Barriers to Effective Communication - Communication Notes

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Barriers to Communication

Barriers to communication are those factors that produce obstacles in the way of reaching a message to the receiver. 

There are five kinds of barriers to communication:-

Personal Barriers

Human beings differ from one another because of different geographical, economic, social, educational or occupational backgrounds. Some characteristics are inherited by them due to their birth, family backgrounds, upbringing or social events that are unique to them. These include:

• personal emotions;
• biases;
• perceptual variations;
• competencies;
• mental faculties;
• five senses and
• psychological problems

Semantic Barriers

Semantic is the science of meanings. A word can carry as many as five hundred meanings. Semantic barriers arise due to differences in meanings, which people attach to the different words.

The meanings of the words are not in the words; these are with us. A poor choice of symbols or their confused meanings could distort communication. Semantic barriers can be subdivided into:

• word interpretations;
• gestures (handshakes and frowns);
• language translations;
• signs and symbols; and
• cue meanings.

Organisational Climatic Barriers

These are the barriers that are created due to problems in the culture of the organisation and also, due to lack of proper directions of the managers or top brass! These are as follows:-

• Fears
• Fears of being misinterpreted
• Fear of distortion by grapevine
• Fear of exposing oneself to criticism
• Fear of getting fired.
• Poor or Ego-centered Supervision
• Poor supervision may create obstacles in the communication process. Typically, the person may think that he is being ignored or dominated.
• Insincerity and Lack of Confidence
• Insincerity means that communication is superficial Lack of confidence means that the message or the communicator of the message is not trustworthy.

Organisation Structure Barriers

When the organization structure is not properly defined, the responsibility and authority are not assigned and channels are also not clear. Thus, communication is likely to be ineffective and even harmful. These barriers are as follows:-

• Lack of chain of command
• Bureaucratic
• Political manipulations.
• Class conflicts

Technical Barriers

​These are the barriers that arise due to

• space or geographical distance;
• mechanical failures and disturbances;
• physical obstructions (too much emphasis on the organisation structure);
• technological malfunctions (like bad telephone lines, poor printouts from the printer etc);
• improper time of communication; and
• wrong time of communication