Barriers to Communication

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Barriers to Communication

Barriers to communication

Physical Barriers

Faulty Transmission / Poor Retention

Language

By-passed instructions

Status Barrier

Socio – Psychological

Cross – Cultural Barriers

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Barriers to Effective Communication●There are a wide number of sources of noise or interference that can enter into the communication process.

●Obstacles that prevent a message from reaching the intended recipient and beyond the control of persons concerned.●Noise●Time and Distance●Faulty Instruments ●Physical Defects /State in the individual●Information Overload

Physical & Mechanical Barriers

Faulty Transmission / Poor Retention ●Successive transmission of the same message are decreasingly accurate.●Approx 30% of communication is lost each time it is transmitted.●People retain around 50-60% of the communicated message.

Language Barrier ●When people belonging to two different language groups try to communicate. (Different meanings/interpretations attached)●When the message is badly expressed.●Vague words, lengthy sentences, poor construction of sentence, repetition.●Use simple words and clear sentences.

By-passed Instructions ●It is a form of language barrier.●Often instructions given by superiors and not clearly understood by subordinates as certain words have double meaning.●Words with dual meaning – ring, fall.●Similar sounding words – Flour/Flower, See/Sea, Week/Weak.

Socio – Psychological Barriers ●Resistance to change – sticking to old beliefs● Unclarified Assumptions – making assumptions based on what we hear “she is untidy”, “That’s a good product”●Different perceptions.●Closed mind- Rigid mind, not open for discussion.●Fear – losing job, superiors, fear of being laughed at.● Halo Effect- The halo effect  is a cognitive bias in which one's judgments of a person’s character can be influenced by one's overall impression of him or her.●Allness - Allness occurs when an individual thinks he /she knows everything and there is no way he/she can be wrong.

Socio – Psychological Barrier●Abstracting – Selecting some facts & omitting others. Focusing only a part of the message that is important to us. ●Slanting – Reflecting biased thinking.●Inferences- conclusions drawn from evidence ●Defensiveness- Acts or behaves in support of something, shows anxiety to avoid criticism or attack hidden flaws. ●Filtering-Filtering means leaving out vital information, to make the message appear different, when passing it on. May be done with a purpose or unconsciously.●Snap Reactions- The person does not hear fully and reacts impulsively.

Status Barrier ●Occurs due to organizational structure. Each organization has a hierarchy which creates various status levels.● Hence a Jr. Accounts executive giving suggestions to the CFO may be regarded as insubordination. ●Hence “Status block” is lack of free flow of information between superiors and subordinates due to respective positions.

● Culture is a shared set of values and attributes of a group.●Hence when the sender and receiver are from different cultural groups a cross cultural barrier is formed. ●Character – High Context vs. Low Context●Language●Non -Verbal behavior●Space ●Paralanguage – Volume, Rate & Emphasis●Time

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Cross – Cultural barrier

Overcoming Barriers●Use of Simple Language●Use Constructive Feedback●Active Listening●Control Emotions●Watch Non-Verbal Cues●Eliminating differences in perception●Reduction & elimination of Noise Levels●Simple Organizational Structure●Avoid Information Overload●Selection of proper channels of communication

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