non-verbal communication in business communications

1. Non Verbal Communication
 ASPECTS
 Source: OUP
KINESICS OR BODY
LANGUAGE
PARALINGUISTICS
PROXEMICS
HAPTICS

2. Non Verbal Communication
BODY LANGUAGE (KINESICS)
BODY LANGUAGE
PERSONAL
APPEARNCE
POSTURE GESTURES
HAND
MOVEMEN
TS
EYE
CONTACT
FACIAL
EXPRESSIONS

3. Kinesics
 The study of the communicative dimensions of
facial and bodily movements
 - Includes: body movement (body language),
gestures, facial expression, eye contact, posture,
and speaking volume

4. Body Gestures
 Emblems
 Illustrators
 Affect Displays
 Regulators
 Adaptors

5. Emblems
 Emblems are limited by both time
and culture

6. Gestures and Hand Movements
 A speaker or listener’s gestures and hand movements can support and
emphasize their state mind. One should use hand gestures and movements
appropriately, so that the impact created by is graceful.
 Keep your hands in control and don’t let them have a life of their own.
 Don’t let your arms waive below your waist or allow them to loosely move
about
 Avoid aggressive and provoking gestures
 Avoid rubbing or twitching your nose.
 Don’t keep your arms folded against your chest; it suggests evasion and fear.
 Source: Source: Communication Skills, Sanjay Kumar, Pushp Lata (OUP)

7. Common Gestures and their commonly
understood meanings
 Waving indicates saying hello or good bye
 Making a fist indicates anger
 Thumbs up shows appreciation or aggression
 Hands on knees indicates readiness
 Locking hands behind one’s back indicates one’s arrogance
 Rubbing the eye indicates doubt and disbelief.

8. POSTURE
 Posture refers to the way we sit, stand and carry ourselves. It communicates
the way we feel the world around us. A professional has to cultivate and has
to maintain elegance in his/her sitting, standing and walking posture.
 Look straight while walking, avoid looking down at the floor, outside the
window or door or up at the ceiling.
 Lift your feet clearly off the floor while walking and avoid dragging it.
 Avoid being too fast or slow while walking up the dais or podium.
 Don’t sit on the edge of the chair as it communicates unease and discomfort.
 Avoid crossing your legs while sitting or standing before your audience.
 Source: Communication Skills, Sanjay Kumar, Pushp Lata (OUP)

9. Facial Expressions
 Source: Warfield, A.
(2001) Do you speak
body language?.
Training and
Development,

10. Facial Expressions
 Just as the eyes are regarded as the windows to the soul, the face is
considered an index of our mind. Since the face gives an indication of what
one experiences while communicating with others, it is of great significance
to all the people involved in the process of communication. Therefore use
your face expressing ease and confidence.
 Start with a smile but don’t keep smiling throughout
 Don’t have a frown on your face; it suggests arrogance
 Avoid raising your eyebrows while listening or speaking to others
 Let your face suggest your honesty, integrity and conviction in what you say.
 Source: Communication Skills, Sanjay Kumar, Pushp Lata (OUP)

11. Facial Expressions
 Facial expressions may portray the actual emotion felt and accurately
accompany the speech. On the other hand, facial expressions as with other
body language and non verbal components, may contradict the verbal
expression thus giving the real message. Facial expressions may be practiced
and may thus be made to lie convincingly, along with the speech act. Artist’s
and clowns have effectively exploited facial expressions and gestures as social
weapons and/or for entertainment.
 Facial expressions also serve as a source of positive or negative feedback from
the receiver. The face has the capability to produce messages of very high
quality in which the meanings are identical to the expressions. Many believe
that facial expressions are open to various interpretations of the receiver.
 Source:Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd
ed.

12. Facial Expressions contd ……….
 Researchers estimate that the human face can display over 250,000 different
expressions. Although a few people can control these emotions and maintain a
‘poker face’ when they want to hide their emotions or feelings, most of us
display our emotions openly. Raising or lowering the eyebrows, squinting the
eyes, swallowing nervously, clenching the jaw, smiling broadly- these
voluntary and involuntary facial expressions supplement or entirely replace
the verbal message.
 Source: Ibid

13. Oculesics (Eye Contact)
 Oculesics is the way eyes are used during a communication exchange. This
may include eye contact or the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact is a
direct and powerful form of non verbal communication. The direct stare of
the sender of a message conveys candour and openness. It elicits a feeling of
trust. Downward glances are generally associated with modesty.
 A major feature of social communication is eye contact. It can convey
emotion, signal when to talk or finish, or inversion. The frequency of contact
may suggest either interest or boredom. Eye contact is also the most
noticeable non- verbal behaviour that affects credibility. Like the old adage ‘
Eyes are your windows to the world,’ eyes can be the window to credibility.
 Source: Ibid

14. Oculesics, contd…….
 As a professional speaker, try to look into the eyes of the people in front of
you. At times, the crowd that one faces is huge and many a times we become
very nervous and thus start avoiding eye contact. If one begins to avoid eye
contact chances are very high that it will ruin the impact of the well written
speech. Likewise, if one avoids eye contact during a job interview one is more
likely to lose rather than gain. This happens because someone who is not able
to look into the eyes of the interviewers is considered edgy, nervous and
lacking in self confidence. Again speakers who do not look into the eyes of
their listeners during meetings and other discussions are also likely to lose
their credibility. Few suggestions to use your eyes to support your efforts in
communicating effectively.
 Source: Communication skills, Sanjay kumar, Pushp lata IInd edn (OUP)

15. Oculesics
 1. Maintain good eye contact with your listeners
 2. While addressing a large gathering, make sure that you look in all
directions
 3.While others speak, observe them carefully and try to understand the non
verbal signs or cues they emit.
 4. Feel warmth for your fellow listeners/speakers as it will improve your eye
contact with them.
 Source: Communication skills, Sanjay kumar, Pushp lata IInd edn (OUP)

16. Paralinguistic Features
 Just as we can communicate various attitudes through our gestures, postures,
expressions ,body movements, eyes and hands we can express emotions and
feelings with the help of different aspects of our voice.
 The voice is an extra ordinary human instrument. People from all walks of life
recognize that human voice communicates something beyond language. These
effects are referred to by impressionistic descriptions such as tone of voice,
manner of speaking etc. There are modifying features that can occur
independently, such as crying, laughing, groaning or whining. Every time we
speak, our voice reveals our gender, geographic background, age, level of
education, emotional state and our relationship with the person being spoken
to. Paralanguage refers to all vocally produced sound that is not a direct form
of linguistic communication.
 Source:Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd
ed.

17. Paralinguistic Features
 Pitch/Intonation/Cadence/Voice
Modulation/Tone: Tone is the physical level at which the
sound of human voice is transmitted. Tone is used to convey an
attitude. This may be done intentionally or unintentionally. It
could be said that there is no such thing as text or verbal utterance
without a tone. In most cases tone is either taken for granted or
perceived subconsciously.
 Source:Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman,
Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd ed.

18. Paralinguistic Features
 Pitch refers to the rise and fall in human voice. Just like other aspects of voice,
pitch too plays a very important role in communicating one’s ideas to others. It
is the pitch – the rise and fall in our voice which expresses all emotions which
is conveyed.
 Pitch is a measure of how high or low a voice is, and is mainly determined by
the speed of vibration of the vocal folds; the higher the pitch, the faster the rate
of vibration and lower the pitch the slower the rate of vibration. The pitch of a
communicator’s voice usually varies depending upon the subject. Changes is
pitch is expected by receivers and make a communicator more colourful and
dynamic. A monotonous pitch throughout a conversation will be perceived as
neither competent nor dynamic.
 Source: Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd ed.

19. Paralinguistic Features contd…..
 Linguists and speech therapists chart intonation patterns by a
system of marks on a page to suggest the rise and fall of a tone.
Intonation is the term by which we refer to the patterns of sound
that is evident in every utterance. Sometimes the term monotone
is used to imply an absence of intonation and this usually
suggests some negative state of mind on the part of the speaker.
The intonation patterns of a language are the first thing a child
learns in its progress as a speaker.
 Source: Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd ed.

20. Paralinguistic Features contd…
 Tempo/Pacing: refers to the number of words we utter per minute and
this is vital to understanding a message and to the credibility of the
communicator. If a person speaks too slowly, the audience will likely
lose interest and the credibility of the speaker will drop. Speaking too
quickly might make a voice unintelligible which also leads to lower
credibility. A speaker should therefore use a rate which is fast enough to
keep the audience interested and show confident knowledge of the
subject. The famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote,’
The human voice is the organ of the soul’. At times paralanguage is
actually more important than words. In general, the communicator
should avoid long pauses, repetition of words as these vocal actions
reduces credibility.
 Source: Ibid

21. Paralinguistic Features contd
 Pauses: are an essential part of all human interactions. One pauses
between different thought units in our day to day interactions with
others and if we do not pause while we speak in professional situations
it makes our speech appear as unnatural and hasty. Pauses lend
credibility to the text of the speech. The speakers who pause suggest
that they are quite accomplished, poised and composed and are not
worried about not being able to locate an idea once they have paused.
We must use pauses while speaking in professional situations as they
make our speech sound natural. Pauses are also required for the
audience to comprehend what one is speaking, relate it to the earlier
statement of the speaker and critically participate in the act of
communication.
Source: Communication skills, Sanjay kumar, Pushp lata IInd edn (OUP)

22. Paralinguistic Features contd…
 The most important thing about pauses is the timing. A rightly timed pause is as
important as a rightly timed word as a pause has to indicate either the emphasis or the
conclusion of a thought unit one has to take care not to put it in the wrong place. One
needs to always remember that one should pause at the conclusion of a certain thought
unit and not in between as a wrongly placed pause will distract the audience and they
might be forced to believe that you are trying to either drag the session or trying to
recollect some part of thought unit and they might become impatient.
 When a speaker comes to speak he/she first take their position, walk up the lectern and
wait for things to be in order and then begin. During this entire process nothing is
spoken and heard; this is what silence is. It is a long pause which indicates the
beginning of a new momentum, whereas a pause is a short silence which indicates a
natural gap between different thought units and is meant to secure emphasis at certain
places.
 Source: Communication skills, Sanjay kumar, Pushp lata IInd edn (OUP)

23. Paralinguistic Features contd…
 Intensity or volume: refers to the loudness or softness in one’s voice. A person
with a weak voice is usually perceived as lacking confidence, which lowers
credibility. A strong voice, on the other hand shows great confidence. While pitch
refers to the number of vibrations per second, volume refers to the amplitude of
these vibrations. Volume can be controlled depending upon the situation, type and
number of audience, size of the room and acoustic sharpness.
 Articulation: is the process by which sounds, syllables and words are formed
when the tongue, jaw, teeth, lips and palate alter the air stream coming from the
vocal chords. Poor articulation emerges when the sounds of words are omitted,
substituted, distorted or just plain slurred. Articulation and the adequacy of speech
affects social, emotional, educational and vocational status as well as the overall
quality of one’s life. When one makes a conscious effort to no longer slur the
words you will be perceived to be well educated and the self confidence will grow.
 Source: Business Communication, Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP) IInd
ed.

24. Proxemics/space distance
 Space, distance and territory are factors related to proxemics
communication. Space is defined as the distance a person maintains between
himself/herself and his/her fellows which they build around themselves in
their home and office. The ways in which a person uses space may be very
significant to communication. There are many different types of space that
include ways in which we keep our home and office and how me maintain
personal space which is the area around our bodies which we do not want to
be intruded. Distance in contrast to space is more relational and involves how
far one individual is from the other.
 Source: Ibid

25. Proxemics (Different Zones)
 Intimate Zone: No stranger is welcome into the intimate zone which is
shared only by spouses, lovers, children, parents and very close relatives and
friends. Anyone who tries to enter someone’s intimate zone in professional
situations is more likely to seem like an intruder.
 Personal Zone: The distance maintained by people in this zone varies
from a couple of inches to a couple of feet and is indicative of the warmth or
the necessity to maintain formality in relations. When the personal and the
professional relations seamlessly fuse, it becomes possible for professionals to
enter each other’s personal zone without appearing to be intruders.
Source: Communication skills, Sanjay kumar, Pushp lata IInd edn (OUP)

26. Proxemics (Different Zones)
 Social Zone: The distance maintained between a couple of feet to
several feet is suggestive of the social zone that we maintain while
interacting with strangers or occasional visitors such as laundry persons,
gardeners, plumbers, electricians etc. In professional gatherings people are
sometimes seen maintaining this distance. Social distance is effectively
maintained in situations where professionals needs overweigh the personal.
 Public Zone: In most professional communications, public zone is most
commonly maintained by the speakers and their audience. We find a defined
area from where the speaker has to address his/her listeners. Though a
distance of some feet is usually maintained between the speaker and the
listeners while they share a public zone, the actual distance maintained
differs from culture to culture.
 Source : Ibid

27. HAPTICS
 Haptics or tactile communication or touch is an important form of communication
for many primate species and primates are social animals and live in large
groups.Touch helps the group form bonds and stay together. Touch is used to
comfort and establish dominance and bonds and humans are no exceptions.
 One feels very happy and elated after receiving a pat from the boss on the
successful completion of a work and one feels happy that the boss is pleased with
your work. Just by patting you on your back your boss has communicated
satisfaction by his/her touch. A pat can convey more than words. Many people feel
the same way when a touch comes from some one with whom we wish to
communicate. It may be friends, a professor from school or college or a colleague.
The sense of touch is critical to one’s well being. One feels loved, cared for,
respected, appreciated and emotionally supported.
 Source: Business Communication IInd ed.Meenakshi Raman, Prakash Singh(OUP)

28. HAPTICS
 This form of non verbal communication also exists in other communication
activities such as a handshake, touching someone’s feet to show respect, an
arm around the shoulder, a kiss or a hug.
 This form of communication is used most frequently during greetings and
departures, communication through touch may occur in a variety of situations
including a conversation. Some cultures lay great emphasis on physical
contact between people during a conversation, while people from societies in
which touching is limited may feel uncomfortable is such a situation.
 Source: Ibid