A very good morning fellow managers. It gives me great pleasure to talk to you this morning.

The topic of my speech today is Effect of Communication Barriers and Overcoming these Barriers. The purpose of my talk is firstly to tell you what are communication barriers and the importance of communication. Secondly, I shall move on to tell you what are these barriers and later, on how to overcome all these barriers. Members of the floor, An organisation is an individuals first home as one spends the maximum time here. No organisation runs for charity, it is really important that the organisation achieve its goals. How does an organisation become successful? How will an organisation achieve its goals? The employees are the assets for any organisation and the profitability of any organisation is directly proportional to the labour put by its employee. Putting labour does not mean getting involved in hard physical work or digging gold mines but it simply means the smart work done by employees, transparency between the team members and the free flow of information from the superior to the subordinates. How does free flow of information happen? How is transparency between the team members achieved? The only possible answer will be through effective communication. Jim Rohn quoted, Effective communication is 20% of what you know and 80% of how you feel about what you know. So what exactly is effective communication? It requires you to also understand the emotion behind the information. It can improve relationships at home, work, and in social situations by deepening your connections to others and improving teamwork, decision-making, caring, and problem solving. It enables you to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust. Effective communication combines a set of skills including nonverbal communication, attentive listening, the ability to manage stress in the moment, and the capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of the person youre communicating with. On the other hand, barrier is something that exists between one thing or person and another and keeps them separate. Communication barrier is defined as obstacles in workplace that prevent effective exchange of ideas or thoughts. As we know, communication is an important facet of life. Communication skills are essential in all spheres of life. The success of an endeavour hinges on the ability to communicate effectively in today's fast paced life, everyone is asked to do more with less. In such a scenario effective communication holds the

key. Effectively communication centres round the usage of words, speed of delivery of words, pitch modulation and body language. However, it is sad to say that barriers or problems in communication exist and communication cannot be practised efficiently. Those barriers I shall include in my speech are Perceptual and Language Differences, Information Overload, Inattention, Time Pressures, Distraction, Emotions and Complexity in Organizational Structure. Moving on to my first point, which is Perceptual and Language Differences. Perception is the process by which an organism attains awareness or understanding of its environment by organising and interpreting sensory information. In living our lives and communicating with each other, our perception of reality is less important than reality itself. Our perceptions are influenced by physical elements, environmental elements and learned elements. Physical elements include what information our eye or ear takes in and how the brain actually interprets it. Environmental elements are the information out there to be received while learned elements are culture, personality and habit. A colour blind person will not perceive red the way other people do. Those with normal vision may physically see red but will interpret it culturally. Red means anger or in debt in the US but in China, red gives the meaning of good fortune. Some words may mean differently to different individuals. For example, a person is on leave for a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical etc.). The HR Manager might be in confusion whether to retain that employee or not and might think of a replacement since teams productivity is hampered. On the other hand, the family member may take him as emotional support. The linguistic differences also lead to communication breakdown and this includes wrongly interpreted messages, faulty translation and not clarified assumptions. It is obvious that perceptual and language differences contribute to the barriers in communication and therefore should be avoided. Secondly, information overload is also one of the barriers in communication. It is reported that people in organisation spend 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation. As an example, managers are the heart of an organisation. They are the decision maker hence are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential to control this information flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted of forgotten or even overlooked. All this will contribute to communication being less effective. For instance, if you receive a message with too much information, you may tend to put up a barrier because the amount of information is

coming so fast that you may have difficulty comfortably interpreting that information. If you are selling an item with twenty-five terrific features, pick two or three important features to emphasize instead of overwhelming your with an information avalanche. Hence, it can be said that information overloaded beyond mans capacity to interpret them is one of the barrier in todays communication. To add on, inattention is one of the contributing barriers. Inattentiveness occurs when we unconsciously become inattentive if the communication contains a new idea and our mind refuses to respond to it. At times, we do not listen but only hear. For example, a traveller may pay attention to one No Parking sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive message should be ignored for effective communication. Similarly, if a supervisor is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate explains him his problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate. This is an example of not healthy working environment whereby the employees cannot have an effective communication with their managers. Not only will this lead to disappointment, it can also lead to misunderstanding in worse-case scenario. To move on with my forth point which is time pressures. Communication under time constrains leads to the failure to integrate the message. Often in organisation the target have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given. This can lead to a huge misunderstanding. In this modern world, life is so busy that most of us are always rushing to get something done. Without realising, this can contribute to a significant problem in workplace when for an example an important message from the manager is not conveyed to the workers. Time pressure should never be a barrier for failure in passing down a message because the importance of having a message conveyed overcomes the importance of rushing for time. Thus, it should be noted that sufficient time must be given to avoid time pressures to influence communication. Distractions or noise and emotions are important factors which worsens effective communication. Noise can be divided into three major type namely intrapersonal noise, semantic noise and situational noise. Intrapersonal noise can include anything that interfere with our attention or gets in the way of understanding a speakers message. We should concentrate on the ideas and thoughts of the speaker and not get distracted by our own monologues or interior noise. If we are daydreaming while someone is speaking we will miss

parts of what is being said. As for semantic noise, it is the reaction that we have to certain words. These are sometimes called trigger words that distract us from hearing the factual message of the speaker. Situational noise is the distraction which arises from the physical speaking location. Physical distractions are also there such as poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly, use of loud speakers interferes with communication. On the other note, emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is bad while he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and jovial. The final barrier in communication which I shall discuss on is complexity in organizational structure. The success or failure of an organization often depends on its ability to communicate with its members, according to The Communications Department at California State University. New technologies, mixed with culturally diverse audiences, have increased the importance of organizational communications, but have also made the field more complex. Understanding some of the common barriers can improve an organization's ability to communicate. There are two common communication assumptions spell disaster for the success of an organizational communication. One is presuming that all members of the organization have the same knowledge base as the message sender. The other is thinking that information will spread accurately and effectively on its own after only one or two members receive it. The Free Management Library, an online guide of leadership articles, recommends that management proactively, thoughtfully and strategically communicate with its members. Organisational policies, rules and the complexity affect the transmission of communication. Complex organisational structure can leave employees and customers confused on who to communicate with about any given issues. The more the number of managerial levels, the more confusing the communication becomes. In this way, information gets distorted or does not reach the right person. Staffs at all levels also become detached from each other. From the six barriers mentioned, we know that the message intended by the sender is not understood by the receiver in the same terms and sense and thus communication breakdown occurs. It is essential to deal and cope up with these communication barriers so as to ensure smooth and effective communication. Firstly, differences in perceptions should be eliminated. The organisation should ensure that it is recruiting right individuals on the job. It is the responsibility of the interviewer to ensure that the interviewee has command over the

written and spoken language. There should be proper induction program so that the policies of the company are clear to all the employees. One should recognise that all perceptions are partial and subjective. Mind reading should be avoided since it is one of the behaviour which leads to conflicts. In addition, one also needs to distinguish between facts and inferences and guard against the self-serving bias. To add on with, usage of simpler language for communication will definitely reduce the barriers. Try emphasising on using clearer words. Usage of appropriate language and words is important in order to give out the message. The choice of words that a person uses is received and deciphered through the listeners filter based on his own experiences and abilities. Language is a symbolic means of communicating and there is a lot of room for distortion and misunderstanding. Reduction or elimination of noise level also plays an important role in getting rid of these problems. It is therefore essential to identify the source of noise and then eliminate it. Active listening and keeping an eye to the audience while communicating is important. Listen attentively and carefully. There is a difference between listening and hearing. Active listening simply means hearing with proper understanding of the message that is heard. By asking questions, the speaker can ensure whether his/her message is understood or not by the receiver in the same terms as intended by the speaker. Besides, when talking to more than two individuals, connect with one individual for a complete sentence or thought. Take a moment to pause as you transition your eyes from one individual to another. As for emotional state, it is vital that one make effective use of body language. He or she should not show their emotions while communication as the receiver might misinterpret the message being delivered. For example, if the conveyer of the message is in a bad mood, then the receiver might think that the information is negative. Besides, confident speakers use gestures to add emphasis to their words. Add variety of gestures by relaxing your arms back to your side after you complete a gesture. Remember as the saying goes, Static is created when what you say is inconsistent with how you say it. The benefits of this includes creating visual to your listeners, so they will remember more information and will remember your message longer. It also grabs listeners attention and adds energy and inflection to your voice and channels your adrenaline and nervous energy. In order to solve the barrier of having complex organisational structure, the hierarchical levels should be optimum. There should be an ideal span or control within the

organisation. The simpler the organisational structure, more effective will be the communication. Studies show that when a message is passed through various departments within an organization, the original message is often altered from the original form. 30% of the message is most during each transmission. Employees retain 50% of the information while managers retain 60% of the original information. This can be solved by giving employees written copies of job descriptions, employee handbooks and other critical company materials. Managers should know how to prioritize their work. They should not overload themselves with the work. They should spend quality time with their subordinates and should listen to their problems and feedbacks actively. This can definitely create a more working friendly environment with your employees. Giving constructive feedback is also one of the solutions. Avoid giving negative feedback. The content of the feedback might be negative but it should be delivered constructively. Constructive feedback will lead to effective communication between the superior and subordinate. A proper media selection may also solve these barriers. Managers should properly select the medium of communication. Simple messages should be conveyed orally, like face-to-face interactions or during meetings. Use of written means of communication should be encouraged for delivering complex messages. For significant messages, reminders can be given by using written means of communication such as the usage of memos, notices and etc. To add on with, flexibility in meeting targets should be emphasised by managers. For effective communication in an organisation, the managers like all of you should ensure that the individuals are meeting their target timely without skipping the formal channels of communication. There should not be much pressure on employees to meet their targets. To sum up with, effective communication is part and parcel of any successful organisation. A communication should be free from barriers so as to be effective. Hence, it is important to overcome all the barriers mentioned above in order to run an organisation smoothly. Managers like you people should take steps so as not to have such problems in corporate organisation. Such communication barriers will only weaken the ability of an organisation to perform. It is necessary for an organisation to have good communication with each other. Having an open communication climate encourages employees through supporting them, through allowing them to participate in decision making, thus trusting them which ensure the integrity of information channels. Ultimately, the openness of any

communication climate depends on the way the organisation is applying such practice in working environment. Before I step down, I would love to deliver a quote for thought by Jeff Daly. Two monologues do not make a dialogue With that, a big thank you.