Barriers to Communication

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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Lecture 3 – Barriers to Communication In our first two classes we have discussed the definition, importance and process of both communication and organisational communication. Today we are going to discuss barriers to communication. Simply put a barrier to communication is any obstacle that distorts or blocks the flow of a message and/or information from a sender to a receiver. As we have mentioned before, the simple communication model consists of a sender encoding and transmitting a message that is to be received and interpreted by another individual, a receiver. On the face of it or theoretically this seems simple enough. The process to be followed is a straightforward one and one that we have been engaging in almost everyday since early childhood. But however just because something appear to be simple on paper does not mean it is so in practice. Think about learning to ride a bicycle. When you put the steps down on paper, they appear easy enough to follow. You simply just have to get on and peddle. Now think about what happened the first time you actually got on a bike and started to peddle – you probably lost your balance and fell off. This leads us to the question of why is it that communication is not always successful. What causes us to lose our balance so to speak. To which the simple answer is the existence of barriers to communication. Now although man was born to communicate, he was not born with communication skills. These skills have to developed over time and a very important part of being a skilled communicator is learning how to identify and overcome potential barriers to communication. The bad news is that there have always been and probably always will be, barriers to communication. The good news is that with effort and practice these barriers can be overcome. The first and most crucial step is to identify what specific barriers are blocking or restricting communication. Now basically communication becomes ineffective or incomplete when there is a breakdown in one or more of the three components to communication: i) ii) iii) at the level of the sender when he/she is formulating, organising and encoding the message at the level of the receiver when he/she is receiving, decoding and interpreting the message at/during the transmission of the message

Barriers to communication that affect the transmission of a message The main barrier that affects the transmission of a message is the existence of external noises. External noises as we discussed earlier are those factors that physically affect the interpretation of communication. Examples are loud noises for

verbal communication and bad handwriting for written. However these are relatively simple barriers to both identify and overcome. The real challenge is to conquer the barriers to communication that affect and/or occur on the part of the sender and receiver in communication. Barriers to communication that affect and/or are caused by the sender 1) Sending incomplete or unclear messages This normally occurs because: a) what is to be communicated in the message has not been properly thought or planned out by the sender and/or b) the message contains incorrect or unclarified assumptions. Remember communication requires a clear message. For instance a boss quickly sending out the message “meet me about seven tomorrow” to a subordinate is both badly thought out and contains an unclarified assumption. Q- Can anyone tell me why A – First using the term about in the communication indicates the boss has not clearly thought out or decided exactly when he would like to meet the subordinate and therefore the message as well. Second this leads to the question of where should the subordinate meet his boss. The answer might be clear in the boss’ head but it has not been communicated. 2) Language and semantic barriers Language is the most important and powerful component of communication. Therefore it needs to focussed upon and skilfully used in order to ensure that effective communication takes place. However language is an arbitrary or sometimes illogical code that depends upon shared definitions, but there is a limit to how completely any two or more individuals can share the same meanings for an entire set of words or language. And this is where the issue and concept of semantics comes into play. Semantics is defined as being the systematic study of the transmission of meaning. Or in other words semantics is the study of what words actually mean. Therefore any problems arising from the expression or transmission of meaning we call semantic problems or barriers. These barriers come into play because the great majority of communication is based on words and words can be used in a number of different ways. Hence a potential sender and receiver may be using and interpreting the same word in different ways. Words meaning one thing in the mind of the sender may not mean the same thing in the mid of the receiver. There is an old saying in semantics that you should keep in mind: “meaning is in people and not in words”. Now I mentioned before that language is arbitrary because the definition for words sometimes appears to have been chosen completely randomly. Think about it. And one of the biggest obstacles in communication is the fact that words often have multiple meanings. Examples include:

Charge which can mean to go forward and attack, to accuse (in courts a person is charged with a crime) or to sell something for a price. The word suit is another example. It can a type of clothing outfit or it can mean to go well with and compliment. Q – Can anyone give me any other examples A- The word right can mean correct or indicate a direction To make matters even more complicated, words can have different meanings in not only their written form but also when spoken. For example the words minute and wind can be pronounced in 2 different ways, to mean 2 entirely different things. Minute as in a measurement of time and minute meaning small Wind as in a current of air and wind as to coil or twist. Other words like present and record can be used as both a verb and a noun. For instance present can be used to describe a gift or the act of giving. Similarly record can be used to denote the action of noting something down or can be used to describe evidence or proof. And on top of all this we also have similar sounding words such as flour and flower. Then there is the fact that adjectives and adverbs like far, fast, few, early and easy can convey different meanings to different persons. Lets use some examples to illustrate. The time you have in mind for getting up early on a Sunday is probably going to be different from what time your parents think is early. Another example is the word far. For an American 20 kilometers is not far. This is partly because they have excellent highways and road systems so that driving 15 kilometers only takes about fifteen minutes. Now 20 kilometers will seem far to somebody living in Pune or Mumbai. As driving this distance will probably take over an hour. But even what we would think of as concrete or stable words such as table can be misinterpreted. For instance one person may think of a dining table, another might imagine a writing and a mathematician or scientist might think of a stats table. In addition different emotional and cultural attitudes will cause different interpretations to the same communication. Now it is not just words that can be open to interpretation. Sentences also can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that the slightest change in a phrase or sentence can completely alter the meaning. For example the sentence: “A red and a blue carpet” clearly signifies two carpets. However take the smallest word in the sentence out, “a” and you have “a red and blue carpet” which clearly signifies one carpet in two colours. In addition sentences can convey entirely different meanings depending upon how they are spoken. For instance through the use of sarcasm. Let use an example to illustrate. You are waiting for a friend at a restaurant. Your friend arrives 20 minutes

late and provides you with an explanation when you ask why he is late. You reply “really”. Now think about it. You can say really in such a way that it indicates you believe him or in such a way that you think he is lying through his teeth. Incorrect use of grammar or the way sentences are structured can also lead to misinterpretation. For instance this was an add that came in the way: “Dog for sale. Will eat anything. Especially likes children. Call 888-3599 Q– A– What message do you think the writer of this addvertisement was trying to communicate? How can this advert be misinterpreted

One last example of how easy it can be to misinterpret a message or transmission. (use expand example) Also it is important to point out that use of technical terms and language can also be a barrier to communication. Think back to the two doctors example from the first class – that is the one doctor who only spoke to you in medical jargon and the other who explained what was wrong with you in everyday language. Which one was actually communicating with you. Remember technical terms are only understood by a limited number of people. Therefore their usage in communication should also be limited. The last barrier we are going to discuss in this category is the concept of filtering. Filtering occurs when a sender manipulates information or a message in such a way that it shows him in a more favourable light and/or will received more favourably by the receiver. It basically involves screening out or editing parts of a message or information by one party before it is passed on to other individual or individuals. Filtering is a very common occurrence in organisational communication which we will discuss in greater detail during the second half of this class. However it also occurs in other aspects of everyday life. One instance is through the use of euphemisms. Euphemisms are substitutes for other words that sound better or bring out more positive images than the original word. For example in the late 1960s when opposition to the Vietnam war was growing larger each day, the government stopped referring to their dropping of bombs on North Vietnam as bombing and called it air bourne tactical support instead. Another military example is when they use the term the enemy was neutralised which in effect means that the enemy was killed. Q – Can anyone give me another example A- think about people with simple jobs that have complicated sounding titles. For example how sales is now replaced with business development. They are both in effect the same job but which title or definition sounds better.

Barriers to communication that affect and/or are caused by the receiver 1) Poor listening or reading These are probably the most common barriers and occur mostly due to the simple lack of attention on the part of the receiver. Think about it, we have all at some point in our lives let our minds wander now and then, regardless of how hard we were trying to concentrate at the time. People are essentially likely to drift off when they are forced to listen to information that is difficult to understand or that has little relevance to them or their lives. Poor reading comes about when we engage in practices such as speed reading through a communication or merely skimming over it. This causes us to often miss out on important information or points being made in the message. How many times have you received a written communication and later asked the sender a question on it and been told the information or answer you want was in the original message. Poor attention whilst reading will also cause the receiver to not or poorly understand the message that is being sent to him. 2) Emotional States How messages are both encoded and decoded at a particular point in time depends to a certain extent on the emotional states of both the sender and receiver at that specific time. Therefore if either or both the individuals are in highly emotional states it is likely to hinder communication. There is an old saying that “anger is the number 1 enemy of communication”. This is because every message contains both a content meaning, which deals with the subject of the message and a relationship meaning, which suggests the nature of the interaction between the sender and receiver. Communication can break down when the receiver reacts negatively to either of these meanings. For instance upset people tend to either ignore or distort what the other person is saying and in turn is unable to communicate his ideas and feelings effectively. Think about two people who are in a heated argument. Very often they are not listening or really talking to each other but just screaming and shouting at each other. 3) Socio – Psychological Barriers Each person has a unique personality which comprises of factors such as their feelings, desires, fears, hopes, likes and dislikes. This personality is formed through a combination of nature and nurture. Nature represents the personality traits a person was born with. Nurture represents the personality traits a person develops over the course of time because of factors such as his upbringing, education, religion etc. Now the exact percentage or ratio between nature and nurture that go into forming an individual’s personality is not known. However what is known is that this personality acts as a filter on a person’s mind and influences how messages are interpreted and received. Problems that arise out of an individual’s understanding, interpretation and response to communication due to socially-learnt attributes (i.e. nurture) and due to his personal attributes (i.e. nature) are called socio-psychological barriers.

Now the first step in overcoming these types of barriers is to understand how we receive messages. We receive message through a sequence of three levels or stages: 1) noticing this is known as the physical level where we notice a message with our senses. That is to say when we become aware that communication is addressed to us and we focus our attention on it. this is also known as the intelligence level and is where we decode the symbols and/or sounds of the transmission. this is also known as the emotional level. Usually there is an emotional response to every message received. This response can be pleasure, dislike or indifference. As mentioned before, strong emotions can affect how a message is interpreted.

2) understanding 3) acceptance -

Most socio-pyschological barriers operate at the emotional level. Examples include: a) self-centred attitudes: people tend to see and hear from the viewpoint of their own interests, needs and desires. They tend to pay much more and closer attention to messages they think will be of use to them and disregard or pay little attention to messages they feel are of limited use. Excessive self interest can cause an individual to miss out on important information. As the old saying goes, self centred people do not communicate - they go from states of talking and waiting to talk. b) group identification: an individual’s values and beliefs are often influenced by the group or groups he belongs to. Examples of groups include immediate family, extended family, religion, city or even the country of an individual. Individuals tend to reject an idea if it goes against the ideas of one or more of the groups he belongs to. For example, parents and children have a tendency to argue because they belong to different age groups and it is often difficult for one group to understand how persons of another group think and feel. c) self image: everyone has some certain idea about themselves. This idea relates to what we think we are, what look like and what impression we make on others. This idea is usually based upon some truths and some exaggeration of our good points. An individual’s self image is typically built up over the years which makes it difficult for him/her to accept any idea that goes against it. For this causes what psychiatrists call a “narcisstic wound”. Therefore people have a tendency to reject any communication or message that goes against their idea of self image. Q – Can anyone provide me with an example A – American Idol and appraisals in the workplace d)selective perception: tendency for an individual to only hear or see parts of a communication that they want to. Or even to interpret a communication in such a way that it suits their purpose. Expression used here is “see or hear only what we want to see or hear”.

e) defensiveness: this tendency occurs when an individual feels threatened by some content of a message. The individual then tends to concentrate more on how he can defend himself in response to the communication than to understand the rest of the message. Example – individual during an appraisal concentrates his efforts on justifying why he is always late rather than listening to the rest of the appraisal f) resistance to change/closed mindedness: tendency of some individuals to reject outright any communication that contains viewpoints that go against their established opinions or traditions. Therefore these types of individuals immediately oppose or block out any communication that is transmitting such ideas. g) cross cultural barriers: When a sender and receiver belong to different cultures, the potential for miscommunication greatly increases. This is because an individual’s culture greatly influences the way an individual will communicate. Therefore people from different cultures will have different styles or methods of communicating. We will cover cross cultural communication in greater depth in another class. Now just as we looked at organisational communication in addition to communication in general, we need to look at barriers to organisational communication specifically and separately as well. As mentioned before communication is very important to an organisation. It plays a major role in both employer-employee relationships as well as employee-employee relationships. It influences the effectiveness of almost every aspect of organisational life. In fact we can think off communication flows as being the lifeblood of an organisation and therefore any barriers to its communication naturally affect it’s the performance of the organisation. These barriers are typically obstacles that restrict the movement of information and are typically caused by the organisation’s structure and/or the nature of roles, the members of the organisation play within this structure. Now as we mentioned in the class on communication in organisations, any communication that occurs in the organisation will have to be in one of the four following directions: i) ii) iii) iv) downward upward lateral or horizontal and diagonal

Downward, upward and lateral communication represent the way an organisation requires its employees to communicate – the formal channels. Diagonal communication represents the way employees want to communicate with each other – the informal channels. Therefore when blocks or barriers to organisation communication appear, they typically appear in the formal channels of communication. However all three of these channels are essential for effective organisational functioning:

a) downward communication commands and instructs (flows from seniors to subordinates) b) upward communication reports and informs (flows from subordinates to seniors) c) lateral communication coordinates (flows among colleagues) Now downward communication has a tendency to be ineffective as research has shown that typically only 20 percent of downward directed information ever reaches the lower levels of the organisation. The causes of this or barriers to downward communication include: a) 1 way communication – downward communication typically represents a one way message from senior executives to subordinates that provides no opportunity for feedback. This problem is especially severe in written and communication and mechanical communications (eg videotaped msgs) b) differences in values and perceptions – senior executives tend to be more committed to the organisation as a whole and subordinates to their departments or groups c) filtering – downward communication typically flows sequentially down an organisation’s hierarchy (e.g. from CEO to SVPS to VPS to Mngrs etc). There is a tendency for each level to filter out and/or edit the message they have received. Therefore the 20 percent effectiveness. Steps that can be taken to overcome these barriers include having senior executives ensure that they: a) maintain regular contact with their subordinates so as to encourage 2 way communication and b) use multiple channels of communication including some face to face conversations c) keep informed of their subordinates’ values and perceptions whilst simultaneously sharing and explaining their points of view Now the main purpose of upward communication is to help ensure that subordinates have a channel for communication. This channel is intended to be used to not only report information but also to provide their feedback, viewpoints etc. However research shows that this is the type of communication that employees find hardest to perform. Barriers to communication here include: a) attitude of subordinates – typically no employee wants to be the bearer of bad news to his boss. Therefore there exists the tendency for subordinates to distort the information they report to their seniors b) attitude of seniors – by not encouraging or taking steps to overcome this type of attitude among subordinates, senior executives actually reinforce this kind of behaviour

c) characteristics of the organisation – highly formal organisation structures tend to restrict if not block upward communication as messages have to pass through the hierarchy in sequence. In addition there is often also a physical distance between seniors and subordinates as executives typically sit on a separate floor which further restricts upward communication. Q – what are some of the ways that these obstacles can be overcome A- seniors to increase the contact they have with subordinates. Walk through offices, have informal functions Lastly lets discuss barriers to lateral communication. These include: a) trend of increased specialisation among jobs/employees – this reduces the extent to which organisation members share common interests, viewpoints etc and therefore making communication that much harder. b) lack of management recognition and reward – organisations tend to encourage and reward vertical but not lateral communication. Therefore employees tend to limit behaviour that is not rewarded. c) suppression of differences – this refers to the tendency of employees to suppress viewpoints or information that may lead to disagreements and conflict. Q – what are some of the ways A- expand employees’ awareness of overall organisational goals and how they can be achieved through cross departmental cooperation. Create liason roles in the organisation structure. Instil systems that will appraise and reward effective lateral communication. Now to conclude, I just want to leave you with some tips on how you can overcome the various barriers to communication we have described. 1. Have a positive attitude about communication. Think of it as a creative process rather than just as a task you complete. The more you enjoy something the more likely you are to become good at it. 2. Accept that there will come times of miscommunication. Do not get discourages as the even the best communicators fail to have perfect communication. Rather use any events of miscommunication as an opportunity to learn and better your communication skills for the future. 3. Practice. No one is born with good communication skills - these are developed over the course of time through knowledge and effort. This course will give you the necessary knowledge which sure you put the effort in applying what you learn.

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