BARRIERS TO

COMMUNICATION
By: Meenakshi Aggarwal

August 18, 2011

What is a barrier to communication?

Anything that prevents a message from being

conveyed.
Synonymous in many ways with noise
A barrier is usually of human rather than
technological origin
Human barriers are less visible but more
consequential

Common barriers to communication:

Apparent cause

Practical Example

Socio- cultural

Message from organisation misinterpreted by members of a

particular group

Psychological

Message from external stakeholder ignored due to groupthink

Organizational

Message coming down from the organization are at times

given too much interpretation

Physiological

Message in an internal report not received due to blindness

Economic

Message not available to a public sector organisation due to

lack of resources

Technological

Message not delivered due to technical failure

SOCIO- CULTURAL BARRIERS

An individual can be a carrier of culture but one

person cannot create culture
By participating in a culture we are confirming
to social norms, whether implicitly or implicitly
Similarly, there are norms in communication
too, e.g.- gestures, the meaning of a color, tone
of speech and meaning of symbols
These norms can also be barriers to
communication

Iceberg metaphor for culture

Key socio- cultural elements

Group think- Social phenomenon which occurs

when group behavior dominates and stifles the
decision making process.
Characterized by

Similarity and hidden differences

Reliance on shared rationalizations
Collective patterns of defensive avoidance
Lack of vigilance
Suppression of worrisome defects
Unwarranted optimism

Conflicting values and beliefs

Stereotyping and ethnocentrism
Language and jargon

PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS

Those barriers relating to the individual and the

individuals mental and emotional state
Key psychological barriers

Filtering
Perceptions
Faulty memory
Poor listening skills
Emotional interference

Perception

Human memory process

ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS

Such kind of barriers relate to the organizations

structure, culture, patterns of work and
communication flows

Most common organizational barriers

Information overload
Message competition
Information distortion
Message filtering
Conflicting messages
Communications climate
Status differences
Structural problems

Overcoming Bias in Language

Example

Unacceptable

Gender bias Salesman

Preferable
Salesperson;
Sales representative

Manpower

Workforce; Workers

Man-made

Artificial; Manufactured

Ethnic bias

Jim Wong is an
Jim Wong is very tall
unusually tall Asian

Disability
bias

Crippled workers
face many barriers
on the job

Workers with physical

disabilities face many
barriers on the job

Overcoming the barriers

Taking the receiver more seriously

Thinking more clearly about the
message
Delivering messages skilfully
Focusing on the receiver
Using multiple channels and
encoding
Securing appropriate feedback

QUESTIONS