Body language

Seventeen


Power Plays


POWER PLAYS WITH CHAIRS

Have you ever been for a job interview and felt overwhelmed or helpless when you sat in the visitor’s chair? Where the interviewer seemed so big and overwhelming and you felt small and insignificant? It is likely that the interviewer had cunningly arranged his office furnishings to raise his own status and power and, in so doing, to lower yours. Certain strategies using chairs and seating arrangements can create this atmosphere in an office.

The factors involved in raising status and power by using chairs are: the size of the chair and its accessories, the height of the chair from the floor and the location of the chair relative to the other person.

Chair Size and Accessories

The height of the back of the chair raises or lowers a person’s status and the high-backed chair is a well -known example. The higher the back of the chair, the greater the power and status of the person sitting in it. Kings, queens, popes and other high-status people may have the back of their throne or official chair as high as 250 centimetres (over 8 feet) to show their status relative to their subjects; the senior executive has a high-backed leather chair and his visitor’s chair has a low back.

Swivel chairs have more power and status than fixed chairs, allowing the user freedom of movement when he is placed under pressure. Fixed chairs allow little or no movement and this lack of movement is compensated by body gestures that can reveal a person’s attitudes and feelings. Chairs with arm rests, those that lean back and those that have wheels are better than chairs that have not.

Chair Height

The acquisition of power using height was covered in Chapter 14 but it is worth noting that status is gained if your chair is adjusted higher off the floor than the other person’s. Some advertising executives are known for sitting on high -backed chairs that are adjusted for maximum height while their visitors sit opposite, in the competitive position, on a sofa or chair that is so low that their eyes are level with the executive’s desk (Figure 162). A common ploy is to have the ashtray just out of the visitor’s reach, which forces him to be inconvenienced when ashing his cigarette.

Chair Location

As mentioned in the chapter on seating arrangements, the most power is exerted on the visitor when his chair is placed in the competitive position. A common power play is to place the visitor’s chair as far away as possible from the executive’s desk into the social or public territory zone, which further reduces the visitor’s status.