Image Communication

invited. The exact dimensions of these private bubbles vary from culture to culture and person to person, but adult Americans usually become anxious when others intrude on their intimate zone, from actual physical contact to about 2 feet away. During meetings with established teams, members are usually comfortable interacting within their personal zones, approximately 2–4 feet apart. How other people react if you enter into their personal space can be a nonverbal signal about how comfortable they are with you. People can generally be classified into two major proxemic categories. Although space preferences are based on personal and experience factors, Americans and northern Europeans, for example, typify the noncontact group because of the small amount of touching and relatively large space between them during their transactions. Arabs and Latinos are examples from the contact group, who normally stand very close to each other and use a lot of touching when they communicate. When people do not appreciate differences in personal zones, discomfort, distrust, and misunderstanding can occur. Contact people can unknowingly get too close to or touch noncontact people, which makes the latter uncomfortable.

Image Communication23

People do judge a book by its cover. Through clothing, hairstyle, body adornments, and other dimensions of physical appearance, we communicate our values and expectations. People react favorably to an expected image. But it is unusual to overcome a bad initial impression and reveal genuine assets hidden underneath. First impressions made by the initial impact of your clothing, voice, grooming, handshake, eye contact, and body posture are lasting images. Projecting both a depth and breadth of knowledge builds your credibility, commands respect from others, and helps develop rapport. Flexibility, enthusiasm, and sincerity create a positive image that can enhance your communication effectiveness. In terms of dress, colors have meanings (e.g., brown for trusting, white for purity, dark colors for power), as do style (e.g., formal vs. casual for more or less status, respectively) and material (e.g., synthetic fibers such as polyester convey lower class, while pure fibers such as wool convey higher class).24

CONCEPT QUIZ

Take the following 10-question, true–false quiz. The answers are at the end of the quiz. If you read the previous material carefully, you should get them all correct. If you miss any, go back and find out why you got them wrong. Circle the right answer. True False 1. Active listening is hard work. True False 2. One of the essential requirements for being an active listener is to anticipate what the speaker is going to say. True False 3. Empathy means reading nonverbal as well as verbal messages. True False 4. The first step toward effective listening is the motivation to make the effort. True False 5. The effective listener maintains constant, penetrating eye contact with the speaker.

True False 6. Efficient listeners listen to what is being said and, at the same time, develop a response. True False 7. If you can’t paraphrase a speaker’s message, something was missing from the speaker’s explanation. True False 8. You should let speakers complete their thoughts before you try to respond. True False 9. The effective listener uses idle brain time to get the big picture from the speaker’s message. True False 10. A speaker’s looks or accent can enhance the content and your understanding of the message.

Answers: (1) True; (2) False; (3) False; (4) True; (5) False; (6) False; (7) False; (8) True; (9) True; (10) True

BEHAVIORAL CHECKLIST

The following represents important behaviors related to effective listening. These are the specific behaviors you should look for when evaluating your listening skills and those of others. The Effective Listener:

•Makes eye contact. •Exhibits affirmative head nods and appropriate facial expressions. •Avoids distracting actions or gestures that suggest boredom. •Asks appropriate questions. •Paraphrases using his or her own words. •Avoids interrupting the speaker. •Doesn’t talk too much. •Deciphers nonverbal messages.

ATTENTION!

Do not read the following exercises until assigned to do so by your instructor.

MODELING EXERCISE

Job Interview Role-Play

Actors. Lee Wilson—college recruiter for Procter & Gamble (P&G). M.B.A. from a prestigious business school; 2 years’ experience. Chris Bates—Job candidate. Graduating M.B.A.

Situation. Preliminary interview (in a college placement center) for a marketing management trainee position with P&G. A brief job description and Chris’s resumé follow.

Lee Wilson’s Role. You will be interviewing approximately 150 students over the next 6 weeks to fill four trainee positions. You’re looking for candidates who are bright, articulate, ambitious, and

have management potential. The P&G training program is 2 years in length. Trainees will be sales representatives calling on retail stores and will spend the first 15 weeks taking formal P&G classes at the head office. The compensation to start is $32,000 a year plus a car. You are to improvise other information as needed. Questions you might ask include the following: Where do you expect to be in 5 years? What’s important to you in a job? What courses did you like best in your M.B.A. program? Least? What makes you think you would do well in this job? Is there anything else you think is relevant?

Chris Bates’s Role. Review your resumé. You are a top student whose previous work experience has been limited to selling in retail stores in the summer months during your undergraduate collegiate days. This is your first interview with P&G, but you’re very interested in their training program. Fill in any voids in information as you see fit.

Total Time. 45 minutes (preparation, 15 minutes; role-play, 15 minutes; debriefing, 15 minutes)

Abbreviated Job Description

Title: Marketing Management Trainee—Consumer Products Group Reports to: District Marketing Manager Duties and Responsibilities: Completes formal training program at headquarters in Cincinnati. Thereupon: • Calls on retail stores. • Introduces new products to store personnel. • Distributes sales promotion materials. • Stocks and arranges shelves in stores. • Takes sales orders. • Follows up on complaints or problems. • Completes all necessary sales reports.

Abbreviated Resumé

Name: Chris Bates Age: 24 Education: B.A. in Economics; G.P.A.: 3.8 (out of 4.0); M.B.A., with specialization in marketing; G.P.A.: 3.95. Work Experience: Worked summers, during undergraduate days, at The Gap and Walden Books. Honors: Top graduating M.B.A. student in marketing; graduate assistantship; Dean’s Honor Roll. Extracurricular activities: Intercollegiate tennis team (undergraduate); Vice President, Graduate Business Students Association; College Marketing Club.

OBSERVER’S RATING SHEET

During the exercise, observers rate the listening behaviors of the people playing the roles of Lee and Chris. Use the following scale to rate each player between 1 and 5. Write in concrete examples in the space for comments to use in explaining your feedback.

Lee Chris Listening Behaviors Rating Comments Rating Comments

Makes eye contact ________ ________

Gives affirmative responses ________ ________

Avoids distractions ________ ________

Asks questions ________ ________

Paraphrases ________ ________

Avoids interrupting ________ ________

Doesn’t overtalk ________ ________

Makes smooth transitions ________ ________

Deciphers nonverbal messages ________ ________

GROUP EXERCISES

The class will be divided into groups of three. (Some groups of four may be necessary to ensure that everyone participates.) Each of the following exercises will have two role-players and an observer. Rotate actors and observers so that everyone in your trio gets a chance to be the actor being observed in one of the three role-plays that follow. The actor and observer guidelines are the same as previously described in the introduction to modeling exercises.

Group Exercise 1: Promotion Decision

Actors. Pat Driver is the manufacturing manager. Sandy Babson is a supervisor.

Situation. To accommodate 10 percent growth, a new assistant to the manufacturing manager position has been created. Dave and Sandy, two supervisors who report to Pat, have applied for the job. A meeting has been scheduled in Pat’s office with Sandy to discuss Pat’s decision on filling the position.

Pat Driver’s Role. You’ve decided to appoint Dave to the assistant’s position. Both Dave and Sandy have bachelor’s degrees in engineering and have been with the company for 4 years. Both have approximately 2 years’ experience as production supervisors. Dave’s and Sandy’s job performance evaluations have been consistently excellent. You’ve chosen Dave over Sandy essentially because he has completed about one-third of the requirements for an M.B.A. by taking courses at night. You know Sandy has wanted this promotion badly, both for the added responsibility and the extra money. Sandy, a single parent with two small children whose spouse died in a car accident last year, could probably really use the additional pay. You expect Sandy to be quite disappointed with your decision.

Sandy Babson’s Role. You have a B.S. degree in industrial engineering. You’ve been with this company for 4 years, spending more than half that time as a production supervisor. You have consistently received outstanding performance evaluations. You figure that the only other supervisor with similar qualifications is Dave, a workaholic bachelor who even attends night school to work toward an M.B.A. degree. You’re ambitious and want to move ahead in the company. Part of your motivation is to earn more money to help with the expenses of raising two children alone since the death of your spouse a year ago in a car accident. You have told Pat that you think you’re the best candidate for the recently created position of Pat’s assistant. You hope this meeting is going to bring good news.

Observers’ Role. Turn to page 102 and use this rating sheet to evaluate both actors. Total Time. 25 minutes (preparation, 5 minutes; role-play, 10 minutes; debriefing, 10 minutes)

Group Exercise 2: A Debate

Situation. A debate. Actor A can choose any contemporary issue (e.g., business ethics, value of unions, prayer in schools, stiffer college grading policies, gun control, money as a motivator). Actor B then selects a position on that issue. Actor A must automatically take the counterposition. The debate is to proceed with only one catch. Before the speakers speak, they must first summarize, in their own words and without notes, what the other has said. If the summary doesn’t satisfy the speaker, it must be corrected until it does.

Observers’ Role. In addition to rating both debaters on the rating sheet, the observer should remind each debater to paraphrase the other’s statements until acknowledged as correct, before stating their own points. Total Time. 25 minutes (preparation, 5 minutes; debate, 10 minutes; debriefing, 10 minutes)

Group Exercise 3: Computer Breakdown Emergency

Actors. Alex Jacobs and Dale Traynor

Situation. Alex Jacobs (Actor A) is the corporate controller for a restaurant chain, responsible for financial and information control. Over the past weekend, the computer system at one of the restaurants went down. The restaurant’s manager called Dale Traynor, who reports to Alex and oversees the chain’s computer operations. Dale authorized an emergency service call. Because it was a weekend, local people were not available, and the computer firm had to fly in a repairperson from 600 miles away. Alex has just learned about the emergency call in a casual conversation with the restaurant manager.

Alex Jacobs’s Role. You have phoned the computer firm and found out that the cost of the service call is $1,400. You’re fuming. Not only is $1,400 a large, unexpected expenditure, but also Dale’s authority limit is only $500. You can’t figure out why you were neither advised of the problem nor asked to approve the expenditure. You have called Dale to your office.

Dale Traynor’s Role. You have been called into your boss’s office. You suspect it has to do with the weekend computer breakdown. The restaurant manager had called you, as she is supposed to do when a computer problem occurs. Because it was Sunday morning and you expected Sunday to be a busy day at the restaurant, you decided against going to the backup manual system until a local repairperson could go out on Monday. Instead, you authorized an overtime emergency call. You expected the cost to be within your $500 authority, although you did not ask for an estimate.

Observers’ Role. Use the rating sheet at the end of this exercise set to provide feedback on the listening effectiveness of both role-players.

Total Time. 25 minutes (preparation, 5 minutes; role-play, 10 minutes; debriefing, 10 minutes)

Group Exercise 4: Interpreting Body Language

One person in the group uses just his or her face, keeping all other parts of the body still, to convey a feeling or message to others in the group. Other group members try to guess the meaning the sender is trying to convey. After 3 minutes, or when the receivers correctly determine the message, discuss the experience from both the sender’s and receiver’s viewpoints. Another person in the group uses just hand gestures, keeping all other parts of the body still, to convey a feeling or message to others in the group. Other group members try to guess the meaning the sender is trying to convey. After 3 minutes, or when the receivers correctly determine the message, discuss the experience from both the sender’s and receiver’s viewpoints. The third person in the group uses just different vocal intonations, keeping all other parts of the body still and saying no words, to convey a feeling or message to others in the group. Other group members try to guess the meaning the sender is trying to convey. After 3 minutes, or when the receivers correctly determine the message, discuss the experience from both the sender’s and receiver’s viewpoints.

Total Time. 24 minutes (preparation, 6 minutes; nonverbal acting, 3 minutes each for a total of 9 minutes; debriefing, 3 minutes each for a total of 9 minutes)

OBSERVER’S RATING SHEET

For the exercise in which you are an observer, evaluate both participants on a 1 to 5 scale (5 being the highest). Enter examples for feedback in the Comments columns. Exercise: 1 2 3 (Circle one)

Actor A Behavior Actor B

Comments Rating Rating Comments

________ Makes eye contact ________

________ Paraphrases ________

________ Gives affirmative responses ________

________ Avoids interrupting ________

________ Avoids distractions ________

________ Doesn’t overtalk ________

________ Makes smooth transitions ________

________ Asks questions ________

________ Reads nonverbal cues ________

Summary Checklist

Take a few minutes to reflect on your performance and look over others’ ratings of your skill. Now assess yourself on each of the key learning behaviors. Make a check (✓) next to those behaviors on which you need improvement. I make effective eye contact. ________ I exhibit affirmative head nods and appropriate expressions. ________ I avoid distracting actions or gestures that suggest boredom. ________ I ask questions. ________ I paraphrase using my own words. ________ I avoid interrupting the speaker. ________ I don’t talk too much. ________ I decipher nonverbal messages. ________

APPLICATION QUESTIONS

1. “Symbols, not meanings, are transferred from sender to receiver.” Discuss this statement and its ramifications for effective listening. 2. How do your personal values distort your interpretation of meaning? What are some examples? 3. Does everyone you work with and everything they have to say deserve your effective listening skills? Explain. 4. Have you taken a formal speech course? If so, did it include listening skills? Is there a bias in our society toward speaking over listening? 5. Who do you find it easiest to listen to? Why? Is this person a good listener also? What behaviors make you think so? 6. Are you a contact or a noncontact person? How does your preference for closeness affect your interpersonal communications with others?

REINFORCEMENT EXERCISES

The following suggestions are activities you can do to practice and reinforce the listening techniques you learned in this chapter. You may want to adapt them to the Action Plan you will develop next, or try them independently. 1. In another class—preferably one with a lecture format—practice active listening. Ask questions, paraphrase, and exhibit affirming nonverbal behaviors. Then ask yourself: Was this harder for me than a normal lecture? Did it affect my note taking? Did I ask more questions? Did it improve my understanding of the lecture’s content? What was the instructor’s response? 2. During your next telephone conversation, close your eyes and concentrate on being an effective listener; for example, ask questions and paraphrase. Then ask yourself: Did I get more out of the conversation? 3. Spend an entire day fighting your urge to talk. Listen as carefully as you can to everyone you talk to and respond as appropriately as possible to understand, but not to make your own point. 4. Watch one of your favorite TV shows without the volume on. How much of the show did you understand? Why?

ACTION PLAN

1. Which listening behavior do I want to improve the most?

2. Why? What will be my payoff?

3. What potential obstacles stand in my way?

4. What specific things will I do to improve? (For examples, see the Reinforcement

Exercises.)

5. When will I do them?

6. How and when will I measure my success?

Endnotes

1.Om P. Kharbanda and Ernest A. Stallworthy,

“Listening—A Vital Negotiating Skill,” Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1991), pp. 6–9, 49–52. 2.J. Crocker, Paper presented at the Speech

Communication Association meeting (Minneapolis,

MN, 1978). Reported in D. A. Whetten and

K. S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills (Glenview, IL: Scott-Foresman, 1984), p. 218. 3.Gerald M. Goldhaber, Organizational Communication, 4th ed. (Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown, 1980), p. 189. 4.Carl R. Rogers and Richard E. Farson, Active

Listening (Chicago, IL: Industrial Relations Center of the University of Chicago, 1976). 5.Ralph G. Nichols and Leonard A. Stevens, Are You

Listening? (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1957). 6.Phillip L. Hunsaker and Anthony J. Alessandra,

The Art of Managing People (New York: Simon &

Schuster, 1986). 7.Kevin J. Murphy, Effective Listening (New York:

Bantam Books, 1987). 8.Ibid. 9.Ibid. 10.F. Williams, The New Communications (Belmont,

CA: Wadsworth, 1989), p. 45. 11.Ibid. 12.A. Mehrabian, “Communication Without Words,”

Psychology Today (September 1968), pp. 53–55. 13.Paul Ekman, “Facial Expression and Emotion,”

American Psychologist (April 1993), pp. 384–392. 14.J. W. Gibson and R. M. Hodgetts, Organizational

Communication: A Managerial Perspective (Orlando,

FL: Academic Press, 1986), p. 95.

15.Ibid. 16.Albert Mehrabian, Nonverbal Communication (Chicago, IL: Aldine/Atherton, 1972), pp. 25–30. 17.Om P. Kharbanda and Ernest A. Stallworthy,

“Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication,” Journal of Managerial Psychology,Vol. 6, No. 4 (1991), pp. 10–13, 49–52. 18.G. I. Nierenberg and H. H. Calero, How To Read a

Person Like a Book (New York: Pocket Books, 1973). 19.J. W. Gibson and R. M. Hodgetts, Organizational

Communication: A Managerial Perspective (Orlando,

FL: Academic Press, 1986), pp. 103–105. 20.R. Rosenthal et al., “Body Talk and Tone of Voice:

The Language without Words,” Psychology Today (September 1974), pp. 64–68. 21.Phillip L. Hunsaker and Anthony J. Alessandra,

The New Art of Managing People (New York: Free

Press, 2008), Chapter 12. 22.P. L. Hunsaker, “The Space Case,” Registered

Representative (April 1984), pp. 67–72. 23.Phillip L. Hunsaker and Anthony J. Alessandra,

The Art of Managing People (New York: Free

Press, 2008), pp. 180–186. 24.Anat Rafaeli and Michael G. Pratt, “Tailored

Meanings: On the Meaning and Impact of

Organizational Dress,” Academy of Management

Review, Vol. 18, No. 1 (1993), pp. 32–55.