Body Language at the workplace

by

Bärbel Popp Anna Nieland

Table of contents

I. Introduction 3

II. Definition of body language 3

III. Criteria of selective notice 4

Posture: 4
Mimic: 4

1. Personal habits 5
2. Emotions 5
3. Interaction signs 5

Gesture: 5
Distance: 5
Intimate zone (15 – 46 cm): 5
Personal zone (46cm – 1,2m): 6
Social zone (1,2 – 3,6m): 6
Public zone (over 3,6m): 6
Sound of voice: 6

1. Clothing 7
2. Emblems and jewellery 7
3. Hairstyle 7
4. Face and skin 7
5. Physique 7

IV. Importance of nonverbal communication 7

Nonverbal communication is omnipresent: 8
Nonverbal communication can lead to misunderstanding as well as understanding: 8
Nonverbal communication has interaction primacy: 8
Nonverbal communication can express what verbal communication can’t or shouldn’t: 8
Nonverbal communication is trusted: 9

V. Relationship between nonverbal and verbal communication 9

1. Repeat what is said verbally 9
2. Substitute for portions of the verbal message 10
3. Complement or clarify the verbal message 10
4. Contradict the verbal statement 10
5. Emphasize the words 10

VI. Cultural differences 10

Facial expressions: 11
Physical contact: 11
Gaze: 11

VII. Body language at the workplace 13

1. The career interview 13

1. First meeting 13
2. Tune your body posture 14
3. What to do with your hands/arms 14
4. Movements: A dynamic interview? 14
5. Furthermore 15

2. Occupational body language 15
3. The effective use of meetings 16

1. What to do with your eyes? 16
2. What do your facial expressions indicate? 16
3. Positioning and movement of your body and limbs 17
4. Hand gestures 17

4. Attitudes to workmates 17
5. Lying: Revealing and concealing information 18

1. Stress signals 19
2. Less conscious of feet and legs 19
3. Posture is more honestly 19
4. Expensive gestures decline 19
5. Shifty gazes 19

VIII. Manipulation of body language 20

1. Definition: 20
2. Politics 20

IX. Conclusion 22

X. Bibliography and further reading 23

I. Introduction

In the following written assignment we are going to discuss the topic “Body language at the workplace”. To be able to understand what body language is about, there will be a definition which will afterwards lead to a description of the criteria of selective notice. Body language is also known as nonverbal communication and that is why the importance of nonverbal communication plays a crucial role in our everyday life we cannot control. At this point of the written assignment there should be a better knowledge of body language and therefore the relationship between the spoken and the unspoken words are analysed. This is very important because nonverbal and verbal communication always go hand in hand.
As we already experienced and will experience in our career there are many different cultures and with that many different cultural meanings of body language, especially in mimic and gesture. Because of the internationality in the world and the everyday contact to other cultural groups we have to understand the meaning of their body language. We will underscore this with some examples chosen.
Our actual topic “Body language at the workplace” is divided into four chapters beginning with the career interview in which the most important behaviours – we have to pay attention to - are explained. The occupational body language deals with the kind of body language you automatically use according to your job and workplace. Because of our field of studies we will go into the effective use of meetings which might be seen as a little guide to the future. To ensure a good work climate, attitudes to workmates play an important role because in regard to your behaviour you will be either respected or disrespected. And because it is important for business people to know if their opposite is lying we figured out the main aspects to expose the liar. With our last point we are trying to show how easy it is to manipulate your own body language which makes it even harder for others to understand the meaning of it.

II. Definition of body language

“Body Language is the unspoken communication that goes on in every Face-to-Face encounter with another human being. “¹ By looking at the body language of your opposite you are instinctively able to read his or her feelings and meanings with the spoken words and understand his or her gestures. This is of course also understood the other way around.

“Every time we talk to someone else the body supplements what we say with dozens of small gestures, eye movement, changes in posture and facial expressions.”² Although everybody knows how to use this kind of language, there will always be a learning process to use it more effectively.

III. Criteria of selective notice ³

There are five types to express yourself nonverbally.

Posture:
By this is meant the posture a person is doing right now as well as a movement which change or influence the body posture, e.g. crossed legs. “There are three main kinds of posture: standing, sitting (with which may also be included squatting and kneeling) and lying down.” ⁴
From our own experiences we can say that we are able to recognize people from a greater distance the way they are walking or standing. There are particular essential rules in regard to your posture such as which kind of gesture in a culture or certain situation is appropriate. In relation to rituals they also might have a symbolic meaning.

Mimic:
Mimic deals with all kinds of appearances we can investigate in a person’s face, including psychosomatic processes like for example blushing. From the expressions on people’s faces we get a lot of information about their emotional state. You can distinguish the facial expression into three different types: ⁵

1. Personal habits
give you an idea about structural attributes in the face and its typical appearance.

2. Emotions
are shown through slowly developing skills.

3. Interaction signs
and signs which are connected to the verbal communication are sent through quite fast movements of parts of the face, for example rising an eyebrow.

Gesture:
All movements of the arms, the ‘language of the hands’, as well as many actions, like for example the opening of a door. These kinds of movements are reflecting what we are thinking but actually in a completely different manner than the language itself.⁶ It is not completely clear why and when persons are using gestures to demonstrate their purpose. Probably they are then used when the gesture is easier to bring up than the appropriate words, for example the description of forms or shopping in a foreign country. ⁷

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1 www.bodylanguagetraining.com (4.07.2006)

2 Wainright, G.R.: Body language, TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS/London 1999, p.1

3 Birkenbihl, V.F.: Signale des Körpers – Körpersprache verstehen, mvgVerlag/Frankfurt a. M. 2002, p. 44

4 Wainright, G.R.: Body Language, TEACH YOURSELF BOOKS/London 1999, p.58

5 cp. Argyle, M.: Körpersprache & Kommunikation, Junfermann Verlag/Paderborn 1996, p. 202

6 cp. Beattie, G.: Visbible thought – The New Psychology of Body Language, Routledge/London and NY 2004, p.1

7 cp. Argyle, M.: Körpersprache & Kommunikation, Junfermann Verlag/Paderborn 1996, p. 243 ff