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The skills of Active Listening, Clarification and Reflection may help but
the skilled communicator also needs to be aware of the barriers to
effective communication and how to avoid or overcome them.
There are many barriers to communication and these may occur at any stage in the
communication process. Barriers may lead to your message becoming distorted and you
therefore risk wasting both time and/or money by causing confusion and
misunderstanding.
Effective communication involves overcoming these barriers and conveying a clear and
concise message.
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emotional intelligence.
A Categorisation of Barriers to
Communication
Language Barriers
Language and linguistic ability may act as a barrier to communication.
However, even when communicating in the same language, the terminology used in a message
may act as a barrier if it is not fully understood by the receiver(s). For example, a message that
includes a lot of specialist jargon and abbreviations will not be understood by a receiver who is
not familiar with the terminology used.
Psychological Barriers
The psychological state of the communicators will influence how the message is sent,
received and perceived.
For example:
If someone is stressed they may be preoccupied by personal concerns and not as receptive to the
message as if they were not stressed.
Stress management is an important personal skill that affects our interpersonal relationships. See our
pages Stress: Symptoms and Triggers and Avoiding Stress for more information.
More generally people with low self-esteem may be less assertive and therefore may not feel
comfortable communicating - they may feel shy or embarrassed about saying how they really
feel, or read unintended negative sub-texts in messages they hear.
Visit our pages on Improving Self-Esteem and Assertiveness for more information.
Physiological Barriers
Physiological barriers to communication may result from the receiver’s physical state.
For example, a receiver with reduced hearing may not fully grasp the content of a spoken
conversation especially if there is significant background noise.
Physical Barriers
An example of a physical barrier to communication is geographic distance between the
sender and receiver(s).
Communication is generally easier over shorter distances as more communication channels are
available and less technology is required. The ideal communication is face-to-face.
Although modern technology often helps to reduce the impact of physical barriers, the
advantages and disadvantages of each communication channel should be understood so that an
appropriate channel can be used to overcome the physical barriers.
Systematic Barriers
Systematic barriers to communication may exist in structures and organisations where there are
inefficient or inappropriate information systems and communication channels, or where there is a
lack of understanding of the roles and responsibilities for communication. In such organisations,
people may be unclear of their role in the communication process and therefore not know what is
expected of them.
Attitudinal Barriers
Attitudinal barriers are behaviours or perceptions that prevent people from
communicating effectively.
To improve your overall communication skills you need to be aware of, and attempt to
minimise, any barriers to communication that are present.
By developing your emotional intelligence you will become more aware of how to
communicate with others in the most appropriate and effective ways.
Take our Interpersonal Skills Self-Assessment to find out your strengths and weakness.
fective Communication in the Workplace - Barriers to
Communication
Problems with communication occur when the way in which we express ourselves is not fully
understood and appreciated by those we want to communicate with. Some of these differences are
within our control, others are not, and being forewarned about such obstacles influences how
successful your communications will be.
Communication often takes place in a complex and uncertain environment; understanding how to
minimize such difficulties will have a direct impact on how effective our communications are. Those
who are seen as good communicators have the ability to adapt their communication style to
overcome barriers to understanding and to maximize the impact of their message.
There are numerous barriers to communication that can be classified as:
Organizational
Every organization you come into contact with in your role has its own ethos and set of acceptable
behaviors. To be a successful communicator you need to understand the beliefs and values of your
own organization.
You will be able to identify in your senior management the sort of behavior that is deemed
appropriate for the organization. You will also have the opportunity through the example you portray
to influence the behavior and beliefs of those who report to you or interact with you.
These behaviors will determine the type of environment your organizational communications occur
in. Is it one of openness and trust, or is it one of guardedness and blame? Whatever atmosphere
your day-to-day activities occur in, you will need to adapt your style and signals to best suit the
environment.
Often within organizations confusion and obstacles to communication result from poor definition of
individual roles within the structure and of their working relationships and interactions. How many
times have you found several people believing that a task is the responsibility of someone else?
Rather than take the trouble to ensure someone accepts ownership, some people will simply sweep
the task under the carpet on the assumption that someone else will perform it! This does not bode
well for success.
Many organizations' communication problems can be directly attributed to poor operational skills.
This can be caused by a lack of procedures that help define and structure communications. Or it can
be the result of little or no understanding of other operations within the organization or its external
suppliers.
Without this level of appreciation and comprehension unrealistic demands can be placed on others.
This confusion and misinterpretation can be avoided be taking the time to learn about other
departments and external bodies and listen to what they say in response to your communication.
Organizational barriers can also occur if you use an inappropriate communication tool to send your
message. Is the sending of an email or text an appropriate way to inform someone of a major
disruption to service that will have serious financial implications if not addressed immediately? No, it
is not. A personal call or going to the office of the senior executive will portray the correct level of
urgency and importance for such a message.
Selecting the best communication tool to send your message is an essential component of excellent
communication skills. Much of this comes from experience and observing how senior management
and personnel in external organizations communicate their messages.
In some instances you may want to use more than one tool. For example, in the situation above you
may want to speak to the person face-to-face first and then confirm that conversation in an email,
copying in only those who need to be kept abreast of the situation.
Physical
This relates to the physical attributes of the environment the communication takes place in. This
means such things as the layout of the room and access to privacy.
Many individuals operate in open plan offices, which whilst offering easy access to other members of
the team when working within a group, can make other tasks more time consuming than necessary.
Developing ideas or strategies, for instance, may require a quieter, more private environment, with
few or no interruptions.
Organizations generally conduct a wide variety of tasks, and management need to provide
environments to suit different tasks if their workforce are to operate and communicate effectively. For
example, providing access to private rooms as well as open plan offices, and being willing to allow
people to work from home, offers a choice of environment to best suit the task at hand.
Cultural
Organizations, with their global markets and operations, need to be conscious of what they say and
of the interpretations different nationals working for them may give to their messages. This is
especially significant if your message needs to be translated into other languages.
For example, Spanish is much more formal when communicating in writing than it is verbally.
Conversational Spanish is more colloquial and direct, supported by appropriate gestures and eye
contact. So when you are making organizational communications you need to have a native speaker
translate your message to make sure that it communicates what you want it to mean.
When thinking about cultural differences it is important not to pay too much attention to stereotypes.
A stereotype is 'a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person
or thing.' However, some stereotypes do have their roots in observable behavior. For example, many
people from the British Isles use understatement in their everyday speech and would describe
something as 'not bad' when in fact they thought it was good or even very good. This type of cultural
difference can confuse people who speak the same language but who are not used to hearing
understatement used in this way.
Cultures also have different interpretations of what is meant by something being 'urgent' and what
level of work is considered stressful. This may result from different working hours in certain
countries, and the fact that operations are taking place in different time zones. So when you are
communicating your message you will need to take these into account.
Your message needs to clearly state your definition of terms such as 'afternoon,' and you should
make sure the date you require the task to be completed by is accurate for the time zone of the
recipient. For example, Friday 20th actually occurs on different days if you are based in London and
the recipient is in Hong Kong.
Linguistic
With the increase in specialist language and jargon within the workplace, ensuring that what you are
saying is interpreted as you want and expect is an essential aspect of communication.
This is especially important when communicating with a wide variety of industries because each one
may have their own expressions and acronyms for terms, as shown in the diagram above.
In your communications you should never assume your meaning is the same for all those you are
interacting with. You need to actively listen to and observe your audience to ensure that your
message is received in the way you intend.
Interpersonal
Some barriers to communication result from the interpersonal skills of the individuals involved. Each
person's level of self-esteem and their degree of confidence will be portrayed to others by the
communication signals they display. It will also be reflected in the attitude they adopt during the
exchange.
An aggressive attitude that may be intended by the communicator to display confidence may be
interpreted as arrogance. Their nonverbal signals may be seen as an attempt to hide their lack of
knowledge. The aggressive attitude might also be a way of showing how stressed they are in their
current role and that any further demands on that person's time is just too much for them to cope
with.
To be an effective communicator you must also be conscious of your own bias, which can influence
how you respond in an exchange. This may not be an informed bias: it may be based merely on your
own experiences or knowledge base. If you don't open your mind to listen carefully to what is being
said and objectively assess what you hear your bias will persist and could become a barrier to the
communication process.
Developing your own questioning, analytical, and listening skills is essential if you want to
communicate successfully and will have a direct impact on your career development.
You may also be interested in:
Effective Communication in the Workplace | Workplace Communication Styles | Recognizing
Workplace Communication Styles | Perceptual Preferences | Attitudes to
Communications | Communication Research| Using the RESULT Principle.
Key Points
Barriers to communication can be classified as organizational, physical, cultural, linguistic,
and interpersonal.
Organizational barriers can be directly attributed to poor operational practices.
Physical barriers include distance, lack of appropriate technology, and lack of privacy.
Cultural barriers include differences in the interpretation of word meanings in different
cultures even though they may be using a common language.
Linguistic barriers include jargon and acronyms that mean different things to different
groups.
Interpersonal barriers include the many nonverbal signals that can easily be misinterpreted.
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Effective Communication - Barriers
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Physical Barriers Distortion − It occurs when the meaning of the message is the lost while
encoding and decoding the message. Physical distrations are also there
such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects
communication in meeting
Overflow of Information − This acts like a barrier when the receiver does
not have the capacity to receive all the information and can miss some
important points or misinterpret the meaning of the whole message
altogether
Barriers from Messaage or the subject matter of communication is the key factor in
Message making effective communication a success.
The language used therein, the wordings, the preciseness and the timing
count a lot for the success of communication.
For instance, if the message contains many jargons and slangs when
communicating with someone who has never heard such expression, it will
not be understood by the recipient.
Lack of proper time to draft the written message is likely to have a harmful
effect on the content of the message.For instance, if a supervisor requests
a report immediately without giving the report writer enought time to gather
the required information, it results in conflicting message.
Channel Barriers Choice of appropriate and viable channel for communicating is of utmost
importance in communicating.
If the sender chooses an inappropriate channel of communication,
communication may cease.
The longer the communication chain, the great the error. If a message is
transmitted through too many receivers, the message often becomes
distorted.
Problems in Reception
Let us now see the different problems encountered in the reception of a message in
the communication process. The problems are as follows −
The sending of a message is complete when the receiver at the other end receives it,
understands it and then sends the desired feedback to the sender.
If there are problems in receiving the message, the whole purpose of sending the message
is defeated.
The message is the vehicle for the sender to share feelings, thoughts, and ideas. It is the
way the sender’s mental images are transmitted to the receiver.
The message can be immediately clear and understood, or murky and misleading, basing
upon how well all of the components in the communication process have been considered
and accommodated.
The meaning of the message is what the receiver assigns to it. If the sender has a different
image and perception of the message in mind than that of the receiver about the sent
message, the intent of message is distorted.
In fact, one of the major challenges of communication is to make sure that the meaning that
is intended by the sender is the same as the meaning the receiver assigns to the message
when it’s received.
Linguistic/Semantic Barriers
This is one of the most common barriers to listening. Learners of a language normally
face this kind of barrier.
Unfamiliar Vocabulary
Words used by the speaker may not be familiar to you. The speaker may use difficult
words and jargons. As a result you cannot comprehend what the speaker says.
Socio-Cultural Barriers
The socio-cultural barriers also hamper effective listening.
Different Cultural Background
The speaker’s accent and pronunciation of words are not familiar to you because of
difference in cultures between you and the speaker.
Unfamiliar Subject
The subject may not be familiar to you because you are not familiar with a particular
culture or are unaware of the lifestyle of a particular society.
Psychological Barriers
In this section, we will discuss the different psychological barriers to effective listening
Prejudice
You may refuse to listen to something, which goes against your ideas and beliefs. You
hear only what you want to hear.
Physical Barriers
Physical barriers also hinder effective listening. Let us see what these physical barriers
are.
Noisy surroundings
The environment may be too noisy, which may affect listening.
Physical distance
You may be too far away from the speaker or too close to the speaker to be able to
hear clearly.
Barriers in written communication entirely distort the content of the message sent and
results in communication breakdown.
It is therefore essential to cope with the barrier in written communication in order to
ensure that effective communication is established.
The following are the necessary ways to deal with such barriers.
Right People
People who are adept in spoken and written language should be given top priority at the
time of recruitment in any organization.
Proper training for enhancing effective communicating skills of the newcomers and also of
the existing employees should be ensured regularly.
People drafting communication content should be well-versed in spoken and written
language.
Right Language
Simplicity, lucidity and correctness should be emphasized in all organizational written
communication.
Right Presentation
Make your presentation or writing almost error-free.
Avoid stuffing the message with silly errors like ‘loose’ in place of ‘lose’; ‘there’ in place of
‘their’; ‘too’ in place of ‘to’, etc. Always edit and spellcheck the content before its finalization.
Right Content
Focus on what the message really intends to communicate; avoid dilly dallying with topic for
correspondence.
The content needs to be precise, short and meaningful.
Right Sequence
The written message should be written in sequence denoting proper meaning and order of
matter presented therein.
Right Channel
Considering the content and timing of the message, the communicator should choose the
most appropriate channel to transmit the message.
If it is confidential or carries any sensitive information, it should be sent through such
medium which provides greater security, for instance, encrypted email.
Right Feedback
Inappropriate or wrong feedback defeats the purpose of the message sent. It results in
communication breakdown.
Hence, the message should be written in a desired manner and sent through appropriate
channel so as to ensure early feedback from the recipient.
Effective Communication – Elements of Poor
Communication
Lack of effective communication across and beyond a business organization is termed
as poor communication. It afflicts the free flow of ideas, employee productivity, staff
cooperation, innovation and ultimately upset overall efficiency of human resources of
the organization.
Poor communication elements are found in all types of communication. We have learnt
about these barriers in our previous chapters.
Besides, lack of commitment among the workforce, inexperienced staff, feeling of fear
and dissatisfaction, unconscious incompetence among the employees and the
managers can also result in poor communication.
Consequences of Poor Communication
Poor communication can have disastrous effect on the workforce and also on the
overall productivity and efficiency of the organization.
The following are some of the consequences of poor communication in business
organizations.
Inability on the part of the recipient to understand the message leads to confusion and
misunderstanding.
Poor communication affects the concentration of the listener in oral communication that
defeat the meaning of the message.
Poor communication results in ambiguity that distorts the content of the message or spoken
words.
Poor communication results in ambiguity that distorts the content of the message or spoken
words.
It leads to incomplete action as the content of the message sent or spoken is not grasped by
the recipients.
Poor communication between the business and customers affect sales and ultimately
hampers the growth of the business.
Poor communication between the management and the employee can lead to de-motivation
and affect overall productivity. Employees become unwilling to work with the managers who
communicate poorly.
Poor communication between the management and the employee can lead to de-motivation
and affect overall productivity. Employees become unwilling to work with the managers who
are poor communicators.
Loss of working hours as instruction provided and messages sent are beyond the grasp of
the recipients or the employees.
Poor communication often leads to frustration among the employees in an organization.
People may feel left out if communication is not open and effective.
Poor communication can lead to many types of conflicts which kills the prospect of
organizational growth and prosperity.
Summary
Communication, as we have learnt, is the lifeline of an organization. A slight disturbance in
the smooth flow of communication, downward and upward, horizontal and vertical, etc., may
cost dear for the organization.
Barriers refer to obstacles or hindrances that prevent movement, flow and access of
information in or outside of an organization.
There are different sources of barriers −
o Barriers Caused By the Sender
o Barriers in Message Transmission
o Problems in Reception
The barriers to effective listening are −
o Linguistic/Semantic Barriers
o Socio-Cultural Barriers
o Psychological Barriers
o Physical Barriers
Ways to deal with barriers in written communication −
o Right people
o Right language
o Right presentation
o Right content
o Right sequence
o Right channel
o Right feedback
Lack of effective communication across and beyond a business organization is termed as
poor communication.
Poor communication can have disastrous effect on the workforce and also on the overall
productivity and efficiency of the organization.