What Is a Social Style? Describe the Four Social Styles

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The Answer is A social style is a person's dominant pattern of interpersonal behaviors and communication styles.Although everyone has a dominant social style,the ability to flexibly adopt different styles to match the needs of different situations increases interpersonal effectiveness.There are four social styles,shown in Figure 16-1,none of which is inherently better than any other.Each style is effective when implemented well and appropriate to the situation.
Much of our behavior is habitual and describable in the two dimensions of assertiveness and responsiveness as shown in the figure below.Assertiveness reflects how we are perceived as attempting to influence the thoughts and actions of other people.People range from being very deliberate,seldom interrupting,and tending to lean back (ask-directed assertiveness)to being quick to make decisions,making declarative statements,frequently interrupting,and tending to lean forward (tell-directed assertiveness).
Responsiveness reflects how we are perceived as expressing our feelings when relating to others.Responsiveness ranges from talking about facts,hiding personal feelings,and making minimal body gestures and facial expressions (task-directed responsiveness)to talking about relationships,using many gestures and facial expressions,and frequently exposing personal feelings (people-directed responsiveness).It is important to remember that people can fall in the middle of the two ranges rather than to one of the extremes.
Because observable behaviors are key to understanding a person's social style,one of the best ways of discovering your dominant social style is through feedback from other people.Nonetheless,many people are able to recognize their dominant style from the descriptions in Figure 16-1 of the text.
After you understand your own social style,identify the probable social style of the other person.With this knowledge you can predict which aspects of your communication and behavior will be most and least comfortable for you and the other person,and where your styles are likely to mesh and clash.Knowing this,you can anticipate possible problems and miscommunications and prevent them from happening by adjusting your own social style.
Being aware of your social style and developing the skill to adapt it can help your career.Social styles influence performance evaluations and how others evaluate our communication competence.Managers with the less responsive driver and analytical social styles may need to develop strategies to proactively compensate for their lower communication competency.

What Is a Social Style? Describe the Four Social Styles

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