NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

The Importance of Non-Verbal Communication

For instance, it’s not always just what you say. It’s also how you “say” it – taking into account your eyes, your posture, your overall body language, even your appearance at the time the communication is exchanged, and the voice in which you offer the exchange.

In verbal communication, an active dialogue is engaged with the use of words. At the same time, however, non-verbal communication takes place, relying on nonverbal cues, such as gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, even clothing and personal space.

Nonverbal cues are very powerful, making it crucial that you pay attention to your actions, as well as the nonverbal cues of those around you. If, during your meeting, participants begin to doodle or chat amongst themselves, they are no longer paying attention to you: Your message has become boring or your delivery is no longer engaging.

Enhancing your communications:

• Because gestures can both compliment and contradict your message, be mindful of these.
• Eye contact is an important step in sending and receiving messages. Eye contact can be a signal of interest, a signal of recognition, even a sign of honesty and credibility.
• Closely linked to eye contact are facial expressions, which can reflect attitudes and emotions.
• Posture can also be used to more effectively communicate your message.
• Clothing is important. By dressing for your job, you show respect for the values and conventions of your organization.
• Be mindful of people’s personal space when communicating. Do not invade their personal space by getting too close and do not confuse communications by trying to exchange messages from too far away.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

From Wikipedia,

Organizational communication, broadly speaking, is: people working together to achieve individual or collective goals.

People can relate to each other only through some form of communication. The survival of an organization depends on individuals and groups who are able to maintain among themselves effective and continuing relationships. If we can understand organizational communication, we will understand the organization itself. Communication can be defined as "the transfer of meanings between persons and groups".

The purpose of communication may range from completing a task or mission to creating and maintaining satisfying human relationships. The word transfer means more than the simple process of "packaging" an idea as conceived by a sender and transporting it to the mind of a receiver, where it is "unpackaged". It implies the creation of meaning in the mind of a sender followed by a re-creation of the same meaning in the mind of a receiver. If something occurs along the way to change the sender's original meaning, the communication has failed in its intent.

Communication may be considered a functional part of an organizational system, and it may be considered in an interpersonal context.

Communication Networks

Networks are another aspect of direction and flow of communication. Bavelas has shown that communication patterns, or networks, influence groups in several important ways. Communication networks may affect the group's completion of the assigned task on time, the position of the de facto leader in the group, or they may affect the group members' satisfaction from occupying certain positions in the network. Although these findings are based on laboratory experiments, they have important implications for the dynamics of communication in formal organizations.

There are different patterns of communication:

• "Chain",
• "Wheel",
• "Star",
• "All-Channel" network,
• "Circle"

The Chain can readily be seen to represent the hierarchical pattern that characterizes strictly formal information flow, "from the top down," in military and some types of business organizations. The Wheel can be compared with a typical autocratic organization, meaning one-man rule and limited employee participation. The Star is similar to the basic formal structure of many organizations. The All-Channel network, which is an elaboration of Bavelas's Circle used by Guetzkow, is analogous to the free-flow of communication in a group that encourages all of its members to become involved in group decision processes. The All-Channel network may also be compared to some of the informal communication networks.

Basics in Internal Organizational Communications

Most experts on organizations, management and leadership, assert that effective communications is the foundation for effectiveness in any type of organization. They assert there can't be too much communication. Some leaders misinterpret communications to be the same as paperwork or bureaucracy and so they're averse to a high degree of communications. As leaders and managers mature, they realize the need to effective convey and receive information, and efforts at communications (internal and external) increase substantially.