The importance of nonverbal communication in management

¶ … Nonverbal Communication in Management

The passing on of information from one person to other is called communication. About 75% of our hours where we are awake is used up in conveying our knowledge, feelings and dreams with others. but, most of us forget to realize that a great amount of our communication is of a non-verbal type as against to the oral and written types. Facial expressions, eye contact, pitch of voice, body pose and movements and arrangement within groups are all non-verbal communication. The way of dressing or the silence we maintain also come under this. When communicating with a person our messages are sent on two levels at a time. The stream of communication is obstructed when the nonverbal prompts and the spoken messages are absurd. Whether right or wrong, the recipient of the communication is inclined to base the purpose of the sender on the non-verbal prompts he gets. (Nonverbal Communication: (www.zeromillion.com)

Familiarity with non-verbal communication is a vital manager who assists as leaders of organizational 'teams' for at least two reasons: To work efficiently as a team leader the manager must intermingle with the other members effectively. Non-verbal signals, when understood properly, offer him with one way to do so. The attitudes and feelings of the team members are predicted by nonverbal communication. Some individual requirements like sanction, development, success, and acknowledgment can be gathered in successful teams. The level to which these needs are satisfied is closely associated to how insightful the team leader and its members are to non-verbal communication in themselves and in other members of the team. If the team members show a proper alertness to non-verbal prompts, the organization will have an enhanced option to thrive, for it will be an honest, sincere, and challenging unit. (Nonverbal Communication: (www.zeromillion.com)

Communication specialists say we communicate as follows: 7% is verbal which is the amount of actual words used, 55% is nonverbal which indicates body language and 38% is voice or which shows the tone of the voice. We should give notice to what our nonverbal signals are saying as we communicate 55% of the time without saying a word. (Are poor nonverbal Skills slowing you down?) the term 'nonverbal communication' was invented in the 20th century and includes many aspects like communication through feel and stench, clothing, masks and vocal features like pitch, pressure, speech rate, accent and volume. Expression of the face, look, pupil size, pose and interpersonal distance also come under nonverbal communication. (Nonverbal Communication-Page 1)

Categories of Nonverbal Communication:

The nonverbal communication is divided into four major types by G.W. Porter: Physical: This is the individual type of communication. It has facial expressions, pitch of voice, feeling of touch, feeling of scent and body movements. Aesthetic: This is the type of communication that takes place through imaginative terms: playing instrumental music, dancing, painting and sculpturing. Signs: This is the automatic type of communication, which makes the use of signal flags, the 21-gun salute, horns, and sirens. Symbolic: This type of communication use spiritual, position, or ego-building signs. (Nonverbal Communication: (www.zeromillion.com)

The main types of nonverbal communication are: Personal space - This type refers to the distance which people consider easy contacting others or having others contact them; Eye contact - Modern American business culture assesses a fair level of eye contact in interpersonal relations, and looking away is felt as averting or even deceitfulness; Position - the position one takes with regard to the others, along with the earlier two types of distance between people and angle of eye contact all are included under a more common type of 'proxemics' in the literature on nonverbal communications; Posture - a person's bodily posture communicates a rich type of messages; Paralanguage - 'Non-lexical' vocal communications may be thought of as a type of nonverbal communication, in its widest sense, as it can imply many touching tones; Expression -the face is more highly considered to be an organ of expression in humans in comparison to any other animal; Gesture - Examples are shaking a finger, pointing etc.; Touch - How one person taps another communicates a significant amount of information; Locomotion - the technique of physical movement in space also communicates a significant level, as well as influencing the feelings of the person making the move; Pacing - Some people respond to questions, intermingle in chat, or sluggish or quicker on the uptake than others; Adornment - Our communications are also disturbed by an assortment of other factors, like clothes, makeup, and accompaniments; Physiological responses - Examples are shaking, panic, winking, etc. It is essential to understand that these are just behaviors, racially and individually studied behaviors that can be instinctive and new ones studied in their stead. (About Nonverbal Communications)

Advantages of Nonverbal Communication:

For certain communication assignments, nonverbal communication is more appropriate than words. It is often quicker and simpler to point to an object than to explain it. Whenever it is complex to use speech, body movement can be used as it is visual and a soundless means of communication. For instance, in case a speaker is continuing his talk, those people who are not talking can use gesture to remark on what is being said without disturbing the course of the speaker. Mutual obligation or custom behavior that appears to be necessary by conversation can be ignored when body movement is used for communication. In cases where preparing the words is too unequivocal or bad mannered, body movement can be used as a replacement for speech. Body movement is a visual form of communication and it can be made extremely noticeable too. One review of a party demonstrated how people used hand gesture as a preliminary salutation to gain control over others attention before going into conversation. Another review illustrated how patients used ostentatious gestures to catch the attention of the doctor when the doctor is deeply involved in his medical notes. In this background, gesture has the added benefit of zigzagging and also visibility. A straight application for attention might be seen as confront to the doctor's authority. (Nonverbal Communication Page 2)

Importance of Nonverbal Communication in Management:

In general, people in organizations spend more than 75% of their time in interpersonal circumstances. Hence, the fact that poor communication is the origin of a large number of organizational troubles is not astonishment. Thus, effective communication is an important constituent of organizational achievement whether the communication is at the interpersonal, inter-group, intra-group, organizational, or at external levels. Through the communication, which consists of non-verbal cues from the other person, we derive a sizeable percentage of the meaning. Frequently, the communication from a person through vocal modulation and body language is completely different from what he says. These assorted signals compel the receiver to select between the verbal and nonverbal elements of the message. Most frequently, the receiver selects the nonverbal portions. Assorted messages generate tension and disbelief because the receiver understands that the communicator is concealing something or is being less than outspoken. (the Importance of Effective Communication)

Nonverbal communication finds importance in following management activities: when negotiating, in presenting, in meetings and in interviews. These are briefly explained here.

When Negotiating: Whenever a person is negotiating, it is important for him to appreciate the nonverbal communication and it is essential to use optimistic nonverbal communication to become a better negotiator. There are four crucial elements to nonverbal communication, namely, posture, expression of face, tone of voice and position of limb. Among these, the tone of voice is most effortlessly camouflaged and one should be cautious of making decisions based on this component only. One should encourage the other side that is speaking by means of positive body language that is, by making a lot of eye contact, smiling, nodding in agreement with other side's major points and generally acting as though one is influenced by point-of-view of the other side. This is likely to attract the other side out by making them believe that the person is unproblematic to negotiate with. When the other side has come to the end of their organized remarks, it is better to keep silence and preserve an attentive pose. The other side may then start to improvise thereby offering even more information to the clever listener. Body language should be seen as a two edged sword, and when one is opening one should be conscious that the other side may use it to persuade one to say more than he planned. (Nonverbal Communication - Free Online Tutorial)

In Presenting: A person who is going to make a presentation should be responsive to nonverbal communication from the moment he starts the presentation to the point when he completes it. The significance of positive eye contact and the proper use of posture and hand movement to go along with one's presentation cannot be exaggerated. Nonverbal communication is an extremely imperative component of any presentation is evident in audience analysis. In western societies, members of audience can analyze the body language of the speaker, even if they are ignorant of this at the awakened level. A pessimistic, invasive or antagonistic nonverbal communication can entirely spoil even a radiantly prepared presentation delivered in an attractive voice. The idea of personal space refers to the area around an individual into which other people should not endeavor unsolicited. Audiences too are very aware of this space and when presenting one should not stand within 10 feet of the audience. This distance is called as the public zone and if a speaker infringes it he is expected to provoke those affected. This distance also establishes an efficient stage area in which the presenter can carry out his presentation. Once the presenter is located in the acceptable zone, which will be further away if the audience is, then there are four major features of nonverbal communication that the presenter should consider: they are how to use his eyes, what are the signals of the facial expressions, how to position and move the body and the limbs and how to use hand gestures. (Nonverbal Communication - Free Online Tutorial)