Achieving Success Through Nonverbal Communication

Communication is the process of sharing information between people in relationships and is considered to be the heart of all organizations. It is the organization’s most vital aspect since it dictates the management and dynamic of the organization. They rely mainly on effective communication across all levels and areas to achieve successful management and increase productivity. ​The way information and responsibilities are communicated between superiors and subordinates ultimately dictates how the organization runs on a daily basis.

Communicating well throughout organizations has been shown to be a critical success factor in things such as increasing productivity, recognition throughout the organization and improving employee satisfaction (​Graham, Unruh & Jennings, 1991​). When referring to communication, it is of specific 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 non-verbal cues (Remland, 1984). Non-verbal 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 non-verbal messages were incongruent with our verbal messages. ​Negative non-verbal communication between superior-subordinate relationships decreases the quality and efficiency of performance in the workplace. These negative non-verbal behaviors are expressed through ​kinesics, proxemics, paralanguage, and chronemics.

In order to evaluate the impact of non-verbal communication in superior-subordinate interactions, the discussion of such will be divided into three different sections. The first section will deal with the different types of non-verbal communication and define what is meant by negative non-verbal behaviors. The second section will deal with the importance of using positive non-verbal behaviors while communicating information between superior-subordinate. Finally, the third section will deal with how negative non-verbal behaviors decrease quality, efficiency and deteriorate organizational relationships.

Definitions and Background Information

In this section, background information on nonverbal communication will be presented followed by the definition of what is meant by negative non-verbal behavior, this information will be used in the next sections. Non-verbal communication is broken down into four different kinds based on the different channels used to communicate non-verbal messages. The four kinds of non-verbal 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 movement performed by the limbs or body. Posture and other physical characteristics are tightly associated to kinesics. Gestures can provide a way of deciphering people’s feelings, people tend to gesture less when they are anxious, nervous, demoralized, or highly concerned about the interaction taking place (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 triggered unconsciously when experiencing emotions. Negative facial expressions include a frown, furrowed brow, lifted chin, pressed-together lips, disgusted expression, and blank stare. Eye contact is one of the most important kinesics serving different functions during the process of communication. 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 acknowledgement of the other person’s worth (Lunenburg, 2010). Negative eye contact could be reflected by prolonged and intense eye contact as well as short and infrequent eye contact. When talking about touching, the amount and frequency of such can demonstrate degree of liking, familiarity and closeness. Negative touching is mainly considered as touching taken to a complete extreme such as excessive touching; however, a lack of touching is neither beneficial nor harmful while slight touching might be helpful depending on the situation and interaction taking place. Posture is a great non-verbal cue used to decipher a person’s attitude. Negative posture includes leaning backwards, curved back, slouched posture, curved legs, and closed-off postures.

Proxemics refers to the way people use and perceive space, specifically conversational distance and physical space. Negative non-verbal behavior regarding the use of physical space include invasion of one’s personal physical space, walking in on people’s physical space, and behaving irrespectively towards someone’s organization of space. Negative use of conversational distance include having very little conversational distance, disregard for a respectable conversational distance, and repeatedly changing conversational distance. The way a person seats relative to the other person can also provide cues on the interaction taking place. Negative ways of sitting include sitting at a 45 degree angle from the other person, facing the opposite way of the other person, and in some cases, crossing legs while sitting.

Paralanguage refers to the variations in speech, such as voice quality, volume, tempo, pitch, laughing, yawning, and such (Lunenburg, 2010). Such type of non-verbal communication can convey feelings of anger, confidence, distrust, enthusiasm and nervousness. Negative paralanguage can be the consistent and frequent use of nonfluencies, low volume and pitch, frequent yawning, and slow tempo.

Chronemics refers to the use of time and its relationship with status. In terms of superior-subordinate(manager-employee) interactions, chronemics convey different messages about status, interest, involvement, ambition, and even level of respect. Negative use of chronemics include arriving late for a meeting, arriving late to work, missing deadlines, and spending insufficient time to produce quality results.

Use of Positive Non-verbal Behaviors

This section will deal with the use of positive non-verbal behaviors in superior-subordinate(manager-employee) interactions, specifically the effect positive non-verbal behaviors have on these interactions and relationships. This section will be further subdivided into the different kinds of non-verbal communication with each subsection dealing with the positive use of each kind.

Behaviors that increase productivity and help get the job done combined with behaviors that demonstrate concern for subordinates are associated with effective superior leadership in organizations(Remland, 1984).​ ​Non-verbal behaviors performed by superiors which reduce the perceived status discrepancy between the superior-subordinate tend to be positive non-verbal behaviors that signal friendship, respect, and personal acceptance of the subordinate.

Consequently, due to these behaviors exhibited by the superior, the subordinate believes the superior to be more considerate and is, therefore, more likely to comply with the superior’s demand, express a more positive attitude towards work, increase productivity, and engage at a high-level to produce the best work possible.

In terms of kinesics, a superior leaning forwards when interacting with a subordinate has been consistently found to be 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 being communicated across this interaction. Superiors should be aware of the amount of gestures used during the interaction, an excessive amount of gestures can be negative as well as a lack of gestures. In order for gestures to be positive, the superior should keep them at a balance and signal the appropriate gestures depending on the message being conveyed; for example, a superior assigning responsibilities to a subordinate should gesture immediacy and cooperation so the subordinate has a clear understanding of the responsibilities and tackles them with a positive attitude. Positive facial expressions performed by superiors, such as smiling, convey to the subordinate a level of agreement and approval. In turn, the subordinate may feel more comfortable when fulfilling the superior’s demand and willing to cooperate 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 at a balance to indicate interest, willingness, acceptance of subordinate’s worth, and positive perception of the subordinate. Such balance of eye contact, allow effective communication between superior-subordinate, increased subordinate interest and greater cooperation which would increase productivity from both parties.

In terms of proxemics, a superior maintaining an appropriate distance when interacting with a subordinate and refraining from invasion of their personal physical space, convey to the subordinate that the superior is considerate with them, respects them, and has a high-level of trust for them. Based on these, the subordinate will put greater emphasis on the message being communicated, increase immediacy if responsibilities were assigned, and cooperate with the superior to a greater extent. A superior sitting strictly facing the subordinate convey interest and willingness to cooperate by the superior to the subordinate. Due to this positive cues, the subordinate also becomes more willing to cooperate and express an overall positive attitude towards the interaction and the work being done.

In terms of paralanguage, superiors should employ the right volume, tempo, pitch, tone, language, and manner based on the situation at hand. Any extreme or inconsistencies with their paralanguage will signal negative characteristics to the subordinate and might end in an unpleasant interaction or deterioration of the relationship. They should refrain from yawning at any moment during the interaction since this would express a lack of interest which would have a negative effect on the subordinate. Laughing should also be maintained at a balance as to convey to the subordinate feelings of enthusiasm, confidence and trust. In terms of chronemics, positive non-verbal behaviors relating to chronemics should be employed by superiors as if they were subordinates. What is meant by this is that superiors should not arrive late to meetings or work so as to reassure their status but rather be considerate with the subordinate’s time and treat it as if it was their own.

Effect of Negative Non-verbal Behaviors

In this section, the negative effect produced by the use of negative non-verbal behaviors(defined in the first section) in superior-subordinate relationships will be examined. With this examination, the correlation between the use of negative non-verbal behaviors and decreased quality, productivity and organizational relationships will be evident. This section will be further subdivided by the kinds of non-verbal communication as has been the case in the previous sections.

Regarding kinesics, the use of negative gestures by the superior could convey to the subordinate that the superior is anxious, nervous, demoralized, or highly concerned about the interaction. For the subordinate, these are negative characteristics that would decrease cooperation and trust towards the superior given that 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 unreliable, decrease respect towards subordinate, and increase distrust. The use of negative facial expression by the superior would indicate disapproval, disagreement, and disgust to the subordinate and the message being communicated. As a result, the subordinate will have a harder time fulfilling the superior’s demands, giving importance to assigned responsibilities and having a positive attitude. The use of negative eye contact by the superior could convey to the subordinate a lack of interest in what’s being communicated, unwillingness to help or even interact, feelings of hostility and defensiveness, and a lack of acknowledgement for the subordinate’s worth. The result of this action would be very demoralizing for the subordinate, greatly deteriorate the relationship between superior-subordinate and ultimately decrease the efficiency of work due to the negative attitude acquired by the subordinate. The use of negative posture by the superior would suggest to the subordinate an unfavorable attitude and lack of interest towards the message being communicated which would decrease cooperation from the subordinate, unwillingness to fulfill superior’s demand and decrease the interest put into producing quality work.

Regarding proxemics, superiors usually see no problem in walking in on subordinates whereas subordinates are usually more cautious towards this and ask for permission or make appointments before walking in on 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 relationship, and ultimately, disregard the superior’s demands. A superior sitting and facing a subordinate in a negative way will convey feelings of disinterest, disapproval, and decreased cooperation towards the subordinate. The subordinate’s level of interest would decrease as a result and the equality of their work would suffer since there is no point in producing quality work for a superior expressing disinterest, disapproval and no cooperation.

Regarding paralanguage, the negative use of paralanguage would convey feelings of anger, distrust, lack of interest, dislike, and a lack of enthusiasm. As a result, whether the negative use of paralanguage is employed by the subordinate or superior, the other person would experience decreased trust, interest and enthusiasm leading to a poor quality of work and no motivation to be efficient while working which would significantly hurt both parties and the relationship between them.

Regarding chronemics, the messages being conveyed by the negative use of chronemics vary widely and according to status. For example, a superior arriving late for a meeting might reassure their high status and superiority while a subordinate arriving late to a meeting or work can signal carelessness, lack of involvement, low ambition, and disrespectfulness. No matter who employs a negative use of chronemics, the area most widely affected is that of respect since a negative use of chronemics mainly signifies a lack of respect for the other person’s time. As a result, without proper respect relationships cannot function properly which would lead to a deteriorated relationship and an incapacity of cooperation to produce quality work.

Conclusion

Given the increasing importance of communicating well throughout the organization, it is essential that the aspect of non-verbal communication is not overlooked. When non-verbal communication is used in a positive way, the organization achieves successful management and dynamic consequently improving all aspects of the organization. Specifically, superiors as leaders of the organization should employ positive non-verbal behaviors in all kinds of non-verbal communication to motivate and guide subordinates towards a successful path. As it can be seen, the use of negative non-verbal behaviors in superior-subordinate relationships can be detrimental to the communication process by deteriorating the relationship and decreasing quality and efficiency of performance.