COM00207 Assignment cover sheet

Please complete all of the following details and then make this sheet the first page of your
assignment. Do not send this cover sheet as a separate document.
Your essay must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx).
DO NOT submit as text documents (.rtf) or PDF.

Introduction:

This essay is going to be analysing an observed unscripted communication event through

application of two communication concepts. The purpose of this essay is to argue what
useful insights are gained through analysing the observed communication event through
applying the two communication concepts.

The event observed occurred between two people but had a few bystanders including
myself, the location at which this happened was outside waiting in line at the Services NSW
building in Coffs Harbour. Whilst standing in line at markers placed on the ground to aid
with social distancing this interaction between a security guard and another patron
occurred. The patron was offered hand sanitiser by the security person and they began
conversing about the restrictions in place because of COVID-19, the security person was
visibly uninterested (use of posture and eye contact to do so) by this and politely asked the
patron to move along as they were holding up the line, this was to end the conversation.

The concepts that are being used to analyse the observed communication event are
‘oculesics (eye contact)’ (Lawson et al. 2019, p. 397) and ‘posture’ (Lawson et al. 2019, p.
397). I theorise that through using the concepts of oculesics and posture in analysis will
enhance understanding of the dynamics of communication events by providing insight into
bodily language through both eye contact and body stance.

First Paragraph:

The use of oculesics in the analysis of the communication event will help to understand
both the dynamics of the event and possibly provide useful insights into better
communication techniques. According to Chandler and Munday (2011), Oculesics is the
study of the communicative role of the eyes in nonverbal communication. In the observed
communication event, the security guard used excessive eye contact towards the patron to
make them feel uncomfortable and want to exit the interaction, this worked surprisingly
well and showed dominance in the communication event over the patron. According to
Colman (2015), Eye contact is the event of two people simultaneously gazing at each other
in the vicinity of each other's eyes. Oculesics is displayed very well in this interaction and
after the patron had stopped talking from being stared at the security guard asked the
patron to move along, the patron seeming to be glad to do so. The concept of Oculesics
allowed me to gain insight into the dynamics of the observed communication event, this
was achieved by myself visually seeing how important and powerful the role of eyes in
communication is and how other people can be made to feel comfortable or otherwise.
Using the concept of Oculesics to analyse the communication event has helped provide me
with a much better understanding of the dynamics of the event and given insight into the
possible applications of oculesics in future communications.

Second Paragraph:
The use of posture in the further analysis of the communication event will aid in the
understanding of the dynamics of the event and just like with oculesics it might also
provide useful insights into better communication techniques. According to Chandler and
Munday (2020), Posture is the bodily positions of individuals, Posture is typically studied as
an indicator of attention or involvement. During the observed communication event the
security guard remained as tall as possible with a straight back and tried as hard as possible
to be an imposing figure as to get the patron to be somewhat intimidated and want to end
the interaction, this coupled with the concept of oculesics mentioned in the prior
paragraph worked seemingly very effectively. Using posture, the security guard was not
only able to seem intimidating but also uninterested in what the patron had to say as the
way the guard was postured made it look like they were uninterested. This has helped give
insight into how something as simple as posture can be so effective in communication, the
applications of this technique and others of the posture concept could prove useful in
future communication events.

Concluding paragraph:

My thesis was that through using the concepts of oculesics and posture in analysis will
enhance understanding of the dynamics of communication events by providing insight into
bodily language through both eye contact and body stance. I feel that I have proved this
thesis as my understanding of the dynamics of communication events has been expanded
upon using the concepts of oculesics and posture in analysis of the observed event. My
insight into the real-world applications and usefulness of these concepts and techniques
within has been greatly improved on and I would feel confident if I had to apply them. My
understanding of the communication event has been expanded greatly as exactly what the
security guard was trying to do and how they achieved that is now clear, it was made
evident through the analysis that the guard was trying to avoid a conversation with the
patron and brought it so a stop in a non-confrontational manner. In conclusion I have
gained a few insights into the uses and effectiveness of both oculesics and posture and
believe both to be highly effective if utilised well.

Reference List:

 Chandler, D, Munday, R 2011, A dictionary of media and communication, 1 st edn,

Oxford university press, Oxford, UK

 Chandler, D, Munday, R 2020, A dictionary of media and communication, 3rd edn,

Oxford university press, Oxford, UK

 Colman, A 2015, A dictionary of psychology, 4th edn, Oxford university press,

Oxford, UK

 Lawson, C, Gill, R, Feekery, A, Witsel, M 2019, Communication skills for business

professionals, 2nd edn, Cambridge university press, Cambridge, UK

 Southern Cross University 2020, Communication in organisations unit information

guide, SCU school of business and tourism, 9/4/2020,
 https://learn.scu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/institution/courseware/uig/COM00207-
2020-1_UIG.html.

 Southern Cross University 2019, Communication in organisations study guide, SCU

school of business and tourism, 9/4/2020,
https://learn.scu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/institution/courseware/study_guide/com002
07/index.html