tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/face-to-face-44806/articlesFace-to-face – The Conversation2020-09-22T13:47:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1465082020-09-22T13:47:52Z2020-09-22T13:47:52ZUN general assembly: why virtual meetings make it hard for diplomats to trust each other<p>Ashok Mirpuri, Singapore’s ambassador to the US, recently said that achieving trust in diplomacy is “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/16/zoom-diplomacy-coronavirus-188811">about the cues and nuances”</a> that come from face-to-face interactions. What Mirpuri did not elaborate on, however, is that reading others when <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691123899/interaction-ritual-chains">you’re in the same room together</a> can just as easily reveal clues about their untrustworthiness. </p>
<p>Historically, diplomats and world leaders have made great efforts to meet their counterparts, believing face-to-face diplomacy offers the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/facetoface-diplomacy/AFA484F8009DCB34742F4AA6B7412FB4">best possible way to read each others’ intentions</a>. The challenge to diplomacy raised by the coronavirus pandemic is what happens when such physical interactions are becoming increasingly rare. </p>
<p>Recently, a growing number of diplomatic gatherings, including the G8 and UN security council meetings, have taken place virtually. Now, the UN general assembly, is meeting online for the first time in its 75 year history. So, can such virtual interactions still provide sufficient cues and nuances for trusting bonds to be maintained and even develop? </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/un-general-assembly-goes-virtual-a-former-ambassador-on-what-that-means-for-diplomacy-146499">UN general assembly goes virtual: a former ambassador on what that means for diplomacy</a>
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<h2>Physical cues</h2>
<p>The research on building trust online is contested. Some researchers argue there is <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/trusting-enemies-9780199696475?cc=gb&lang=en&">no substitute</a> for physical face-to-face interaction when developing bonds of trust. Others concede that where face-to-face interaction has occurred in the past, and a bond formed, <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/new-tech-new-ties">it may be possible to maintain or even deepen trust virtually.</a> Meanwhile, there is some evidence that people are able to develop weak bonds through non-face-to-face environments, such as text and mobile phone messaging.</p>
<p>Many of the physical cues that Mirpuri references are weakened during virtual interactions. Facial expressions, minute micro-expressions, and other subtle, yet important physical effects that are crucial for the perception of trustworthiness become less clear. Even the most advanced and sophisticated virtual environments offer imperfect digital representations of others. </p>
<p>Researchers also point to <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/503376.503401">differences between gestures</a> and other movements in physical face-to-face interaction compared to most virtual interactions. Online encounters are essentially head-to-head, compared to whole the body-to-body interaction of physical encounters. Relying purely on facial expressions reduces the ability to perceive other behaviour, such as altered body posture or gestures, which are crucial to ascertaining another’s trustworthiness. </p>
<p>Even a microsecond time lag can result in someone working harder to piece together the full meaning from the cues available. The brain has to work overtime to fill in the gaps left by even the best technology. So while virtual interaction may look and feel similar to physical interaction, it cannot deliver all the pieces of information that are critical to understanding another person’s trustworthiness.</p>
<h2>Hard for newcomers</h2>
<p>The environment in which the interaction takes place is also crucial. Breakthroughs in diplomacy at the general assembly are just as likely to be had in corridors outside the assembly hall as inside it. </p>
<p>Researchers highlight the importance of situations which create <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691123899/interaction-ritual-chains">barriers to outsiders</a> in diplomacy, for example a snatched conversation in a lift. It’s clear in such situations who is excluded and who is included in a particular interaction. Reducing diplomacy to boxes on a screen limits such opportunities, and it also removes spaces for informal and impromptu meetings in which personal bonds of trust can be developed. Without being able to roam the halls and engage in new face-to-face interactions, diplomats’ ability to develop and extend bonds is invariably limited. </p>
<p>This has several implications. World leaders in the general assembly who already trust each other may be able to use virtual platforms to maintain trusting relationships. But their successors may find it harder.</p>
<p>Distrust is often triggered by a previous experience, while mistrust is a general sense of unease and lack of trust. Leaders who mistrust, and perhaps even distrust each other as a result of previous face-to-face meetings, may in subsequent virtual-only interactions avoid potential diplomatic openings that could allow distrust to be dissolved. And for those who have never met face-to-face and approach each other from a position of distrust, it remains questionable whether trust can be restored through virtual interaction. </p>
<p>One reason leaders and diplomats have travelled to meet each other face-to-face for centuries is to have the best chance of answering the most vexing question in world politics: can the other side be trusted? </p>
<p>While today’s technology allows state officials to see each other on screen in a matter of seconds, virtual diplomacy appears unlikely to ever replace face-to-face interaction. The virtual gathering at the UN general assembly will surely be remembered for what diplomats do manage to accomplish online. But it will also be noteworthy for how much leaders miss the opportunity, as former West-German chancellor Willy Brandt once put it, “<a href="https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics/will-trump-putin-summit-be-chemistry-vs-substance">to get a smell of each other</a>”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When diplomacy is done online, it’s hard to pick up on the gestures and micro-expressions that help create trust.Marcus Holmes, Associate Professor of Government, William & MaryMark NK Saunders, Professor of Business Research Methods, University of BirminghamNicholas John Wheeler, Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science and International Studies., University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1125822019-03-29T11:27:09Z2019-03-29T11:27:09ZThe dying art of conversation – has technology killed our ability to talk face-to-face?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266167/original/file-20190327-139349-13qj93w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What with Facetime, <a href="https://theconversation.com/skype-hospital-appointments-are-coming-but-dont-hold-your-breath-109842">Skype</a>, Whatsapp and Snapchat, for many people, face-to-face conversation is used less and less often. </p>
<p>These apps allow us to converse with each other quickly and easily – overcoming distances, time zones and countries. We can even talk to virtual assistants such as Alexa, Cortana or Siri – commanding them to play our favourite songs, films, or tell us the weather forecast.</p>
<p>Often these ways of communicating reduce the need to speak to another human being. This has led to some of the conversational snippets of our daily lives now taking place mainly via <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-dont-want-ai-that-can-understand-us-wed-only-end-up-arguing-82338">technological devices</a>. So no longer do we need to talk with shop assistants, receptionists, bus drivers or even coworkers, we simply engage with a screen to communicate whatever it is we want to say.</p>
<p>In fact, in these scenarios, we tend to only speak to other people when the digital technology does not operate successfully. For instance, human contact occurs when we call for an assistant to help us when an item is not recognised at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-shoplifters-justify-theft-at-supermarket-self-service-checkouts-97029">self-service checkout</a>.</p>
<p>And when we have the ability to connect so quickly and easily with others using technological devices and software applications it is easy to start to overlook the value of face-to-face conversation. It seems easier to text someone rather than meet with them. </p>
<h2>Bodily cues</h2>
<p>My research into digital technologies indicates that phrases such as “word of mouth” or “keeping in touch” point to the <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3637992.html">importance of face-to-face conversation</a>. Indeed, face-to-face conversation can strengthen social ties: with our neighbours, friends, work colleagues and other people we encounter during our day.</p>
<p>It acknowledges their existence, their humanness, in ways that instant messaging and texting do not. Face-to-face conversation is a rich experience that involves drawing on memories, making connections, making mental images, associations and choosing a response. Face-to-face conversation is also multisensory: it’s not just about sending or receiving pre-programmed trinkets such as likes, cartoon love hearts and grinning yellow emojis. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266168/original/file-20190327-139374-fmlpic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Quicker and easier, but are we losing the human touch?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>When having a conversation using video you mainly see another person’s face only as a flat image on a screen. But when we have a face-to-face conversation in real life, we can look into someone’s eyes, reach out and touch them. We can also observe the other person’s body posture and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37688404_Hand_and_Mind_What_Gestures_Reveal_About_Thought">the gestures they use when speaking</a> – and interpret these accordingly. All these factors, contribute to the sensory intensity and depth of the face-to-face conversations we have in daily life.</p>
<h2>Speaking to machines</h2>
<p><a href="https://sherryturkle.com/">Sherry Turkle</a>, professor of social studies of science and technology, warns that when we first “speak through machines, [we] forget how essential face-to-face conversation is to our relationships, our creativity, and our capacity for empathy”. But then “we take a further step and speak not just through machines but to machines”. </p>
<p>In many ways, our everyday lives now involve a blend of face-to-face and technologically mediated forms of communication. But in my teaching and research I explain how digital forms of communication can supplement, rather than replace face-to-face conversation.</p>
<p>At the same time though, it is also important to acknowledge that some people value online communication because they can express themselves in ways they might find difficult through face-to-face conversation.</p>
<h2>Look up from your phone</h2>
<p><a href="http://garyturk.com/portfolio-item/lookup/">Gary Turk</a>, is a spoken word poet whose poem Look Up illustrates what is at stake by becoming entranced by technological ways of communicating at the expense of connecting with others face-to-face. </p>
<p>Turk’s poem draws attention to the rich, sensory aspects of face-to-face communication, valuing bodily presence in relation to friendship, companionship and intimacy. The central idea running through Turk’s evocative poem is that screen-based devices consume our attention while distancing us from the bodily sense of being with others. </p>
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<p>Ultimately the sound, touch, smell and observation of bodily cues we experience when having a face-to-face conversation cannot be fully replaced by our technological devices. Communicating and connecting with others through face-to-face discussion is valuable because it is not something that can be edited, paused or replayed. </p>
<p>So next time you’re deciding between human or machine at the supermarket checkout or whether to get up from your desk and walk to another office to talk to a colleague – rather than sending them an email – it might be worth following Turk’s advice and engaging with the human rather than the screen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112582/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Chan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>No longer do we need to talk with shop assistants, receptionists, bus drivers or even coworkers, we simply engage with a screen to communicate whatever it is we want to say.Melanie Chan, Senior Lecturer, Media, Communication and Culture, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/854062017-10-15T10:23:43Z2017-10-15T10:23:43ZCorruption in South Africa: business leader answers questions on how bad it is<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190147/original/file-20171013-11677-8cn7c1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Business Leadership South Africa new CEO, Bonang Mohale, is leading a brave fight against corruption. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by BLSA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Business Leadership South Africa, the biggest business lobby group in the country, has become increasingly <a href="https://www.ujuh.co.za/bonang-mohale-becomes-blsa-ceo-what-does-it-mean/">vocal</a> about rising levels of corruption and mismanagement of public assets. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-patronage-and-state-capture-spell-trouble-for-south-africa-64704">Concerns</a> have been growing in the country that corrupt practices, particularly the looting of state assets, has become embedded in the way business is done. As the organisation – which represents large businesses and multinationals in South Africa – takes on a new political posture, Steven Friedman put questions to its CEO <a href="https://www.blsa.org.za/news-and-articles/media-statements/blsa-appoints-bonang-mohale-as-ceo/">Bonang Mohale</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>How representative is Business Leadership South Africa of the country’s private sector?</strong></p>
<p>The organisation represents around 75% of the largest businesses in South Africa. Clearly their interests are not identical to those of smaller businesses. Big business, for example, is able to adapt to onerous government edicts which drive up the cost of business much easier.</p>
<p>But what we have in common is much greater than what separates us – namely the desire to have growth-fostering economic policies under the rule of law. Right now business confidence in South Africa is at a 30-year low due to factors beyond our control but also due to actions that we can control, such as government bringing more policy certainty in areas such as mining for example– this is disastrous for large and small business alike.</p>
<p>BLSA has committed its members to changing practices which might impede economic growth and inclusion. </p>
<p><strong>Are your members buying the change agenda? How do you plan to ensure that they endorse it?</strong></p>
<p>Yes they are. Business Leadership South Africa has taken a much more active role over the last year in terms of getting the voice of business better heard, shaping government policy and speaking out against corruption. We have requested significant resources to achieve this and our members have backed us. </p>
<p>They understand the critical importance of the issues we are dealing with – achieving a policy backdrop that will allow us to grow the economy, create jobs and deliver transformation. </p>
<p>In terms of endorsement, we have set out our vision in a <a href="https://www.blsa.org.za/business-believes/our-contract-with-south-africa/">Contract with South Africa</a>, and our <a href="https://www.blsa.org.za/business-believes/integrity-pledge/">integrity pledge</a>, which establishes our business values. We expect our members to honour these. If they are in breach, they cannot be members. We showcased our commitment to the contract and the pledge through the <a href="https://www.ujuh.co.za/blsa-suspends-eskom-and-transnet-membership-it-needs-to-be-consistent/">suspension</a> of three major corporations KPMG, Eskom and Transnet. </p>
<p><strong>You’ve suspended Eskom and Transnet due to what you say is behaviour at odds with the organisation’s values. What do you mean by this?</strong></p>
<p>The integrity pledge makes clear that we have a zero-tolerance policy on corruption. There is a lot of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/06/01/the-new-gupta-emails-are-a-lot-heres-what-they-say-in-5-quick_a_22120706/">prima facie evidence</a> that both of these organisations have been involved in corrupt conduct. They were not able to satisfy us that they recognised the seriousness of the charges and were determined to address them. So the suspension of their membership was appropriate.</p>
<p><strong>There is a view that Business Leadership South Africa is tougher on public sector corruption and lenient where the private sector is concerned. What’s your view?</strong></p>
<p>This is not true. Where there have been instances of bad behaviour in the private sector, accountability has followed. For example, construction industry executives involved in rigging bids around the World Cup are no longer in office. More recently there’s been the case of KPMG. The executives responsible for the decisions that landed the firm in trouble have <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2017/09/15/kpmg-sa-ceo-chair-and-6-top-staff-resign-over-gupta-scandal">left</a>. And it’s been <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2017-09-22-blsa-hits-out-at-kpmg">suspended</a> from BLSA. </p>
<p>By contrast, in government and state owned enterprises there is no accountability. Executives behave with impunity. And while corruption is wrong wherever it occurs, we must resist the spurious symmetry of discussing public and private sector corruption as though South Africa is facing a problem of equal gravity in both. Unfortunately, we now have a government that is corrupt from top to bottom. By contrast we have a private sector that is overwhelmingly law abiding. That is a very significant difference.</p>
<p><strong>How far are you prepared to take your anti-corruption mission? Some of your members have been found guilty of abusing vulnerable consumers. Will you act against them?</strong></p>
<p>Business Leadership South Africa will act against any member whose behaviour is against its own values and damages the reputation of business. These values are encapsulated in the organisation’s integrity pledge and the contract with South Africa. Taken together, these outline a zero tolerance attitude to corruption, a belief that business should behave with courage, integrity and consistency, and a strong belief that business can be a force for good.</p>
<p>Sometimes business will make mistakes and that can be accepted provided the organisation takes suitable action to address the problem.</p>
<p><strong>Do you accept that business itself needs to change its ways of doing business if it’s going to win public confidence in its mission against corruption?</strong></p>
<p>Yes, we do. There is clearly a large “trust gap” between parts of the public and business. Some of this is down to ignorance. Some of it can be explained by the deliberate misinformation as seen in the toxic <a href="https://theconversation.com/white-monopoly-capital-an-excuse-to-avoid-south-africas-real-problems-75143">White Monopoly Capital</a> campaign. As we now know this was a highly racialist narrative that sought to blame everything that’s gone wrong in South Africa on an imaginary lily white private sector. We believe this particular line of attack is being used to detract attention away from the real issue - which is increasing corruption.</p>
<p>And some of the mistrust is rooted in <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media%5C1997%5C9711/s971110b.htm">history</a>, with business still regarded by many as having collaborated with the apartheid system and furthering its legacies. </p>
<p>But some of it is also attributable to business’s own behaviour including <a href="http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/construction-majors-fined-r146bn-for-collusion-2013-06-24">collusive conduct</a> in certain industries and <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/za/en/pages/human-capital/articles/executive-compensation-report.html">inflated executive compensation</a>. </p>
<p>But business is a national asset, not the problem. So it is in everybody’s interest that the South African public improves its understanding of business, and its overall reputation. </p>
<p>Business needs to explain and demonstrate that it is part of society and does not stand apart. That it shares the same vision and goals, notably of combating the scourges of unemployment, inequality and poverty.</p>
<p>Business also needs to help society understand that the major problems the country is facing don’t just lie at its doorstep. Certainly, there are things business can do better, but the much larger problem is the havoc being wreaked by <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-patronage-and-state-capture-spell-trouble-for-south-africa-64704">state capture</a> and poor policy development and execution. </p>
<p><em>This is part of a series called Face-to-face that The Conversation Africa is running in which leading academics interview prominent individuals in the public, private and not for profit sectors.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85406/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Friedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Business Leadership South Africa has in the recent past assumed a stinging position against public sector corruption. Bonang Mohale explains the stance taken by the lobby group.Steven Friedman, Professor of Political Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.