Non-Verbal Communication in the Workplace

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Nonverbal Communication In The Workplace Edward G. Wertheim, Ph.D. says “People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in interpersonal situations” (Wertheim P. 1). Even though we are all capable of communicating, not everyone is an effective communicator. The ability to communicate effectively is essential in the workplace. I am going to focus on the importance of becoming a more effective communicator in the workplace through nonverbal communication. Kory Floyd suggests that we often relay more information through nonverbal communication, than we do by using words alone (Floyd p. 211). Floyd suggests that since our nonverbal communication is going to convey the majority have what we intend to say it is important to understand what our nonverbal behavior is saying and it is also important to use how to use nonverbal communication to our advantage. Generally, when people hear the word nonverbal they think of hand gestures and facial expressions. However, there is much more to it than that. Edward G. Wertheim, Ph.D., explains that nonverbal communication consists of 4 parts: visual, tactile, vocal and use of time, space and image (p. 2). I am going to focus on the visual part of nonverbal communication. The clothing that we wear, our hair style, and the way we present ourselves in the workplace can have great influence over others’ perception of us. Depending on the nature of your business or line of work this can all vary in importance, for example: if you work in a call center it is probably not important to the caller what you look like, whereas if you are an executive for a large company it is imperative that you dress the part. According to research, patients in hospitals prefer the formality of their doctors wearing their white coats and name badges than those who are dressed in more informal clothing (Kanzler and Gorsulowksy 2002). This
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