Nonverbal Communication in the Business World

Will Hesse

H395T964

Comm 335

Final Paper

Nonverbal Communication in the Business World

Having good communication skills creates trust and facilitates lasting relationships. Language is known to be a prevalent barrier to communication. Other barriers include ethnocentrism, stereotyping, and nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is at times thought to be universal but this is not always true. In many cases a symbol in one culture could bear the exact opposite meaning in another culture. Such as the way eye contact is perceived; by Latin cultures as a positive signal compared to Asian cultures that see it as disrespectful. People inherently learn nonverbal norms from their family and through their own culture. Though humans have been associating with foreign cultures for thousands of years, modern trends are increasing the frequency in which cultures collide. With the current state of globalization spurring multicultural interactions, businessmen and businesswomen have a far greater need of interpreting these instances of nonverbal communication.

When a person is conducting business with people from another country, it can be overwhelming trying to learn everything about that culture. It is unreasonable to believe that a fluent level of the host language can be learned and utilized, though a basic level will be appreciated. The barrier of nonverbal communication can be bypassed with careful preparation, more importantly awareness and an open mind. Analyzing nonverbal symbols can be made easier by splitting them into multiple categories. Some categories can be more relevant than others when communicating in a business environment. These include proxemics, kinesics, chronemics, paralanguage, silence, clothing, physical appearance, and olfactics. Many of the categories are unknown to an average person and need to be explained for further understanding.

The study of the use of personal space is referred to as proxemics. Situations in the...