Demonstrative_Communication

Demonstrative Communication BCOM/275 Business Communication and Critical Thinking 24 October 2011 Demonstrative Communication I walk into the office one morning and said good morning to everyone that was gathered in the general area of the office and all responded to me with good morning as well. I peek into Ms. Davis office and said good morning to her on the way to my office, she looked up at me and said nothing. I proceeded to my office to start my day and did not let her non-verbal response bother me. About an hour later she came into my office to get a file and I turned and looked at her and asked her if she fine, she responded “I am fine”. I can tell she was not but because of her body language, facial expression and tone of voice that something was not going well with her and that I should back off and leave her alone because it seems like my verbal concern was bothering her as well. The entire morning it seems she was not verbally communicating with none of us as her coworkers, she only communicated with the customers that visited her office and it was noticed by all the workers in the office. Through Ms. Davis’ little verbal and nonverbal communication with us as her co-workers, we interpreted Ms. Davis’ communication and acted accordingly. As described above, through eye contact, facial expressions, tone of voice and body language we can tell what she was feeling and we let her have her space. The message we were receiving from Ms. Davis was that she did not want to communicate or be bother by anyone. Facial expression can convey many messages to others without the person saying a word. The facial expression, body language, and the tone of voice this office scenario was both effective and ineffective. Ms. Davis expression was that she was upset and did not want to speak to anyone. Others in the office and me did not know she was upset about anything when the day first started. Therefore, I did not disturb her for fear of receiving a negative response because of what she was dealing with. Demonstrative communication reinforces verbal communication. For example, a firm handshake, dressing appropriately, smiling, positive gestures tell a story of the person inward and outward feelings regardless of where they are. When I shake a man hand and it feels limp, sweaty and too soft, I feel more empowered that I have way more confident than that person. I automatically feel like I can get what I came for from that person i.e. a job or a lower rate on what I am purchasing and it works for me most of the time. A person can rely on these qualities to reinforce his or her verbal performance. Facial expression is another non verbal way to size up a person when you first meet them, but I have found that the person can be opposite of what their facial expression says about them. An example is my husband, the first time I met him I thought he was the most arrogant person I have seen because of his body language and facial expression. His hand shake was firm and intimidating and that told me this was a guy that was confident and very masculine. When I really got to know him, he was a gentle giant and a really nice person, therefore, facial expression, gestures and body language can mean different things to different people. Since nonverbal communication is between 60 to 75% of the impact of a message, you could use the power of body language to become tremendously successful in your career, business, relationships, love life, and anything else that involves interacting or communicating with people. Visual communication such as graphs and charts usually reinforce written communication, and can in many case replace written communication altogether. As the adage goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”; such visual communication is more powerful than verbal and non verbal communication on many occasions (Nayab, 2010). Listening to and responding to demonstrative communication is an art in itself. It is very easy to misinterpret or misread demonstrative communication when it comes to communicating when listening and body language accounts for most of the communication taking place. Listen very actively and being engage in the conversation is very important otherwise the complete gist of the conversation will be missed and that leaves room for misinterpretation. Different types of communication are evolving everyday such as sign language; shorthand writing, Braille, and texting and how we respond to these changes will ensure clarity and eliminate the ambiguity in communication. It is important for people to use active listening when receiving any type of message; this involves cultivating an interest in both the sender and the message. This will allow a person to give a more proper response and feedback to the sender of the message. Using feedback properly is essential to promote understanding between a sender and a receiver. People use demonstrative communication on a daily basis without even knowing that they are doing so. Whether someone is waving, smiling, or presenting themselves by the way they dress, he or she is performing some type of demonstrative communication consistently (Hogan, 2011). References Nayab, N. (2010, July 26), Different types of communication Retrieved on 23 October 2011 from http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/79297.aspx Hogan, Kevin Psy.D. (2011). Retrieved on 23 October 2011 from http://www.kevinhogan.com/bodylanguage1.htm