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Discuss barriers to effective communication

Presented to
Mr. Perry Barton

MGMT 2215 Team Project

By
Schelomite Dordoge

February 7, 2015

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There are many barriers to communication and these barriers may occur at any stage of
the communication process. Barriers may lead your message becoming distorted and risk
wasting time and money by causing misunderstanding and confusion. A barrier is anything that
prevents something from getting through to its destination or the receiver as it was intended. To
have effective communication, it involves overcoming these barriers and conveying a clear
message. Some barriers to communication are language barriers, psychological barriers, physical
barriers, systematic barriers, and attitudinal. There are many reasons why interpersonal
communications may fail. In communication, what is said is not always received exactly the way
the sender intended. Therefore, it is very important that the communicator seeks feedback to
make sure that the message is clearly understood.
According to www.skillsyouneed.com common barriers to effective barriers are: The
use of jargon, over-complicated, unfamiliar and/or technical terms. Emotional barriers and
taboos, some people may find it difficult to express their emotions and some topics may be
completely 'off-limits' or taboo, The lack of attention, interest, distractions, or irrelevance to the
receiver. Differences in perception and viewpoint. Physical disabilities such as hearing problems
or speech difficulties. Physical barriers to non-verbal communication, not being able to see the
non-verbal cues, gestures, posture and general body language can make communication less
effective. Language differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents.
Expectations and prejudices which may lead to false assumptions or stereotyping, people often
hear what they expect to hear rather than what is actually said and jump to incorrect conclusions.
Cultural differences, the norms of social interaction vary greatly in different cultures, as do the
way in which emotions are expressed. For example, the concept of personal space varies between
cultures and between different social settings.
Language barrier is one of many barriers to effective communication. Sometimes there
are hidden language barriers that we are not always aware of. Even if we may speak the same
language, the terminology we use can be act as a barrier if the message is not fully understood by
the person receiving the message. Its just like you work for a company that use lots of jargon, to
others that is not familiar with your company or industry, to them when speaking to your term
will be confusing for them. For this reason if you are speaking to the one outside of your field,
you have to be careful what words you use to speak to that person. For example, I am a manager
for a major retail store and within our company we have a lot of different programs and jargon
that we use at work. We have programs for the cashiers, stock, mangers, fitting room attendant,
sales floor, and special protection services. Each department of the store has a program they have
to follow. For instance, say a new associate came to work for the first time and you gave her a

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walk through the store and you told her our store uses the START program, BEST IN CLASS
program, the T-STAND program, SIZING program, and STEP program. You were going on
about how the programs are use and how we are graded for these programs. This new associate
would be so confused because one, she never worked for this company before and she never
heard of these terms. This is a prime example of a language barrier because although you may be
speaking the same language, you are using terminology that the new associate never heard
before. To avoid this situation our company has a buddy trainer list we use to explain and check
off as we walk through and explain each program to the new employee. This buddy trainer list
breaks down each program one by one and the new employee gets live hands on training so that
there will be not barriers of communication for them. Sometimes it may take more than just one
try to fully understand, this is why you always make yourself clear and always ask for feedback
to make sure that the person understands your way of communication.
Another barrier of effective communication is psychological barriers. The psychological
state of the communicators will influence how the message is sent, received and perceived.
Stress can play a role on how a people receive a message causing it to be a barrier. For example,
if someone is stress they may be so busy with their own feeling that they are not as receptive to
the message as if they were not stressed. Anger is another example of psychological barrier to
effective communication. When it is easy for us to say things we did not mean to say and may
later regret, it also causes us to misinterpret what others were saying. I believe this is the most
problematic of all barriers to effective communication because when we are angry we do not
think straight and we tend to think, speak, and act on those emotions leaving a great wall
between the communicator and the receiver.
For example, there was a situation involving two mangers at my job. The store manager
was trying to tell the assistant manager she had to clock out for her lunch every day because if
she did not it would lead to a write up. There are laws behind this and for this reason the store
manager wanted all employees to take their lunch. Although at time you may miss if it was busy
and there was no one to cover your lunch, but for the most part it is very important that you take
a lunch. The store manager was trying to explain this to the assistant manager but once she heard
the word write up she began to become defensive and she got really upset. The assistant manager
lashing out and stating she would go to human resources if he tries to write her up. In this case,
the assistant manager let her emotions get the best of her and she totally missed the whole point
to what the store manager was trying to rely to her. He never stated that he was going to write her
up, he simply told her to that she needed to make sure to take her lunched because she kept
missing her lunches and he told her is she continued to miss her lunch it would lead to a write up.
By letting her anger get to her she totally missed the whole point and the warning he was trying
to give her. For this reason it is important to always listen before you speak and even if you are
angry. If the store manager took the time to listen to what the store manager was trying to
communicate she would realize that he was just trying to warn her instead of just giving her a

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write up. This is why it is important to learn how to communicate effectively, especially in the
business world.
Another barrier to effective communication is physical barrier. An example, of the
physical barrier is geographic distance between the receiver and the sender. Communication is
easier when it is from a short distance, rather than long distance. Another example of physical
barrier is the environment that they message is being delivered to. If the environment is very
nosy then it will be difficult for the communicator to rely the message to the receiver. It is also
up to the receiver too, if someone is giving a message in an auditorium it will be best for the
receiver to sit closer to the front then to sit in the back. People who tend to sit in the back of the
auditorium will not be able to receive the entire message if any due to distraction, noise, and just
being too far from the communicator. For example, say you are a student in school and you like
to sit in the back of a fairly large classroom, and say there are students that sits up front of the
classroom. Not always but a lot of times the students that sits up front of the classroom are more
likely to understand and receive all of the instructors lessons if they are paying attention, then the
students who chooses to sit in the back of the classroom. Just like in an office type space, in
order to open up the space for communication it is good to set up the office in a way where
everyone will have their own space but it is still setup where people can still communicate with
each other. Instead of having walls that prevent communication between workers and closed
doors where one cannot communicate with one another. Physical barriers can also have to do
with poor or outdated equipment used during communications, background noise, bad lighting,
temperatures that are too hot or too cold. If you have items that are outdated such as an old
computer or a poor tele communicator if will be very difficult to communicate with one another.
It would be best if you wanted to communicate something important to use a landline with your
call cannot drop, rather than using cell phones.
Systematic is another barrier to effective communication. Systematic normally occurs in
structures or organization where there are not enough or appreciate information and
communication channels or where it lacks understanding the roles and responsibility for
communication. In organization people will be unclear of their role in communication process so
they will not know what is expected of them. For example, at my job barriers to communication
can be presented at times. Everyday managers receive email from corporate office, district
managers and loss prevention mangers. There is also an application where every morning the
opening manger has to open the application to read, complete each task, and print out and inform
the other mangers what communication was related to us and what we have to do. Whether its to
inform us how many pieces we will receive in shipment to if the company has a safety recall for
us to look out for and destroy the item. This application is a way for corporate to communicate to
all managers to inform them what is expected of them on a daily bases and to also keep them
inform on new policy changes and new projects they wants us to complete. The application is a
very useful application for all managers because by reading, completing, and communicating to
the other mangers it keeps the entire manager informed and all managers know what is expected

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of them. Now, the problem we have at our store at times is sometimes the morning manager
sometimes forgets to communicate with the rest of the mangers that comes in later; or the
morning manger will communicate the message but forgets to print out the paper and does not
communicate the message entirely. This causes a big issue with our team because every other
week we have a visit from our district manager and our loss prevention manager. When we walk
with them they may ask how we feel about something that was communicated to our through
email or the application and if we were not aware of the subject that shows them we do not
communicate together as a team. This causes us to be a risk of failing our visit from them and
make us as managers look bad. We notice that this was going on for far too long we decided to
come up with a resolution for this. Our store manager decided to come up with a communication
log and Fido binder. Basically, each time someone opens the store and have to complete what
was communicated in the application or email, they have to print out the message and put in the
binder of communications. When the middle manager and closing manager come in for the day
they have to review what is in the binder and sign off, to make sure each manager read and
reviewed the message. If we do not understand the message that was giving in the email or the
application we just simply ask our store manager to fully explain the communication that was
giving to us. Every Monday we would also have a manger meeting and discuss what information
we need to know and for him to review what was talked about in our conference call. This new
way of communication really helped all of the mangers, now we all are on the same page and if
we do not understand we just reach out to other managers for help. Another example of
systematic barriers is when you are a new employee, for example you are a secretary for a law
firm. One of the employees trained you and gave you a walk through the office and gave you a
list from the top of their head, task for you to do. You try to write as much down so you will
know what you need to do as a secretary. Now you are two weeks into your job and one of the
lawyers did not receive a file for one of his clients and you were supposed to send out for the
file. Not knowing you were responsible for this file, the lawyer came up to you upset about the
file. Although, it was not your fault about the file because you were not properly trained about
your job duties and there was a lack of communication between you and your trainer. You and
the trainer failed when it came to communication. The trainer was at fault because they trained
you form the top of their head, instead of properly training you. They should have printed out a
list of your job duties and then go over the list while training you. Where you failed as a new
employee, you should have asked or wrote down what your job including. There was a lack of
communication and you were poorly trained so it was up to you to make it clear, you were not
sure of everything your job includes. When you are not clear or you do not understand
information giving to you it is important to make this concern clear so you can fully educate
yourself on your job description and duties. This way you can avoid systematic communication
barrier.
Attitudinal barrier is another barrier in effective communication. Attitudinal barrier are
the perception or behaviors that prevent people from communicating effectively. Attitudinal
barriers communication may result from poor management, personality conflict, lack of

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motivation, or resistance to change. Attitudes are commonly formed by an individuals personal

feeling or opinions on a subject and can be difficult to change. The types of effect it can cause
are abstracting which is referred to as selective hearing. They feel like there is no need to go for
details to understand a concept, they pick and choose what piece of information they will listen
too. This attitude feels like they do not need all of the details to understand what is being
presented to them in a conversation. The problem with this is that you are leaving out important
information because you may not understand the subject completely or you may dismiss the
information as unnecessary. For example, say you were given a package to deliver for your boss
and your boss gave you directions to deliver the package, you knew the location so you decided
to think of other thoughts on what to eat for lunch while your boss was trying to explain what to
do and where to go. Your boss gave you very specific details, he said for you to take the road
way under the bridge and not to go over the bridge. He communicated this to you because you
have to pick up a package at another shipping store for your job, but because you were too busy
having other thoughts in your head you forgot to take the road under the bridge and took the road
over the bridge. Your selective hearing caused you to miss the directions your boss specifically
gave you and this caused you to be in trouble for not taking directions well. Another effect is
emotional editing, which is based on your personal feelings about someone or topic. By you
disliking someone or something, then you may discount what is being said. For example, say
there is a co-worker at your job that you do not like and your job has a project where you have to
team up in pairs. Say they team you up with the co-worker you do like, this reason will cause
communication issue for your team. Stereotypes is another effect, it is the same opinion every
time. This attitude alters communication because of a general opinion applied to a particular
group. An example for stereotype would be a misguided notation that all women are sensitive
and cannot be as strict as a man. Based on this belief a company chose to pick a man to be the
top executive instead of the woman. This is an example of sexist stereotype. The last effect for
attitudinal is prejudice. Prejudice is the act of excluding of disliking someone or something
because they may belong to a type of group or organization. This is very negative because it can
cause a whole part of a workplace be left out on important information.
Therefore, ways to eliminate barriers in effective communication is to avoid noisy areas
to you can focus on the message being delivered. Always keep an open and positive mind, even
if you may not like the person or subject. If your company has terms that they use and only you
and your company know of these terms, when speaking to an outsider speak in term they will
understand. Always have a positive attitude and if you are the communicator always ask for
feedback just in case someone does not understand. If you are the receiver always ask questions
if you do not understand something, never be afraid to ask for help. You have to understand
others and see things differently from the way you see things. Try to put yourself in the shoe of
the receiver and predict the feelings and the attitude that they are feeling. If you can ask yourself,
what is their state of mind? What will their expectation be? , then you will know these things
before to communicating to reduce the risk if misinterpretation. Giving feedback from the
receiver is good as well. As the receivers dont just ask do you understand. Instead ask what

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their meaning from the message was and ask how they see it. As much as possible try to speak
face to face, this way you can see the body language and allow them to ask questions. This
method is way better than a meeting over the phone or through email. Remember to use language
that fits the audience. Dont try to be impressive by using language and words that the listener
will not understand. Use the right communication channel, have integrity and be honest in your
communications, and make it easy for others to listen to you. Remember that physical barrier is
geographic distance between the receiver and the sender. Communication is easier when it is
from a short distance, rather than long distance. Another example of physical barrier is the
environment that they message is being delivered to. If the environment is very nosy then it will
be difficult for the communicator to rely the message to the receiver. It is also up to the receiver
too, if someone is giving a message in an auditorium it will be best for the receiver to sit closer
to the front then to sit in the back. People who tend to sit in the back of the auditorium will not
be able to receive the entire message if any due to distraction, noise, and just being too far from
the communicator. If you want to better your communication skill you have to avoid these
barriers and better yourself. Always remember that to listen is the most important skill to have.
Listening is a characteristic both ends should have, both sender and receiver it plays a very
important part when it comes to ways to eliminating barriers to effective communications. And
remember attitudes are commonly formed by an individuals personal feeling or opinions on a
subject and can be difficult to change. You should always change your attitude and always stay
positive. The types of effect it can cause are abstracting which is referred to as selective hearing.
They feel like there is no need to go for details to understand a concept, they pick and choose
what piece of information they will listen too. This attitude feels like they do not need all of the
details to understand what is being presented to them in a conversation. The problem with this is
that you are leaving out important information because you may not understand the subject
completely or you may dismiss the information as unnecessary.
In conclusions, we know there are many barriers to communication and these barriers
may occur at any stage of the communication process. Barriers may lead your message becoming
distorted and risk wasting time and money by causing misunderstanding and confusion. A barrier
is anything that prevents something from getting through to its destination or the receiver as it
was intended. To have effective communication involves overcoming these barriers and
conveying a clear message. Some barriers to communication are language barriers, psychological
barriers, physical barriers, systematic barriers, and attitudinal. Language barrier is one of many
barriers to effective communication. Sometimes there are hidden language barriers that we are
not always aware of.
Even if we may speak the same language, the terminology we use can be act as a barrier
if the message is not fully understood by the person receiving the message. Another barrier of
effective communication is psychological barriers. The psychological state of the communicators
will influence how the message is sent, received and perceived. Stress can play a role on how a
people receive a message causing it to be a barrier. Systematic is another barrier to effective

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communication. Systematic normally occurs in structures or organization where there are not
enough or appreciate information and communication channels or where it lacks understanding
the roles and responsibility for communication. In organization people will be unclear of their
role in communication process so they will not know what is expected of them. Attitudinal
barrier is another barrier in effective communication. Attitudinal barrier are the perception or
behaviors that prevent people from communicating effectively. Attitudinal barriers
communication may result from poor management, personality conflict, lack of motivation, or
resistance to change. Attitudes are commonly formed by an individuals personal feeling or
opinions on a subject and can be difficult to change. Ways to eliminate barriers in effective
communication is to avoid noisy areas to you can focus on the message being delivered. Always
keep an open and positive mind, even if you may not like the person or subject. If your company
has terms that they use and only you and your company know of these terms, when speaking to
an outsider speak in term they will understand. Use the right communication channel, have
integrity and be honest in your communications, and make it easy for others to listen to you.

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Bibliography

"Barriers to Effective Communication." Barriers to Effective Communication. N.p., n.d.

Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
"The Seven Barriers of Communication." The Seven Barriers of Communication. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2015.