The Concept of Communication Style

The concept of communication style has been defined by Rober Norton as
"the way one verbally, nonverbally, and para verbally interacts to signal how
literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered, or
understood"(1996.p.229) In this, Norton has identified nine communicator styles.
A persons style may be dominant, dramatic, contentious, animated ,impression
leaving, relaxed, open, or friendly. These dimensions measure how you interact
in various situations. For example, if I speak frequently and try to control the
converstaion, you might assume that I am dominant in my communicator style.
In determining my own commuication style I had a questionnaire completed
by both a friend, acquaintance , as well as completing one myself. The friend
that I chose was my room mate Ryan Seslow. . Ryan and I have been friends since
highschool so he knows me very well. The person that I chose to complete the
acquaintance section was my friend Leslie Margasak. Leslie is my girlfriends
roommate therefore our communication is somewhat limited. Through the following
research and analysis I have created a table (Table:1) that shows the means for
my friend aquaitance, and myself.
The summaries and findings in which I calculated provided me with
insight of my dominant yet friendly communication style. It also provided me
with a different perspective as to how other people interpret my communication
habits. For example, the mean for myself on the category "relaxed" scored a 1.3.
However, my friends mean was 3.1 and my acquaintance was 5.1. Through the text
of Interpersonal Communication, I was able to determine that this
fluctuation has to do with the self concept theory. "Self -concept is defined
as each person's own subjective view or image of him or herself as a person"
(tremont p.213) In my opinion I do not see myself as relaxed(1.3), but my friend
does as well as acquaintance. I do not see as relaxed as the others indicated
in the table. Usually I feel rather more stressed and even a little nervous
rather than relaxed when communicating.
One calculation in which which I noticed to have simmialr realuts was
based on the means for being dramtic. I scored high in this category on all
three surveys.(see table:1) When a person is classified as dramatic it refers
that the person "likes to act out the point physically and vocally. Tells jokes
and stories and often eaggerates to make the point.Speech tends to be
picturesque" .(willmont,p.230) In my opinion this is an acurate calculation.
This is a characterisitic of my communication stly which is both dramatic and
firendly. The dramtic side is often seen when I choose to tell a story or when I
am in confilct.
There were other noticeable simmilarities which were calculated about my
communication style, For example, on "dominant" category the means were all
relatively high marks. A dominant person means the person "tends to come on
strong, take control of social situations, speak frequently, and otherwise
control conversations" (Tremont,p.121) An example of this could be seen through
my one-up messages. These are messages which " indicate a desire to take control
or limit the action of others"(tremont,P.121). Through my verbal and nonverbal
cues I seem to signal to people that I want to take control. This is evident in
alll three scores.
Other simmilarities of this analysis were also found in the sub category
"perception" Tese simmilaritie were between my friend and aquaitance. The mean
in this are all relatively high and although i scored high in this category
myself I was surprised that my score was lower than that of Ryan and Leslie.
Impression leaving can be explianed as "a person who repeatedly turns a clever
phrase or states his/her observations in offbeat ways"(Willmont,p.229) Through
this estimation i can see that my dramatic styles of communication are do leave
a strong impact and effect on people.
In contrast, there are also noticeable clusters of differences that i
noticed. The most noticeable difference between means was on the category
"relax" I scored myself relativel low and both Ryan and Leslie scored me low in
this means. Relaxed is defined as "calm and collected durring interactin,
especially under pressure. The rhythym and flow of speech is rarely affected by
feelings of nrevousness"(ilmont,p.230) Through this analysis it is obvious that
I see myself as nervous in contrast as to how my peers percieve me. This trend
of fluctuaion of means sis also evident in the categoryopen. Here, I scored
myself a low means while Ryan and Lesly gave me highe scores.
Communication is one of the most intricate and under looked areas of
human beings. By completing this assignment I learned a great deatil about my
self and how other percieve me. Though I do feel that I am an a good
communicator I now realize what aspects of my communications skill that I need
to fix. The areas I would like to change are to tr7y to be more open with others.
I will attempt to do so by staying relaxed. I scored a relatively low mean in
the openess category and this is an area I would like to change. The means
showed that I am not open nor am I percieved to be a very open person.
Overall my communication style is very dominant, dramatic and friendly.
Howvevr, despite this though Im not a very open person. I feel that my
communication style does allow me to get people to listen to me closely becayse
of my dramatics or ability to tell srotires in vivid detail and picturesqe. I
am animated and expressive when I feel the need to emphasize a point or
statement. This also helps my communication confidence since I know now that
what I say often does an considerable impact on those who I am communicating
with.
In conclusion I am very pleased with the dataz which I recorded. I now
understand my communciation style better yet at the same time have located areas
in which I can begin to improve on. Through this assignment I learned a great
deal about how I communcate as well as how others percieve my communication
style.