Barriers to Communication Process

•     Physical barrier

•      Perceptual barrier

•      Emotional barrier

•      Cultural barrier

•      Language barrier

•      Inappropriate communication channel

•      Semantic barriers

•      Organizational Barriers

•      Interpersonal Barriers

•      Individual / Psycho-sociological Barriers

•      Cross-Cultural/ Geographic Barriers

•      Physical Barriers/ Channel and Media Barriers

Ø Physical Barrier: -

It is the geographic distance between the sender and receiver. Communication is generally easier over shorter distances as more communication channels are available and less technology is required.

Ø Perceptual Barrier: -

It is an internal barrier. We all have our own preferences, value, attitude, origins, and life experiences that act as ‘filters’ on our experience of people, events and information.

Ø Emotional Barrier: -

It can be tough to overcome but are important to put aside to engage in conversation. Anger, pride, anxiousness is the emotional barrier that prevents individuals from effective communication

Ø Cultural Barrier: -

Culture shapes our worldview and impacts our oral communication and body language. It is a set of values that shapes and guides our perception, our behaviour pattern and even our way of thinking. Cultural interpretations may lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings. 

For example: - Japanese people do not like to stare eye to eye in a business meeting as they consider it rude. A westerner could construe this as not being open.

Ø Language Barrier: -

If you work in an industry that is heavy in jargon or technical language, care should be taken to avoid these words when speaking with someone from outside the industry.

Ø Inappropriate communication channel: -

The personality and style should be considered while selecting the channel. Some people are more comfortable with written communication while a few others excel during face-to-face communication. People should evaluate their successes and failures in communication and use the channel that best fits their style.

Ø Semantic barriers: - This barrier is related to the process of coding and decoding the message. Various types of semantic gaps found in the day-to-day use of people are as follows:

· Words having similar pronunciation but multiple meanings: Same pronunciation but are having many meanings.

For example sight, site, cite.

·        Badly expressed message: Lack of clarity and precision make the message badly expressed. Lacks coherence, awkward sentence structure, jargon etc. Are common faults, which lead to such messages

·  Wrong interpretation: Whenever one interprets a symbol, his understanding may differ from others. The Hindi word ‘kaka’ means uncle in one part of the country but a small boy in another part of the country.

· Technical Language: When technical language is used in the communication process, it creates barriers to understanding the message in the same sense and in the same spirit. When technical jargon or specialist languages are used in the communication and conversation process, they create tension, confusion and misunderstanding between the sender and the receiver.

·   New meanings given to ordinary words by computer technology; to people who are not familiar with computers, “mouse” is only an animal, whereas, in computer jargon, it is a device.

 Ø Organizational Barriers: - It may originate in contradictory management policies or too many levels of management or the clash between line and staff operations. The specialized nature of functions or even the special language of those functions may cause it. It may have its source in formal-informal, or grapevine transactions. Following are the organizational barriers in communication:

·  Organization culture and climate: In every organization, there exists a unique culture and climate. The climate and culture of an organization ultimately influence the freedom, thrust and interaction pattern among people in an organization.

·  Organizational rules and regulations: The rules and regulations of the organization vary widely from one organization to another. They may be so rigid that they may influence the flow of information in the wrong direction.

·      Status relationships: The status, power, and position relationship act as the hurdle in the effectiveness of communications. Individuals may not be able to say what they wish to say because of their fear for the position and power of the other party in the communication process. The complex hierarchical structure of the organization like too tall or too much divisionalisation of the organization may not facilitate the free flow of communication.

·    Lack of cooperation between superior and subordinate: There may not be proper cooperation between the superior and subordinate for various personal or organizational relationships, which may hold to improper communication in an organization.

 Ø Interpersonal Barriers: -The effectiveness of Communication depends a lot on the interpersonal relationship between two people. If the sender and receiver are at the same economic, educational and status level and have a good rapport with each other, there is hardly any barrier arising in communication. But, in case of a difference at any level, there is a greater chance of Miscommunication. The most common example for this in an organization is the Barriers relating to Superior and Subordinate. The subordinate must follow the order of the superior, carry out all work efficiently, and provide full information related to any matter, which arises in the organization or in any work. Moreover, the superior should have full confidence in himself and the subordinate.

• Lack of proper channel: There may be complexity in the organizational structure, which may influence proper and effective communication from the subordinate. They may not feel free to communicate because of the pressure of position power and authority.
• No interest to communicate: There may not be any interest on the part of subordinates to have a dialogue, discussion, and interaction with their superiors, which affect the communication process adversely.
• Lack of cooperation: lack of cooperation and mutual understanding also leads to the hiding of certain information between the superior and subordinates in the organization.
• Lack of trust: There may be a lack of trust and coordination between the superior and the subordinate, which may lead to infective communication.
•  The poor relationship between superior and subordinate: A good relationship must develop between superiors and subordinates frequently and freely. They must interact to improve the upward and downward communication system. The superior must listen to the subordinates’ suggestion, their problems, and must have faith in them. In the absence of all this, it may so happen that what the superior speaks, the subordinate may not understand it.
• Fear of penalty: If the subordinate feels that because of free expression and upward communication he will face some type of penalty, there is a possibility that he may not provide a full or correct message to the superior.

 Ø Individual / Psycho-sociological Barriers: Individual or Psycho-sociological barriers are the prime barriers in interpersonal communication. People have different styles of communication. People also have personal feelings, desires, fears, hopes, likes, dislikes, attitudes, views, and opinions. The meaning assigned to a message depends upon the emotional or psychological status of both parties involved in the process of communication.

•  Style
• Selective perception: The receiver may make a world of his own around himself. He projects his interest and expectations as he decodes messages. He may only take that much piece of information, which may suit his world of thinking. As a result, the person acquires incomplete and inappropriate information, which influence the communication process. Having a poor self-concept or self-understanding, or a poor understanding of others can cause perceptual distortions.
• Halo effect: People do not listen carefully because of impressions based on earlier encounters. Even one of the parties having a halo effect will disrupt the flow of communication.
• Status relationship
• Poor attention and Retention
• Inattention
• Undue importance of written words
• Defensiveness
• Closed Mind
• State of Health
• Filtering: Filtering is the process of reducing the details or aspects of a message. Each person who receives the message reduces it according to his or her understanding of the situation. In this process, much of the important information may be lost or misinterpreted and the sender will fail to convey what he wants to convey.

Ø Cross-Cultural/ Geographic Barriers: Culture is a shared set of values and attributes of a group; it is the total of the ways of living built up by a group and transmitted from one generation to another. Culture is so much a part of an individual’s manner of talking, behaving, and thinking, that communication style and competence are influenced by it.

Some of the significant differences between cultures are:

·        National Character/ Basic Personality.

·        Language

·        Values and norms of behaviour

·        Social relationships

·        Concepts of time

·        Concepts of space

·        Nonverbal communication

·        Perception

Ø Physical Barriers/ Channel and Media Barriers: - Physical distractions cause a lot of noise, often literally: insufficiently insulated rooms with car noises filtering through, poor lighting, and such things as frequent movement of bodies postures, with a pen in the hand, even the arrival of coffee at a critical stage on the communication process are the causes of communication barriers in organizations. Constant telephone interruptions are one of the commonest physical distractions. These obstacles prevent a message from reaching the intended recipient. The following obstacles are considered under this category:

·        Noise

·        Defects in the Medium

Also, read about:

• Introduction of Communication: its Process and Types of Communication

• Overcoming the communication barriers, 7C’s of Communication and Important Terminologies

• 4S’s of Communication, Communication Models and Communication Process and Learners’ Learning Styles

• The Organisational Structure and Communication Process 

• Effective Organisational Communication