What are the uses and limitations of non-verbal communication in a specific job?
In this essay I propose to look at the uses and limitations that NVC places on a funeral directors when interacting. There are many limitations on individual careers yet when a specific job requires a certain amount careful monitoring of interpersonal communication things can get difficult!
The job without question uses a lot of NVC. The families are not only aware of the words, but of the manner in which they are spoken and what they visually detect from body language and appearance. NVC places a great deal of limitations on their job. Hypothetically, take a client who is very distressed, arms folded across their chest and sat as far away as possible. You can instantly tell you are going to receive limited responses. Limitations on the job in a lot of respects depend on the family. The job is based on communication and to communicate effectively there has to be open channels of communication. If there is no verbal communication you can not guess what clients want. Without verbal communication nothing can be established. Other limitations of NVC extend to the style in which someone speaks (prosody) paralanguage (tempo, volume, pitch.) Funeral directors have to interact with clients with a genuinely caring attitude and with a good level of empathy. Most are in the position of having little or no professional training with the public. Another limitation is how your present yourself. They must appear formal, smart and have an air of professionalism; they should not be unkempt, uncaring or lacking in knowledge. People judge one another on how they present themselves and what signals they give out. For instance a simple action of leaning closer into someone can be associated with trying to make someone feel at ease, but it may also have the opposite effect, and taken as invading someone else’s interpersonal space. It is essential that both client and funeral director are at ease and comfortable with one another.
