Discuss how communication can be distorted and misunderstood.
volume, and inflection of the voice; gestures of the shoulders, arms, hands, or fingers; body pos- ture and position; dress and appearance; timing; and environment.
Nonverbal communication is more powerful than the words one speaks and can distort the meaning of the spoken words. When a verbal message is incongruent with the nonverbal message, the recipient has difficulty interpreting the intended meaning; this results in intrasender conflict. For example, a manager who states, “Come talk to me anytime,” but keeps on typing at the keyboard while you talk, sends a conflicting message to the staff. Intersender conflict occurs when a person receives two conflicting messages from differing sources. For example, the risk manager may en- courage a nurse to report medication errors, but the nurse manager follows up with discipline over the error. The nurse is caught between conflicting messages from the two managers.