Subordinates’ Predispositions toward Communication and Perceptions of Distance and Satisfaction in Relationships with Supervisors

• In Event: Touch and Distancing in Professional and Applied Contexts

Abstract

In this study, 314 students enrolled in a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at a medium-size university in the eastern United States were asked to fill out the subordinate form of the survey. Participants held positions considered middle management or higher. Seventy-five percent were employed in at least in Fortune 500 corporations, while 22% were employed in firms with 100 to 200 employees. Three percent of the participants worked in corporations employing 35 to 90 workers. Participants filling out the subordinate form ranged in age from 22 to 56 (M = 31.4), and had three to thirty-two years of work experience (M = 8.7).
The students were asked to request that the person to whom they reported fill out the supervisor form. Self-addressed envelopes were provided, and supervisors returned 172 completed surveys directly to the researchers. Supervisors ranged in age from 26 to 64 (M = 38.3), had from six to forty-seven years work experience (M = 17.7).
In this study, 314 subordinates and 172 supervisors (75% of the participants were from Fortune 500 corporations) filled out instruments to survey compulsive communication, communication apprehension (CA), situational apprehension, nonverbal relational distance, communication satisfaction, and job satisfaction.
Results indicate that supervisors who are high in CA are also high in situational apprehension when communicating with specific subordinates. They perceive that subordinates try to be domineering, and show negative emotional responses, less intimacy nonverbally, and are less immediate. Supervisors high in CA are less satisfied with their communication with subordinates, and have lower job satisfaction than those who report low or moderate CA. Supervisors who score higher on the compulsive communication measure report that subordinates show low dominance through their nonverbal behaviors, positive nonverbal emotional responses, more intimacy, and higher nonverbal immediacy. Compulsive communication is significantly related to supervisors’ satisfaction when communicating with subordinates, and satisfaction with their subordinates and their jobs.
Subordinates who are high in CA also experience high situational apprehension when communicating with their supervisors. They also perceive that their supervisors are more domineering and express negative emotions nonverbally, nonverbally communicate less intimacy, and are less immediate. Communication with supervisors is less satisfactory, and they are less satisfied with their supervisors and their jobs. Those scoring high in compulsive communication perceive more positive relational communication (dominance, emotion, intimacy, and immediacy), and are more satisfied with their supervisors’ communication, their supervisors generally, and with their jobs.

Authors

• Jerry Allen, Univ of New Haven

• Kathleen Mills Long, West Virginia Wesleyan College

• Eun-A Park, University of New Haven

• Ben Judd, Univ of New Haven