ENGL307

Week 3
Non-verbal communication
 Outline
• Non-verbal Communication
• Potential problems associated with non-verbal
codes
• Identify and evaluate the effectiveness of financial
and statistical graphics used in organisational
reports
• Consider cross-cultural issues related to non-
verbal communication practices
• Company logo and corporate identity
 Metacommunication

• Communication is more than just verbal…

• Nonverbal communication
• Words account for only 7% of emotional impact of a
message
• Voice tones- 38%
• Facial Expressions- 55%

Gholipour A. 2006. Organizational Behavior. University of Tehran.

 Definition
• Non-verbal forms of communication is a
term that refers to any way in which we
communicate our ideas, opinions and
feelings with each other that does not
involve the use of written or spoken
words.
• For example, what would an interview
panel think of
1. a smiling, smartly dressed candidate?
2. a candidate who has an untidy appearance and
does not make eye contact?
 Using ‘pictures’

• In some situations, visual images can

replace written or spoken words entirely >
to overcome context-specific barriers to
communication, meet the needs of the
environment in which they are used. (e.g.
signs used in airport terminals)
 Examples of visual images/gesture at
work
• To reinforce written or spoken words
• A finance director giving a presentation to City
analysts uses bar graphs and pie charts to display
the raw data from a complex profit forecast.
• A skilled conference speaker uses an outstretched
arm gesture to make audience feel more directly
involved in the presentation
 Categorising non-verbal communication in
organisations
Human Practical examples
(primarily
visual)
Eye contact Interviewee does not look at interviewer while
speaking
Facial expression Negotiator smiles at representative of other party

Gesture Chief executive fold arms during press briefing

Posture Team members lean forward during discussion

around a table
Personal distance Manager puts arm around employee’s shoulders
and touch
Personal Web design consultant arrives at company offices
appearance in casual clothes
 Human signals:
some terminologies
• Oculesics: eye contact and eye behaviour,
gaze

• Kinesics: facial expression, gesture and

posture

• Proxemics: personal distance, use of space

and touch
 Categorising non-verbal communication in
organisations

Manufactured Practical examples

(primarily visual)
Signs and symbols Corporate logo is redesigned
following acquisition
Representational images Photos of all employees placed
on the intranet
Physical appearance and Offices re-painted in bright
space colours, with open-plan layout

Use of other
senses
Hearing World music played by retail centre
Smell Hospital uses essential oils to counter
disinfectant smell
Touch Thick embossed card covers for
Potential benefits of non-verbal communication in
organisations

1. Rapid communication of
messages

2. Simplification of complex
messages

3. Securing audience attention (i.e.

Newspapers, advertisements,
brochures etc)

4. Persuading and motivating

5. Making messages memorable

(visual hook)
 1. Rapid Communication of
messages
• Manufactured signs e.g. road signs

Winding road ahead, begins with a curve to the right

The road ahead, curves sharply left, then right

Danger! Vicinity of school, kindergarten, or

playground. Children are likely to run into traffic
lanes.
 Simplification of
complex messages

IKEA instructions leaflet:

Ensures that the same
instructions can be
readily understood by the
company’s customers,
whether they are French,
Chinese, Italian or British
 2. Simplification of complex messages

• Showing conceptual or spatial relationships

 3. Securing audience
attention
• Dramatic or unexpected images in
advertisements
 4. Persuading and
motivating
• Reinforce a verbal message, adding to its
persuasive power
• Bank manager is likely to give your financing request a
more sympathetic hearing if you arrive smartly-
dressed

• Would you pick the skillfully branded, quality-packaged

product or one that looks cheap, cluttered and lacks
valuable information, even though both products
perform the same function?
 5. Making messages memorable (visual
hook)

The Nike "Swoosh" is a design created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson,

a graphic design student at Portland State University.

Nike Ultimate Slide

Men's Sandal

Slippers provided by a hotel in Xiamen, China

Potential problems with visual media in
organisations
 Inconsistency – a particular ‘picture’ may
not be consistent with other aspects of the
message that is being sent (e.g.
contradictory text and images).
 Inherent unsuitability – it may not be
suitable for the receiver that the sender is
trying to reach (e.g. offensive images).
 Context-related meaning – its meaning may
be altered according to the context in which
it is being received (cultural variation).
 Potential problems
with visual media
1. Inconsistency
a particular ‘picture’ may not be
consistent with other aspects of
the message that is being sent
(e.g. contradictory text and
images).
 Potential problems
with visual media
2. Inherent
unsuitability
it may not be suitable for the receiver
that the sender is trying to reach (e.g.
cliché; offensive images).
These images are so over-used and are less likely
To attract attention

Image stereotypes
 Potential problems
with visual media
3. Context-related meaning
its meaning may be altered according to the context in which it
is being received (cultural variation).
E,g, meaning of eye-contact in different cultures

You are sitting in a presentation on the subject

of marketing strategy in an international
consulting firm. The presenter decides to ‘liven
up’ one of the slides by adding the image of a
military jet firing air-to-surface missiles. The
accompanying text reads, ‘Striking our target
market’. What are the varying effects,
depending on the background of the audience?
 Presenting data visually in
organisations
• tables
• pie charts
• bar charts
• line graphs
• maps
• flowcharts
 Table
To present individual, exact values
 Pie chart
To show frequency or distribution of parts of a whole

Pie chart with exploded segment

 Line graph and bar
chart
• To show relationships between variables over time
• To compare two or more sets of data
Bar charts (compare values of different items)
Bar charts
 Histograms

• Histograms are
sometimes confused
with bar charts

• Continuous data set

• Eg
• Frequency distribution of
mortality rates by age of
population (Histogram)
• Comparison of mortality
rates in five different
countries (Bar chart)
 Map
To show geographic relationships or comparisons

A map illustrating regional data

 Flowchart
To illustrate processes or procedures
 Selecting the Right Visual
(1)
You are preparing the annual report for your company.
What is the appropriate visual (a table, a pie chart, a bar chart,
a line graph, a map, or a flowchart) to illustrate each of the
following types of information?

1. Data on annual sales for the past 20 years.

2. Comparison of the sales, product by product

(there are four different products), for this year
and last year.
Organisational identity

• …can be defined as “the sum of all methods

an organisation uses, willingly and
unwillingly, to identify itself to its publics.
This is based on an organisation’s
philosophy (goals, vision, mission), history,
people and its aesthetic expression.”
• Van Riel (1995: 27) ‘the self-portrayal of an
organisation, i.e. the cues or signals it offers
via its behaviour, communication and
symbolism’.
 Aim of a corporate
identity
Internal goals:
• Raising motivation and morale
• Rationalisation and cost reduction
• Inspiring confidence among the external
target publics
• Acknowledging the vital role of the customer
• Acknowledging the vital role of financial
target groups
 The components of
identity strategy

• Organisational behaviour
• Visual identity
• Organistaional
communications
 Organisational
behaviour
How an organisations interacts with its
• employees

• customers

• financial stakeholders
Happy??
• government and society
 Vision/mission
A vision or mission contributes to the organisation’s
goals in a variety of ways:
• It informs staff about the desired values and norms of the
organisation.
• It contributes to the development of specific guidelines for
employees and their work
• It supports management in providing appropriate and
systematic leadership for the organisation.
• It can show the individual employee how he or she can
contribute through their own behaviour to the
achievement of the organisation's goals.
• A vision or mission is also of external value as it defines
how an organisation perceives itself.
 Vision / mission

• It supports management in providing appropriate

and systematic leadership for the organisation.

• It can show the individual employee how he or

she can contribute through their own behaviour
to the achievement of the organisation's goals.

• A vision or mission is also of external value as it

defines how an organisation perceives itself.
 Example: Starbucks

http://www.starbucks.com/blog/so-who-is-the-siren
Mission statement:
http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement
 Visual identity or
corporate design
• It’s the visual representation of an
organisation’s identity

• 'The visual style of a company influences its

place in the market, and how the company's
goals are made visible in its design and
behaviour.' (Olins, 1989).
 Organisational/
Corporate design
includes various elements

• Logo

• Colours

• Typefaces for stationary and slogans

Visual aspects of organisational identity

The most obvious elements are

corporate symbols and logos
• Shell, an Anglo-Dutch petrochemicals company, also
has a long established visual identity. Shell’s
distinctive symbol, also represented in the company
name, was the choice of its founder, Marcus Samuel.
It is a reference to his father’s previous business
activities, which included trading seashells in mim-19
century London. Shell’s use of red in its colour
scheme dates back to a tactical decision in the 1890s,
when the company needed to differentiate its oil
containers from the blue tins used by its international
rival, Standard Oil.
 Logo

Its aim is to

'encapsulate in a simple memorable form

the central attribute or attributes of an
organisation [and to] trigger appropriate
associations and responses' (Bromley,
1993: 158)
Characteristics of a
logo
• It attracts attention and works as a
signpost.
• It is informative and memorable.
• It is of aesthetic value that doesn't
date easily.
• It can easily be adapted to a
variety of contexts and frameworks
 Colour
• Another design element that can be used for quick
identification purposes

• Red

colour of Coca-Cola

• Blue

Boots

• Green:

Marks & Spencer

Logos, Colours & Typefaces

1880s 2005
 Typefaces

• The use of a particular typeface can

also express identity through the use
of conservative typefaces such as
Courier or Times or more innovative
designs such as Avant Garde.
• However, it is crucial to consider the
lifecycle of style elements and the
costs involved should they date
quickly.
• The British Airways logo was
designed in 1997 by Newell
& Sorrell.

• The colours are blue

(Pantone 281) and red
(Pantone 485). The
additional colour is grey
(Pantone 877).

• British Airways uses its

proprietary typefaces Mylius British airways brand guidelines:
Sans and Mylius Serif, both http://www.lime-management.com/
designed by Rodney Mylius app_themes/limemanagementuk/resources/
at Newell & Sorrell. brand_guidelines.pdf
 Design process -
summary
• All style elements need to be
carefully considered, tested and
evaluated on an on-going basis.

• Once the house-style is decided, a

house-style manual will be developed
that covers all possible uses of style
elements and acts as a reference-
guide for employees.
 Design process
• As Bromley points out: 'The design process
can be sophisticated, comprehensive and
expensive. Complex organisations need to
co-ordinate design proposals with corporate
policies and practices. This maximises the
benefits of their visual identity because the
visual identity has to work effectively across
divisions within the company, across
products, across communications
(stationery and packaging), across cultures
and over a considerable period.' (Bromley,
1993: 159)
Summary
 Organisations make use of a wide range of
non-verbal signals, including visual images.
 There are many potential advantages of
non-verbal encoding: messages are quickly
assimilated; complex content can be
simplified; the attention of an audience can
be caught and messages can be more
memorable. In addition, images are often
powerful persuaders and motivators.
Summary (continued)
 The most common problems arise when pictures
of all kinds are used carelessly (i.e. images are
either inconsistent, inherently unsuitable or
inappropriate in a particular context).
 Graphs and charts can be used to present data

in more informative and appealing ways.

However, it is important to use the most
appropriate type and format, ensuring that you
communicate a clear and undistorted impression
of the underlying figures.
 Further reading

Sauders et al. (2003) include more

straightforward practical advice on presenting
statistical data graphically

Olins (1989, 2000, 2003) is a key source on

elements of visual identity and its relationship
to corporate image, from a leading
practitioner.
 References
• Olins, W. (1989) Corporate identity: making business
strategy visible through design. Thames & Hudson,
London.
• Olins, W. (2000) Trading identities: why countries and
companies are taking on each others roles. Foreign
Policy Centre, London.
• Olins, W. (2003) On brand. Thames & Hudson,
London.
• Sauders, M. N. K., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003)
Research methods for business students (3rd edn.) FT
Prentice Hall, Harlow.