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Barriers to Communication

ASSIGNMENT ON
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Submitted By: SUNIL SHAW

Enrollment No: 040201133
PGDM 2014-16
SECTION-1
Roll No: 53

Submitted To:
PROF. PARTH PATHAK

Barriers to Communication

Barriers of Communication
Communication
Communication is the art of transferring/conveying information, ideas, facts and feelings, etc.
from one person to another and making them understandable by the use of medium such as
speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. Communications are almost always complex, twoway processes, with people sending and receiving messages to and from each other
simultaneously.

Communication on its own has developed a scaling place in every organization, both formal and
informal. Effective communication amongst the workers (including top, middle and low level)
helps to generate a favorable environment which in turn helps to establish the very internal
soundness of the enterprise. This helps to narrow down the occurrence of miscommunication and
conflicts between the employees, leading to better management of time and the resources which
in turn help to bring out the maximum output for the organization at hand.

However, sometimes communication does not bring out the desired outcomes; this is because
there are certain barriers which disrupt the process of communication. Barriers to communication
can be of the form of wrong use of the language medium, haste on the part of the receiver in
understanding of the received information, etc.
Barriers to communication nullify the effect / role of communication causing discrepancies to
the work flow of the organization. The various barriers of communication can be divided into
four categories:A. Intrapersonal Barriers
B. Interpersonal Barriers
C. Organizational Barriers

Barriers to Communication

Definition of Noise
Noise refers to anything that distorts the message, so that what is received is different from what
is intended by the speaker. Whilst physical 'noise' (for example, background sounds or a lowflying jet plane) can interfere with communication, other factors are considered to be noise.
The use of complicated jargon, inappropriate body language, inattention, disinterest, and cultural
differences can be considered 'noise' in the context of interpersonal communication. In other
words, any distortions or inconsistencies that occur during an attempt to communicate can be
seen as noise.

A. Intrapersonal Barriers
Intrapersonal Barriers are those barriers which occur mainly because of difference of experience,
education, value and personality. Every individual is not same; everyone has different
perception, so everyone interprets the same information in different way.
Wrong Assumption
Varied perception
Differencing background
Wrong inference
Impervious categories
Categorical thinking

Wrong Assumption: The success of communication depend on the both the sender and
receiver, as we have seen in an earlier unit. It is wrong to assume that communication is the sole
responsibility of the sender or the speaker and that listeners have no role to play. Such an
assumption can be big barrier to listening. For example, a brilliant speech or presentation,
however well delivered, is wasted if the receiver is not listening at the other end. Listeners
have as much responsibility as speakers to make the communication successful, by paying
attention seeking clarifications and giving feedback.

Varied perception: The speaker and the listener sometimes see the same situation from a
different point of view and this can affect understanding (e.g. Parent and child). Examples of

Barriers to Communication

other perceptual barriers are:

Social/cultural background differences
Attitude unexpected
Expectations different
Appearance of speaker
Mannerisms
Accents

Differencing background:

Differences in background can be one of the hardest

communication barriers to overcome. Age, education, gender, social status, economic position,
cultural background, temperament, health, beauty, popularity, religion, political belief, even a
passing mood can all separate one person from another and make understanding difficult.

Wrong inference: Whenever we communicate, it is essential to have evidence about what we

are saying. Otherwise, we commit a sort of barrier to communication called wrong Inferences by
misleading people. This kind of communication barrier occurs when we begin our premise of
reasoning without tangible evidence and conclude what we say is true. For example, one of the
journalists once wrongly inferred that the death of the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
was due to the bumping of the helicopter with a mountain; actual cause was that the chief died in
a helicopter crash.

Impervious categories: Impervious categories are observed in people who are not openminded, who do not accept anything other than what they already judged or concluded.. When
these people face ideas which do not match with their views, habits and attitudes, they tend to
ignore, distort, and reject them. This sort of behavior is believed to affect the personal
development of people in the fast growing world and make them lag behind the technology.
For instance, People who are not willing to adapt themselves to the modern technology may act
as a barrier in the development process of the organization.

Barriers to Communication

Categorical thinking: Categorical Thinking is another form of intrapersonal communication

barriers which deals with individuals who have know it all attitude so that they use words such
as always, none, all, every time, etc. This is likely to cause communication barrier for these
people are not willing to entertain any different idea. Technically these people are called pan
sophists. For instance, somebody discusses a certain matter in a meeting, and one of the
participants raises his hand to say something that the presiding persons of the meeting have never
heard in the reasoning process. If they do not accept or entertain what he says, they are showing
know it all attitude.

B. Interpersonal Barriers
Interpersonal barriers arise between two parties because of noise in the medium, tendency to
focus on selected parts of the message, divided attention and poor listening, and gaps of cultural
and linguistic resources. Sometimes a communicator confuses us by using unintelligible gestures
and language. Examples :
-Perception
-Distrust
-Emotions
Limited vocabulary
Incongruity of Verbal and Non-Verbal Messages
Emotional Outburst
Communication Selectivity
Cultural Variations
Poor listening skills
Noise in the channel
Limited vocabulary: To understand what has been said or to convey our messages, the words
we have determine a lot to be effective in our communication. For example, a person who stands
before a considerable number of people in a meeting to deliver a speech can leave a good
impression on his audience if he is able to say what he wants to say with careful choice of words
or else he will suffer the consequence of his failure leaving a bad impression on his audience.

Barriers to Communication

Incongruity of Verbal and Non-Verbal Messages: Both verbal and non-verbal clues are
expected to match each other during communication. If any mismatch happens between them,
the desired communication outcome cannot be achieved. This barrier to communication may
confuse the listener and results in making the message sent ineffective. For instance, in higher
education institutions instructors are usually perceived as having suit clothing or with distinctive
formal clothes. Once, in the first semester of our undergraduate studies, we waited for a course
instructor who was late by some minutes. A young man in shirt appeared talking to another
person. We never thought that that person was our instructor. However, when he requested us to
go into the classroom we were shocked. This happened due to our expectation of an instructor
which is caused by the mismatch between verbal and non-messages.

Emotional Outburst: Average emotional involvement is normal and is believed to aid

communication. But excessive emotional involvements such as anger, excitement, fear, etc are
believed to obstruct the normal flow of communication. For instance, a famous actor in India
once was arrested for allegedly committing a hit-and-run crime. He was very emotional with his
words when he refuted it in custody, which gave a bad image to the judge.
Communication Selectivity: Being the receiver of a message delivered by a sender, if one is
giving attention only to a certain part of it, he /she is creating a barrier to communication called
communication selectivity. This type of barrier usually happens when the receivers are interested
only in some parts of the message as it has of use for them. Under such circumstances if the flow
of communication is interrupted, it is the receiver who is responsible for the barrier occurred to
the communication. For instance, if a professor tells his students the final exam will be designed
from the power point he is using in the class than what he is dictating, students may not give
attention to what he is talking. Rather they focus on what is written on the power point. Hence,
this poses barrier to the communication taking place between the teacher and the student (Mitra
2006).
Cultural Variations: Accents can be barriers to listening, since they interfere with the
ability to understand the meaning of words that are pronounced differently. The problem of
different accents arises not only between cultures, but also within a culture. For example, in a

Barriers to Communication

country like India where there is enormous cultural diversity, accents may differ even between
regions states. Another type of cultural barrier is doddering cultural values. The importance
attached to listening and speaking differs in western and oriental cultures. Generally, Orientals
regard listening and silence as almost a virtue, whereas Attach greater importance to speaking.
Therefore this would interfere with the listening process, when two people from these two
different cultures communicate.

Poor Listening Skills: Most people are very average listeners who have developed poor listening
habits that are hard to say and that act as barriers to listening. For example, some people have the
habits of faking attention, or trying to look like a listeners, in order to impress the speaker and
to assure him that they are paying attention. Others may tend to listen to each and every fact and,
as a result, miss-out on the main point
Noise in the Channel: Linguistics barriers derive from the speaker and make it difficult for them
to be listened to. They can be summarized as Jargon or specialist language, Monotonous voice,
Inappropriate tone, Hesitant Manner, Badly organized material, Complex sentence, Complex
vocabulary, Delivery too fast.

C. Organizational Barriers
Organizational barriers lie in the organization itself. Too many, unnecessary notices must be
avoided. A message passing through too many messengers gets distorted. Fear of authority may
suppress the voice of the staff. Organizational barriers to communication refer to the barriers that
are caused due to having management skills. This happens to do lack of proper planning and
creation of the structure leading to the achievement of the goals of the organization. There can be
problems also because of conflicting goals and regulations within the organization.
Examples :
- Poor planning
- Status Differences
-Structural Complexities
Too many transfer station.

Barriers to Communication

Fear of superior
Negative tendency
Use of inappropriate media
Information overload

Too many transfer station: When messages pass on from one person to another in a
series of transmission they are likely to become less and less accurate. The message gets
distorted at each level because of poor listening or lack of concentration.

Fear of superior: In rigidly structured organization, fear or awe of the superiors

prevents sub-ordinates from speaking frankly. To avoid speaking directly to their boss,
some employees may either shun all communication with their superiors or they may
present all the information that they have.

Negative tendency: Negative tendency can arise due to improper management of group
in an organization. This group can be formal and informal consists of people who share
similar values, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and behaviors. When any idea arise it might
neglected by some of the group members. Thus the conflict began within the group. And
the result of it, communication gets hampered.

Use of inappropriate media: Some of the common media used in organizations are
graphs, charts, telephones, fax machines, computer presentations, e-mails, slides,
teleconferencing and video-conferencing. While choosing the media you should therefore
keep in mind the advantages, disadvantages and potential barriers to communication.

Information overload: One of the major problems faced by organization today is the
availability of huge amount of data which the receiver is unable to handle. Receiver
should receive only that amount of facts and figures at one time that he/she can absorb.
Major points should be highlighted, leaving out all irrelevant things. This kind of
reducing can reduce the problem of information overload to a great extent.

FILTERS

Barriers to Communication

Overcoming perceptional barriers

Effective listening
Create synergistic environment
Overcoming emotions
Use appropriate language
Use proper channel
Make best use of body language
Ensure two way communication

Overcoming perceptional barriers: Perception is generally how each individual

interprets the world around him. All generally want to receive messages which are
significant to them. But any message which is against their values is not accepted. A
same event may be taken differently by different individuals. For example : A person is
on leave for a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical). The HR
Manager might be in confusion whether to retain that employee or not, the immediate
manager might think of replacement because his teams productivity is being hampered,
the family members might take him as an emotional support.

Effective listening:

The most common barrier to reception is simply a lack of attention

on the receiver's part. We all let our minds wander now and then, regardless of how hard
we try to concentrate. People are essentially likely to drift off when they are forced to
listen to information that is difficult to understand or that has little direct bearing on their
own lives. Too few of us simply do not listen well! To overcome barriers, paraphrase
what you have understood, try to view the situation through the eyes of other
speakers and resist jumping to conclusions. Clarify meaning by asking non-threatening
questions, and listen without interrupting.

Create synergistic environment: For communication to be effective, the correct

ambiance must be created so that the sender and receiver are on the same platform. This
creates a positive environment in which communicating succeed.

Overcoming emotions: 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 very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is
happy and jovial

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Barriers to Communication

Use appropriate language: When you choose the words for your message, you signal
that you are a member of a particular culture or subculture and that you know the code.
The nature of your code imposes its own barriers on your message. Barriers also exist
because words can be interpreted in more than one way. Language is an arbitrary code
that depends on shared definitions, but there's a limit to how completely any of us share
the same meaning for a given word. To overcome language barriers, use the most specific
and accurate words possible. Always try to use words your audience will understand.
Increase the accuracy of your messages by using language that describes rather than
evaluates and by presenting observable facts, events, and circumstances.

Use

Proper

channel:

The

managers

should

properly

select

the

medium

of communication. Simple messages should be conveyed orally, like: face to face

interaction or 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: Memos, Notices etc.

Make best use of body language: It is very important for the speaker to convey his
messages to the recipient in such a way that the information is completely understood. As
we know that actions speak louder than words, It is very important to use the body
language to full effect. In doing so the recipient get motivated and also keep active
interest in what is being said, body language if positive will make the crowd eager in
listening to the speaker.

Ensure two way communications: For any communication process to be effective it is

necessary that there is constant give and take of information between the sender and
racier. The receiver response in form of feedback and this make the circle complete.