Communication Obstacles
Communication Obstacles
When you come right down to it, how many people speak the same language even when they speak the same language?
– Russell Hoban
Introduction
To ensure the success of any kind of communication, it is critical that the recipient assigns the message the same meaning that the sender intended. However, not all forms of communication are flawless or effective. At times, meaning is lost when the communication passes through numerous obstacles en route to the recipient. These impediments might occur at any point of the communication process. This is sometimes referred to as miscommunication.
Several typical communication obstacles include noise, cultural differences, subject matter difficulty, personal biases, semantic issues, socio-psychological barriers, filtering, information overload, poor recall, poor listening, goal conflicts, slanting, and inferring.
On the surface, communication seems to be rather straightforward. I speak, and you listen. You write an email to me, and I read it. Larry King produces a television program, which we watch. As is the case with the majority of things in life, communication is considerably more difficult than it seems. Let’s take a look at some of the most prevalent obstacles to communication and how to reduce their effect.
Brief check
Barriers to listening may be physical, psychological, verbal or non-verbal.
The most prevalent barriers
Numerous factors might obstruct communication. Frequently cited hurdles include the following:
I am unable to convey the information to the other party in a language they understand.
I am unable to demonstrate what I mean to the other person.
I lack the time necessary to communicate properly.
The individual with whom I'm attempting to communicate does not share my background and hence misses the larger context of my message.
These barriers typically break down into these categories: 1) Physical obstacles; 2) Physiological or biological barriers; 3) Semantic or linguistic hurdles; 4) Personal barriers; 5) Emotional or perceptual barriers; 6) Socio-psychological barriers; 7) Cultural barriers; and 8) Organizational barriers.
Physical barriers
Physical barriers are those that are created as a result of technological flaws in the communication mediums utilized and/or as a result of disruptions in the surrounding environment.
Frequently, the word ‘noise’ is used in a broad sense to apply to all physical impediments. However, noise, in the literal sense, is one of the components that contribute to the formation of physical barriers during the communication process.
Apart from noise, inappropriate media selection, bad acoustics, inadequate illumination, frequent hand movements, fumbling with a pen, or simply pouring tea during a crucial talk, all of these contribute to the creation of physical barriers in the communication process.
Noise
Noise is the first significant impediment to communication. Noise introduced at the transmission level distorts communication.
The term ‘noise’ derives its meaning in the subject of Communication from the domain of Physics. Noise is a term used in physics to describe “a disturbance, particularly a random and persistent disturbance, that obscures or lowers the clarity of a signal.”
As seen by its use in the area of Computer Science, the current sense of the term ‘noise’ is “irrelevant or nonsensical data.”
For instance, the road noise around a school obstructs the teacher-student communication. It complicates spoken communication. Similarly, a bad signal or static when speaking on the phone, using the public address system, or watching television distorts and disturbs communication. In rare cases, adverse weather conditions may also interfere with signal transmission, resulting in the collapse of communication lines.
As mentioned before, noise is not limited to the interruption of sound signals; it also encompasses all obstacles that may occur at any of the many phases of communication. In a wide sense, it refers to semantic, perceptual, and psychological obstacles.
Brief check
You cannot listen what you cannot hear what is being said.
Incorrect Selection of Medium
Additionally, this might act as a barrier to successful communication. For instance, if an expert employs charts, graphs, or PowerPoint presentations to introduce illiterate employees or volunteers to a new technique of working, they are ill equipped to deduce any information or instructions from such complex presentations.
Surroundings
Adverse weather conditions have an effect on both the mechanism of communication and the sender and recipient of the message. When two individuals are forced to speak under severe weather circumstances, whether too hot or too cold, their surroundings have a direct influence on the efficacy of their conversation.
Hence, environmental influences impact people’s moods and also their mental agility, and thus their potential for successful communication. Extreme heat and humidity induce hyperactivity or listlessness in people, resulting in immense stress that impairs clear thinking and the communicator’s attitude; whereas, extreme cold weather induces laziness and impairs the ability to think clearly and respond sharply, resulting in communication failure.
Physiological obstacles
Physiological obstacles affect an individual’s health and fitness level. These may occur as a result of infirmities that impair the sender’s or receiver’s physical capacity. For instance, impaired vision, hearing, and uncontrollable bodily motions.
Physical flaws in one’s body may also cause communication to be disrupted. When a person communicates, he or she utilizes their vocal (speech) organs to generate sound/speech, his hand and fingers for writing, his ears for absorbing spoken words, and his eyes for absorbing written words.
For good communication to occur, certain bodily organs must operate flawlessly. If any of these organs is defective, communication will be difficult to complete.
Stammering, fumbling, or utterance of incorrect sounds as a result of a damaged vocal organ or organs, etc. may affect speaking.
Language Barriers
Language is one of the most significant impediments to written and spoken communication. This may manifest itself in three distinct ways:
- The individuals conversing do so in a variety of languages.
- The language utilized in the communication is not the first language of one or more of the parties concerned.
- The individuals conversing speak the same language, but originate from different locations, and so have distinct dialects and perhaps nuanced accents.
There are many strategies for mitigating the effect of these hurdles.
- As a group, acknowledge the presence of the obstacle. Determine what the group can do to mitigate the situation.
- A picture is worth a thousand words and has the ability to communicate across languages.
- If you want to communicate with this individual on a long-term basis, strive to establish a common language. Additionally, you may want to consider hiring a translator.
Semantics is the systematic examination of the meaning of words. Thus, semantic barriers are language-related impediments. These hurdles develop as a result of the message’s encoding and/or decoding into words and thoughts, respectively.
Both oral and written communication is dependent on ambiguous words/symbols. Words/symbols may be employed in a variety of ways and have a variety of meanings. Unless the recipient is aware of the context, he or she may interpret the words/symbols according to his or her own level of comprehension, so misinterpreting the message.
The following are the most often encountered semantic barriers:
1. Word Misinterpretation
Semantic issues often develop as a result of a mismatch between the sender’s intended meaning and the receiver’s comprehension. This occurs when the receiver does not give the word/symbol the same meaning as the broadcaster intended.
Words are capable of conveying a multitude of meanings depending on their context of use. The relationship between the word/symbol and the meaning ascribed to it is arbitrary.
For instance, the term ‘yellow’ might have a variety of implications depending on its use. The literal (descriptive) and metaphorical meanings of words are distinct (qualitative). Apart from being a fundamental color, ‘yellow’ also represents ‘freshness’, ‘beauty’, ‘ill health’, and ‘decay’. As a result, the recipient may interpret it in any of these ways depending on his or her own imagination and experience.
However, for communication to be ideal, the receiver must give the message the exact meaning that the sender intended while encoding it. As a result, the signals are constantly susceptible to misunderstanding. Typically, such issues develop when the sender does not employ simple, straightforward language capable of conveying the intended meaning to the recipient.
2. Appropriate Use of Technical Terminology
Jargon is a technical or specialized language that is used by individuals or experts that operate in the same sector. Such technical jargon might act as a barrier to communication if the recipient is unfamiliar with it. For instance, in computer lingo, the term ‘burn a CD’ refers to the act of ‘copying the data on a CD’. To the average person, the term ‘burn’ may have a completely different sense.
3. Imprecision
Ambiguity occurs when the sender and recipient of a communication assign different interpretations to the same words or when the sender and receiver use different terms to communicate the same concept. Occasionally, speculative assumptions may result in ambiguity. A sender often expects that his audience would view the situation in the same way he does, will have the same attitude on an issue, will comprehend the message in the same way he does, and so forth. All of these assumptions may prove to be incorrect, resulting in communication breakdown.
Brief check
Most North Americans speak at about 125 words per minute. The human brain can process information at least three times as fast.
Personal Obstacles
Communication is interpersonal in nature. Thus, there are some obstacles that are directly related to the individuals engaged in the communication process namely the sender and receiver, and which influence the accurate transfer of the message. These are referred to as “personal boundaries.” Personal barriers are determined by an individual’s age, education, hobbies, and wants or intents.
In every commercial organization, the attitude of bosses and subordinates is critical to communication effectiveness. If supervisors have a hostile attitude, there is a possibility that they would filter information or purposefully twist the message in order to attain particular selfish goals.
Many supervisors are closed to recommendations and criticism because they believe their subordinates lack the ability to advise them. Additionally, they are often preoccupied with their own work and pay little attention to communication. As a result, the downward flow of knowledge within the company is adversely disrupted, resulting in poor performance.
Barriers of Emotion or Perception
Personal boundaries are inextricably linked to emotional or perceptional obstacles. Personal barriers are determined by intentions and attitudes, while emotional or perceptional barriers include feelings and emotions.
If the receiver does not approach the information objectively, with an open mind, his judgment/evaluation will be tinted by his prejudices and/or emotions, leading him to read too much into a message. This would obstruct the precise transmission of information and result in misunderstanding.
Such a barrier may also appear during the message’s encoding. Excessive excitement on the sender’s behalf may cause him to infuse his communication with meaning/s that he may not have meant.
Indolence, indifference, or a proclivity to postpone, on either the sender or the receiver’s side, also result in the withholding of critical information, therefore erecting a barrier. Excessive emotions such as exhilaration, enthusiasm, rage, tension, and sadness can obstruct good communication. All of these elements may introduce prejudices into the sender’s or receiver’s thinking.
Obstacles on a Socio-Psychological Level
Socio-psychological barriers, like perceptional barriers, may also be regarded a subset of personal barriers. We must analyze it as a subtype of personal barriers since a person’s attitude is molded not only by instincts and emotions, but also by his approach to and contact with others, necessitating this subtle difference between personal, perceptional, and socio-psychological barriers.
Perceptional Distinction
Communicators must deal with two parts of reality in a communication situation: the reality as they see it and the reality as they perceive it. The mind filters the message, that is, the words/symbols/signs, and assigns them meaning based on individual perception.
Each person has their own unique filter, shaped by their experiences, emotional makeup, knowledge, and perspective throughout time. As a result of this disparity in perceptions, different people react to the same word/symbol/sign differently depending on their own interpretation of the circumstance and attach meaning to it via their own filter.
At times, this discrepancy in perception results in a communication breakdown, i.e. message distortion. This chasm is readily bridged in face-to-face contact, since there is quick response. However, in written communication, the semantic gap between the intended and perceived meanings remains undiscovered, since feedback is sometimes delayed or absent altogether.
Prejudices
Additionally, communicating with someone who has strongly rooted biases is quite difficult. He is impervious to debate and to new ideas, facts, perspectives, and views. He has a closed mentality and a proclivity for confrontational behavior, thereby eliminating any avenues of contact. Thus, an unreceptive mind might act as a significant obstacle to communication. To overcome this obstacle, individuals must be sensitive to new ideas and develop the ability to listen considerately and with an open mind.
Overload of Information
Furthermore, information overload contributes to poor retention and knowledge loss. Thus, if critical information has to be delivered, communicators must employ the written medium of communication. On the basis of the above discussion, we may infer that socio-psychological elements do have a significant influence on communication effectiveness.
Organizational Barriers
The organizational structure has a significant impact on how information flows inside a business. The following are some significant organizational impediments:
a. Conflicts of Interest
Within the organization, there may be goal conflicts between supervisors and subordinates, between employees in different areas, among coworkers, and so on. This may foster an adversarial environment inside the business and result in major communication breakdowns.
b. Policies of the Organization
These factors also play a significant role in establishing the kind of relationship that employees within the same company have with one another. If an organization’s policy hinders the free flow of information in all directions, communication will fail. Specific firms may have policies restricting the flow of certain communications, which may discourage workers from communicating certain messages, regardless of their importance.
If a business has an open door policy, subordinates will experience no reluctance or fear in approaching their superiors directly. However, in companies where rigorous adherence to official channels of communication is required, bosses and subordinates have an uneasy relationship. They encounter considerable discomfort while communicating with one another. As a result, the communication purpose may never be achieved.
c. Hierarchical Structure of the Organization
The organization’s hierarchical structure may also obstruct the flow of information, resulting in delays in decision-making. When a communication travels through an organization’s chain of command, it is subject to filtering and distortion at almost every level before it reaches the intended recipient. Thus, the organizational hierarchy is another critical component that might obstruct good communication.
Cultural Barriers
Cultural differences add a layer of complexity to the encoding and decoding of communications, not just due to the difference in languages, but also due to the abundance of culture-specific assumptions at work in the sender’s and receiver’s minds. Individuals from different cultures may ascribe different meanings to words, symbols, gestures, and behavior, or they may perceive each other’s social values, body language, attitude toward space and time, social behavior and manners, and so forth, i.e. the entire culture in general, very differently, depending on their own standards, attitudes, customs, prejudices, opinions, and behavioral norms, etc., i.e. their own distinct culture.
Thus, cultural barriers form when members of various cultures are adamant about protecting their cultural identities and occasionally see other cultures as inferior to their own.
Besides, there are occasions when individuals speak the same language but come from different cultures, and different words or gestures might have a variety of meanings. Alternatively, the individual with whom you are interacting may be from a different social class or lead a totally different lifestyle. All of these factors might impair your capacity to communicate successfully. If you have time to prepare, learn as much as possible about the other person’s culture and background, as well as how they vary from your own. Make an attempt to identify potential areas of misunderstanding and devise strategies for avoiding or resolving such issues. As an illustration: A British restaurant owner needs the assistance of an Australian culinary master. Although they communicate in the same language, their words might have very different meanings. If you lack the time to prepare and find yourself in an embarrassing circumstance, take advantage of cultural differences. Inquire about the distinctions you observe and encourage inquiries about your culture. Ascertain that your inquiries are inquisitive rather than judgmental, resentful, or otherwise unpleasant.
Differences in Time and Place
The next obstacle that we shall examine is location, which is defined by time and place. These obstacles often arise when persons are in different time zones or locations. Consider the following situation. Bill is based on the east coast, whereas Joe is based on the west coast. Their workplaces are separated by four hours. Bill phones Joe just after lunch one day to seek assistance with a matter.
Bill has already worked for more than four hours; he is bright, cheery, and in the zone. Joe, on the other hand, has just arrived at the workplace and is thus running late. He is not feeling well and is therefore probably less receptive and helpful in responding to Bill’s query than he generally is. “Geez,” Bill wonders, “what did I do to make Joe so grumpy?” He, too, ceases communication in reaction to how he views Joe’s actions. Their collaborative attempt to resolve an issue has failed.
So how can you overcome the constraints of time and place? To begin, recognize that there is a time and location difference. Following that, try these strategies to mitigate its influence.
- Engage in light conversation on the weather in your own localities. This will assist you in forming an image of the individual’s physical surroundings.
- Schedule phone conversations and meetings at times that are convenient for both of you. • When used appropriately, e-mail may serve as a “anytime, everywhere” link.
For instance, if Bill had written Joe an e-mail outlining the issue, Joe might have handled it at a more convenient time, such as later in the day. Obviously, this is not always feasible (for example, if the situation is urgent or complex and needs long explanation), but it should be explored.
Another red flag is hurried communication. Time constraints might lead either side to make rash assumptions and leaps of faith. Always speak properly and request playback. The listening and questioning skills you will acquire in this course will assist you in making the most of the little communication time you have.
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Effective communication training may assist those in positions of leadership, as well as their subordinates, in overcoming these hurdles. Periodic examination and reorganization of communication networks is also necessary to guarantee that information reaches the intended recipients in a timely manner.
Many organizations offer wellness assistance, gymnasiums, and recreational facilities for their employees in order to reduce stress levels. Compulsory vacation after a certain number of months/years is also intended to protect workers from stress and tiredness.
You must develop all communication abilities, including the ability to receive criticism and non-verbal communication.
The management should ensure that the channels are maintained in excellent working order; intercoms, notice boards, and meeting information should all be kept current. Many businesses that can afford to maintain soundproof conference rooms and take efforts to limit workplace noise.
Brief check
Flatter organizations and emphasis on teamwork increases interactivity within small groups. Thus overcoming communication obstacles is imperative for successful communication.
Semantic and linguistic obstacles can be overcome only via judicious use of language, the employment of clear-meaning words, the use of short and simple phrases, and the use of visual aids wherever available. Whenever feasible, feedback should be solicited and provided to ensure that a message is understood by everyone.
Personal obstacles can be eliminated only “through intentional effort and communication training.
To minimize cultural barriers, it is prudent to avoid presuming commonality with members of different cultures unless certain. It is preferable to presume distinction unless you are certain of similarity. Rather of evaluating or interpreting, rely on description; individuals from various cultures assess and interpret differently.
Practical Application
At work, Ben and Beatrice were brainstorming ways to solve a particularly challenging logistical issue. They couldn’t seem to get their ideas over to one another, which was frustrating. It was Ben’s idea that they should figure out what was preventing them from communicating effectively in order to find a solution to their dilemma. Beatrice confirmed that, and they sat down to talk about how they might better communicate with one another. A lack of time for efficient communication was to blame in the end. On the project, Beatrice arranged an appropriate time with Ben so that the two could work together to find a solution in a fresh time frame. A strong working connection and cooperative effort between all members of the organization is the foundation of any project’s achievement. Communicating effectively is critical to ensuring that the task is completed easily and efficiently. If there is no effective communication between the members of the organization, the agreement reached while working will not be implemented.
