BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Noise (Physical Barriers)

- In factories, oral communication is rendered difficult by the loud noise of machines. - The word 'noise' is also used to refer to all kinds of physical interference like illegible handwriting, smudged copies of duplicated typescript, poor telephone connections, etc.

Barriers - Sender (Process Barriers)

- Lack of planning - Vagueness about the "purpose" of communication - Objectives to be achieved - Choice of wrong language, resulting in badly encoded message - Unshared & unclarified assumptions - Different perception of reality - Wrong choice of the channel

Feedback Barrier (Process Barriers)

- No Provision for Feedback. (Since communication is a two-way process, the sender must search for a means of getting a response from the receiver.) - Inadequate Feedback. (Delayed or judgmental feedback can interfere with good communication.)

Medium Barriers (Process Barriers)

- Physical Distractions. ( If an E-mail message or letter is not formatted properly, or if it contains grammatical and spelling errors, the receiver may not be able to concentrate on the message because the physical appearance of the letter or E-mail is sloppy and unprofessional. ) - Conflicting Messages. ( If a supervisor requests a report immediately without giving the report writer enough time to gather the proper information. Does the report writer emphasize speed in writing the report, or accuracy in gathering the data? ) - Channel Barriers. ( If the sender chooses an inappropriate channel of communication, communication may cease. Detailed instructions presented over the telephone, for example, may be frustrating for both communicators. )

Barriers - Receiver (Process Barriers)

- Poor listener - Inattention - Mistrust - Lack of interest - Premature evaluation - Semantic Difficulties - Bias / Lack of trust - Different perception of reality - Attitudinal clash with sender - Not in a fit physical state

Types Of Communication Barriers

- Process Barriers - Physical Barriers - Semantic Barriers - Psychosocial Barriers - Cultural Barriers

Denotations And Connotations

- The literal meaning of a word is called its denotative meaning. It just informs and names objects without indicating any positive or negative qualities. - Connotative meanings arouse qualitative judgments and personal reactions. 'Honest', 'competent', 'cheap', 'sincere', etc., are connotative words. Some of these words like 'honest', 'noble', 'sincere" are favorable connotations; others like 'cowardly', 'slow', 'incompetent' have unfavorable connotations.

Semantic Barriers

- 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 so as to minimize the chances of different interpretations. Use of jargons should also be avoided

Loss by Transmission and Poor Retention

- When a message is received by a person after it has passed through many people, generally it loses some of its truth. - This is called loss by transmission. - Poor retention of information means that with every next transfer of information the actual form or truth of the information changes.

Closed Mind (Socio-psychological Barriers)

A person with a closed mind is very difficult to communicate with. Such individuals have deeply ingrained prejudices.

Wrong & Unclarified Assumptions

All communications are made under some assumptions, which are never communicated, they may turn out wrong & cause communication failure.

Introduction

Communication is complete and perfect when the receiver understands the message in the same sense and spirit as the communicator intends to convey.

Emotions (Socio-psychological Barriers)

Encoding and decoding of messages depends to quite some extent on one's emotional state at a particular time.

Filtering

Filtering - the deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more favorable to the receiver. - upward communication is condensed by senders to avoid information overload by top-level receivers - extent of filtering affected by: the number of vertical levels in the organization culture of the organization

Altitudes (Socio-psychological Barriers)

Personal, attitude and opinion often act as barriers to effective communication.

Selective Perception (Socio-psychological Barriers)

Receivers selectively see and hear depending upon their needs, motivations, background, experience and other personal characteristics.

Bypassed Instructions

Bypassing is said to have occurred if the sender and the receiver of the message attribute different meanings to the same word or use different words for the same meaning.

Interpretation Of Words

Most of the communication is carried on through words, whether spoken or written. But words are capable of communicating a variety of meanings.

Communication Barriers

Obstacles to effective communication, typically defined in terms of physical, language, body language, cultural, perceptual, and organizational barriers.

Cultural Barriers

Same category of words, phrases, symbols, actions, colors mean different things to people of different countries/cultural backgrounds.

Status-consciousness (Socio-psychological Barriers)

Status consciousness exists in every organization and is one of the major barriers to effective communication. Subordinates are afraid of communicating upward any unpleasant information. They are either too conscious of their inferior status or too afraid of being snubbed.

Time & Distance (Physical Barriers)

Time - The frequency of communication encounters affects the human relationship. Distance - Faulty sitting arrangement at office may create communication gaps.

Overcoming the Barriers to Effective Communication

Use Feedback - ask a set of questions about a message to determine whether it was understood as intended. Simplify Language - tailor the language to the audience for whom the message is intended. Listen Actively - listen for full meaning. Constrain Emotions - emotions severely cloud and distort the transference of meaning. Watch Nonverbal Cues - actions should be aligned with words.