Topic > Achieving Success Through Nonverbal Communication

IndexDefinitions and Basic InformationUse of Positive Nonverbal BehaviorsEffect of Negative Nonverbal BehaviorsConclusionCommunication is the process of sharing information between people in relationships and is considered to be the heart of all organizations. It is the most vital aspect of the organization as it determines the management and dynamics of the organization. They mainly rely on effective communication at all levels and in all areas to achieve successful management and increase productivity. ​How information and responsibilities are communicated between superiors and subordinates ultimately determines how the organization functions on a daily basis. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayCommunicating well within organizations has been shown to be a critical success factor in such aspects as increasing productivity, recognition within the organization, and improving employee satisfaction ( ​Graham, Unruh & Jennings , 1991​). When talking about communication, it is of particular importance to focus on the non-verbal aspect of communication because it is the main way we form opinions and impressions about people. Research indicates that humans attribute relational and individual characteristics often based on nonverbal cues (Remland, 1984). Nonverbal communication refers to the process of sending and receiving messages without the use of words and becomes increasingly important in communication because our verbal communication would be completely ineffective if our nonverbal messages were incongruent with our verbal messages. ​Negative nonverbal communication between superior-subordinate relationships decreases the quality and efficiency of workplace performance. These negative nonverbal behaviors are expressed through kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage, and chronemics. In order to evaluate the impact of nonverbal communication in superior-subordinate interactions, the discussion thereof will be divided into three different sections. The first section will cover the different types of nonverbal communication and define what is meant by negative nonverbal behaviors. The second section will discuss the importance of using positive nonverbal behaviors when communicating information between superior and subordinate. Finally, the third section will discuss how negative nonverbal behaviors reduce quality, efficiency and deteriorate organizational relationships. Definitions and basic information In this section, basic information on nonverbal communication will be presented followed by the definition of what is meant by negative nonverbal behaviors. verbal behavior, this information will be used in subsequent sections. Nonverbal communication is divided into four different types based on the different channels used to communicate nonverbal messages. The four types of nonverbal communication are kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage, and chronemics (Hickson, 2010). Kinesics refers to body movements, these include facial expressions, eye contact/behavior, touching, gestures and any other movements performed by the person. limbs or body. Posture and other physical characteristics are closely associated with kinesics. Gestures can provide a way to decipher people's feelings, people tend to gesture less when they are anxious, nervous, demoralized, or very worried about the ongoing interaction (Lunenburg, 2010). Negative gestures can vary widely, but some of the most common include clenched fists, pointing fingers,hands in pockets, hands covering mouth/face, arms crossed and touching nose/ears/neck. Facial expressions convey emotions, people's facial muscles are activated unconsciously when they experience emotions. Negative facial expressions include frowning, frowning, raised chin, pressed lips, disgusted expression, and blank stare. Eye contact is one of the most important Chinese that perform several functions during the communication process. Eye contact can signal the beginning and end of a conversation, monitor and convey feedback during the process, reflect interest and attention, convey emotion, and even recognition of the other person's value (Lunenburg, 2010). Negative eye contact might be reflected in prolonged, intense eye contact, as well as brief, infrequent eye contact. When it comes to physical contact, the amount and frequency of it can demonstrate the degree of liking, familiarity and closeness. Negative touch is mainly regarded as touch taken to the extreme, such as excessive touch; however, lack of contact is neither beneficial nor harmful, while light touching may be helpful depending on the situation and ongoing interaction. Posture is an excellent non-verbal signal used to decipher a person's attitude. Negative posture includes leaning backward, hunched back, hunched posture, hunched legs, and closed postures. Proxemics refers to how people use and perceive space, particularly conversational distance and physical space. Negative nonverbal behaviors regarding the use of physical space include invading one's personal physical space, entering people's physical space, and behaving regardless of the organization of someone's space. Negative use of conversational distance includes very short conversational distance, disregard for respectable conversational distance, and repeatedly changing conversational distance. The way one person sits relative to the other can also provide insights into the ongoing interaction. Negative ways of sitting include sitting at a 45-degree angle to the other person, facing the opposite direction of the other person, and, in some cases, crossing your legs while sitting. Paralanguage refers to variations in speech, such as voice quality, volume, pace, tone, laughter, yawning, and the like (Lunenburg, 2010). This type of nonverbal communication can convey feelings of anger, confidence, distrust, enthusiasm and nervousness. Negative paralanguage may be the consistent and frequent use of non-fluency, low volume and tone, frequent yawning, and slow pacing. Chronomics refers to the use of time and its relationship to status. In terms of superior-subordinate (manager-employee) interactions, news stories convey different messages about status, interest, involvement, ambition, and even level of respect. Negative uses of chronicity include arriving late for a meeting, arriving late for work, missing deadlines, and dedicating insufficient time to produce quality results. Using Positive Nonverbal Behaviors This section will cover the use of positive nonverbal behaviors in higher situations. subordinate (manager-employee) interactions, particularly the effect that positive nonverbal behaviors have on these interactions and relationships. This section will be further broken down into the different types of nonverbal communication and each subsection will address the positive use of each type. Behaviors that increase productivity and help get work done combined with behaviors that demonstrate concern for subordinates are associated with asuperior effective. leadership in organizations (Remland, 1984). Nonverbal behaviors enacted by superiors that reduce the perceived status discrepancy between superior and subordinate tend to be positive nonverbal behaviors that signal friendship, respect, and personal acceptance of the subordinate. Consequently, due to these behaviors exhibited by the superior, the subordinate believes that the superior is more caring and is, therefore, more likely to comply with his requests, express a more positive attitude towards work, increase productivity and commit to a high level. -level to produce the best work possible. In terms of kinesics, it has been found that a superior leaning forward when interacting with a subordinate is consistently associated with a more positive attitude expressed by the subordinate (. Leaning forward might suggest to the subordinate that the superior is interested, engaged, and willing to cooperate in whatever is communicated during this interaction The superiors should be aware of the amount of gestures used during the interaction, an excessive amount of the gestures can be negative as well as the lack of gestures for the gestures to be positive, the superior should keep them in balance. and signal appropriate gestures depending on the message being conveyed, for example, a superior who assigns responsibilities to the subordinate should show immediacy and cooperation so that he has a clear understanding of the responsibilities and faces them with a positive attitude. Facial expressions positive actions performed by superiors, such as smiling, convey a level of agreement and approval to the subordinate; the subordinate may feel more comfortable in satisfying the superior's request and willing to collaborate with a positive attitude. Superiors should also be aware of the amount of eye contact in their interactions with subordinates, they should aim to keep eye contact in balance to indicate interest, helpfulness, acceptance of the subordinate's value, and positive perception of the subordinate. Such a balance of eye contact, allows for effective superior-subordinate communication, greater subordinate interest, and greater cooperation which would increase the productivity of both parties. In terms of proxemics, a superior maintains an appropriate distance when interacting with a subordinate and refrains from invading his subordinate. personal physical space, communicating to the subordinate that the superior is caring towards him, respects him and has a high level of trust towards him. Based on these, the subordinate will place greater emphasis on the communicated message, increase immediacy if responsibilities are assigned, and cooperate to a greater extent with the superior. A session of the superior strictly directed towards the subordinate conveys interest and willingness to collaborate on the part of the superior to the subordinate. Because of these positive signals, the subordinate also becomes more willing to cooperate and express an overall positive attitude towards the interaction and the work performed. In terms of paralanguage, superiors should use the right volume, rhythm, intonation, tone, language and manner according to the situation at hand. Any extreme or inconsistency with his paralanguage will signal negative characteristics to the subordinate and could end in an unpleasant interaction or deterioration of the relationship. They should refrain from yawning at any time during the interaction as this would express a lack of interest which would have a negative effect on the subordinate. Laughter should also be kept at a balance that conveys feelings of enthusiasm, security and trust to subordinates. Interms of chronemia, positive nonverbal behaviors related to chronemia should be adopted by superiors as if they were subordinates. What is meant by this is that superiors should not be late to meetings or work to reassure their status, but rather be respectful of the subordinate's time and treat it as if it were their own. Effect of Negative Nonverbal Behaviors In this section, we will examine the negative effect produced by the use of negative nonverbal behaviors (defined in the first section) in superior-subordinate relationships. With this examination, the correlation between the use of negative non-verbal behaviors and the decrease in quality, productivity and organizational relationships will be evident. This section will be further divided by types of non-verbal communication as happened in the previous sections. Regarding kinesics, the superior's use of negative gestures could convey to the subordinate that the superior is anxious, nervous, demoralized, or very worried about the interaction. For the subordinate, these are negative characteristics which would decrease cooperation and trust towards the superior as the subordinate would expect the superior to act differently. On the other hand, the subordinate using negative gestures and conveying the same things to the superior would indicate to the superior that the subordinate is untrustworthy, decrease respect towards the subordinate, and increase distrust. The use of a negative facial expression by the superior would indicate disapproval, disagreement and disgust towards the subordinate and the message communicated. As a result, the subordinate will have more difficulty satisfying the superior's requests, giving importance to the assigned responsibilities and having a positive attitude. The superior's use of negative eye contact may convey to the subordinate a lack of interest in what is being communicated, reluctance to help or even interact, feelings of hostility and defensiveness, and a lack of recognition of the subordinate's value. The result of this action would be very demoralizing for the subordinate, would significantly worsen the superior-subordinate relationship, and would ultimately decrease work efficiency due to the negative attitude acquired by the subordinate. The use of a negative posture by the superior would suggest to the subordinate an unfavorable attitude and a lack of interest towards the communicated message which would decrease the cooperation on the part of the subordinate, the reluctance to satisfy the superior's request and would decrease the interest placed in the produce quality work. As for proxemics. , superiors usually see no problem in meddling with subordinates, while subordinates are generally more cautious and ask permission or make appointments before meddling with superiors. This negative use of physical space conveys a great level of disrespect towards the subordinate which causes the subordinate to increase their disrespect towards the subordinate, develop a negative attitude towards work and their relationships, and ultimately , ignore the superior's requests. Sitting superior and addressing a subordinate in a negative manner will convey feelings of disinterest, disapproval, and reduced cooperation toward the subordinate. As a result, the subordinate's level of interest would decrease and the equality of their work would suffer as there is no point in producing quality work for a superior who expresses disinterest, disapproval and no cooperation. Regarding paralanguage, the negative use of paralanguage would convey feelings of anger, distrust,.