Part 8 (1/2)

CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN FOR BUSINESS?

The fact that body communication is in part culture-specific ht with potential probleyle (1993) has noted that Westerners often find interacting with the japanese difficult because they are bewildered by the japanese people's blank facial expressions and unexpected bursts of laughter Northern Europeans find that Southern Europeans (and North Africans) stand too close to each other and touch too much In one celebrated study, an observer watched how many times couples touched each other in restaurants: in Puerto Rico, it was 180 times per hour; in Paris, 110 times per hour; but in London couples did not touch each other at all

Cross-cultural body coht with problems hence the many books on protocol, custoions The lesson is often that one country's good reeting and the giving of gifts are all very culture-bound and require a knowledge of correct behavior Gestures too do not travel: thuer in a circle denotes OK in the USA, zero in France, esture incarries s in japan, but nowhere else Certainly, the ”do's” and taboos of body communication in international business can lead to

It is routine practice now for e courses before they are despatched on business trips to remote parts of the world A few reasons for their popularity are listed below They help to:Appreciate the local mindset

Understand local business practices

Learn the ”don'ts” and taboos

Be aware of the differences between the visitor and the host country

Fons Trompenaars, a faement, noted that in order to succeed in international business, cultural differences need to be recognized, gain respect and achieve reconciliation While learning the verbal language of another culture is a huge advantage for communication in that culture, it is equally ie and be aware of the cross-cultural variations in body language to beco and competent communicator in business

5

LYING AND DECEPTION: REVEALING AND CONCEALING INFORMATION

More than anything else, business people hope to detect the real, infallible truth and catch liars by carefully analyzing the body language of others In sales and negotiations, in business beauty parades and in interviews, people conceal and reveal, bluff and bluster, fabricate and exaggerate We use all sorts of eupheement, distortion Most people believe that the body always betrays the mind, that the torso leaks the whole truth, and that the trained and perceptive observer can ”spot the 'porkie pie' (a lie) a e, stealing and whistle-blowing at work, almost by definition involve deception of one sort or another This chapter will look at the difficult, but important, business of the nonverbal detection of deception How easy and reliable is it to spot if people are lying? Are some people simply better liars and liar-spotters than others? And what of the conscience-free, psychopathic liars can they ever be detected? What are the best things to look for the sure signs of lying?

Lying is, and will always be, a hot topic It is at the centre of ethical and moral codes It is essentially a false communication that benefits the communicator It is usually deliberate anda liar, as opposed to occasionally telling a lie is serious business There is a bewildering array of words and concepts that deal with those who don't quite tell the full truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth Fibs, fabrications, falsehoods and fudgings Politicians ”spin” the facts to the public Organizations use public relations gurus to ”sex up” products, es and services Individuals, as part of daily intercourse and to save es directly or indirectly (possibly through eupheative as opposed to positive feedback is dealt with at work

One reason why the public is as well (or badly) inforical issues is the number of popular articles on the topic Some are based on intervieith authors, others on a sort of popularized precis of a book review

Popular literature is full of advice on how to lie Consider the following list of suggestions which can be often found in lifestyle esture or manipulate objects unless necessary

2 Think ahead and prepare a plausible alibi Do not over-rehearse orunconventional words that are out of your ordinary vocabulary

3 Appear tired and disinterested Give the i absurd questions

4 Seee challenging questions Say ”I do not know” instead of ”I do not remember”

6 Appear irritable and bad-tempered: you are clearly insulted by the false accusations

7 Try not to touch your face If you do it by accident, cover up face with a fake yawn

8 Do not cross your arood, steady eye contact

10 Try to believe what you are saying is actually true

As we shall see, so Indeed, these articles reinforce ignorance and explain why people are such poor lie-detectors themselves

Verbal cluesResponse latency the ti of the response Liars take longer They hesitate uistic distancing not saying ”I”, ”he” or ”she”, but talking in the abstract even when recalling incidents in which he or she was involved

Slow but uneven speech the individual tries to think while speaking but gets caught out He or she nificant It is the change in pace in response to a particular question that gives a clue that soerness to fill silences to keep talking when it is unnecessary Liars overcons of insubordination as if caught out Uncomfortable hat are often quite short pauses

Tooat the end of a reply, it rises, as in a question It may sound like ”Do you believearound tootoo much rather than too little eye contact, as liars tend to overcoaze so they ”prove they are not lying” by a lot of lookingbut ”a tad too much”

Micro-expressions or flickers of expressions of surprise, hurt, anger These are difficult to see, though, unless the fraestures touching his or her own face and upper body

An increase in stuttering, slurring and, of course, ”Freudian slips” Generally an increase in speech errors

A loss of resonance in the voice it becomes flatter, less deep, more monotonous

Forbetween lying and anxiety The well-trained and arrogant liar may thus look innocent, while the truthful but nervous witness may look like a liar The fast, nervous tics of the latter ns of insubordination as if they have been caught

We know that people prefer, and are better at, concealet than to distort the truth Falsification s that are not true It is self-evidently s did not happen at all rather than to invent a ”new story” It is also true that people do haveaboutee,fear and despair Recounting a story of events fifty years ago, some people cannot suppress their e voice Thethe activity, the more likely it is that people in all walks of life will have difficulty in disguising the truth

Regular and sophisticated liars have found the besthas nues: it is an easy and natural expression to make voluntarily; it is polite; but, most importantly, it conceals opposite emotions (dread, fear, anxiety)

Liars tend to be htful and involved in their choice and use of words They can rehearse, practice and become word perfect They are also very conscious of their facial expressions during the lying episodes But it is the voice and body that perhaps give most away, and therefore the cues to watch to catch both the naive and the sophisticated People are betrayed by their words if they are careless, if they ue, or an emotional tirade when the words pour, rather than slip, out We also know that there are various vocal indexes of deceit relating to lying pauses, hesitations and tone and pitch of voice

Finally, there are a nuestures, emblems, illustrations and estures with precise s: illustrations are movements that accentuate speech: , rubbing, holding, pinching, picking, scratching The autonoes with e, blushi+ng, pupil dilation, breathing pattern, frequency of sing, all of which are difficult to inhibit These changes are the basis of the lie detector/polygraph, asin a previous chapter

DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIE

There are different types of lie First, there is the white, social, ”har, expedient lie: this is supposed to result fro another person's feelings It is thought of as common and even beneficial and is unlikely to cause the teller embarrassment For many, white lies do not count as lies and are even considered a sign of social skill

Second, there is the professional, entertaining, necessary, sales that distorts or oood business practice but that really depends on whether one is the buyer or the seller Certainly a case can bepatients or subordinates the seriousness of a situation, if this would onlythe very unhappy provenance of a particular product for example, a car that has been in a major crash may be considered a serious lie of omission