10 Management Attributes for Effective Communication

Communication skills are critical for a team leader. The effective management communication charistices have 10
attributes. They are:
1. Listening
Effective communicators have good listening skills. That includes paying attention to how others speak and their
nonverbal messages – AKA body language.
Just as importantly, they clear their minds to focus on what other people are saying instead of just thinking about
what to say next.
What counts in communication? Listening skills for discernment and trust.
Discerning people are the most successful and listening skills are important for managerial discernment.
2. Awareness of others
Effective communicators make good eye contact and use the names of people when they talk with them. They ask
for opinions and they wait and consider the answers.
In responding, good communicators think about how and what to say. They consider the emotional impact of
their words.
3. Empathy
Stellar communicators empathize – they try to understand other viewpoints. In a diverse workplace, it’s
important to consider the divergent needs of employees as much as possible. They take into account abilities,
attitudes, cultures and past experiences.
4. Inspiration with encouragement
Good managers – in words and action – encourage their teams. They praise performance. They make workers feel
appreciated and valued.
They leverage the perspective of employees – their human capital – with strategies to earn their employees’
respect.
5. Humor
When appropriate, good communicators encourage and use humor. Humor helps make work fun.
6. Fairness
Effective communicators treat employees equally. They don’t play favorites in assignments. They’re careful
to avoid errors in evaluations and salary reviews.
They avoid confusion, and encourage transparency – open and honest messaging. They maintain confidentiality
and respect boundaries.
7. Avoidance of unnecessary conflict
Good managers anticipate problems and resolve issues before they come to a head. They understand all points of
view and encourage discussion. They’re unbiased and are good negotiators.
They discourage office politics.
Even if they feel angry, they wait until they’re calm before taking action. It’s not OK to be angry.
8. Positive attitudes
It’s important to be approachable. Even when they’re having bad-hair days, effective managers are friendly and
positive. They smile and stay cheerful.
9. Minimal stress
Stress carriers aren’t managers. Stress serves an obstacle to communication. If necessary, good managers train
themselves to stop stressing.
10. Courage
Much has been written about preferred skills for managers. We always talk in mundane terms for the need of
managers to convey a vision, achieve goals and to foster growth and well-being for a work-life balance.
Seldom do we talk about courage in communication – a critical characteristic of effective managers.

REFERENCES

William H. Bergquist and Steven R. Phillips, A Handbook for Faculty Development, Volume 2.
Washington, D.C.: Council for the Advancement of Small Colleges, 1977, p. 207.

Characteristics of Effective Listening

INEFFECTIVE VS. EFFECTIVE LISTENING

Effective Listening Skills - An

essential for good communication
Listening is a significant part of communication process. Communication cannot take place until and
unless a message is heard and retained thoroughly and positively by the receivers/listeners. Listening
is a dynamic process. Listening means attentiveness and interest perceptible in the posture as
well as expressions. Listening implies decoding (i.e., translating the symbols into meaning) and
interpreting the messages correctly in communication process.

Listening differs from hearing in sense that:

  Hearing implies just perceiving the sounds while listening means listening with understanding
whatever you are listening. Both the body as well as mind is involved in listening process.
 Listening is an active process while hearing is a passive activity.
 Hearing is an effortless activity while listening is an act requiring conscious efforts,
concentration and interest. Listening involves both physical and psychological efforts.

Effective listening requires both deliberate efforts and a keen mind. Effective listeners appreciate
flow of new ideas and information. Organizations that follow the principles of effective listening are
always informed timely, updated with the changes and implementations, and are always out of crisis
situation. Effective listening promotes organizational relationships, encourages product delivery and
innovation, as well as helps organization to deal with the diversity in employees and customers it
serves.

To improve your communication skills, you must learn to listen effectively. Effective listening gives you
an advantage and makes you more impressive when you speak. It also boosts your performance.

Effective Listening Skills

1. Discover your interests’ field.
2. Grasp and understand the matter/content.
3. Remain calm. Do not loose your temper. Anger hampers and inhibits communication. Angry
people jam their minds to the words of others.
4. Be open to accept new ideas and information.
5. Jot down and take a note of important points.
6. Work upon listening. Analyze and evaluate the speech in spare time.
7. Rephrase and summarize the speaker’s ideas.
8. Keep on asking questions. This demonstrates that how well you understand the speaker’s
ideas and also that you are listening.
9. Avoid distractions.
10. “Step into the shoes of others”, i.e., put yourself in the position of the speaker and observe
things from his view point. This will help creating an atmosphere of mutual understanding and
improve the exchange of ideas in communication process.

Characteristics of Good and Effective Listener

Good and effective listener tries to give maximum amount of thought to the speaker’s ideas being
communicated, leaving a minimum amount of time for mental exercises to go off track. A good
listener:

1. Is attentive- Good listener must pay attention to the key points. He should be alert. He should
avoid any kind of distraction.
2. Do not assume- Good listener does not ignore the information he considers is unnecessary.
He should always summarize the speaker’s ideas so that there is no misunderstanding of
thoughts of speakers. He avoids premature judgements about the speakers message.
3. Listen for feelings and facts- Good listener deliberately listens for the feelings of the
speaker. He concentrates totally on the facts. He evaluates the facts objectively. His listening
is sympathetic, active and alert. He keenly observes the gestures, facial expression and body
language of the speaker. In short, a good listener should be projective (i.e. one who tries to
understand the views of the speaker) and empathic (i.e. one who concentrates not only on the
surface meaning of the message but tries to probe the feelings and emotions of the speaker).
4. Concentrate on the other speakers kindly and generously- A good listener makes
deliberate efforts to give a chance to other speakers also to express their thoughts and views.
He tries to learn from every speaker. He evaluates the speaker’s ideas in spare time. He
focuses on the content of the speaker’s message and not on the speaker’s personality and
looks.
5. Opportunizes- A good listener tries to take benefit from the opportunities arising. He asks
“What’s in it for me?”
To conclude, effective listening enhances the communication quality. It makes all attentive. It
encourages optimistic attitude, healthy relations and more participation. It leads to better decision-
making in an organization. Effective listening is directly related to our ability to do team work. It must
be noted that “We listen at about an efficiency rate of 25 percent maximum, and we remember only
about 50 percent of what is delivered during a ten minute speech/lecture/communication.”

Role of Communication in Team

A team is formed when individuals with a common goal come together on a common platform. The
team members must complement each other and avoid silly conflicts among themselves.

Communication plays a very important role in team building and extracting the best out of the
team members.

A team member must clearly understand what his fellow team members are up to. He should be very
clear about his roles and responsibilities in the team. It is the duty of the team leader to delegate
responsibilities as per the interest and specializations of the team members without imposing things
on them.Never confuse any employee.

Verbal communication sometimes may create misunderstandings and confusions, thus it is

always better to rely on written communication for better clarity and transparency.
Communication is effective when the information is passed on through emails. Emails are more
reliable. Do not send the mails to individuals separately as they might assume that you want to hide
something from them. This way they tend to interfere in each other’s work, trying to find out what extra
is written in their fellow member’s mail. The mails should be sent with all the participants in loop. Also
invite suggestions from them. It is not always that you are correct; your team members might come
out with a brilliant idea as well. Ask them to participate in discussions, this way they feel motivated
and indispensable for their team and as well as the organization.

Conference room, board room or a suitable place must be used for meetings and discussions. It is
always better that the issues are discussed on an open forum and the participants are allowed
to speak freely. Avoid a noisy place. The agenda of the meeting should be prepared well in advance
and must be circulated among the team members. Ask them to come prepared so that they do not sit
blank in the meeting. The speaker should take the help of white board, marker or a pen and paper so
that he doesn’t miss any point. One should not attend any meeting empty handed. Carry something to
note down the important points for future reference. Confusions and misunderstandings are nullified
this way and people start trusting each other.

The goal and the objective of the team should not be set only by the team leader itself. Every
employee should contribute equally and give his valuable inputs. The team members must not fight
among themselves and try to reach to a conclusion best suited to all. The goal must be very well
communicated to all the team members and they must be very clear from the beginning what they are
supposed to do to avoid problems later. The goal can never be achieved unless and until all of them
work hard together and contribute their level best.

Your idea however brilliant it is fails to work unless and until it is implemented in the correct way. The
strategies, methods, concepts not communicated in the correct way can lead to severe confusions
and have adverse effects. The decisions, thoughts, strategies must be communicated to one and all
very clearly. One should not play with words or pass on only half the information. Teams must not be
too complicated with a simple hierarchy where the subordinates have an easy access to their team
leaders. Policies and strategies must be made taking into consideration each and everyone’s
suggestions and should be communicated in an effective way.

Every individual should have the freedom to speak. Do not keep things within yourself and crib
later. If you feel that your fellow colleague is going wrong somewhere and needs to be corrected, go
ahead. Do not hesitate, after all his mistakes will also effect your work also. Do not shout or criticize
him, but make him realize his mistakes in a polite but convincing way. If you feel that you need to go
 for a vacation, please discuss with your superior. Don’t just assume that your boss will know things on
his own and grant you holidays. You need to communicate to him, instead of cribbing and spreading
negativity.

Effective Communication reduces the chances of conflicts and fights among team members.
No body has ever gained anything from fights. Communication improves the relations among the
team members and they feel fresh and motivated the whole day at work

How important is good communication for a team leader? Good communication skills are essential
for any team leader. An ability to communicate with supported employees according to their
preferences is a first step in developing team commitment and cooperation. Without the skills and
knowledge to talk and act in ways that acknowledge the needs of supported employees in the work
team, obtaining commitment and cooperation in the work team is difficult. Knowing how each
member of your team prefers to gather information and how each member prefers to get advice
and to be given instructions will help you to communicate the team goals appropriately to each
team member

7 Essential Tips for Effective

Team Communication
Sandeep Kashyap
December 4, 2017


In recent years, the modern office environment has changed a lot. The
employee’s demands, expectations, policies, norms, rules, and working culture
are all so different. The success of the project depends on a lot on your team,
it should be strong and it can be strong only if there are effective
communication strategies. So, the importance of flawless frequent
communication has grown quite a lot in recent times. Frequent
communication means to keep everyone in the loop both in person and via
technology. Business leaders and experts should care how to keep employees
stay informed through regular communication keeping in mind the
importance of team communication.

Importance of effective team

communication
The changing technology is bringing a change in the workplace by making a
focus on communication very essential. It is becoming important for team
members to clearly know what their fellow team members are up to, their
ideas and their plans to carry forward the project. The manager or the team
leader should delegate roles and responsibilities as per the interest of their
teams. If there is any communication breakdown it can take a huge toll on the
workload, leading to a whole new challenge to figure out. While
communicating being the initial challenge. Ultimately, communication will lead
to impressive overall adoption. The communication story can be used to
accomplish a variety of organizational goals like trusting each other, getting
things are done in better and a simple way and knowing what to say and when
to say.

“Effortlessly communicate with your teams and clients from

one place.”Start using ProofHub Chat.
So, when it comes to team communication, organizations have a dozen of
options to increase the overall communication across the whole team. Below
are some amazing ways to initiate good communication. Good
communication is an important factor for the success of a project, so give it a
head start.

How to communicate with your team more

effectively?
With good communication channels, your team can have a good support.
Here are 7 ways to take your team communication to next level and achieve
happier and more productive team.

1. Having One-on-One Interactions

Successful teams are made of team members who are purposeful in their
interactions. One on one interactions is important with every individual you
hire to make sure employee engagementdoesn’t fall short in your workplace.
During these interactions, set your expectations and needs. Tell them about
what your project demands, what are the norms of your company for
employees and give them adequate preparation time to maximize their
potential. When having one-on-one interactions, make sure you know when to
listen to what your employees have to say. The leaders need to put their best
foot forward for their new hirings to get to the bottom of things.
2. Encourage two-way feedback

In order to have smooth work environment, it is important to have two way

communication. In workplace, feedback is important to generate results, where
the main objectives is to strengthen progress towards company goals. A
common mistake that leaders make when offering feedback is turning into
one way dialogue (feedback). They give no opportunity to employees to
present their own comments and concerns. Encouraging two-way feedback is
a sign of good communication in workplace that will give your team a chance
to self-evaluate. Give detailed feedback to increase team communication and
to coach your team members. You can keep a written record of feedback via
your task management system which can help increase the overall
communication and productivity.

3. Show appreciation

Tell your employees, coworkers and colleagues about how much you care and
respect them. Showing appreciation is an effective way to deal with low
employee morale and to make your team members feel like they matter. This a
method to promote communication in team. Given a token of appreciation to
your team members by congratulating them for great ideas, thanking a team
member for finish a task and express gratitude even for small acts.
4. Conduct team building activities

Team building activities have a great impact on productivity and

overall teamwork of your team. It can help your people to communicate
better, and also help them to build good relationships with one another.
Create structure opportunities for your employees to collaborate through
activities like team lunch, ice breaker games in meetings, group meetings,
fitness sessions, puzzle solving games or any outdoor activity. You can
schedule these activities at the end of the month or weekly to get your team
together in the room.
5. Use time wisely
Utilizing coffee breaks can keep team building spirit strong and giving
everyone an opportunity to get to know each other better. Team bonding is a
better way to improve communication channels. Coffee breaks is an ideal
opportunity for informal meetings and discussions. It encourages healthy
communications amongst colleagues and also promotes the exchange of
ideas. Let your team members have coffee breaks at same time to create an
ideal environment for team members to relax and discuss issues. And this art
of conversation will often encourage the team to discuss work as well. Thus
coffee will not only act as an energy booster through the day but also
promote productivity with relaxed conversations.

6. Promote Communication and Collaboration

Your team members will eventually be able to communicate better if they are
able to collaborate with everyone well. Encouraging collaboration will promote
diverse skills to make sure everyone is aware of ongoing projects. Leaders can
get their people to talk, to share ideas to complete the project. Employees
should be given opportunities to ask questions, ask for help when they need it
and use tools to collect information, feedback, and updates.

7. Use appropriate platform of communication

Every project needs an effective communication stream to reflect the progress

of the project. The modern workplace is on its way to digital transformation.
So, you need to invest on key systems and applications for productivity and
communication. According to the needs of your project, communication
tools can be an effective way for the whole team to meet up. With task
management software, you can make communication streamlined between
your team members. They can exchange messages about the tasks and all
relevant information can be shared in the same place. It prevents long email
threads that has long been one of the communication approach. With an
understanding, the technology is evolving to support you always.
So, you want to get your team communicating better? The right path that will
lead you to effective team communication begins with the above strategies. A
team that doesn’t communicate well is like an engine that is broken into
various parts. So, to let your engine work well, keep all the parts of your
engine together. Watch your team spirits grow with better communication.
Features of Verbal and Nonverbal
Communication
2798 words (11 pages) Essay in Communications

15/08/18 Communications Reference this

Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by
our Essay Writing Service. You can view samples of our professional work here.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

Introduction
Communication is extremely important in our life. Due to the need for protection,
companionship and nourishment, our ancestors had communicated and gathered to
form a community. Effective communication, both verbal and nonverbal
communication helped us to become successful as an individual and species.
Business relationships, interpersonal relationships, and also our physical and
psychological well-being are shaped by the verbal and nonverbal communication. To
nurture relationships and enhance positive communication, we have to understand
the different features of verbal and nonverbal communication.

Main Body
According to Lucas (2014), verbal communication includes many forms of
communication, such as written, words, signed or spoken. The news we read in the
morning, the text message send by parents are both verbal communication.
Language is the one which enable us to communicate rather than merely sounds.
Besides, technology also allows us to communicate although we are far from each
other.

Verbal communication is often use to inform, either it is to impart knowledge or

inform our needs. Besides, it is also use to correct a wrong. The words “I’m sorry”, is
definitely more effective than action. Verbal communication deepens and creates
new relationships and also provides an opportunity to debate. Robert M. Krauss, a
professor in the Psychology Department at Columbia University had written an article
with the title of “The Psychology of Verbal Communication”. In the article, he said
that “A species’ survival depends critically upon its ability to communicate effectively,
and the quality of its social life is determined in large measure by how and what it
can communicate.” (Krauss, 2002)
While nonverbal communication consists of body language such as facial
expressions, gestures, posture and eye contact. It is coexists along with verbal
communication. “Bodily Communication”, a book written by Michael Argyle, stated
that the five main functions of nonverbal communication are reflect personality,
express emotions, support verbal interaction, communicate interpersonal
relationships and also perform rituals. (Argyle, 1975)

Touch is a nonverbal communication that shows a person’s feelings, personal

characteristics, as well as level of comfort. A timid handshake and a firm handshake; a
warm hug and a loose pat on the back are both very different. The tone, pitch and
volume of our voice are also nonverbal communication. Sometimes, the meaning of
a person’s word is entirely different from the literal meaning, which is sarcasm.

When a man trying to attract a woman, a playful wink is always more effective than
saying a well-thought sentence. According to the paper “The Importance of Effective
Communication” written by Edward G. Wertheim, Ph.D, mentioned that how verbal
communication interacts with non-verbal communication. We can substitute,
emphasize, contradict, reinforce, and complement our verbal communication with
non-verbal cues such as expressions, gestures and vocal inflection.

Baby use nonverbal cues while they still not able to speak. Belasco (2013) said that a
19-month-old baby, Matthew Orozco uses a few signs in American Sign Language
(ASL) while communicating with his parents although he has no hearing impairment
and has normal speech development. Signing is very important to children as it is the
bridge to the verbal world.

Get help with your essay today, from our professional essay writers!

Qualified writers in the subject of communications are ready and waiting to help you
with your studies.

 Get help with your essay

 View professionally written samples

Why are we more likely to believe nonverbal behaviours than words when the two
conflict? People often send conflicting verbal and nonverbal messages. When a
nonverbal message conflicts with the verbal message, people will always believe the
nonverbal message. As the saying said actions speak louder than words. Dr. Albert
Mehrabian had written an article titled “Silent Messages” which he analysed the
messages people send. The messages are divided into three parts, which are verbal,
vocal and nonverbal. The actual words we use in message is the verbal part. Then,
the vocal part is the tone while we speak. The message will has different meaning
when we speak in sarcastic tone or sincere tone. While the nonverbal part of the
message consists the physical aspects such as gestures, expressions, eye contact and
posture. Dr. Mehrabian estimates that there are 7 percent of a message is verbal, and
vocal is 38 percent. So, it means that 55 percent of a message is nonverbal, and it
involve in each message in a few ways. (Mehrabian, 1971)

Nonverbal cues have the functions of complement, regulate, repeat, replace,

contradict, and accentuate our vocal and verbal messages.

A message is complement by nonverbal cues via adding reinforcement to it. The

intended message is supported by the nonverbal cues, for example, the distance
between people. Most of the employees tend to stand nearer to their colleague
compare to their boss. This does not express the message much by itself, but when it
is coupled with a simple sentence such as “How are you?” or “Good morning”, it
does. This shows that the employee is respectful and responsive and is not
challenging the authority of the boss.

Besides, by controlling the course of the discussion, nonverbal cues can regulate a
conversation. For example, touching someone will be a signal that you wish to
interrupt and wish to speak to that person.

When a verbal message could stand alone but nonverbal cue is added to it, it is
repeating the message. For instance, when someone told you some information and
you said “I do not believe it” and at the same time you rolled your eyes, then the
message is repeated.

Actions speak louder than words; verbal can be replaced by nonverbal cues. For
example, when an employee receives an unwanted assignment from the boss, the
employee gives a few seconds of cold stares at the boss before returning to work
instead of protest verbally or refuse the task.

Contradict happens when the nonverbal and verbal messages carrying a totally
opposite meaning. An example will be when an employee is looking bored and
distracted while his or her boss is discussing about a boring topic, but the employee
gives a comment such as “How interesting!”

Accenting is used to punctuate part of a message, instead of giving the entire

message a general support. It is different from complement a message. For instance,
pounding fist on a table is accenting the verbal message. (College of DuPage, 1998)

Stewart (2011) said that nonverbal communication is bound to culture and sex. In
detail, different cultures and nationalities have different relative value of talk versus
action, silence versus speech, the social role of gossip or small talk, and the role of
rhyme, animation and exaggeration in speech. While male and female are different in
emotional expressiveness, vocalics, eye contact, appearance and the need of
personal space. So, the study of verbal and nonverbal communication always been
done within a cultural or social context due to these differences.

A study which carried out by the Buffalo State (n.d.) shows that nonverbal
communication is separated into a few categories, which are kinesics, occulesics,
proxemics, haptics, vocalics, chronemics, appearance, environments, artifacts,
olfactics and synchrony.

Kinesics, also called as body language, deals with the movement physically.
Traditional linguistics principles are applied in the study to the whole body or to
specific parts of a body, mainly the hands, face and arms. The eye and facial
expressions, such as rolling of the eyes or arching of eyebrows as well as the posture
of sitting and standing are also included. Kinesics is different depends on the culture.
For instance, a Japanese may act less excited compared to a person from
Mediterranean culture when expressing anger. The person from Mediterranean
culture may use extensive body gestures and hand movements while the Japanese
may just have a slight movements.

Get help with your essay today, from our professional essay writers!

Qualified writers in the subject of communications are ready and waiting to help you
with your studies.

 Get help with your essay

 View professionally written samples

Furthermore, usage of frowning, smiling giggling and others also included as

kinesics, they are all different in different cultures. The sign language that counts on
expressions and gestures is an alternative to spoken language, it is not kinesics.
Kinesics is supported and reinforced by physical gestures and emblems to what is
being said verbally. There are some emblems are universal, but some are differs in
cultural, or even different interpretations between men and women. Uplifted
shoulders and upturned hands that represents “I don’t know” which can be seen
everywhere in this world is an example of universal emblem. An encircled thumb and
forefinger would be an example of culture-bound emblem. In Japan, the gesture is
interpreted as money; in France, it is interpreted as worthless; a curse in Arab; OK in
United States; and in Brazil, Australia and Germany, it is an obscenity.

Occulesics is dealing with eye behaviour as part of communication. Part of the

occulesics deal with a dynamic eye movement versus a fixed or static gaze. The
interpretation of eye contact is very hard to predict as it is interpret differently in
different cultures. Direct eye contact is very common in the western countries, they
look into other people’s eye about 70 percent of the time while listening and 40
percent while talking. While it is more common to look at other people’s throat while
talking in Japan. Direct eye contact is considered as bad manners in Indonesia and
China, so they are practice to lower their eyes. In Hispanic culture, it is a form of
challenge and disrespect when look into other people’s eyes. However, it is common
for both listeners and speakers to have direct eye contact for a long period in Arab’s
culture, it represents that they are interested in the conversation.

The usage of social space in a communication situation is termed as proxemics. The

distance between people when they speak is one of the aspects of proxemics. The
distance is from a public distance (more than 12 feet) to social or formal distance (4-
12 feet) to personal or informal distance (18 inches to 4 feet), and intimate space
(less than 18 inches). The effective use of space in social settings also being deal by
proxemics, for example the arrangement of space in businesses and homes can
encourage or inhibit communication.

Other than the above, haptics emphasize on touching as one of the elements of
communication. Haptics also vary in different cultures, just like other elements of
nonverbal communication. For instance, the culture in Middle Eastern, Latin America
and Mediterranean include a lot of social touching in their conversation, such as
hand holding and embraces. So, they are categorised as high-contact cultures. In
Northern Europe and North America, they only touch occasionally, such as back
slapping and handshakes. They are considered as moderate-touch culture. In
Northern Asian cultures, which considered as low contact culture, social touching is
not always happen. But, for example, people in the nation of Philippines include a lot
of social touching in their conversation. Haptics may vary although is in the same
culture. For instance, the strength and length of handshakes depends on the intimacy
level of the two people shaking hands.

Vocalics or paralanguage, deals with vocal, or more emphasize it is referred as the

nonphonemic qualities of language. The loudness, pitch, accent, tempo, tone,
cadence, nasality, insofar and even the rate of speech are included in vocalics, all
these carrying different meaning. Vocalics also vary in different cultures. For example,
the practice of belching is accepted in different ways depend on the cultures. Other
than that, the vocal qualifiers such as pitch, volume, tempo and rhythm also
associated with different cultures. Speaking loudly represents sincerity in Arab
culture, but it is considered as aggressive in North America.

Chronemics is about the usage of time as a component of communication. Minutes,

hours and days are categorised as formal time, while informal time includes seasons,
lunar cycles and social customs. Chronemics includes specifics, for example the
punctuality together with the forms of dominance or the deference during a
communication situation. For instance, men are more likely to interrupt or dominate
a conversation compared to women. Besides, chronemics also deals with arriving
time to a social setting. Americans tends to arriving early for a business meeting but
will be “fashionably late” for social activities. However, Sioux are very relaxed toward
time as the word “late” is not even exists in Sioux language.

Chronemics are divided into monochronemics and polychronemics. Monochronemic

is define as doing one thing at a time, and is stress on agendas and promptness;
while polychronemic means doing several things at a time, it emphasis on
relationships. In North America and Northern Europe, monochronemic conversation
is common. While people are more likely to use polychronemic conversation in Asia
countries, Middle East, Latin America and Mediterranean.

Appearance is dealing with a person’s physical appearance or look. It deals with the
physical aspects such as hair colour, body shape, dressing which included accessories
and clothing, skin tone and the use of appearance enhancement such as body
tattoos and piercings. The public speakers in North and Western Africa are prefer to
wear big sleeves and long robes so that they are able to raise their hands, they are
looking bigger and more elegant as the extra sleeve cloth will slips through their
arms and puffs up their shoulder.

Environment is also very important in nonverbal communication, for example the

physical space such as location, room size and colour, and accessibility. In a
company, there are significant meanings about the size of desk and the design or
location of the office. For instance, the most important people in a company will
locate his or her office at the highest floor of the building.

Get help with your essay today, from our professional essay writers!

Qualified writers in the subject of communications are ready and waiting to help you
with your studies.

 Get help with your essay

 View professionally written samples

Furthermore, artifacts deals with the visible objects in communicative aspects, this
may indicates a person’s status or even revealing the lifestyle of a person. For
example, the choice of automobile is carrying much meaning about a person.
However, artifacts always important in some cultures, for instance, rugs are
prestigious in Arab.

Olfactics is dealing with smell, such as the use of perfume and spices. In
communication, the smell is more likely to be relevant when the people are closer. It
is normal that a person get close enough to smell other people during a
conversation in high-contact cultures such as Arab and Samoan. According to the
teaching of Prophet, smell nice for others is a charity. So, it is known that Muslims
and Arabian like to use perfume.
Lastly, synchrony deals with the amount of coordination in the behaviour of people
when their nonverbal cues are synchronise with another person, for example,
mimicry, mirroring and also behavioural meshing.

Lucas (2014) also mentioned that to enhance a person’s verbal communication skills,
he or she needs to be an affective listener. The person needs to understand the point
of view of another person, it is not just hearing. So, takes time think before speak to
ensure that the information that expressed is correct.

While to enhance nonverbal communication’s skills, a person needs to observe the

facial expressions and intonations, body language, and also being aware of own
feelings and physicality.

Conclusion
In a nutshell, communication is really significant in our daily life. Effective
communication can only be achieve when all types of communication is proper used.
No matter it is communicating verbally or nonverbally, both the sender and receiver
need to understand the message. So, a sender should have good communication
skills and the receivers should have good understanding and interpreting skills by
understand the functions of both verbal and nonverbal communication.

References
Lucas, A., 2014. The Importance of Verbal & Non Verbal Communication. [online]
Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/156961-the-importance-of-verbal-
non-verbal-communication/[Accessed on 20 June 2014]

Krauss, R. M., 2002. The Psychology of Verbal Communication. [online] Available

at: http://www.columbia.edu/~rmk7/PDF/IESBS.pdf [Accessed on 21 June 2014]

Argyle, M., 1975. Bodily Communication. York: Methuen.

Belasco, J., 2013. Babies signing before speaking. The Star, 19 Sep. p.46.

Mehrabian, Albert (1971). Silent Messages (1st ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

College of DuPage, 1998. Communication. [online] College of DuPage. Available

at: http://www.cod.edu/Course/Mgt100/mgtcomm.htm [Accessed on 22 June 2014]

Stewart,J., 2011. Bridges Not Walls. 11th Edition. McGraw-Hill.

Buffalo State, n.d.. Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. [online] Buffalo State, The
State University of New York. Available
at: http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/smithrd/UAE%20Communication/Unit2.pdf[Accesse
d on 22 June 2014]

The Characteristic Of Nonverbal

Communication English Language Essay
1892 words (8 pages) Essay in English Language

5/12/16 English Language Reference this

Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by
our Essay Writing Service. You can view samples of our professional work here.

Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the views of UK Essays.

What is nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is all messages sent by

ones except for words in a communication. These messages are for example, tone of
voice, facial message, eye contact, spatial message and many more. Nonverbal
communication usually conveys more meaning than verbal communication.
According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian, nonverbal communication is 93% of overall daily
communication. This statistic shows that nonverbal communication is very important
in our daily life. When we speak, we usually not just talk with word, nonverbal
message convey more messages than talking. Therefore, we can conclude that verbal
and nonverbal work simultaneously in communication. In the following paper will be
showing the importance of nonverbal communication based on example and the
types of nonverbal communication.

Characteristic of nonverbal communication

There are about five characteristic of nonverbal communication:

Nonverbal communication occur constantly

In every daily life, we have to make communication. Eye contact, smile, frown, or
totally ignore someone, you are actually communicating something. For instance,
when you having conversation with someone, you are not just saying it, it will be
include your tone of voice, body language and facial expression. Nonverbal
communication can convey a message through both verbal and with correct body
signals. The way you listen, look, and react in a conversation, make other person
know how you care about the conversation.

Nonverbal communication depends on the context

Your direct eye contact to a stranger can mean entirely different from the direct eye
contact with your friend. When you talk to your friend, your relaxed tone of voice,
eye contect, and posture reveal how much you value for this relationship. These
happen because nonverbal communication is interpret within the context of your
friendship and is complemented by casual and personal conversation.

Nonverbal communication is more believable than verbal communication

Consider this conversation between a mother and her daughter regarding her
daughter’s husband:

“What’s wrong with you and Chad?” asks Jess’s mother.

(Stare and frown) “Whatever, I’m not upset, why should I be?” respond Jess.

“you seem to be in funk, and you are avoiding talking to me. So what’s wrong? Did
you and Chad have a fight?” asks Jess’s mother.

“I said nothing is wrong! Leave me alone! Everything is fine!” (Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L.
, 2011)

Throughout the conversation, we can feel that Jess is upset and sending a message
that she has a fight with her husband. Nonverbal message is more difficult to be
control compare to verbal message because nonverbal cues represent our emotion
which is more difficult to control. Beside this, “nonverbal is often suggest as
unintentional and subconsciously generated” (Seiler, W. J. & Beall, M. L. , 2011).

Nonverbal communication is a primary means of expression

We are easily able to detect emotion like anger, frustration, sadness, or anxiety
without people telling it because nonverbal cues are so powerful. Almost all our
feeling can be expressed through our nonverbal behavior.

Nonverbal communication is related to culture

Different culture contributes different view in nonverbal behavior. For example, the
forming of an O with index finger and thumb, which means OK or good work in
America, may have insult meaning in other country (Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011).
Still some innate behavior such as smiling is a universal nonverbal cue giving people
a sign of friendly feeling.

Get help with your essay today, from our professional essay writers!

Qualified writers in the subject of english language are ready and waiting to help you
with your studies.
  Get help with your essay
 View professionally written samples

Function of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication adds our exchanges by complementing, repeating,

regulating and substituting for our words. Sometimes, we even use it to deceive
others (Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011). Table 1 shows the function as well as
importance of nonverbal communication.

Table 1

Category

Characteristic

Example

Complementing

To complete, describe, or accents a verbal message

When you saying “I’m happy to meet you” with a welcoming smile and a warm
handshake.

Repeating

Express a message that are identical meaning to verbal one

A motion of your head and hand to restate your verbal “let’s go.”

Regulating

Controls flow of communication

Shaking your head left and right to indicate that you have no interest on the thing.

Substituting

Replace verbal message with nonverbal cues

Signal “OK” with a hand gesture.

Deceiving

Nonverbal cue that purposely mislead to create false impression

When playing cards, one will showing the ‘poker face’ to mask their facial expression,
not revealing how good or bad their hand is.

The channels of nonverbal messages

The basic of nonverbal communication consists of facial expression, body language,

eye contact, spatial message, touch message, tone of voice, silence and artifacts.
Following are detail that explains each nonverbal cue that related to the importance
of nonverbal communication in our daily life.

Facial message

Facial movements are able to do at least eight emotions: happy, surprise, anger, fear,
sad, disgust, contempt, and interest (Ekman, Friesen, Ellsworth, 1972). These emotion
are universal regardless any culture. Of overall body motion, facial expression
conveys the most information and is reliable when decode. But from time to time,
human had learned to conceal our real feeling from others. There is some technique
on facial management. You will mask yourself when your friend receives a
scholarship and you don’t, even though you think you deserve it. When you visit a
distant relative’s funeral, you will be look completely sorry as you losing someone
tonight. But instead you not really feel the sadness because you are not close to him.
These kinds of actions are required as to have a polite interaction with other people.

Body language

Body language is often refer as kinesics which means ‘any movement of face or body
communicate a message’ (Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011, p.122). Body messages
consist of body movement and general appearance of body. Table 2 shows the
characteristic of body movement and its example.

Table 2

Category

Characteristic

Example

Emblems

Body gesture directly translate into words or phrases

The OK sign, the thumb-up for ‘good job’, and V for victory.

Illustrators
Accent, reinforce or emphasize a verbal message

When referring to left, your hand showing to direction of left.

Regulator

Monitor, control, coordinate or maintain the speaking of other individual

Eye contact, nodding of head, looking at wristwatch.

Affect displays

Body movement that express emotion

Slouching, jumping up and down

Adaptors

Gesture that satisfy some personal need

Scratching, smoking, smoothing hair

Eye contact

Eye message sometime known as oculesics, which means ‘study of eye behavior’
(Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011, p.122). According to some researchers, during
interactions, people spent about 45% of time looking to each other eyes (Janik & et
al. , 1978). Eye contact is an important type of nonverbal communication. The way
you look at someone can communicate many things, including interest, affection,
hostility, or attraction. Eye contact is important in maintaining the flow of
conversation and observes for other person’s response.

Spatial message

Proxemics is ‘study of the use of space and of distance between individuals when
they are communicating’ (Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011, p.130). According to
Edward T. Hall’s four distance zone, relationship between people can be classify into
four group namely intimate space, personal space, social space, and public space.
Each zone have different distance maintained. Another aspect in proxemics is
territoriality, a possessive reaction to an area or particular objects. Basically we are
usually in three types of territories: primary territories, secondary territories, and
public territories (Altman, 1975).

Tone of voice
The term paralanguage refer to vocal but nonverbal aspect of speech. It is based on
how you say something, not what you say. Paralanguage includes the rate (speed),
volume (loudness), and rhythm of voice. If u speaking the same word, but differ in
speed or volume or rhythm, will convey different meaning to people who perceive it.

Get help with your essay today, from our professional essay writers!

Qualified writers in the subject of english language are ready and waiting to help you
with your studies.

 Get help with your essay

 View professionally written samples

Silence

Silence is also a part of nonverbal communication. Silence allow speaker to think,

organize his or her speech or even to grab attention from people in a seminar.
Sometimes, silence is necessary in some situation for example in funeral and in a
speech. Silence can be use to prevent some certain topic from surfacing or to
prevent someone saying something that he or she might regret.

Artifacts

Artifacts are personal adornments or possessions that communicate information

about us. For example, color, clothing, jewelry and decoration of space. Different
culture has different interpretation on color. Take black color as example, in Thailand
means old ages; in parts of Malaysia means courage; in much of Europe, death
(DeVito, J. A. , 2011, p.143). How do you react to people who have body piercings
and tattoos? Based on the artifacts on a person, it will sent different message to us.
Take this example, a person wears a suit to interview and a person wearing sweater
and jeans to interview sent different message.

Touch message

Touching is one of the most primitive and sensitive ways of relating with others.
Touching is referred as either tactile communication or haptics. Haptics means tactile
or touch, communication; one of the most basic form of communication (Seiler, W.J.
& Beall, M.L. , 2011, p.128). Touch play significant role in encouraging, expressing
care, showing support and is often more powerful than words. Touch divided into
five category namely, functional-professional, social-polite, friendship-warmth, love-
intimacy, and sexual arousal.Table 3 shows the category of touch and the respective
examples.

Table 3
Category

Example

Functional-professional

A doctor touches a patient during physical examination.

Social-polite

Two people shake hand or kiss in their culture to greet other people.

Friendship-warmth

Two men or two women meet at airport, hug, and walk off with their arms around
each other.

Love-intimacy

Two people hug, caress, embrace and kiss.

Sexual arousal

Sexual touch behavior includes foreplay and intercourse.

(Seiler, W.J. & Beall, M.L. , 2011, p.129).

Conclusion

Nonverbal communication encompasses everything that we communicate to others

without using words. Nonverbal message is more important than verbal message
because it convey more meaning than verbal does. Try to imagine a person talking
with a monotony voice and saying that he is happy because he found back his lost
thing. It is not what we say but how we say it with our tone of voice, body
movement, use of space, touch, and appearance, all which competent
communicators understand. Nonverbal cues are very useful to our daily life to
enhance and deliver our emotion to other people. Still, nonverbal message should be
working simultaneously with verbal message as they worked best with each other.

Chapter 5 Outline (Italicized words are key words) I. Nonverbal communication, commonly used to
describe all human communication events that transcend spoken or written words, has many
characteristics and functions. A. There are five characteristics of nonverbal communication. 1.
Nonverbal communication may be intentional or unintentional, since often when people
communicate nonverbally, they are unaware of it. 2. Nonverbal communication is primary, because
it takes precedence over verbal communication. 3. Nonverbal communication is often ambiguous,
since a nonverbal behavior may have different meanings depending on the user’s personality, family
influences, and culture. 4. Nonverbal communication is continuous, because one is constantly
communicating through nonverbal behaviors. 5. Nonverbal communication is multichanneled, since
we use a variety of cues to make an interpretation. B. Nonverbal communication serves five primary
functions. 1. Nonverbal communication provides information by repeating, substituting for,
emphasizing, or contradicting our verbal messages. 2. Nonverbal communication regulates
interaction as conversations are managed through nonverbal cues. 3. Nonverbal communication
expresses or hides emotion and affect, since one is able to show nonverbally how one feels about
another person, or one may mask true feelings through nonverbal behaviors. 4. Nonverbal
communication presents an image, because much of impression management occurs through the
nonverbal channel. 5. Nonverbal communication expresses status, power, and control, since many
nonverbal behaviors are signs of dominance and one can convey power and status through
nonverbal behavior. II. There are multiple categories of nonverbal communication. A. Body language
is nonverbal communication through body motions, also known as kinesics, the study of body
language. 1. Eye contact is how and how much we look at the people with whom we are
communicating. 2. Facial expression is the arrangement of facial muscles to communicate emotional
states or reactions to messages; emoticons are typed or graphic symbols that convey emotional
aspects of online messages. 3. Gesture is a movement of hands, arms, and fingers to describe or to
emphasize. a. Emblems are gestures that can substitute completely for words. 4. Posture is the
position and movement of the whole body; body orientation refers to posture in relation to another
person. 5. Touch, formally known as haptics, is putting part of the body in contact with something. a.
Spontaneous touch is touch that is automatic and subconscious. b. Ritualized touch is touch that is
scripted and not spontaneous. c. Task-related touch is touch used to perform an unemotional
function. B. Paralanguage is communication through nonverbal sounds; it is comprised of five vocal
characteristics, including pitch, volume, rate, quality, and intonation, which can complement or
contradict meaning, while vocal interferences can disrupt messages. 1. Pitch is the highness or
lowness of a person’s vocal tone. 2. Volume is the loudness or softness of a person’s vocal tone. 3.
Rate is the speed at which a person speaks. 4. Quality is the sound of a person’s voice. 5. Intonation
is the variety, melody, or inflection of a person’s voice. 6. Vocal interferences are extraneous words
or sounds that interrupt fluent speech. C. The third category of nonverbal communication is spatial
usage, which is nonverbal communication through the use of the space and objects around us. 1.
Personal space is the space around the place a person occupies at a given time; and proxemics is the
study of personal space. 3. Acoustic space is the area over which one’s voice or music can be heard.
4. Territory is the space over which we claim ownership. 5. Artifacts are the possessions we use to
decorate our territory and communicate about our space. D. Nonverbal communication includes
self-presentation cues, which are presented to others and are based on physical appearance, use of
time, and use of smells and scents. 1. Physical appearance includes gender, race, body type, and
facial features, as well as clothing, grooming, and body decorations. 2. Use of time is how people
view and structure their time. 4. Olfactory communication is nonverbal communication through
smells and scents. III. There are cultural and gender variations in nonverbal communication. A. Use
and meanings of body motions, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and touch vary depending
on the culture and gender of the communicator. B. Paralanguage varies by culture and gender. C.
Cultural and gender variations occur in spatial usage. D. Self-presentation in terms of appearance
and use of time varies with culture and gender. IV. Improving nonverbal communication skills can be
achieved by following some suggestions. A. When sending messages, be aware of the following
guidelines. 1. Be mindful of the nonverbal behavior you are displaying. 2. Adapt nonverbal behaviors
to your purpose. 3. Adapt nonverbal cues to the situation. 4. Align nonverbal and verbal cues. 5.
Eliminate nonverbal behaviors that distract from the verbal message. B. When interpreting others’
nonverbal cues, be mindful of the following 1. Be mindful that most nonverbal cues are not
emblems. 2. Consider cultural, gender, and individual influences when interpreting nonverbal cues.
3. Pay attention to all nonverbal communication cues and their relationship to verbal
communication. 4. Use perception checking.

5 Ways to Improve Leadership Communication

"The ability to control my emotions and my actions,
regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from other
men."-- Navy SEAL Creed
By Brent Gleeson Keynote speaker and author of 'TakingPoint'@brentgleeson

CREDIT: Getty Images

In the Navy SEAL teams, there are three things we must do perfectly to be
effective operators: Move, Shoot and Communicate. Communication being
of the utmost importance. As a leader, great communication is critical not
just to provide details about the mission and vision of what you are trying to
accomplish, but also to motivate, inspire and manage relationships to move
people in a desired direction.

When in a leadership position, we often don't realize that the spotlight is

always on us. Everything we say and do is being scrutinized, for better or
for worse. By accepting both the honor and challenge of leading a team, it
is important to remember that what we do both on and off the "battlefield"
effects our ability to lead. Words and actions can become habits and habits
contribute to defining our character. Leadership is a privilege that must be
earned every day.

Leadership communication is much more than the words we say and how
we articulate what we want to team to "hear." Effective communication is
also about emotional intelligence, knowing your audience and active
listening.
Here are five things to remember when communicating with your team.

Be present. Business executives, entrepreneurs and leaders of all kinds

usually have days with little to no downtime. We rush from meeting to
meeting to conference calls rarely taking the time to clear our heads and
reset for the next item on our agenda. Most studies show that humans are
truly productive for only a few minutes each hour. Mostly due to
distractions. Whether you are chatting with a colleague in the break room,
on a client call with other team members or leading a company meeting, be
actively present in the moment. Be engaged with your audience no matter
how trivial you think the conversation may be. That way they know you
care.

Ask the right questions. Some of the best advice I have ever received
was simply about asking the right questions that will foster productive and
intelligent communication between the team. As leaders, one of the
greatest privileges we have is building a great team. Hopefully, one
comprised of people much smarter and more talented than ourselves! And
if that is the case, why would we spend all our time giving directives and
assuming we know the most in the room. By guiding a conversation with a
specific goal in mind, we accomplish much more by leveraging the talent
surrounding us.

Speak less, listen more. Similar to asking the right questions is actively
listening to those speaking. We often find ourselves in the bad habit of
thinking about what we are going to say next as opposed to actually
listening to the other people speaking. When we do that, we aren't truly
engaged in the conversation. Leadership isn't about standing on a soap
box shouting orders. You often notice that the wisest people listen more
and speak less. The less we talk, the more we will learn from those around
us.

Work on emotional intelligence. This is a topic that can't be covered in

one bullet point but worth mentioning because it is often overlooked or
deemed an unnecessary quality. Emotional intelligence is not a softer-side
leadership quality, it's imperative. Being self-aware, disciplined, empathetic,
and remaining calm under pressure are all aspects of emotional
intelligence that can improve leadership ability. These emotional
competencies are not innate talents but rather learned capabilities that
have to be worked on and developed over time. So get on it!

Stay calm and be positive. Calm is contagious. And so is panic.Smile.

Carry yourself with confidence. And try not to wear your emotions on your
sleeve. I am not saying to deny our normal human functions but be aware
that effective communication is about 7% the words we say. The rest is
about body language, tone and delivery.

These are just a few tips I suggest when performing keynote presentations
or providing leadership training to companies all over the world. And tools I
have to remind myself of every day.