HighnessParrotMaster649
Question Reflect on one of these concepts addressed in this module:…
Question
Reflect on one of these concepts addressed in this module:
Identify nonverbal clues the customer gives that indicate a potential problem exists and calm the customer with nonverbal action
Identify nonverbal cultural differences and use these differences to enhance communication
Match body language to oral communication
Share a concept or an activity that stood out to you and explain why.
Course Concepts:
Customer Body Language Scenarios
Scenario 1) On behalf of the financing manager, you have just told a customer that their car loan has not been approved. They are looking down and have shrunken shoulders. They have said something very quietly, but you didn’t catch it.
Scenario 2) A job candidate is waiting in reception for their interview, which is running about 10 minutes behind. There are moving around a lot and fidgeting with their papers. They have gotten up to ask how much longer they will have to wait
Scenario 3) You have just told a student in the main office that they have failed their first semester and cannot move on until the repeat the three courses that they failed. Tuition for these courses is due by the end of the week. They approach your desk and come very close to you. They look directly at you, raise their voice, and tell you that they refuse to pay tuition again for courses they have already taken.
Scenario 4) A potential tenant has come in to ask about the progress on their rental application. You called their references and suspect that the potential has lied about their annual income. You ask them about it. Their eyes won’t meet yours and they have a strange smile with flatness in the middle and corners of the lips turned up but won’t answer your question.
Managing Non-Verbal Communication Conflicts
Conflict 1) You manage three client service representatives. One of your CSRs is from China. You had to call her in to discuss some data entry mistakes that she has been making recently. When speaking with her, she started to smile, and she wouldn’t look at you. You become frustrated and raised your voice. Now, she will not speak and you cannot continue the conversation.
Conflict 2) A production manager from Japan has just arrived at your office. You stand up to greet him and shake his hand. He seems pretty put off and you think you might have made a bad first impression, but you aren’t sure why.
Conflict 3) You travelled with your boss to a meeting in Medellín, Columbia. The meeting is at 10:00am. You arrive at the office at 9:40am to set up the computer and get the documents ready. You enter the office and only the cleaning staff is there and they are looking at you in a strange way.
Non-Verbal Communication and Culture
Non verbal communication is what occurs without the need for words while we are attempting to communicate. It’s involved in any communication via body language and environmental context.
The two basic types of non verbal language are non verbal messages (which are produced by the body) and non verbal messages (produced by the external conditions – time, space, silence and even our clothes).
You may ask yourself why we need to communicate in a non verbal way, when we have words to express our thoughts? Non verbal communication is one of the key aspects of communication. It has many various functions such as repeating the verbal message e.g. pointing in a direction while explaining also it verbally. It is possible to regulate interactions e.g. use non verbal signs to show that the other person should speak or not speak. Furthermore, we can emphasize a verbal message by a verbal tone that indicates the actual meaning of the specific words. We can use it as a substitute for the verbal message by using gestures such as putting a finger to our lips to indicate the need for quiet or facial expressions like a nod instead of a yes.
Often we actually express most of our specific intention in a non verbal way. In addition to that, many non verbal expressions we consider to be accepted in our own culture can get us into trouble in other parts of the world or when we are working in an intercultural context.
See below for some examples:
1) Eye Contact:
In some cultures, avoiding eye contact is considered a sign of respect. Such eye contact aversion, however, could be seen as a sign that the other person is being deceptive, is bored, or is being rude. Some Indigenous and Asian nations teach that people should avoid eye contact with elders, teachers, and other people with status. This can create issues because in other cultures a lack of eye contact as a sign of insubordination or lack of engagement.
2) Touch:
Touch behaviors are important during initial interactions, and cultural differences in these nonverbal practices can lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Shaking hands as a typical touch greeting, for example, varies among cultures. It is customary for British, Australian, German, and US American colleagues to shake hands when seeing each other for the first time and then to shake again when departing company. In the United States, the colleagues do not normally shake hands again if they see each other again later in the day, but European colleagues may shake hands with each other several times a day. Once a certain level of familiarity and closeness is reached, US American colleagues will likely not even shake hands daily unless engaging in some more formal interaction, but many European colleagues will continue to shake each time they see each other. Some French businesspeople have been known to spend up to thirty minutes a day shaking hands. The squeezes and up-and-down shakes used during handshakes are often called “pumps,” and the number of pumps used in a handshake also varies among cultures. Although the Germans and French shake hands more often throughout the day, they typically only give one or two pumps and then hold the shake for a couple seconds before letting go. Brits tend to give three to five pumps, and US Americans tend to give five to seven pumps. This can be humorous to watch at a multinational business event, but it also affects the initial impressions people make of each other. A US American may think that a German is being unfriendly or distant because of his or her single hand pump, while a German may think that a US American is overdoing it with seven.
Shaking hands is considered to be acceptable in many cultures, even between strangers. Similarly kissing, patting on the shoulder, hugs, embraces or touching other bodily parts aren’t – many people in Asia and other parts of the world are more conservative and such actions are interpreted as an offense or even a violation of one’s private space. This is why you should be careful with touching. Touching is considered rude in many cultures.
3) Contact Cultures:
Contact cultures are cultural groups in which people stand closer together, engage in more eye contact, touch more frequently, and speak more loudly. Italians are especially known for their vibrant nonverbal communication in terms of gestures, volume, eye contact, and touching, which not surprisingly places them in the contact culture category. Italians use hand motions and touching to regulate the flow of conversations, and when non-Italians don’t know how to mirror an Italian’s nonverbals they may not get to contribute much to the conversation, which likely feeds into the stereotype of Italians as domineering in conversations or overexpressive. For example, Italians speak with their hands raised as a way to signal that they are holding the floor for their conversational turn. If their conversational partner starts to raise his or her hands, the Italian might gently touch the other person and keep on talking. Conversational partners often interpret this as a sign of affection or of the Italian’s passion for what he or she is saying. In fact, it is a touch intended to keep the partner from raising his or her hands, which would signal that the Italian’s conversational turn is over and the other person now has the floor. It has been suggested that in order to get a conversational turn, you must physically grab their hands in midair and pull them down. While this would seem very invasive and rude to northern Europeans and US Americans, it is a nonverbal norm in Italian culture and may be the only way to get to contribute to a conversation
4) Head Movements:
Bowing is a nonverbal greeting ritual that is more common in Asian cultures than Western cultures, but the head nod, which is a common form of acknowledgement in many cultures, is actually an abbreviated bow. Japan is considered a noncontact culture, which refers to cultural groups in which people stand farther apart while talking, make less eye contact, and touch less during regular interactions. Because of this, bowing is the preferred nonverbal greeting over handshaking. Bows vary based on status, with higher status people bowing the least. For example, in order to indicate the status of another person, a Japanese businessperson may bow deeply. An interesting ritual associated with the bow is the exchange of business cards when greeting someone in Japan. This exchange allows each person to view the other’s occupation and title, which provides useful information about the other’s status and determines who should bow more. Since bowing gives each person a good view of the other person’s shoes, it is very important to have clean shoes that are in good condition, since they play an important part of initial impression formation.
5) Vocalics:
The volume at which we speak is influenced by specific contexts and is more generally influenced by our culture. In European countries like France, England, Sweden, and Germany, it is not uncommon to find restaurants that have small tables very close together. In many cases, two people dining together may be sitting at a table that is actually touching the table of another pair of diners. Most US Americans would consider this a violation of personal space, and Europeans often perceive US Americans to be rude in such contexts because they do not control the volume of their conversations more. Since personal space is usually more plentiful in the United States, Americans are used to speaking at a level that is considered loud to many cultures that are used to less personal space. I have personally experienced both sides of this while traveling abroad. One time, my friends and I were asked to leave a restaurant in Sweden because another table complained that we were being loud. Another time, at a restaurant in Argentina, I was disturbed, as were the others dining around me, by a “loud” table of Americans seated on the other side of the dining area. In this case, even though we were also Americans, we were bothered by the lack of cultural awareness being exhibited by the other Americans at the restaurant. These examples show how proxemics and vocalics can combine to make for troubling, but hopefully informative, nonverbal intercultural encounters.
6) Proxemics:
Cultural norms for personal space vary much more than some other nonverbal communication channels such as facial expressions, which have more universal similarity and recognizability. We’ve already learned that contact and noncontact cultures differ in their preferences for touch and interpersonal distance. Countries in South America and southern Europe exhibit characteristics of contact cultures, while countries in northern Europe and Southeast Asia exhibit noncontact cultural characteristics. Because of the different comfort levels with personal space, a Guatemalan and a Canadian might come away with differing impressions of each other because of proxemic differences. The Guatemalan may feel the Canadian is standoffish, and the Canadian may feel the Guatemalan is pushy or aggressive.
7) Time:
The United States and many northern and western European countries have a monochronic orientation to time, meaning time is seen as a commodity that can be budgeted, saved, spent, and wasted. Events are to be scheduled in advance and have set beginning and ending times. Countries like Spain and Mexico have a polychronic orientation to time. Appointments may be scheduled at overlapping times, making an “orderly” schedule impossible. People may also miss appointments or deadlines without offering an apology, which would be considered very rude by a person with a monochronic orientation to time. People from cultures with a monochronic orientation to time are frustrated when people from polychromic cultures cancel appointments or close businesses for family obligations. Conversely, people from polychromic cultures feel that US Americans, for example, follow their schedules at the expense of personal relationships.
Non-Verbal Communication Skills
Nonverbal communication is the process of sending and receiving information, both intentionally and unintentionally, without using written or spoken language. Nonverbal signals play a vital role in communication because they can strengthen a verbal message (when the nonverbal signals match the spoken words), weaken a verbal message (when the nonverbal signals don’t match the words), or replace words entirely.
Nonverbal signals are a factor in virtually every instance of communication and they convey a significant portion of the information and emotions shared in interpersonal communication.
Nonverbal signals are a factor in virtually every instance of communication and they convey a significant portion of the information and emotions shared in interpersonal communication. In a face-to-face conversation, everything from your body language to your clothing to your eye movements can influence the messages and meanings the other party takes away from the exchange. During a phone call, the pitch, rate, and other qualities of your voice can send nonverbal signals. Even with written messages (both printed and digital), design and formatting choices send nonverbal signals.
Nonverbal communication is complex: Not all signals are controllable, and signals don’t always mean what people think they mean.
Nonverbal communication is an intriguing part of business communication because it is complex and often not as straightforward as verbal communication. On the sending side, some nonverbal signals are
controllable (such as choosing what to wear), some are habits you may not even think about (tapping your fingers when you’re impatient, for instance), some are trainable (using specific hand gestures during a presentation), and some are involuntary (such as blushing). On the receiving side, while you
might think you can “read someone like a book,” nonverbal signals are not always reliable (a person who avoids eye contact isn’t necessarily trying to hide something, for example) and people vary widely in their ability to interpret them correctly.
In interpersonal communication, six categories of nonverbal signals are particularly important:
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS: Your face is the primary site for expressing your emotions; it reveals both the type and the intensity of your feelings. Your eyes are especially effective for indicating attention and interest, influencing others, regulating interaction, and establishing dominance.As with other areas of nonverbal expressions, however, facial signals can vary widely from culture to culture. For instance, maintaining eye contact is usually viewed as a sign of sincerity and openness in Canada, but sustained eye contact is considered disrespectful in many other cultures.
GESTURES, POSTURE, AND GAIT: The way you use your hands, your posture when standing and sitting, and the way you walk send nonverbal signals. Bounding on stage with your head held high sends quite a different message than shuffling up there with your chin down and your hands in your pockets. Leaning forward in your chair is a way to let someone know you’re paying attention. Adapting a “power posture,” such as standing with your chin up, your hands on your hips, and your feet spread or leaning forward with your hands on a table or desk can make you feel more confident and convey a message of confidence. However, these shows of strength can also intimidate other people and discourage them from opening up.
VOCAL CHARACTERISTICS: Voice carries both intentional and unintentional messages. A speaker can intentionally control pitch, pace, and stress to convey a specific message. For instance, consider the intonation in the question, “What are you doing?” versus “What are you doing?”. Unintentional vocal characteristics can convey happiness, surprise, fear, and other emotions. For example, fear often increases the pitch and the pace of your speaking voice. Most listeners are acutely sensitive to the way others speak, so make sure the tone of your voice matches the messages you mean to send.
PERSONAL APPEARANCE: People respond to others on the basis of their physical appearance, sometimes fairly and other times unfairly. Although an individual’s body type and facial features impose limitations, most people are able to control their appearance to some degree. Grooming, clothing,
accessories, piercings, tattoos, and hairstyleyou can control all of these. Many employers also have guidelines concerning attire, body art, and other issues, so make sure you understand and follow them.
TOUCH: Touch is an important way to convey warmth, comfort, and reassuranceas well as control. Touch is so powerful, in fact, that it is governed by cultural customs that establish who can touch whom and how in various circumstances. In Canada and Great Britain, for instance, people usually touch less frequently than people in France or Costa Rica do. Even within each culture’s norms, however, individual attitudes toward touch vary widely. A manager might be comfortable using hugs to express support or
congratulations, but his or her subordinates could interpret those hugs as a show of dominance or sexual interest. Touch is a complex subject. The best advice is when in doubt, don’t touch.
TIME AND SPACE: Like touch, time and space can be used to assert authority, imply intimacy, and send other nonverbal messages. For instance, some people try to demonstrate their own importance or disregard for others by making other people wait; others show respect by being on time. Similarly, taking care not to invade private space, such as standing too close when talking, is a way to show respect for others. The distance at which people are comfortable conversing with others varies widely based on their
relationships with them (and their culture, to a degree). You might be fine with family members standing a foot or two away but you probably prefer work colleagues to stand or sit several feet away whenever possible and strangers to keep even farther away. Keep in mind that expectations regarding both time and space vary by culture.
Example Answers:
Body language is an essential part of all communication. The ability to be able read body language is key to be able to have great communications.
Identifying nonverbal clues to help identify a problem is a great skill to have. Being able to do this can change the demeanor and experience a customer or patient has. Being able to calm that patient or customer with the nonverbal clues is also essential for great customer service. For example if a customer was nervous or worried about an exam and fijiting or pacing and you notice this and understand it is nerves you could calm that patient by giving a confident smile and a comforting hand on the shoulder to reassure the patient that they can be brave enough to get through the exam.
Example Answers 2:
Body language is an essential component of communication since it may reveal a lot about a person’s thoughts and feelings on the inside. Up to 90% of human communication is reportedly nonverbal.
In order to build rapport with the person you are speaking with, it may be helpful to match your body language to your tone of voice, which can also contribute to analyze any non-verbal body language in order to more accurately determine if the unspoken signal is positive or negative. Additionally, smiling, maintaining eye contact, nodding, maintaining an upright stance, and facing the other person with your feet can all indicate positive body language.
Example Answers 3:
Nonverbal clues given that may indicate a potential problem may include changes in body language and gestures. This can be addressed by making eye contact and the use of hand gestures to ensure the problem is addressed.
Nonverbal communication will differ between different cultures, it is important to acknowledge the differences and be respectful.
Matching body language to oral communication indicates you are actively listening to someone. It helps to understand the individual well and have your response valued.
Example Answers 4:
Nonverbal communication cues that a customer might give to indicate potential problems include facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and eye contact. Some examples of nonverbal calming actions include making eye contact, nodding, smiling, maintaining an open posture, and using a calm tone of voice.
When it comes to cultural differences, it’s important to understand that nonverbal cues can vary significantly from one culture to another. For instance, in some cultures, direct eye contact is considered a sign of respect, while in others it can be deemed rude or aggressive. Similarly, physical touch might be common in some cultures, but not in others. By being aware of these differences, we can adapt our nonverbal communication to fit the cultural context we are in, and thus enhance our ability to communicate effectively.
Matching body language to oral communication involves paying attention to the tone and content of what is being said and adjusting our posture, facial expressions, and gestures accordingly, if someone is expressing excitement, we might mirror that excitement through our own facial expressions and gestures, whereas if someone is expressing sadness or frustration, we might adopt a more sympathetic posture.
