Negative nonverbal communication: Retaliation, sabotage, theft, and violence in the workplace.

摘要

This study investigated the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies and behaviors employed by individuals in the workplace as outward representations of their frustration and emotions. This study is focused on workplace behaviors in the Blair and Centre County areas of Pennsylvania during the year 2000. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study determined what communicative strategies individuals chose in order to alleviate internalized negative emotions and frustration when interacting with employers. The study also identified factors respondents felt contributed to the formation of negative emotions and frustration that affected personal conceptions of the self and productivity in the workplace.; The quantitative data analysis failed to uncover very many statistically significant correlations among the independent variables of sex, age, race, education level, income, and time on the job when analyzed against dependent variables such as anger, employer commitment, indifference, deception, lying, stealing, hostages, face saving, depression, blame, violence, and sabotage. However, the qualitative data analysis provided rich information on work-related behaviors that are manifested through negative emotion and frustration.; The analysis of the factors that determined choice of communication strategy revealed: (1) the lack of communication and miscommunication encountered in interpersonal direct communication attempts by employees to employers, (2) perceptions of employee and employer competence in communication, (3) communication with coworkers, (4) emotional expression via competence maintenance, and (5) types of verbal and nonverbal communication expression.; Suggestions regarding the alleviation of negative workplace communication strategies were presented, and the implications of these findings were discussed with respect to human motivation theories and culturally-based rational behavior with the desire of finding means to reduce the ever increasing rate of workplace violence prevalent in the United States.