Barriers To

Communication
By
Dr. Seema Verma
(Assistant Professor)
Department of Applied Science & Humanities
ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
 What is a Barrier ?
 Communication barrier means various disturbances in communication
process which hamper (obstruct) the smooth flow of effective
communication.
 Classification Of Barriers

Barriers

Intraperson Interperson Organisatio

al al nal
 Intrapersonal Barriers
 Intrapersonal barriers stem from an individual’s attitudes or habits.
Individuals are
unique because of their idiosyncracies (unique qualities). This is mainly
because of
differences in experience, education and thinking abilities. Each of us
interprets the
same information in different ways as our thinking varies. The causes that lead
to
intrapersonal barriers are…
 Intrapersonal Barriers

Wrong assumptions Differing Impervious

backgrounds Categories

Varied perceptions Wrong inferences

Categorical Thinking
 Wrong assumptions (suppositions)
Many barriers stem from wrong assumptions. For example, when a doctor tells hi
patient that he has to take a medicine only as ‘SOS’, without knowing whether th
patient understands the term or not, he is creating a barrier in his communication
Here the doctor has made a wrong assumption about his patient’s level of
knowledge. Wrong assumptions generally occur when the sender and receiver do
not have adequate knowledge about each other’s background, or entertain certa
alse notions (ideas), which are fixed in their mind. In order to strengthen your
kills as a communicator try to put yourself in the shoes of the listener. This
exercise will prevent making wrong assumptions about the receiver.
Varied perceptions (understanding differently)
Different people have their different views.
We all know the story of six blind men of Burma, who visited an elephant and their
description of the elephant on returning from the venture. The elephant is
perceived by each man as a fan, a rope, a wall, a sword, a snake, and a tree. None
of the blind men is wrong, as the part of the elephant body touched by each man
was compared with various objects. This is how an individual perceives reality.
Similarly, individuals in an organization also perceive situations in different
ways. Let us take the case of an argument between two individuals. If you are close
to one of them, you are likely to be biased. You may perceive your friend’s
arguments as correct, and hence, may not be able to appreciate his opponent’s
point of view. It is all a matter of perception. The best way to overcome this barrier
is to take a wider view of the issue.
 Differing backgrounds

two persons have a similar background. People vary in terms of their education,
ure, language, environment, age, financial status, etc. Our background plays a
nificant role in how we interpret a message. At times, something not
erienced by you earlier will be difficult to interpret or appreciate. Think of a
cussion where somebody talks about his mountaineering expedition experience.
se people who have had the experience of trekking may be able to appreciate
talk, but others who have not trekked before may not find it interesting at all.
overcome this barrier one should know the background of his audience
use the information accordingly to deliver his message effectively
 Wrong inferences
To draw wrong conclusion about something without knowing the facts can also
lead to communication barrier. For example, you have planned a trip with som
your friends, suddenly one of your friends could not make the trip, you draw th
conclusion that he has not come due to studies, but the fact is that he had tak
 Impervious (inflexible) categories
own views and attitudes. Conversely, when we receive information
that does not
conform (match) to our personal views, habits and attitudes, or
appears
unfavorable to us; we tend to react negatively or even disbelieve.
Rejection,
distortion and avoidance are three common, undesirable and
negative reactions to
unfavorable information.
People who are very rigid in their opinions and are not ready to
accept any
view which is different from their own, fall into impervious
categories. Such
 Categorical thinking

ho feel that they ‘know it all’ are called pansophists. This type of thinking
mong people who feel that they know everything about a particular subject
efore refuse to accept any further information on that topic. For example,
eral Body meeting of your organization, you are to be briefed about the
udget. However, you do not pay attention because you feel you have
been briefed about it by your secretary the previous day. Later you propose
vehicles have to be bought. Imagine your embarrassment when you realize tha
body meeting. This type of thinking can pose a major barrier leading to a
communication. In such instances, the receivers refuse information
of their ‘know-it-all’ attitude.
 Interpersonal Barriers
terpersonal barriers creep in as a result of the limitations in the communication
ills of the encoder or decoder, or both. In addition, they may also occur because
some disturbance in the channel. If two people are involved in communication,
e traits that distinguish them as individuals can be the root cause of a
mmunication problem. The most common reasons for interpersonal barriers are
 Interpersonal Barriers

Limited vocabulary Cultural variations

Emotional outbursts

Incongruityof verbal Communication

and nonverbal selectivity
messages Poor listening skills

Noise
 Limited vocabulary
adequate vocabulary can be a major hindrance in communication. At times your
en falters, or your tongue fumbles as you search for the exact word or phrase. In
our communication, the meanings of your words should be absolutely clear to th
eceiver. During your speech if you are at a loss for words, your communication
ill be ineffective, and you will leave a poor impression on the audience. On the
ther hand, if you have a varied and substantial vocabulary, you can create an
delible impression on your listeners.
so remember that merely having a good vocabulary is of no use unless the
ommunicator knows how to use it. Therefore, one should make constant efforts t
crease one’s vocabulary by regularly reading a variety of books and listening to
ative speakers of the language.
 Incongruity of Verbal and Non-verbal Messages

priateness between verbal and non-verbal messages also causes barrier in

nication. Imagine a situation where your CEO introduces a newly recruited
level manager to other employees. In a small speech, he conveys the
ge that he is very delighted to have the new manager appointed in his office.
er, his face expression shows just the opposite of what he is saying. The
fference between the verbal and non-verbal aspects of his communication
his listeners feeling confused and puzzled. A communicator should acclimatize himself to the communicatio
, and then communicate.
portant to remember that physical appearance can have a great impact on
d of conversation. Guidelines to improve physical appearance are as

according to the occasion

neat and clean clothes
se an appropriate hairstyle
clean and polished shoes.
 Emotional Outburst
Emotions are integral part of every human being. A moderate level of emotional
involvement intensifies communication. However, excessive emotional
involvement can be an obstacle in communication. For example, extreme anger can
create such an emotionally charged environment that rational discussion is just not
possible. Positive emotions like happiness and excitement also interfere in
communication, but to a lesser extent than negative feelings.
Very often people react negatively. Depending on their nature and situation,
this negative reaction may either be classified as hostile or defensive. Hostility can
be considered as a move to counter-attack the threat, whereas defensiveness is
resistance to it. Both occur in situations where the receiver of the message
perceives some kind of threat. Both these responses have an extremely negative
impact on the communication. Messages are either misinterpreted, ignored, or
overreacted to by people displaying such behaviour. Those who witness such
behaviour are most likely to lower their opinion about the sender of such messages.
 Communication Selectivity
you are the receiver in a communication process, and you pay attention only to
art of the message, you are imposing a barrier known as communication
electivity. You do this because you are interested only in that part of the messag
which may be of use to you. In such a situation, the sender is not at fault. It is the
eceiver who breaks the flow of communication.
 Cultural Variations
Effective communication with people of different cultures is challenging.
Communication failure may occur when sender and receiver belong to different
cultures. The sender encodes a message with some meaning but the receiver wh
belongs to other culture, decodes some other meaning.
Cultures provide people with different ways of thinking, seeing, hearing, and
interpreting the world. Thus the same words can mean different things to people
from different cultures, even when they talk the "same" language. When the
languages are different, and translation has to be used to communicate, the
potential for misunderstandings further increases
 Poor Listening Skills
A common obstacle to communication is poor listening skills. The various
distractions that hinder listening can be emotional disturbances, indifference,
aggressiveness and wandering attention.
Sometimes, an individual is so occupied in his own thoughts and worries
that he is unable to concentrate on listening. If a superior goes on shifting the
papers on his desk while listening to his subordinate, without making eye conta
with the latter, he pays divided attention to the speaker’s message. This divided
attention adversely affects the superior – subordinate relationship, besides
distorting the communication
 Noise
oise interferes greatly in the transmission of signals. Noise is any
nwanted signal which acts as a hindrance in the flow of communication. It is not
ecessarily limited to cacophony, but can also occur in visual, audio-visual, written
nd physical forms. All these forms of noise communicate irrelevant matter which
ay allay the receiver’s interest in the message, even irritate him.
chnical or physical noise refers to the din (sound) of machines, the blare
music from a stereo system, or other such sounds which make the task of the
tener difficult. Human noise can be experienced when, for instance, employees
ather for a meeting and a member arrives late distracting everybody’s attention.
sturbance in telephone lines is also an example of technical noise
 Organizational Barriers
Communication barriers are not only limited to an individual or two people but
exist in entire organizations. Every organization, irrespective of its size, has its
own communication techniques, and each develops its own communication
network. Irrespective of size, all organizations have communication policies whi
describe the protocol to be followed. It is the structure and complexity of this
protocol that usually causes communication barriers.
The main organizational barriers are enumerated below
 Organizational Barriers

Too many Transfer

Negative Information
Stations
Tendencies overload

Use of Inappropriate
Fear of Superiors media
 Too many Transfer Stations
he more links there are in a communication chain, the greater are the chances o
ommunication failure. The message gets distorted at each link not only because
oor listening or lack of concentration, but also because of several other reasons.
ome employees may filter out a part of the message which they consider
nimportant. Whatever the reasons for filtering or distorting the message, having
oo many transfer stations is always a deterrent to effective communication and
hould be avoided. Transfer stations do serve a purpose, but having too many of
hem proves counterproductive.
 Fear of Superiors
rigid structured organizations, fear of the superiors prevents subordinates from
eaking frankly. An employee may not be pleased with the way his boss works
t is unable to put his point across because of losing the good will of his boss. As
upervisor, it is essential to create an environment which enables people to speak
ely. An open environment is conducive to increasing the confidence and good
l of a communicator. To avoid speaking directly to their boss, some employees
ay either shun all communication with their superiors or, at the other extreme,
esent all the information that they have. This is because they feel that they would
viewed in unfavourable light if they left out some vital information. In written
mmunication, this results in bulky reports where essential information gets
ubbed with unimportant details. Such unfocussed messages result in a lot of time
ste. Such practices need to be eliminated by superiors to ensure that
mmunication flows effectively in their organizations. Moreover, by encouraging
tive participation from their subordinates, senior officers pave the way for more
eas, resources and solutions to come forth from their juniors.
 Negative tendencies
ny organizations create work groups. While some groups are formed according
he demands of the task, such as accomplishing a particular project, many other
all groups are also formed for recreational, social, or community purposes.
se groups may be formal or informal, and generally consist of people who
re similar values, attitudes, opinions, beliefs, and behaviour. Nevertheless, on
me occasions, it is possible to have communication barrier due to a conflict of
as between members and non-members of a group. Such conflicts pave the way
negative tendencies in an organization. Once these negative tendencies
elop, they create barrier in inter-personal communication.
wever, good managers can take advantage of these situations by
sidering these groups not as troublemakers, but as reinforcers of the
anization’s objectives and values. Experienced administrators can even make
se groups organize orientation sessions for new recruits, thereby projecting the
porate image.
 Use of Inappropriate Media
me of the common media used in organizations are graphs and charts,
ephones, facsimile machines, boards, e-mail, telephones, films and slides,
mputer presentations, teleconferencing, and video conferencing. While choosing
e medium you should keep in mind the advantages, disadvantages and potential
rriers to communication before sending a message, you should consider the
lowing factors while choosing a medium:
Time
Cost
Type of message
ntended audience
ually, a mix of media is best for effective communication. For example, a
ephone call to book an order, followed by a confirmatory letter ensures that
ere is no possible misunderstanding of the message
 Information Overload
e of the major problems faced by organizations today is the availability of huge
mounts of data which the receiver is unable to handle effectively. This is known
information overload.
e usual results of information overload are tiredness, disinterest, and
redom. Under these circumstances, further communication is simply not
ssible.
ry often, vital, relevant information gets mixed up with too many
elevant details, and therefore goes ignored by the receiver. Thus, the quality of
e information is much more important than the quantity.
reduce information overload in an organization, screening of information
mandatory. Messages should be directed only to those people who are likely to
nefit from the information. Major points should be highlighted, leaving out all
elevant details. This kind of screening will be appreciated by all and can reduce
e problem of information overload to a great extent