Final Paper
Nahidul
Chapter4UsingVerbalandNonverbalMessagesinaGroup.pptxUsing Verbal and Nonverbal Messages in a Group
Chapter 4
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Preview
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Nonverbal Communication in Small Groups
Comparing Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Group Communication
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Creating Messages in a Small Group
A message is any action, sound, or word in interaction that is interpreted as a whole by another person
Verbal
Nonverbal
Mixture of both
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Verbal Communication in Small Groups – there are many things you can do within your group to create effective verbal messages
Adjust to the symbolic nature of language
Bypassing defined: group members think they have the same meaning for a word but in actuality do not
Give concrete examples of abstract words
Define highly abstract words with synonyms or descriptive terms
Quantify whenever possible – instead of saying chances are higher, say 3/5 times this happens
3
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Using language appropriately in groups involves
Adjusting to the symbolic nature of language
Often the meaning for a symbol is within the person using that symbol
Guard against bypassing; assuming meaning
Abstract words allow for great discussion but they come with some limitations
Elaborate on and give concrete examples of abstract terms
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Verbal Communication in Small Groups – there are many things you can do within your group to create effective verbal messages
Adjust to the symbolic nature of language
Bypassing defined: group members think they have the same meaning for a word but in actuality do not
Give concrete examples of abstract words
Define highly abstract words with synonyms or descriptive terms
Quantify whenever possible – instead of saying chances are higher, say 3/5 times this happens
4
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Using language appropriately in groups involves
Organizing Remarks
Relate statement to preceding statement
State one point
State one point clearly and directly
Even if the discussion takes longer be sure to ensure that group members understand the discussion
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Organize remarks – do not move aimlessly from topic to topic
Relate your statement to the preceding statement
State on point, not a multipoint speech
State the point as directly and concretely as possible
5
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Using language appropriately in groups involves
Being sensitive to the feelings of others
Emotive words ignite strong feelings
Emotive words can impact the climate of communication
Emotive words can lead to ineffective group discussions
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Using language appropriately in groups involves
Following the rules of the group
Rules regarding language can set a formal or informal tone within the group – Ms./Dr./Frist name
Slang can be appropriate within the group but group members need to competently determine appropriateness
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Follow the rules of the group – every group will have different rules for communicating
Some groups are more formal and require Mr./Ms. “so and so” rather than first name
Some groups allow slang, others do not
Be aware of the rules and follow them
7
Nonverbal Communication in Small Groups
Nonverbal behavior is anything in a message that is not the word itself
Principles of nonverbals
Ambiguous
Always sending
Contradictions lead people to believe nonverbal
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Nonverbal behavior defined: Anything in a message that is not the word itself
Verbal and nonverbal messages can be considered on a continuum, one extreme are primarily verbal and the other primarily nonverbal
Verbal and nonverbal messages are inseparable
Principles of nonverbal communication
Nonverbal behaviors are ambiguous – a smile does not necessarily mean happiness
People cannot stop sending nonverbal behaviors, even when they are not talking – sitting with your arms crossed and foot tapping suggests something
When verbal and nonverbal behaviors clash, most people believe the nonverbal behaviors.
8
Nonverbal Communication in Small Groups
Nonverbal messages serve many functions
Convey emotions
Reveal perceptions of relationships
Supplement words
Substitute words
Regulate flow of discussion
Contradict words
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Functions of nonverbal behaviors
We convey emotions through our nonverbal behaviors
Nonverbals convey our perception of our relationship with other people
Nonverbals supplement words by emphasizing them
Nonverbals substitute for spoken or written words
Nonverbal behaviors regulate the flow of interaction
Nonverbals can contradict what we verbalize
9
Nonverbal Communication in Small Groups
There are many categories of nonverbal
Appearance
Space and Seating
Facial Expressions and Eye Contact
Movements
Voice
Timing
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Appearance – members form impressions before anybody has said anything
Space and Seating – people use space to communicate.
For example, in American culture we allow friends only within our social distance, but in Arab cultures, everybody communicates well within the 4-8 feet Americans prefer. The seating arrangements in a group (group ecology) can suggest formality and informality within an organization
Facial Expressions and Eye Contact.
For Americans, eye contact establishes the lines of communication are open; but this is not the same in all cultures
Facial expressions can set the emotional tone of an interaction. Poker faces, or emotionless faces, tend to be trusted less than people who are willing to convey some feelings with their facial expressions.
Movement of hands, arms and the body
Leaning into somebody can suggest you like them
Tension can be revealed by swinging a foot or tapping a pencil
High status members tend to appear relaxed – they lean back and look around
Voice includes pitch, speed, fluency, loudness and pauses
Tone can help us to interpret one’s mood
Backchannel cues indicate that somebody is involved in the conversation. This is cultural, European backgrounds use these less frequently than Hispanics or African Americans.
Dialect refers to regional and social variations in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
Timing cues are cultural and relational
In some cultures getting started at a meeting right away is considered rude, while U.S. businesses tend to operate in that manner
Excessive talkers during a meeting can be considered rude if the culture values time as a commodity
10
Nonverbal Behavior in Computer-Mediated Groups
Nonverbal communication is even more challenging in computer mediated interactions
Computer Mediated Communication is any interaction via computer technology
Particularly important to create a social presence (feeling that another person is present) and this is sometimes done through emoticons
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Comparing Face-to-Face and Computer Mediated Group Communication
In face-to-face meetings you can at least look at the person to help understand the message, in CMC groups this poses a challenge.
Comparing Face-to-Face (FtF) and Computer-Mediated Group Communication (CMC)
Computer-Mediated Communication defined: any interaction via computer technology, such as chat rooms
Group members adapt to CMC, one study showed similar language styles among cohesive groups
Nonverbal communication operates differently in CMC environments
In a net-conference (any conference connected by a network of computers) or a webinar (any computer-mediated presentation or workshop that is interactive) nonverbal messages might be missing entirely.
Turn taking might be awkward
Discussion is more choppy
For some tasks these complications don’t matter (like brainstorming) but when a group has to make a decision through consensus this might create a problem
Compared to FtF communication, CMC has less social presence (the degree to which a person feels that another is actually present during an interaction)
Asynchronous communication (communication with a delay between messages) promotes less social presence than synchronous communication (electronic chat rooms)
Group members can adapt to this
Email names allow people to form an impression of one another
Emoticons (typographic symbols used to convey emotions) help to increase social presence
Studies suggest that when previously known ways of communicating are not available, people will adapt – these have been some ways in which people have adapted social presence to CMC.
11
Summary
Verbal Communication in Small Groups
Nonverbal Communication in Small Groups
Comparing Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Group Communication
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
