Influencing Others in Business Environments
Throughout human civilization, the art of selling ideas or products has been a cornerstone of society. Some people have become masters at this art, yielding themselves and their companies large amounts of profit. Why is it that some people are better at this than others? This paper will take a look at the various aspects of nonverbal communication in selling (or influencing others to buy) and in job interviews by examining in detail the various aspects of proximics, haptics, physical attractiveness, and other nonverbal cues that influence people to say yes.
Artifacts and local environment
Several studies have presented evidence in support of the theory that
"dressing for success" affects one's ability to influence other people. One study found that people dressed in suits versus people dressed in casual or working-class clothes actually affects a subject's likelihood of answering a question correctly. In this study, a person dressed in a suit had a 77% percent chance of getting money returned to them, while those dressed casually or in working outfits had a 38% chance (Bickman, 1971). This study suggests that a person's status affects how well they are received by the person they are trying to influence, and thus their likelihood of being able to influence them into buying an idea or product.
Seating arrangements can affect ones ability to influence others.
Seating arrangements that are closer to one another have a greater effect and lead to a less hostile environment than when people are seated opposite of one another (Sommer, 1967). Sommer found that when a relationship is of a competitive nature (i.e. bargaining situations such as labor contract agreements) there is a preference for this style of seating because it "reflects a desire to obtain information about one's competitor." Another study suggested round tables help to "increase informality and feelings of closeness in comparision to square or rectangular tables" (Sommer, 1965). Dawson (1986) suggested having the members of the negotiation dispersed, that is, have intermixing the opposing members together helps smooth over negotiations.
Placing artifacts in the negotiating environment can have affects on the negotiation. A flower, vas...
... middle of paper ...
...a presentation. Various studies have shown that a person becomes more willing to "sign petitions or complete questionnaires, to assist with scoring inventories, and to help an interviewer pick up dropped questionnaires" (Crusco, 1984). Hence, the shaking of hands at the beginning of a business meeting to facilitate good will and cooperation
(Dawson, 1986).
Conclusion
The role of nonverbal communication within business meetings should not be over-rated. Nonverbal behavior does play a role and can help with success in negotiations, but is not the be all, end all to negotiating successfully.
However, being aware of violating someone's personal zone or knowing when to be quiet is as important as knowing what to say. In general, more successful persuaders were found to be smiling, nodding, and gesturing at appropiate moments during a business meeting or job interview (Edinger, 1983). What is important to remember is to know when to use these various cues to your advantage, and to know not to overuse them. Specific research in this field was difficult to find, and more research is needed before greater and more detailed conclusions can be drawn.
“The more you get out of this book, the more you’ll get out of life.” This is the claim that Dale Carnegie makes in reference to his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Carnegie proposes that there are four main ideas that one should use when dealing with people: 1) Know how to handle people, 2) Make people like you, 3) Win people to their way of thinking, and 4) Be a leader. These skills are essential not only in being a good manager, but also in dealing with people in day to day life.
The idea of being competent is vital in being successful in any career. By being competent in the counseling profession, we can ensure the successfulness in our understanding of mental illnesses, as well as provide the client with the most beneficial treatment for the individual. An interesting statistic found that there is a significant disparity between the percentages of individuals that proclaim same-sex attraction versus individuals that also identify themselves as homosexuals (Sanders, et. al., 2013, p. 253). When pertaining to the origin of homosexuality, many research studies suggest that the etiology derives from a biological standpoint. While the direct cause of homosexuality is not fully determined, recent research would have us believe that there is potentially biological, as well as environmental factors, that can contribute to a person’s attraction to the same sex.
When studying in the field of Sociology everyone is going to approach topics in a different manner. No two people are going to have the exact same view on a particular subject. There are however, three major categories in which people might choose to approach topics. The approaches are know as sociological perspectives and are the functionalist, conflict, and interactionist perspectives. These perspectives name different ways in which different people choose to analyze a subject, and how they look at a society as a whole. The following paragraphs compare and contrast the three, and identify major characteristics of each.
Functionalism views society as the stability and assimilation of a range of forces that function within it. While society is a separate entity with a life of its own, there are individual elements contributing to that stability. Functionalism as a sociological theory emphasizes assimilation rather than the dissociation of society. Therefore, the society is seen as a whole that is compromised of parts which give one another their identity and their function. The part, whether that is education, such as a school, or sports, such as a football team, operates in relation to the other parts, and cannot be entirely understood in isolation from the other parts. All the parts are interrelated, and when there is a disturbance in any one of the parts, is when you can see the interdependence. But what is important about this theory is that “there will always be some reorganization and tendency to restore equilibrium” (Wallace and Wolf 17). Functionalist do not believe it’s crucial that the people involved in the society to be aware of this interconnectedness anymore than the brain and heart consciously realize that they work together as an organism.
sense, have to use) techniques that come from psychological theories. They key here is to
Based on a randomly selected group of 500 patients with high cholesterol, it was found that 67% have heart disease. Is this a population or a sample; explain your answer.
Pondering regarding my fellow classmates’ posts and additional article readings, I consider that groupthink, persuasion, and genetics should be additional concepts that I should have in mind when addressing individuals in a health psychology setting. Regarding groupthink, I must have in mind that changes on behaviors can be hindered if the environment does not help. Studies regarding groupthink have found that in real life, a majority of people can make change the decision of an individual even it is not in accordance with the individual’s will, (Aroson, Wilson, & Akert, 2007). For instance, let us say that I am assessing a client that needs to change eating habits. He/she might have the desire, but if most of his/hers immediate family members
The Findings from Social Influence Research Forty male volunteers from a self selected sample took part in a controlled observational study, which they were deceived into thinking was a test of learning. The naïve participant was always assigned the role of 'teacher' and a confederate played the role of 'learner'. A word association test was the learning task, and the naïve participant was instructed to deliver an electric shock to the learner for each incorrect answer. The teacher and the learner were in separate rooms with no voice contact. The learner sitting in another room gave mainly wrong answers and received his fake shocks in silence until they reached 300 volts.
In the world today, individuals continuously learn new things and acquire skills and knowledge all through their lives (Billett 2010; Alheit and Dausien, 2002). Most of these skills and knowledge acquired by individuals are mostly useful for their career growth and also for the entire society, while some are trivial.
“Parent involvement," a term researchers use to describe the interest family takes in a child 's education, is of special interest to educators who encourage parents to help kids at home with homework and projects. School districts also focus on methods to encourage parents to view the school as an important part of family life as children grow. Theories on parent involvement explore the links between family and school interaction and attempt to identify the reasons for high and low parent participation (Ryan, 2015).
the phone so a message can be let. For the business as a whole they
Effective business communication is central to the success of an individual’s career and consequently to that of the overall business entity. It would be imaginable therefore that there is some form of correlation between effective communication skills and such success. To put this into context, University of Kent (2011) has placed Verbal Communication at the top of the ten skills that employers most commonly look for. On the same note, anything that hinders effective communication is bound to have a negative effect not only on the specific message delivery, but also on the overall success of a career. In this paper, some of the barriers to effective business communication are discussed, with a few examples of how they affect the process.
With all the five weeks readings, discussion and media assignments would like to finalize them and say that both maxims and functionalism are set of ideas trying to provide for human society and how it operates (Coakley 2004). Marxism and functionalism are both related to a structural view of sociology. And according to Giddens (2001) who observe patterns of behavior within society that shapes the individual and this structural view of society given to the Marco perceive of sociology and henceforth looks at the society as a whole within it big-measure principles like family, education, religion as well as historical process of social life been examined interdependent social intuitions (Dunning, 2009).
Parent involvement affects all aspects of a child’s education. Parents must be involved as teachers, learners, supporters, and advocates of their child’s learning (Hopkings). Studies show that kids who know that their parents are involved and interested tend to take more responsibility for their own learning and behavior. Schoolwork and grades improve. Work habits improve. Less work is handed in late. Fewer referrals for behavior problems are made. Attendance increases, and fewer kids show up late for class (Hopkings). With all this information documented it shows the true importance of parent involvement in education. The more involved the parents are, the better off each child will be. So when you become a parent, get involved in your child’s education!
The environment contributes resources to the organisation only if the organisation returns desired goods and services to it.