Communication Barriers

There are a number of barriers to communication that come our ways and make things difficult for us. Being a leader it is very important to make communication clear and effective to others. A well known saying is “It’s not what you are saying, but it is about how you are saying”. The way of Communication differentiates the extraordinary manager from the poor one. Effective communication is the first step to good leadership and you will always face different barriers to communication. It is all about the barriers of communication that the concept of good communication developed. Good communication between the manager and employees help in reducing the misunderstandings and facilitates a good environment among them. When you get effective communication with your team all the tasks will end up smoothly. Also you will find the meeting sessions so successful.

Communication Barrier

Besides having professional communication between employees and managers, some sort of interruption arises in the way of communication in every organization. This hindrance is termed as communication barrier or barriers to communication. We will explore these communication barriers in detail and will discuss the ways, to make you aware about its reduction in the business.

Barriers to Communication

There are different sorts of barriers to communication here and below are very common of them.

1. Semantic barriers
2. Psychological barriers
3. Organizational barriers
4. Personal barriers

Semantic Barriers

The word semantic means knowledge of words. Every single word has thousands of meanings. Every meaning is used according to the reference of the context or taking into account the situation where the word is likely to be used. Semantic barrier occurs if the word is used with different meanings, than the meaning preferred. This distraction either occurs intentionally or accidentally. Sometimes the words and figures sent by the sender are misinterpreted; this leads to disruption in the communication. The basic language related disruptions are:

• If the words chosen by the sender are not appropriate or meaningless, followed by the wrong sequence of words and sentences lead to a situation called linguistic chaos.
• If a specific word is misinterpreted by the receiver, it results in meaningless communication.
• When a manager translates a message according to his intellectual level which is not understandable for his juniors and colleagues will result in faulty communication.
• Sometimes the sender thinks that the message he is conveying is easy to understand. He does not translate the basis of the message only addresses the major subject, which is indeed the right way, but the receiver does not know the basics of that special message that causes distraction in the communication.
• Individuals working in an organization are mostly affiliated with some technical groups of organizations. These technical groups convey messages in their technical languages which is not easy to understand. Therefore creating a barrier.
• One of the causes of the barrier is the body language. Sometimes the gestures are the same for the negative as well as positive response of the sender. Therefore it is not easy for the receiver to pick up the right meaning of the message.

Psychological Barriers

Communication depends on the mental and intellectual levels of both the sender and the receiver. Mental disturbance from either side may be a barrier to communication.

• Sometimes the receiver shows efficiency in understanding the message without thinking much on its meanings. This type of interpretation leads to faulty communication.
• Not paying attention to the message is another factor. When the employee is discussing some important issues with his manager, but the manager is busy in attending official calls will create a barrier.
• The oral message passed on different sources before reaching the receiver, this message loses its originality. This situation is known as loss by transmission. It means that the original message is unable to retain. It has been estimated that the messages sent orally lose 30% of its originality. This is just because of careless behaviour of people.
• There is a need of trust to be built between sender and the receiver for accurate communication. If the receiver does not trust the sender then he will generate opposite meanings of his messages. This will create an invalid communication.
• Organizations are facilitated with telephones and fax. The communication is held on telephones. This type of communication is timely and not appropriate.

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Organizational Barrier

The structure of the organization not only affects the employees, but it also affects the ways of communication. Any mistake held on organizational level may lead to following disturbances in the communication.

• Organizations set their policies according to work nature. If any organization has set the policy to convey messages in written form, it should maintain its policy otherwise the Communication of that organization will be affected.
• The set policies of the organization may restrict communication. As per rule set in that organization that messages should be conveyed in written form, there will be some messages left that are specified for oral communication.
• The levels specified in the organization may be the reason for the communication barrier. The employees of lower level will have fear to convey their message in a good way to the managers on higher level. This will create disruption in their communication.
• More levels in the organization the more restricted communication is. As the message flows through these levels the message is transformed. Therefore these levels are the cause of barriers.

Personal Barriers

The barriers in which the sender and the receiver are concerned personally are called the personal barriers. Personal barriers affect the communication in the following ways:

• The employees of higher level think that the employees of lower level are not so capable. Therefore they intentionally ignore messages sent by the lower level employees. This affects the self confidence of the employees and their performance too.
• Every employee wants a higher position in the organization. For this purpose some employees do not share their ideas in the fear of losing that position. This is also considered as the barrier in communication.

One of the duties of a manager is to keep an eye on the communication levels in the organization either the Communication held inside the organization or outside the organization. He should make some policies in order to minimize such barriers to communication. This will maintain the position of organization and will result in increase in productivity of the organization.