The Non Verbal Communications

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

‘Communication is the process by which ideas, information, opinions, attitudes and feelings are conveyed from one person or group to another person.’ (McClave, H. 2008) Communication between humans mainly takes the form of being two-way, in other words it needs a sender, a person who starts the conversation by sending a message, and a receiver who in turn receives the message and acts accordingly. At the start of the communication, the receiver need not know about the sender’s intention to communicate. Effective communication is when the receiver of the message understands exactly what the sender intended him/her to know. Communication can be verbal, non-verbal, visual or written. Verbal communication may be in the form of face to face or over the phone. Non-verbal communication involves the use of body language and facial expression, although sometimes no words are spoken. Written communication is when you use letters and emails or just notes left around, to express yourself while visual communication uses a picture or an image of some sort to get your point across.

When you are face to face you have the advantage of facial expression and body language to try pass on the message to the receiver. You also have the advantage of hearing the tone of the other person’s voice and obtaining instant reactions. The next most important method of communication is through the telephone or mobile phone. With this method you have all the advantages of face to face communication but you will not be able to avail of any non-verbal or visual communication. Next in line would be written communication but this will just leave the recipient to interpret the message using just the words on the page.

Barriers to Communication

From speaking to some of the staff that works in the factory, it is clear that there are many problems here between the staff and the management. Since the primary form of communication in the workplace is verbal, it is clear from the reactions of the staff the communication between the upper and lower tiers of personal is not always effective. As communication has such a large base, there are many barriers to hamper the way a message is passed on. Language itself can be one of the biggest barriers to communication, especially in the inter-racial times we live in now. Due to these barriers, the message we tried to portray can become unclear to those who we tried to communicate with. With numerous languages being spoken in Ireland today, a message may get misunderstood or lost in translation. You can have many different nationalities working in your factory so the language barrier can be of great concern. Along with the different languages I discovered that there could be different dialects in the workshop as you are based in a rural location which would also lead to difficulty understanding all the messages being passed on. From my speaking to the foreign nationals, I understand that they find the Kerry accent very hard to understand at the best of times. Also with all the abbreviations and specialised terminology used in today’s industry, there are many ways that communication could be misheard or misunderstood.

Another barrier to communication in the factory is the noise of all the machines e.g. the band saw. The noise from these machines provides distractions and disruptions to any types of communications being used in the workshop. The use of proper ear protection makes it harder to hear and understand instructions, but this is mandatory under the health and safety regulations and cannot be altered in any way.

Psychological barriers also exist in today’s world as so many people suffer from stress and other mental issues including anger and depression in today’s economic climate. If any of these barriers are found in the receiver of the message then the message could also be misunderstood. Lack of interest in the work being carried out and absence of interest in the topic being discussed would also be another major barrier of communication.

One or a number of these barriers could relate to the fact that there is poor communications between the staff and management in your workshop. Without effective two-way communication, the management find itself making poor decisions based on the wrong facts and these then impacts on the success of the products, profits and reputation. Recognition of these barriers by the managers and employees is the key to making the business run smoothly.

Visual Communication

Visual communication plays a major part in how a message can be conveyed between people. Visual aids involve items such as presentations, graphs, maps, company logos and charts. Visual aids can have such massive bearing on the outcome of discussions as the only real barrier that can hamper the communication would be a physiological barrier such as visual impairment. These aids can simplify even the most complex conversations as the pictures or graphs can be understood in every language. They have a universal meaning. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ (Napoleon Bonaparte)

From speaking to the staff in the factory I have come to understand that when a company meeting is called that the staff are just given sheets of information outlining the criteria about the upcoming job and then if there is any problems thereafter the staff have just to work it out between themselves. This can be a problem where there different languages and dialects are confined to the small workshop. The sheets that I have seen during my research contain just words and sentences. I also know that the chair of the meeting explains what the pages contain, however the chair does not explain clearly the contents to the rest of the staff. When there is just information handed out on sheets and any meetings held in the factory, there are no visual aids to help pass on the message to the workers. This means that they will have to spend a lot longer reading and trying to understand what is required of them than if they were just given diagrams and other images to portray the message a lot easier. A lack of the visual aids can lead to wasting production time and/or materials, and also a lack of effective communication between the staff.

Some of the ways that visual aids could be incorporated into the meetings would include the use of PowerPoint presentations that would have small amounts of text on a slide; this would make it easier for both the staff to understand and the management to get the message across effectively. Also on the slides they could include some diagrams of the units to be made or machines to be used etc. This would possibly be the most effective way to bring visual aids into the meetings. Another way that visual aids could be used would be to actually show the staff a prototype of the units or the actual machine being described. From speaking to the staff about these visual aids, or lack of visual aids, they prefer being spoken to directly than having to read numerous pages of information.

The use of audio visual aids would be a massive boost to ensure that effective communication happens in the workshop. This would include a short tutorial video or a video message from the client that they will be working for, to allow the client the chance to show each and every one of the staff what they want and where they will be positioning the item in the house.

Communication Styles

Communication is broken down into four main groups or styles; Assertive communication, Aggressive communication, Passive communication and Passive-Aggressive communication.

Assertive communication is the best option when it comes to problem-solving. It is the main way that most people would like to be communicating but more often than not it is the least likely to be chosen.

Aggressive communication is usually the way that thugs and violent people get their message across to people. With these kinds of people we can never really expect them to stand to reason but to cause tension between themselves and others around them.

Passive communication is where the sender of the message tends to shy away from confrontation and even from standing out in the crowd. They will most likely be soft spoken and always want to promote peace in any situation they find themselves in. They will always tell people they are sorry for even if they are positioned in the wrong place.

Passive-Aggressive communication is, as the phrase suggests, a mixture of passive communication and aggressive communication. This type is when the person is most likely being sarcastic and implying violence or anger.

For the management of this small timber production factory I would recommend the use of assertive communication. I would suggest this for many reasons, one of which would be that it is the best way for the management to put across the fact that they are the boss but not coming across as being too angry or acting as if they are better than the workers because they sit in an office. Another reason is that if the management want the staff to remain on in the factory, they will have to be more approachable. They staff need to know that they can go and talk to the management without worrying about a backlash from them.

For the staff I would suggest the passive-aggressive style of communication as they need to be able to take orders from the management in the factory but still be able to stick up for themselves if they feel they are being unfairly treated in the workshop. If they have been reported as being uncooperative by the management then this will be the best option for them to take because if they want to remain in a job in this specific factory, they will have to overturn the opinions of the management.

Non-Verbal Communications

Non-verbal communication is a type of communication where the words being used in the sending of the message take the backseat as one way of putting it. Instead of the words being the main aspect of the message, we look at the behaviour of the sender and everything around them. It is mainly communication through expressing our emotions, or to support what we are saying. Other ways that we could use it would be if one was found to have a problem with his or her speech, also we use non-verbal communication to indicate that we feel intimate about another person. We also use it to keep a conversation going and to receive feedback from those around us.

There are many ways in which we can improve our non-verbal communication skills. One way that we can improve them would be to improve our posture when we are around other people. By this I meant that we could act more friendly and relaxed towards someone if they are communicating with us. The best posture that we can possess to avoid any aggravation from other people would be to stand upright, as if to be proud of ourselves and confident in what we are talking about or doing. This would include straight back, shoulders back, not in covering their chest as this usually means that the person is nervous. Chin up but not too much as this could insult the person you are communicating with as they could think you are literally looking down on them.

Another way we could improve our non-verbal communication skills would be to use better facial expressions. By this I mean that we could smile to the person if we are just having a friendly chat among friends. However if it is the management speaking to a staff member about a mishap or having done something wrong in the workshop then a stern face to indicate that it is a serious matter which they are talking about. Keeping eye contact with the other person or equally sharing eye contact between a group of people to keep everybody included in the conversation. This shows the other people in the conversation that you are interested in what they are saying or showing you.

The use of gestures is just as important as the other forms of non-verbal communication mentioned above. Upper body gestures are often what we concentrate on if we were told to change our ways as they are closest to eye level. These include how we move our hands in the company of others. How we position our arms, whether they are folded, by our sides or in our pockets. Other gestures would be that if we were to tap our feet under a table or if we started to tap our hands off our legs or the desk when in conversation. How we move our head is also another gesture, from a simple nod of the head to the disapproving shake of the head.