Chapter 10: Interpersonal Workplace Communication
Learning Objectives
1. Define professional behaviour according to employer, customer, coworker, and other stakeholder expectations.
2. Explain the importance of ethics as part of the persuasion process.
3. Define and provide examples of sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as strategies for how to eliminate it.
4. Identify and provide examples of eight common fallacies in persuasive speaking.
5. Plan and deliver short, organized spoken messages and oral reports tailored to specific audiences and purposes.
i. Use effective and engaging language and non-verbal behaviours.
ii. Use verbal and nonverbal techniques to enhance spoken messages.
From the moment we started considering what communication skills employers desire (see §1.1.2 above) onwards throughout this guide, we’ve been examining aspects of professional behaviour. A recurring theme has been the importance of being nice. The logic is that, if you’re nice and the people you work with and for like you because they feel that they can trust you and are productive when you collaborate with them, you’ll keep your job and be presented with attractive new opportunities. In this section we’ll look closer at behaviours that will get you liked and open doors for you.
Professionalism, Etiquette, and Ethical Behaviour Topics
- 10.2.1: Professional Behaviour in the Workplace
- 10.2.2: Business Etiquette
- 10.2.3: Respectful Workplaces in the #MeToo Era
- 10.2.4: Speaking Ethically and Avoiding Fallacies
10.2.1: Professional Behaviour in the Workplace
We’ve said from the beginning that professional communication must always cater to the audience. This is true especially in face-to-face interactions where, unlike with written communication, you can assess audience reaction in real time and adjust your message accordingly. This places the responsibility of behaving professionally in the workplace solely on you. When we speak of professional behaviour, we mean the following aspects that generally fall under the banner of soft skills:
- Civility
- Social Intelligence
- Emotional Intelligence
- Social Graces
We’ll consider these aspects in more detail throughout this subsection, but first we’ll spend some time on the personality traits of successful professionals.
We must be careful with how we define success when we speak of personality, however. Those who lack the soft skills associated with the above aspects are difficult to work with and are usually demoted or fired. In rare instances, cruel, selfish, arrogant, narcissistic, or sociopathic people rise to positions of power through a combination of enablers tolerating or even rewarding their anti-social behaviour and their own lying, cheating, and bullying. This is an unfortunate reality that’s difficult to watch, but it’s important that the rest of us avoid being enablers. It’s also important that we don’t let their bad example lead us into thinking that such behaviour is right. It isn’t, and the pro