Barriers to Communication

Barriers to communication
•
 Barriers to Communication
• In communication, as a psycho-semantic
process, the word barrier implies, mainly
something non-physical that keeps people
apart or prevents activity, movement etc.
• E.g. social / ethnic / language barriers or lack of
confidence
• Negative forces may affect the effectiveness of
communication by acting upon any or all of the
basic elements of communication process
 Barriers
 Noise  Loss by transmission
 Lack of planning  Poor retention
 Wrong / un-clarified assumptions  Poor listening
 Semantic problems (relating to  Insufficient period for adjustment
words’ meaning)  Goal conflicts
 Cultural barriers  Offensive style
 Socio-psychological barriers  Time & distance
 Emotions  Abstracting
 Selective perception  Inferring (conclude)
 Filtering
 Information overloaded
 Barriers - sender
• Lack of planning
• Vagueness about the “purpose” of communication
• Objectives to be achieved
• Choice of wrong language, resulting in badly
encoded message
• Unshared & un-clarified assumptions
• Different perception of reality
• Wrong choice of the channel
 Barriers - Receiver
• Poor listener • Bias / Lack of trust
• Inattention • Different perception of
• Mistrust reality
• Lack of interest • Attitudinal clash with
• Premature evaluation sender
• Semantic Difficulties • Not in a fit physical
state
 Common barrier –
both sender & receiver

Absence of a common frame of reference

affecting smooth interpretation of thoughts,
feelings and attitudes from the sender to the
receiver in a specific social situation
 Noise
• Blaring of loud speakers
• Poor telephone line
• Faulty TV cable
• Adverse weather conditions interfering
transmission
• Faulty encoding
• Inattention on the part of listener
• Faulty decoding
 Lack of Planning
• Not properly organized/composed
• Transmitted through a wrongly chosen
medium
• Wrong choice of time
• Wrong choice of place
 Wrong & unclarified assumptions
• All communications are made under some assumptions,
which are never communicated
• They may turn out wrong & cause communication failure
• E.g. we often assume that others –
 See the situation as we do
 Should feel about the situation as we do
 Think about the matter as we do
 Understand the message as we understand it

All such assumptions may be incorrect. Hence one should try to

verify whenever possible, It helps communication be effective
 Semantic Problems
• The systematic study of transmission of meaning is semantics
• Any problem arising from the expression/transmission of
meaning are semantic problems/barriers
• Not always necessary for the meaning in the mind of sender
to be same as that in the mind of receiver
• It is of vital importance for the sender to encode his message
in such a way that receiver decodes it to get the intended
meaning
• One must aim at simplicity, clarity and brevity so as to
minimize the chances of different interpretations. Use of
jargons should also be avoided
 Cultural Barriers
Same category of words, phrases, symbols,
actions, colors mean different things to
people of different countries/cultural
backgrounds
 Emotions
• Encoding and decoding of messages depends to quite some
extent on one’s emotional state at a particular time
• Extreme emotions, like jubilation or depression, are likely to
hinder effective communication
• Anger is the worst enemy of communication
• Message received when one is angry is likely to be
interpreted in a very different manner than when one is calm
and composed
• Stress may also lead to building of negative emotions, further
leading to communication breakdown
 Selective Perception
• Receivers selectively see and hear depending upon
their needs, motivations, background, experience
and other personal characteristics
• While decoding the messages they project their
own interests and expectations
• Fact is we don’t see reality, we interpret what we
see and call it reality
 Filtering
• Sender manipulates information in such a way
that it will be seen more favorably by the
receiver
• The more vertical levels in the hierarchical
system, the more chances for filtering
 Information Overload (Availability of huge
amounts of data which the receiver is unable to handle
effectively)
• Results-fatigue, disinterest and boredom
• Very often relevant information gets mixed up with
irrelevant details and therefore goes ignored by
receiver.
• Screening of information is necessary
• Messages should be directed only to those people
who are likely to benefit from the information
• Major points should be highlighted leaving out all
irrelevant details
 Loss by Transmission
When messages pass on from person to
person in a series of transmissions they are
likely to become less and less accurate. They
get diluted on the way.
 Poor Retention
Necessity of repeating the message
using several channels/media
 Poor Listening
• Poor listening and hasty evaluation is a major
problem
• Reason is mostly people are too much
involved in their own problems and
pampering their own egos
• We should keep our eyes, ears open, rise
above our egos, empathize with others
 Insufficient Period for
Adjustment
• Change in shifts in time, transfer to another
department, change in profile,…
• People respond to change in different ways
and require their own time to think about full
meaning, implications and consequences of
the message
 Goal Conflicts
• Various units and sub units in an organization
internalize their own goals, leading to splitting
or bifurcation of interests
• Conflicts act as communication-reduction
mechanism.
 Offensive Style of
Communication
When a manager sends a message in such a
way that the juniors become defensive he/she
contributes to negative factor of poor
interpersonal relationship.
 Time & Distance
Time
• The frequency of communication encounters affects
the human relationship
• Different shifts/meeting at wrong time, phone call at
wrong time affect the communication
Distance
• Faulty sitting arrangement at office may create
communication gaps
• Boss can minimize status difference between himself
and his employees
 Abstracting (conceptual, not
concrete
• We use language to communicate our experiences
and feelings but we can’t communicate every detail
of it.
• We abstract the reality and report only the valuable
characteristics
• We observe partially and communicate partially
because our experience of the event is also partial
• When we try to convert our observations and
experiences into words, we further abstract it by
using selective words which involve leaving out the
details
 Socio - Psychological
1. Status
 Consciousness of one’s status affects 2-way flow of
communication
 Creates personal barriers caused by superior-
subordinate relationship
 Though 2-way vertical channel exists in every
organization
 Few subordinates choose to communicate with
their superiors and vice versa
 Though organizations are changing by adopting flat
structures, psychological distance between
superior – subordinate exists
 Barriers – Socio - Psychological
2. Perception* & reality
 Human communication takes place in the world of reality
which surrounds us – our sensory environment
 Sense organs stimulated by signs (external)
 Sense Perceptions received by our brain through our senses
recreate within each one of us the world which exists within
our mind as its content
 2 aspects of same reality –
o External which surrounds the communicator &
o Internal – mental representation as seen / believed by the
individual
 Barriers – Socio - Psychological
• Perceptions are mental images of
external work stored in our brain –
viewpoint, experience, knowledge,
feelings & emotions
• Perceptions constitute-
 what we are
How we think
How we feel OR
How we respond to something
Activity Communication Barriers
1. Describe 5 most common communication
barriers in workplace.
2. How can you overcome those 5
communication barriers you described in
question 1
Email you response to
naeem@cecos.edu.pk with subject line
Communication Barriers
 Assignment 2

• Theories of Communication.