Nonverbal communication is one of the hardest parts of communication, and for many there is a complete misunderstanding of communication based on nonverbal communication alone. Throughout this paper we will look at three situations where “nonverbal communication was used and the relationship between the participants. Then we will look at how unconventional language or word choice might have hindered the situations observed” (University of Phoenix, 2018).
At my current employer I have been there for about three years now and I have gotten to know all my team members and how the company operates. So, it was amazing to see that one of my friends Emily which her and I worked next to each other every day, start to get into a lot of trouble. She was not there if me in fact I was the one that trained her. From what I tough her and the way she worked she was a good employee and close co-worker. Towards the end of her employment of about two years, she started to change, and things started getting messed up. I started to notice that a situation was happening. I noticed that another employee talked to our supervisor Jim and made him aware of Emily, that Emily had put paperwork in the back of her backpack. This is something that is not allowed because we are dealing with military records. When my supervisor found out about this he seemed upset because this is just one more thing that Emily was doing wrong.
Jim asked Emily nicely to come to the office, the door shout and then when Emily came out she seemed upset and scared at the same time. However, Jim still seemed calm and very positive therefore, what it seemed like was that Emily got in trouble, but maybe it was just a warning. However, the next day I noticed that Jim seemed mad and upset and was giving a nasty look at everyone especially Emily. I noticed that Emily and Jim where talking and Emily immediately got very angry and stormed out the back door to the outside smoke area. What I witnessed was a form of nonverbal communication from Emily that was directed towards Jim by throwing up her hands and storming off. These nonverbal actions were congruent with the verbal communication because Emily verbally expressed her anger as well as nonverbally expressed it. Jim tried to calm Emily down before proceeding to talk, but it was unsuccessful. In any future case, it would be stressed for all participants to calm down before having a discussion. The functions of the nonverbal communication accented the emotions of the verbal communications and were repetitive throughout the conversation. Furthermore, both were using negative denotative and connotative meanings. Each word and expression were directed towards the other individual and identified each person as being something more than what they are.
Another situation that occurred was between myself and one of my co-workers about 6 months ago. It was almost our lunch time and I usually make sure that all items are put up and the everyone was ready to start processing more soldiers after lunch. However, this afternoon, a co-worker had gone to lunch and left part of his gear for turn in to my department when I looked at it, I realized it was dirty and had stuff all on it. One thing within the department I work in is that all soldiers returning equipment must have it cleaned or we cannot take it from the solider. I guess at this time my co-worker John took it. I was upset and went to where he was having lunch and explained to him that it was not supposed to be taken and that he will have to clean it up. After checking in with Jim in the office, I provided him with information about what was happening with John.
About five minutes after walking out of Jim’s office and into the warehouse, he received a text message that was sent by John. According to David Hale, texting is considered a form of nonverbal communication. “The most prevalent form of non-verbal communication in use today is in the form of texting on cell phones” (Hale, 2010). The text stated, in other words, that John was very angry with me. As this was retrieved through text, there were no other witnesses to this action, but the language was clear to me. Instead of me going and starting something with John I decided that the rest of the afternoon I would not talk to John and give him time to cool. When looking at the nonverbal communication the text was not congruent with the verbal communication as he was still expressing positive and polite communication towards me directly.
The third situation happened between myself and my direct supervisor Jim. My supervisor and I were in a normal conversation about how I run the warehouse and how the operations are going. This is something that Jim and I do at least once a week. During the conversation, I noticed that Jim was thinking about something, because the way he was looking at me. As the conversation continued I noticed that Jim was talking about changing things that could be more beneficial to how I run the warehouse. By the end of the conversation, we both are disagreement on how to run the warehouse, because the system I have it works, and everyone likes the flow of the warehouse. It bothered me because I oversee the daily operations and services, so I take my job very seriously. When I think about at the beginning of our conversations, we were both calm and ready for the day, however, when Jim started talking about changes I started to get upset therefore, I begin presenting nonverbal communication.
My nonverbal communication must be strong because without me even saying anything, Jim could tell that I was upset by my body language. I would say that my actions were congruent with the verbal conversation as I verbally express I am upset and disagree. I would also say that the actions compliment or accent my verbal expressions and many people use hand gestures or facial expression to simulate their expressions with their words. When I look at Jim he stayed very calm, and he showed good listening techniques by using eye contact and focused on me when I was speaking. Therefore, by Jim doing all of this he was able to see that why his idea would not be beneficial. Just by talking things through, we get to a positive conclusion.
