BARRIERS IN
COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION IS THE ART OF TRANSMITTING KNOWLEDGE, IDEAS,
INFORMATION AND THOUGHTS FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER.
THE TRANSFER SHOULD BE SUCH THAT THE RECIEVER UNDERSTANDS
THE MEANING AND THE INTENT OF THE MESSAGE AND GIVE PROPER
FEEDBACK
IMPORTANCE
Effective communication is the nerve of all the business activities in an organization
Necessary for planning
Understanding each other
Establishment of effective leadership
Increases Efficiency
Basis of Decision-making
Smooth Working of Enterprise
Motivation
Co-ordination
BARRIERS
There are three levels at which communication takes place
1. Noticing is done with the senses, and is at the physical level
2. Understanding is at the level of intelligence
3. Acceptance is at the emotional level
Anything that hinders the process of communication at any of these levels is a barrier to
communication
Barriers to communication can be defined as the aspects or conditions that interfere with
effective exchange of ideas or thoughts.
CLASSIFICATION OF BARRIERS
PHYSICAL BARRIERS
SEMANTIC AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS
SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
CULTURAL BARRIERS
ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS
Physical Barriers
Faulty Organizational Structure
Large working area
Closed office doors
Separate areas for people of different status
It forbids team members from effective interaction with
each other.
New concepts like open workspace designs and parallel
communication approaches have been emerging to
challenge this type of physical communication barrier
NOISE
The term communication barrier, or that which inhibits or distorts the message, is an expansion
of the concept of noise. Noise here does not mean sound, but a break or disturbance in the
communication process.
Noise can be classified as channel and semantic. Channel noise is any interference in the
mechanics of the medium used to send a message.
Eg: distortion due to faulty background, noise in telephone lines, or too high a volume or pitch
from loudspeakers, illegible handwriting
Written noise (bad handwriting/typing)
Visual noise (late arrival of employees)
Time and Distance
Improper Time
If a message is not sent in inappropriate time, the message will
not have the effect that it should have, as the intention will not be
met.
Defects in Medium of communication
Network Facilities
Mechanical Breakdowns
Information Overload
Piling up of tasks due to improper time management. Excess number of tasks
assigned for same person
The decrease in efficiency resulting from manual handling of huge amount of
data
The usual results of information overload are fatigue, disinterest, and boredom.
Under these circumstances, further communication is simply not possible.
Very often, vital, relevant information gets mixed up with too many irrelevant
details, and is therefore ignored by the receiver.
Semantic and Language Barriers
Semantic noise is generated internally, resulting from errors in the message itself. It may be
because of the connotative (implied) meaning of a word that is interpreted differently by the
sender and the receiver.
Eg: A bar display sign: “Women are not permitted to have children here.”
Other examples of semantic noise are ambiguous sentence structure, faulty grammar,
misspellings, and incorrect punctuation.
Homonyms, homophones, homographs and other confusing words.
Eg: Never desert your friends in the desert.
The bandage was wound around the wound.
Denotations and Connotations
Denotation: The literal meaning of a word
Connotations: The emotions and associations connected to a word
– Favorable Connotation: 'honest', 'noble', 'sincere’
– Unfavorable Connotation: 'cowardly', 'slow', 'incompetent’
Examples: They gave us cheap stuff.
At this shop, they sell things cheap
Language Barriers
Different Languages
No Clarity in Speech
Using Jargons
Not being specific
What is Psychological Barrier?
Psychological barriers can be described as the cause of
distorted communication because of issues with human
psychology.
Lack of Attention
When a person’s mind is distracted or preoccupied with other things, the person is not able to
form proper message, listen to what others tell him/her, interpret the message as required and
give proper feedback. The communication will face problems and becomes ineffective.
Poor Retention
Retention of information is the capacity of the memory of the brain to store information and
the way brain stores information in memory. Brain does not store all the information it comes
across, but only the ones it deems useful for future. So, half the information is lost in the
retention process.
Distrust and Defensiveness
Communication is successful when the communicators trust each other.
Lack of trust makes them derive negative meaning of the message and they ignore the message. When a
person tries to force his/her own ideas and opinions, then receiver does not listen. If the receiver does not
agree to the message provided or thinks of it as a threat, he/she will not listen to it.
Perception, Viewpoint, Attitudes and Opinions
For example, a person takes females to be weak which is the person’s perception. He/she tells that to
someone who does not think so. This causes a misunderstanding between the two. Everything they
communicate after that becomes unsuccessful that the view of the person is already set.
Emotions
Anyone who isn’t in a good mood is likely to talk less or talk negatively. A preoccupied mind is not good
at communicating. For example, when a person is angry, he/she might say things they regret later. Various
other emotions like fear, nervousness, confusion, mistrust and jealousy affect communication process.
Closed Mind and Filtering
When a person is close minded, the person will have fixed opinions on many things which the person
believes resolutely. The person will interpret any information in a negative way.
For example, a sexist person does not accept the suggestions of a female colleague in a meeting that
affects the communication flow in the meeting. It is difficult to argue with such close minded people and
give proper information.
Premature Evaluation
Quick judgments and jump into conclusions
It is important to hear the whole message to make proper judgments because
they are not changed easily after they are once made.
For example, a person is in a hurry and talks on the phone, the person does not listen
to half the message and makes the decision which is wrong in the situation.
CULTURAL BARRIERS
Cultural Barrier is another barrier, for example if you are having a business meeting with a Japanese
delegate and you haven’t learnt to adapt to other cultures then communication between you will be
less effective and can become awkward. For example, Japanese people greet by bowing, so if you go
to give a Japanese person a handshake and they bow instead then already the communication between
you is effected by this and the conversation could become awkward.
Cultural Barriers: include concepts of space, time and social relations, age, education, gender, social
status, values, norms, economic position, cultural background, beauty, popularity, religion, standards,
priorities: which can separate one person from another and create a barrier.
Stereotypes and Prejudices
Stereotyping is the process of creating a picture of a whole culture, overgeneralizing all people
belonging to the same culture as having similar characteristics and categorizing people
accordingly. It is a belief about a certain group and is mostly negative.
Negative stereotyping creates prejudices as it provokes judgmental attitudes. People look at those
cultures as evil. Media is a tool of mass communication which promotes stereotypes and
prejudices and creates more communication barriers.
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the process of dividing cultures as “us” and “them”.
The people of someone’s own culture are categorized as in-group and the other culture is out-
group. There is always greater preference to in-group. There is an illusion of out-group as evil
and inferior. This evaluation is mostly negative.
Religion
Similar to ethnocentrism and stereotyping, religion also disrupts communication as it creates a
specific image of people who follow other religions. People find it difficult to talk to people
who follow different religions. Religious views influence how people think about others. It
creates differences in opinions.
ORGANISATIONAL BARRIER
Communication barriers are not only limited to an individual or two people but exist in
entire organizations.
Most large companies are realizing that a rigid, hierarchical structure usually restricts the
flow of communication. This is because there are numerous transfer points for
communication to flow in these hierarchical systems, and each of these points has the
potential to distort, delay, or lose the message.
Too Many Transfer Stations
Example:
Professor: X was supposed to meet me today regarding the submission of an assignment on
Magnetic Theory. But I want X to meet me on Friday, as I am going out of station tomorrow.
You (to your friend Y): Ask X to meet the professor tomorrow, regarding the assignment, as the
professor is going out of station today.
Your friend Y(to X): X, you have to meet the professor today as he will not be available tomorrow.
This is an example of how messages get distorted in huge organizations with several layers of
communication channels. The message gets distorted at each level because of poor listening or lack
of concentration or filtering.
Fear of superiors
In rigidly structured organizations, fear or awe of superiors prevents subordinates from speaking frankly. An
employee may not be pleased with the way his/her boss extracts work from him/her but is unable to put
his/her point across because of fear of losing the boss’s goodwill.
Negative tendencies
Many organizations create work groups. While some groups are formed according to the requirements of the
task at hand, such as accomplishing a particular project, many other small groups are also formed for
recreational, social, or community purposes. On some occasions, a communication barrier can exist due to a
conflict of ideas between the members and non-members of a group. Once these negative tendencies
develop, they create noise in interpersonal communication.
Use of inappropriate media
Some of the common media used in organizations are graphs and charts, telephones, facsimile
machines, boards, email, telephones, films and slides, computer presentations, teleconferencing,
and videoconferencing.
While choosing the medium for a particular occasion, the advantages, disadvantages, and potential
barriers to communication must be considered
Example:
The telephone, for instance, would not be an ideal medium for conveying confidential information.
Printed letters, which provide permanence, are preferable for information which requires to be
stored for future reference
Tips for Effective Communication
Constant practice and rigorous implementation of these ideas will help you become an excellent
communicator.
Always keep the receiver in mind.
Create an open communication environment.
Avoid having too many transfer stations.
Do not communicate when you are emotionally disturbed.
Be aware of diversity in culture, language, etc.
Use appropriate non-verbal cues.
Select the most suitable medium.
Analyze the feedback.
Thank you
