BARRIERS TO

COMMUNICATION
Communication barriers are interferences or
obstacles which limit the receivers
understanding of the message.
Barriers may have the effect of entirely
preventing communication, filtering part of it,
or giving it an incorrect meaning.

WHY BARRIERS OCCUR

Barriers occur if any of the essential
elements of communication (sender,
message, medium or receiver) become faulty
or defective. They may be caused by:
Deficiencies of sender
Listeners lack of responsibility
Inappropriate means of communication

TYPES OF BARRIERS
Physical (External)
Semantic (Language)
Personal (Psychological)
Cross Cultural

PHYSICAL BARRIERS
Physical or External barriers are environmental
factors which prohibit or limit the sending and
receiving of messages.

PHYSICAL DISTRACTION
Noise from outside, such as honking of
cars, ringing of telephones, loud blaring
music, or the sound of planes may
distract people.
One may also be distracted by visuals eg.
Posters on the wall, clothes, jewlellery, make up
of the speaker etc.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD
Communication may be ineffective when
too much information is transmitted at one
time, or if complex information is presented
within a short span of time.

COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
Complex organization
structure may result in
filteration, distortion or
loss of messages, besides
delay in transmission.

TECHNICAL FAULTS
The failure of the machine being used for
communication (eg. telephone, internet,
mike etc.) may result in miscommunication.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTANCE

Geographical distance between the persons

communicating can affect the process of
communication.

SEMANTIC BARRIERS

Semantic or language barriers are

obstructions caused in the process of
receiving or understanding of the message
during the process of encoding and
decoding ideas and words. These barriers
arise from the linguistic capacity of the
parties involved.

WORD MEANINGS
Words have multiple meanings (eg. Fair,
right, run, interest, burn, mouse, out etc.)
Similar sounding words (eg. Accept/ except,
principle/principal, their/there etc.)
Adjectives & adverbs convey different
meanings to different people (eg. Late,
early, beautiful, handsome etc.)

POORLY EXPRESSED
MESSAGE
Excessive use of technical jargon and
difficult terminology may hinder the
understanding of a message
Incorrect and poor choice of words, long
sentences, awkward sentence structure,
grammatical errors and poor organization of
ideas may distort the message.

SPEAKERS STYLE
The speaker may have a distinct accent,
may mispronounce certain words, use
jargon, difficult words and words with
double meanings, or frequently repeat
words which may distract a listener.

PERSONAL BARRIERS
Personal or socio-psychological barriers
are problems of understanding,
interpretation and response to
communication which arise partly from
our socially learned attributes and partly
from our personal attributes.

EMOTIONAL BARRIERS
Sad memories such as a personal tragedy
or loss of a dear one may be triggered off
by the speaker, creating a barrier.
Anxiety about a personal matter/health
issues may keep your mind disturbed.
Anger or resentment about various issues
at work may affect an individuals response.

GROUP IDENTIFICATION
Our values and opinions are influenced by
the group to which we belong (eg.
Nationality, religion, family etc.)

SELF IMAGE
Self-image is the idea we have about
what we are, what we look like and what
impression we make on others. It is
difficult to accept any idea which goes
against our self-image.

RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
People resist new ideas which are
against the established opinions,
traditions or social customs. This may
occur because of feelings of insecurity
and fear of changes in the new methods.

POOR COMMUNICATION
SKILLS
Lack of skills in writing or speaking
prevent a person from framing a
message properly, and also result in
lack of self-confidence.

FRAME OF REFERENCE
Failure to understand the mental framework
of a speaker.
There may be a discrepancy between the
background of the speaker and listener,
thus creating a barrier in understanding.

STATE OF HEALTH
The physical condition of an individual
can affect a persons efficiency.
Hunger, fatigue, overwork, and physical
or emotional pain can prevent a person
from paying attention to what the
speaker is saying.

ATTITUDES & OPINIONS

The attitudes and opinions of an
individual towards a subject or speaker
can act as personal barriers.
Personal prejudices may prevent an
individual from clearly understanding a
message.

ALLNESS
An individual believes that what he
states about a subject is all there is to
know or say about the subject.
This results in arrogance and intolerance
of the others point of view.

FAILURE TO DISCRIMINATE
One fails to recognize variations and
differences, and applies ones image of a
particular group to any individual he
assigns to that group.
One disregards any differences or
distinctions the individual may have which
set the individual apart from the
stereotyped group.

EMOTIONS
If the sender is worried, excited, afraid or
nervous, his thinking will be blurred and he
will not be able to frame the message
correctly.
If the receiver is in such a state of mind, he
will not be able to understand the message
properly and may misinterpret the
message.

POLARIZATION
Polarization tends to occur because of
the tendency to neglect the middle
ground and to treat phenomena as either
black or white.

PREMATURE EVALUATION
This refers to the tendency to form an
opinion or judgment on what is being said
rather than trying to understand the
speakers frame of reference.

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION
The receiver selectively sees and hears
information based on his needs,
motivations, experience, background and
other personal characteristics.
The information that does not satisfy his
needs is filtered.

INABILITY TO PAY
ATTENTION
A wandering mind and day dreaming habit
may prevent the listener from
concentrating on what the speaker says.

LOW CREDIBILITY
Lack of sufficient trust, confidence and
faith between the communicating parties
can create barriers to communication.
Distrust may arise because of past
experiences, and may further lead to fear
of consequences of revealing the truth or
expressing oneself honestly.

STATUS CONSCIOUSNESS
Status consciousness refers to the
difference in status and power between the
sender and receiver of communication.
The superior may feel reluctant to accept
the ideas of his subordinate, while the
subordinate may hesitate to express his
views for fear of being disrespectful to his
boss.

URGE TO DEBATE OR
ADVISE
Some people have an irrepressible urge to
contradict the speaker and make a point.
They look for an opportunity to intervene
and make their point noted before the
speaker has finished.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Communication can be improved by:
Empathy: Putting yourself in the other
persons shoes
Credibility: Can be achieved through
honesty and sincerity.
Congeniality: Maintaining pleasant and
friendly relations in spite of individual
differences
Clarity and precision

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Communication can also be improved by:
Adopting an audience centered approach:
focusing on and caring about your
audience, learning about the biases,
education, age, status and style of your
receiver to create an effective message.
Foster an open communication climate:
Encourage employees to contribute
honestly, and allow employees to freely
confess their mistakes, disagree with the
boss and express their opinions.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Modify the number of organization levels:
The fewer the links in the communication
chain, the less likely it is that
misunderstandings will occur (Have a flat
structure and wider span of control).
Facilitate feedback: Give constructive
feedback
Focus on particular behaviours
Keep feedback impersonal
Make feedback well timed
Ensure understanding

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Commit to Ethical Communication: Ethical
communication includes all relevant
information, is true in every sense, and not
deceptive in any way.
An ethical message is accurate and
sincere.
It avoids language that manipulates,
discriminates or exaggerates.
No information is hidden, and data is
portrayed fairly.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Ethical communication entails being honest
with employers, co-workers and clients, and
not seeking personal gain by making others
look better or worse than they are.
One doesnt allow personal preferences to
influence ones perception or the perception
of others.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Create lean, efficient messages: Dont give
too much or too little information.
Reduce the number of messages.
Minimize distractions as far as possible.
Choose neutral words to avoid arousing
strong feelings.
Avoid placing blame and reacting
subjectively.
Listeners should resist interrupting or
jumping to conclusions, and clarify meaning
by asking non-threatening questions.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
PRIDE model developed by Vardaman &
Vardaman (Purpose, Receiver, Impact,
Design, Execution):
Purpose: Objective of communication (One
must know why one is communicating).
Receiver: Know the psychology and
background of the receiver.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS
Impact: How the desired impact will be
achieved (which channel would be most
appropriate).
Design: How message will be organized.
Execution: Actually carrying out the plan
successfully.

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Culture is a shared set of values & attributes of a group. It
dictates the roles people play, including who communicates
with whom, what & how they communicate.
Cross cultural communication is about dealing with people
from other cultures in a way that minimises
misunderstandings and maximises your potential to create
strong cross cultural relationships.
When you have communication between people of different
cultures, even if they share a common language, things can
go wrong. In particular, knowledge of a language does not
automatically give you the background knowledge that native
speakers assume you share.

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
According to Fred Luthans, the causes of breakdown of
intercultural communication are:
Perception: There is a difference in the interpretation of
reality by different people. A manager encodes a message
using his culture as a background, but a decoder decodes the
message according to his culture.
Ethnocentrism: A sense of superiority that members of a
particular culture have. An ethnocentric person generally
judges other groups according to the standards of his own
culture.

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Stereotyping: Perceiving an individual as belonging to a
single class or category.

Differences in religion & value system

Cultural differences in language and non-verbal codes
Concept of status
Concept of time
Cultures determine the degree to which communication is explicit or
implicit
Cultures differ with regard to how decisions are made and who
makes them.
Colours and symbols have different meanings in different cultures.
Rules of etiquette govern how people behave, how and when they
may touch each other, when it is appropriate to use first name etc.

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Differences in culture may occur in various ways:
Basic Personality: The basic personalities of people
from different nations vary (eg. Friendly, formal)
Language: Different countries or states speak different
languages, and it is difficult to come up with a
translation of a language, especially for proverbs &
idioms. Variation of meaning occurs even in the same
language (Eg. Japanese use yes to mean I am
listening while Americans use it for I agree).

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Values: Values represent our ideas of what is good &
evil. Certain subjects like sex, drugs & homosexuality
are taboo in certain conservative societies whereas it is
acceptable to have open discussions on these topics.
The role of women also differs in societies.
Social Relationships: There is a difference in social
relationships in various cultures (Eg. Respect for
parents in Indian culture vs. friendly atmosphere in
West), words used for addressing maternal & paternal
uncles & aunts in India vs. uncle & aunt in West).

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Concept of time: Can cause problems in cross cultural
communication as each culture has its own concept of
punctuality. The value of time differs from culture to
culture.
Concept of Personal Space: People in Canada & US
stand around 5 feet apart during a business
conversation, but this distance is too close for Germans
& Japanese, and too far for Arabs & Latin Americans.

CROSS CULTURAL
BARRIERS
Use of Body Language: Differences in body
language can be a major source of
misunderstanding.
People in the US & Canada say no by shaking
their heads back & forth, in Bulgaria, they nod up
& down, Japanese move their right hand & in
Sicily, they raise their chin.
In some Asian countries, lowering the eyes is a
sign of respect, but Americans would perceive it
as a sign of dishonesty & evasiveness.

OVERCOMING CROSS
CULTURAL BARRIERS
Recognize your own cultural biases: Learn to
identify when your assumptions are different
from the other persons, and be flexible & ready
to change your habits & attitudes while
communicating with someone from another
culture.
Emphasize common ground: Look for
similarities to work from.
Avoid using slang & idioms: Use words that
have denotative & singular meanings.

OVERCOMING CROSS
CULTURAL BARRIERS
Avoid assumptions: Dont assume that others
will act in the same way you do, and that they
will operate from the same assumptions.
Avoid judgments: When people act differently,
dont conclude that they are making a mistake,
their way is invalid or that their customs are
inferior to yours.
Learn about other cultures: Understand the
psychology of the people & their language.