Business Communication 334 Mayville State University. Includes sender and receiver information as well as types of nonverbal communication grouped into six categories.

Introduction

Nonverbal communication is everywhere in our world. We use it when seeping to people, when listening to our favorite music, and watching our favorite movies. This type of communication is so prevalent in our day to day activities most people do not even know that they are interpreting it. We can convey the importance of a verbal message with the use of tone and motion with our body. In music tempo plays a great part in our interpretation of the notes and measures. In movies we see the situations and reactions to emphasize the meaning of the message being portrayed. While we rely on verbal communication, the complete message is not conveyed without the nonverbal aspect of the communication. In todays world we have electronic communication that removes the nonverbal aspect of the message in a large degree. While in the past we had letters that made it difficult to convey a complete message we now have text and e-mail to further muddy the waters. With that being said these mediums do not eliminate the meaning but diminish our capacity to completely relay or message.

Sender & Receiver

Nonverbal communication, as does all communication, comes in many forms but has two constant elements, sender and receiver. The sender is the person conveying the message. All actions, vocals, contact, and movement within the communication is done with one goal, to convey your message. As a sender you use anything at your disposal to get the message out as
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clear as you can. Your eye contact can let people know who you are talking to, your body language can let people know how passionate you are about the subject, and your facial expression can let people know how urgent your message may be, this is but a few uses for nonverbal communication. As a receiver you must take all the communication being given to you to interpret what the message is. This sounds like a lot of work but most of this is done self-consciously. You may see the expressions on some ones face and immediately know what they are saying is intended to be funny but consciously you do not have to think about it your brain just knows. Things can get jumbled in the delivery but as a receiver you must make the best interpretation you can and give feedback for the conversation to continue. Feedback is essential to the process because it allows the sender to know at what degree the message they were intending to send was received.

Nonverbal Communication Categories

We see many methods of nonverbal communication. Eye contact, hand gestures, body language, facial expressions, tone, speed, and surroundings to name a few. We can break down the forms into many categories depending on how we want to categorize them. In general they all fit well into one of six categories; proxemics, chronemics, oculesics, kinesics, objectrics, and vocals. These terms are generalized and not all nonverbal communication will fit into these categories, they may fir into more than one or none at all, but for general purposes these will do.
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Proxemics is the space we use in communication. It is the personal space we place between ourselves and the other person. This can convey how we may feel about this person or situation. According to the text Communicating at Work by Ronald B. Adler, Jeanne Elmhorst, and Kristen Lucas Edward Hall has identified four distance zones middle-class Americans use: intimate (ranging from physical contact to about 18 inches), casual-personal (18 inches to 4 feet), social-consultative (4 to 12 feet), and public (12 feet and beyond).1 These interpersonal spaces vary from region to region and culture to culture. The invasion of personal space can be a burden and a tool in communication. When people get to close to us and invade our space we feel uncomfortable, resentful, and can even feel aggressive, or intimidated. Many business people use this to their advantage. A sales person will invade casual-personal space to be known then back of f to social-consultative space to allow for a decision but will almost always stay within the public space/ social-consultative space to keep their presence known. Police will invade intimate and casual-personal to intimidate a potential threat into submission. We see this type of communication used in everyday life and it is usually a good indication of how we feel about a certain person or situation. With someone we hardly know or someone we distrust we will keep a greater divide between us and them but with a person we trust and know well we will let them get closer up to physical contact depending on the situation. Chromatics is time. This is the time we use to emphasize the meaning of a message whether it is with pauses or the amount of silence we allow in a situation. We will allow longer pauses to occur if we do not want the conversation to go on or if we do not want the impact of our words to settle. Speech writers use pauses to imply drama into a given topic. With the
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Ronald B. Adler, Jeanne Elmhorst, and Kristen Lucas, Communicating at Work: strategies for success in business and the professions, 11th edition, (2013), 97.

pause we automatically store the previous information as important. This furthers the impact our words have. Also the time it takes to answer a question reflects on the situation. In an interview for a job to long of a pause after a question is asked may reflect that sufficient knowledge of the subject being discussed may not be within this persons grasp. Chromatics is also the use of time within an activity pertaining to a situation. When we are late or early for an activity it portrays how we perceive that activity. When you are late to a birthday party without a valid excuse it gives the impression that you do not place this activity high on your list of priorities and there for do not place that person high on your list of priorities. Also if you are too early to a job interview you may portray yourself as obsessive or pushy. Using time to make an impression is good. Showing up a little early (5-15 minutes) implies someone you care about an activity, you have given thought about the activity, and you have placed the correct amount of emphasis on the activities importance. Time can have tremendous impact no matter how you use it. Oculesics is just how it sounds, all about the eyes. Having appropriate eye contact can say a lot about a person. Eye contact can be a powerful communication tool. By making and maintaining the appropriate eye contact you can portray honesty, love, interest, submission, humility, and may other emotions. This area of nonverbal communication can also include the facial expressions. They eyes may be the sentence but the expressions on the face is the punctuation. With both working together it is hard to miss the meaning of the message. Kinesics is movement. The movement you make with your body is important to any conversation. Effective public speakers have body language down to a science. Watching presidential speaking opportunities and then seeing the skits on television later can change the
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perception of a topic. When we see the president speak it is usually to persuade us that their actions on a given situation are the correct actions to be taken, but then we see the similar words but vastly different body language on a television show latter it can take a subject we felt was important and diminish it to a passing joke in just a few minutes. Our movement can convey many different emotions. If we move very fast with large movements we may be excited or the situation may be urgent. If we move sluggish or slow we may be feeling down or the situation may be less then desirable. Many people may describe a person as bubbly usually because they are light in step and constantly moving in a way as to portray happiness. Facial expression could also be incorporated into this category as well. We contort or expression to convey may things. Within a conversation we may have many, many movements in our facial expression to convey many different messages or interpretations of received messages. Objectrics is the choices we make in the objects that surround us in our lives. The offices of top CEOs of major companies are decorated with the intent of showing power. The objects and the placement of those objects can be used to intimidate or place one at ease. Color has much to do with this portal of communication. We also see this type of communication used often in plays or movies. The surroundings or sets of the play or movie help tell the story. A movie or play about poverty will not be set in a middle-class or upscale back drop but may use this contrast to emphasize certain aspects. Objectrics could also be extended to the cloths we wear. We are told to dress for the job we want or to dress one level up from the job you are applying for at job interviews. We do this to portray ourselves as more respectable and professional way. On the other side of that we
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have our casual clothes. This type of dress portrays our real self. How we dress can impact first impressions in a big way. Vocal may be the most powerful nonverbal communication tool we have. We can use this tool to convey any emotion. Our tone, rate of speech, quality, and volume, to name a few, are all indicators of many different elements of communication. When a person is feeling sad their tone, seep, volume, and quality all change as they speak. We can portray excitement, worry, fear, sadness, happiness, indifference with our vocal manipulation. Before the invention of television radio personalities would have to paint whole stories with just words and vocal manipulation. Vocals can paint pictures and destroy images. Conclusion

Nonverbal communication is quite important. We may not always know when we are interpreting it but we always are. In our day to day lives we say much more with our bodies, tones, and actions then we say with our mouths. Without non verbal communication we could not have many or the fine arts we have today. Without nonverbal communication how could we look at a painting, listen to music, or delight in a fine dining experience. We would not be able to avoid dangerous situations as well nor would we be able to take part in enjoyable ones either. We have such a strong connection with the world through communication verbal and nonverbal that to lose one or the other would be catastrophic. Languages have been developed using nonverbal communication as their medium. We are confronted with messages everyday in the most subtle ways but always using nonverbal communication. We see it used to manipulate, take advantage of, intimidate, and
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influence. It can also be used to inspire, delight, entertain, and give meaning to everything within our lives. It is such a powerful tool we do not even know we are using or being influenced but it. Without nonverbal communication we could not have the quality of life we enjoy today.

Bibliography

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