Overview
This Discussion Post #4 and classmate response is due Monday, April 29th by 11:59pm.
GENDER:
According to Chapter 11's discussion on gender, women and men have very different cultural expectations when it comes to nonverbal communication. Some of these expectations are manifested as follows: women may have to meet higher attractiveness standards to be seen as competent or credible compared to men; as Amy Cuddy indicates in her TedTalk, her women students tend to be the ones shrinking in on themselves while the men students tend to spread out and take up more space, so too in the business world at large; as we've established in our discussions on facial behavior, there's more of a smile imperative for women than for men; and finally, women's self-concept seems to promote the sharing of only positive feelings publicly. Students in previous classes have contended that this dichotomy is overblown. Things have changed!
As posited in the Chapter 11 ppt, though it seems the divide between men's and women's behavior expectations has narrowed, I think societal bias still exists for women to play the "supportive" role and men to play the " assertive" role.
QUESTION #1: Consider the nonverbal expectations placed on you growing up; were you expected to be "supportive" or "assertive" because you were born male or female? What were these NONVERBAL expectations placed on you? How did these expectations change as you got older, how not? What are the burdens for both women and men living under such expectations?
WORKPLACE:
Gender influences also follow us into the workplace. Your book points out that though we like to think we are all equal, we actually know that that's not the case. Just think about who has more legitimate/reward power in a supervisor-subordinate relationship. Because "the dominant or higher status person can control the nonverbal codes to assure they remain the more powerful…communication between supervisor and subordinate will be influenced in a negative way" (pp. 248-249). The greater the status differential between supervisor and subordinate, the less effective the communication. Therefore, reducing the status differential can have positive effects. One way to do this is to increase liking and trust between supervisors and subordinates through the use of nonverbal immediacy. (I told you the idea of "immediacy" cues would return in our discussion). Your text mentions as subordinates, we want supervisors who are: sensitive, warm, accepting, responsive, and "immediate." Remember immediacy means being present in the relationship—"the degree of perceived physical or psychological closeness between two people" (p. 263).
QUESTION #2: In light of the behaviors subordinates want to see from their supervisors, how might these expectations be met NONVERBALLY by a supervisor? (i.e. what could they do to appear more sensitive, warm, etc.). How might gender impact nonverbal choices by the supervisor? What nonverbal behaviors might be seen as taboo or lead to problems if misinterpreted?