4.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Q-1. State and explain different types of barriers, which may hamper
communication.
Barriers to Communication : Communication can become successful only if receiver
understands senders message exactly as the sender had intended. But, it may not
always happen due to certain factors. These factors are called communication barriers.
Barriers may be sender-oriented, receiver-oriented or channel-oriented.
Communication barriers can be divided into 8 categories :
1. Physical/environmental barriers
2. Physiological/biological barriers
3. semantic/language barriers
4. personal barriers
5. emotional/perceptional barriers
6. socio-psychological barriers
7. cultural barriers
8. organizational barriers
1. Physical/environmental barriers : Such barriers arise due to some technical defects
in the medium or due to some disturbances in the surrounding environment. Major
physical/environmental barriers are as follows :
(a)Noise : Noise refers to a constant disturbance, which obstructs/reduces the
clarity of a Message. For example, noise of traffic around a school can obstruct
the communication between a teacher and the students. Similarly, noise can
create disturbance while watching TV or talking on phone.
(b)Time & Distance : Communication has become faster and easier due to technological
development, but time and distance may create a communication gap between the
sender and the receiver. Time difference between two different countries may
affect communication between their people. Even people working in different shifts
have difficulty in communicating with each other. Besides, improper seating
arrangement in a classroom may not allow every student to see the teacher or listen
to him/her.
(c) Wrong choice of medium : Choice of medium plays an important role in
communication process. If a technical expert teaches the workers about a machine just
by lecturing, they may not understand how to operate it.
(d)Surroundings : Environmental factors can affect peoples mood, alertness and
their ability to communicate effectively. Extreme cold, heat or humidity causes
restlessness and affects thinking and responding ability of the person.
2. Physiological/biological barriers : Such barriers are related to a persons health and
fitness. They may occur due to physical disabilities of sender or receiver :
Speaking may be affected by stammering, fumbling, improper utterances etc.
Listening can be affected by partial or total deafness.
Reading may get affected by poor eyesight; as a result, words may appear hazy,
broken or overlapping.
Writing may get affected by unreadable handwriting. It may be due to hand injury,
trembling of hand/fingers or numbness.
3. Semantic/language barriers : Semantics refers to the systematic study of meaning of
words. Such barriers are related to the language proficiency of sender or receiver. They
arise during encoding or decoding. Both oral and written communications are based on
the words/symbols. These words/symbols are used in many ways and may have more
than one meaning. If the receiver fails to decode the exact meaning (as intended by
sender), he/she misunderstands the message. Major semantic barriers are as follows :
(a) Misinterpretation of words : A word may have more than one meaning
depending upon the context (situation), in which, it is used. Besides, a word may have
two levels of meaning : literal and metaphorical e.g., the word yellow stands for
a colour; it also stands for freshness, beauty, sickness, decay etc. Receiver may
decode any of these meanings based on his/her understanding.
(b) Use of technical language : It is a specialized language used by professionals,
who work in the same field. It is also called jargon. If the receiver does not belong to
the senders group, he/she may not decode the meaning properly.

(c) Ambiguity : Ambiguity arises when sender and receiver both attach different
meanings to the same word or use different words to convey the same
meaning. Sometimes, wrong assumptions also lead to ambiguity.
4. Personal barriers : Communication is interpersonal in nature. Personal barriers are
the barriers related to sender or receiver. They exist due to difference in age,
education, interests, needs or intentions of sender and receiver :
With age, ones choices, preferences and interests also change. If sender does
not consider these changes while communicating, he/she may fail to communicate.
Education determines senders ability to think and compose meaningful
message and transmit it successfully. It also affects receivers ability to
read/listen, to understand and respond to the message.
Attitude of superiors and subordinates play an important role in
communication. If the superior has unfriendly attitude, he/she may filter the
message. When superiors do not let subordinates share their ideas and
suggestions, subordinates lose their morale and become careless. Due to these,
both upward and downward communication suffer.
Lack of confidence and fear prevent a subordinate to openly and comfortably
communicate to his/her superiors.
5. Emotional/perceptional barriers : Such barriers occur as a result of the emotions
and feelings of sender or receiver :
If the sender is angry, jealous, nervous, disappointed or upset, it may affect
his/her ability to encode the message. As a result, the message becomes
confusing.
If the receiver is negative, biased, stressed, frustrated or overexcited, it
affects his/her ability to decode the message. As a result, he/she fails to attach
the same meaning to the message as the sender had attached.
Perceptions of sender and receiver can also lead their communication to failure.
People see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. This
may create a communication gap between the communicators.
6. Socio-psychological barriers : A persons attitude is shaped by 3 Es Education,
Experience and Environment. Various socio-psychological barriers are as follows :

(a)
Status consciousness : Ones perception about ones
position in the organization affects two-way flow of communication. Status
difference between superiors and subordinates may create psychological distance
between them. It finally affects their communication.
(b)
Difference in perceptions : In a communication
situation, communicators have to deal with two aspects of the message the one
that they see and the other that they perceive. Both sender and receiver have
their distinct filters (formed by their experiences, emotional make-up, knowledge and
mindset) and because of this difference, both of them may attach different
meanings to the same message. Such a perception gap may distort the message or
create communication gap.
(c) Prejudices : Prejudice or bias leads to closed-mindedness, as a result, a person may
not accept new ideas, information and views. Such a closed mind becomes a big
barrier to communication.
(d)
Halo/horn effect : When receiver is under the halo
(positive) or horn (negative) effect of the sender, it may create a barrier to his/her
communication with the sender.
(e)
Information overload : When too much information is
communicated in short time, it creates information load on the receiver. As a
result, he/she may not receive or decode the message perfectly.
7. Cultural barriers : Culture means a group of people, who have certain things in
common e.g., attitude, beliefs, values, customs, social behaviour etc. These people
have the shared ways, in which, they understand and interpret the world. Culture
also has a great influence over verbal and non-verbal communication. When sender
belongs to one culture and the receiver belongs to the other and when they dont
know much about each others culture, it can lead to communication breakdown. Cultural
barriers also arise when people insist on preserving their cultural identities and consider
other cultures as inferior cultures.

8. Organizational barriers : Organizational structure greatly affects the flow of information

within an organization. Some major organizational barriers are as follows :
(a) Goal conflicts : There are chances of goal conflicts between superiors and
subordinates or among people working in different departments, even among
the colleagues. This may create a hostile atmosphere within the organization and
may lead to communication breakdown.
(b) Organizational policies : If an organizational policy restricts free flow of
information in the organization, then communication may become unsuccessful.
Besides, if there is a rule to restrict flow of certain messages, employees may not
pass on those messages regardless of their importance.
(c) Organizational hierarchy : Hierarchy refers to a system, in which, people or groups
are ranked one above the other according to status or authority. If there are more
levels in a hierarchy, it can cause delay in passing the information. Besides,
there are chances of filtering and distortion of message at each level. As a result,
sometimes, intended message reaches the target receiver late. At times, it doesnt
reach the target receiver.
Q-2. Suggest ways and means to overcome communication barriers.
Overcoming communication barriers :

Guidelines for Sender :

Sender must be very clear about the purpose and the content of his/her
message. He/she should use an appropriate channel and medium to transmit
the message.
Sender should inform the receiver about the purpose of his/her message and
the important topics he/she will deal with - right in the beginning. It helps the
receiver to identify the main points and organize them in a meaningful pattern.
The message should be compact (to-the-point) and sender should focus on the
main idea. He/she should present his/her ideas in a proper context, so that
receiver can decode them properly.
Sender should avoid technical language /jargons while dealing with nontechnical audience. He should not undercommunicate or over communicate.
He/she should form the message in such a way that it retains the receivers interest.
He/she should be away from prejudices. He/she should communicate with an
open mind.
During written communication, sender should emphasize important points with the
help of bulleted lists, charts, graphs and summary. During oral communication,
he/she can do this by using body language and voice.
During oral communication, sender must try to reduce the noise.

Guidelines for Receiver :

Receiver must receive new ideas/information with an open mind. He/she must
be free from prejudices.
Receiver must focus all his energies on reception when the message is being
transmitted. His/her attention must not wander.
He/she should not be judgmental about the message or the style of the sender.
Receiver must try to understand the message in the right context. He/she must get
his/her assumptions clarified with the sender.

General guidelines :
A company should adopt open door policy at all levels. There should be an
atmosphere of trust and confidence, so that the communication gap between
superiors and subordinates can be reduced.
Hierarchies and policies should not restrict free flow of information within an
organization. Superiors must encourage subordinates to communicate
openly, without any hesitation or fear.
Subordinates should be allowed to participate in decision-making and
problem-solving processes. Their ideas and suggestions should be valued and
implemented, if feasible.
Simplification, decentralization and democratization of communication network helps
in making communication an effective, two-way process. Regular meetings,
conferences etc. help in achieving that.