Communication
is a process beginning with a sender who encodes the message and passes
it through some channel to the receiver who decodes the message.
Communication is fruitful if and only if the messages sent by the sender
is interpreted with same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of
disturbance blocks any step of communication, the message will be
destroyed. Due to such disturbances, managers in an organization face
severe problems. Thus the managers must locate such barriers and take
steps to get rid of them.
There are several barriers that affects the flow of communication in
an organization. These barriers interrupt the flow of communication from
the sender to the reciever, thus making communication ineffective. It
is essential for managers to overcome these barriers. The main barriers
of communication are summarized below.
Following are the main communication barriers:
- Perceptual and Language Differences: Perception is
generally how each individual interprets the world around him. All
generally want to receive messages which are significant to them. But
any message which is against their values is not accepted. A same event
may be taken differently by different individuals. For example : A
person is on leave for a month due to personal reasons (family member
being critical). The HR Manager might be in confusion whether to retain
that employee or not, the immediate manager might think of replacement
because his teams productivity is being hampered, the family members
might take him as an emotional support.
The linguistic differences also lead to communication breakdown. Same
word may mean different to different individuals. For example: consider
a word “value”.
- What is the value of this Laptop?
- I value our relation?
- What is the value of learning technical skills?
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“Value” means different in different sentences. Communication breakdown occurs if there is wrong perception by the receiver.
- Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a
pool of information. It is essential to control this information flow
else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten or
overlooked. As a result communication is less effective.
- Inattention: At times we just not listen, but
only hear. For example a traveler may pay attention to one “NO PARKING”
sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to
it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for effective
communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work
and his subordinate explains him his problem, the superior may not get
what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate.
- Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets
have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure of
which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal
channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially
given, i.e., not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be
given for effective communication.
- Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected
a lot by noise to distractions. Physical distractions are also there
such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also
affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers
interferes with communication
- Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point
of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that
communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is
very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and
jovial (in that case the message is interpreted to be good and
interesting).
- Complexity in Organizational Structure: Greater
the hierarchy in an organization (i.e. more the number of managerial
levels), more is the chances of communication getting destroyed. Only
the people at the top level can see the overall picture while the people
at low level just have knowledge about their own area and a little
knowledge about other areas.
- Poor retention: Human memory cannot function
beyond a limit. One cant always retain what is being told specially if
he is not interested or not attentive. This leads to communication
breakdown.
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