Barriers to Effective Communication 1

8/3/2019 Barriers to Effective Communication 1

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BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION DRM16

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Anything that obstructs free flow of communication is called

‘barrier’ to communication. Each communication must be transmitted

through an appropriate medium. An unsuitable medium is one of the

biggest barriers to communication.

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION MAY BE BROADLY CLASSIFIED

AS BELOW: -

1. Physical Barriers

One of the major barriers of communication in a workplace

is the physical barrier. Physical barriers in an organization includes large

working areas that are physically separated from others. Other distractions

that could cause a physical barrier in an organization are the

environment, background noise.




Following are the physical barriers :

(a) The Competing Stimulus :

It becomes very difficult to pass on the message orally, if another confirmation giving information simultaneously within hearing

distance, sometimes - loud music or traffic noise creates barrier in the

communication process.

(b) Environmental Stress :

A strong light puts hindrance in case of visual

communication. Because of undesired strain on the eyes of the

communicator, message is not received properly. A high temperature,

humidity, bad ventilation, etc. Contribute in the sending and receiving of

message.

(c) Subjective Stress :

Due to sleeplessness, ill health, consumption of drugs, mental

strain etc. Communicator cannot interpret the message in desired manner.

(d) Ignorance of Media :

User should be well conversant with media that is adopted

for conveying the message. The use of a media with which the receiver

is not familiar would turn the media itself into a barrier . For example,

the uses of visual media like maps and charts to instruct workers, whohave not been familiar with maps and charts , would switch off their

attention for lack of knowledge of the media.

(e) Attitudes and values :

The attitudes serve the personal needs of the people. They

provide need satisfaction to the individuals. When the message is

unfavorable to the receiver, he cannot be easily persuaded by it. The




people in terms of their attitudes and values interpret the message. Their

attitudes and values are different not merely because they are physically

different but also because they have different backgrounds. They deal

with the individuals and events according to their attitudes andassumptions. Their personal attitudes, values and opinions are the barriers

to an effective communication.

2. Psychological Barrier :

Every person has his own way to look at the world, at

people, at events and situations. A way of thinking of a person many

times takes a shape of strong base of communication. No two persons

possess accurately similar frames of reference.

Following are the psychological barriers :

(a) Unjust Assumptions :

It creates a lot of misunderstanding. A manager, for

example, incorrectly assumes that the subordinates understand the technical

terms he adopts to give the instructions.

(b) Barrier of Allness :

Certain people think that they know everything about a

subject. Usually they are not prepared to accept that they could be

mistaken. Many make the generalized statements like women cannot

become superior to men or insincerity is the base of business. An

attitude of allness is an outcome of biased approach.

(c) Snap Reactions :

Some listeners tend to pass remarks or criticize the

communicator even though his communication is not completed. Hurried

interpretations are not needed. Audience needs to be patient enough tolet the communicator finish his speech.




(d) Apathetic Listener :

One who is psychologically dead and indifferent to speaker.

Receiver’s apathy is an intolerable condition, when the communicator tries

to carry out effective communication.

(e) Sophisticated Role :

The receiver is not willing to learn from the communicator.

That means he is unteachable. In such situations the communicator should

try to create right impact.

(f) Defensiveness :

Man always tries to justify himself. He thinks that admitting

the mistake means a loss of face. Therefore, he tends to rationalize the

mistake that he commits. This type of attitude of the communicator is a

great hindrance in the effective communication.

(g) Fear :

A fear gives rise to slow and narrow thinking. It is clearly

destructive to communication. So the primary objective must be to

eliminate fear.

3. Linguistic and Cultural Barriers :

Language is perhaps the greatest barrier in communication

area. A language is ambiguous by nature. The words of a language are

mere symbols and they rarely represent only one meaning. These symbols

are understood differently by the communicator and communication.

Ultimately this results into misinterpretation.

The words possess objective and subjective meaning. It should

be kept in mind that the words carry numerous associations depending

upon the political and cultural situation.




4. Semantic Barriers :

(a) Bypassed instructions :

If the sender and the receiver of the message attributedifferent meanings to the same word or use different words for the

same meaning, bypassing occurs.

For example:

An office manager handed to a new assistant one letter

with the instruction, “ Take it to our stockroom and burn it. ” The

manager meant, to make a copy on a company machine which operated

by a heat process. The puzzled new employee, afraid to ask questions,

burned the letter and destroyed it.

(b) Denotations and Connotations :

Words have two types of meanings : denotative and

connotative . The literal meaning of a word is called its denotative

meaning. Words like ‘table,’ ‘book,’ accounts’’ ‘meeting’ are denotative.

Here only names of objects are informed without any positive or

negative qualities.

For Example

They gave us cheap stuff.

At this shop, they sell things cheap.

‘Cheap’ in the first sentence refers to quality and has an unfavorable

connotation. In the second sentence it refers to prices and is favorable.

To minimize semantic barrier, familiar words should be preferred.

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Barriers to Effective Communication 1