Lesson Plan Demo

Date: 5th March 2019 Teacher: Naquiyah V

Class: F Y B C OM Subject: Business Communication

Topic: Barriers in Communication

Set Induction

Recap of communication cycle.

Two questions pertaining to the communication cycle needs to be addressed:
Do senders have difficulty in sending messages like in encoding or selecting the communication
channel?
Do receivers have difficulty in receiving the message and can they always successfully decode after
they receive it?
In today’s class these questions will be answered in ‘Barriers in communication’.

Method

Barriers in communication is basically a problem in the flow of communication. There can be a

problem from the sender’s side or receiver’s side or the channel of communication. There are
several barriers that could take place in the process of communication. They are broadly classified
as follows:
1. Physical/ Environmental barriers
2. Language/ semantic barriers
3. Psychological barriers
4. Cross-cultural barriers

In today’s class we will focus on physical and language barriers.

Now Let us understand what is meant by physical barriers in communication.

Is communication going to be 100 % successful if you are on a phone call on the roadside in heavy
traffic? Will you be paying full attention to someone if you are standing and talking under the
scorching heat of the sun? No, isn’t it? So the ambience in which you are having a conversation
plays an important part.

Time and distance is another factor. For eg, if a manager and his subordinates are seated at different
buildings of an organisation then giving instructions over phone or emails can lead to a lack of
effective communication.

How many of you have friends or relatives abroad and struggle to figure out the correct time to talk
to them? What about getting phone calls when you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon nap? So
time is also crucial in effective communication.

Lets say that Chetan Bhagat has come to the college. He is giving a wonderful speech in the
auditorium and suddenly the mic stops working. So frustrating for the sender and receiver in the
communication cycle isn’t it? So Mechanical problems or defects in instruments of communication
also create barriers. Eg, a computer that hangs, a dead telephone or no range in your mobile phone.
Next, wrong selection of medium. Sometimes if a sender selects a medium which is not familiar to
a receiver it can also create a barrier for eg, writing a letter to a person who cannot read or sending
an audio file to person who is hard of hearing.

This brings me to my next point Physiological defects. Physiological defects are problems in the
way your body functions. This can cause difficulties in communicating. For instance those who
have very aged people like your grandparents living with you you might have to speak very loudly
for them to hear. Some physiological defects that come in the way of effective communication are
stammering, hearing defects, visual defects, mumbling while speaking and so on.

Thus all these factors

ambience which includes noise and climate
time and distance
technical/mechanical defects
Selection of wrong medium
physiological defects

are physical/environmental barriers in the process of communication.

Now let us move on to the next type of barrier.

Its not fare that people judge other people buy there grammar.

The correct sentence: it is not fair that people judge other people by their grammar.

She is interested in cooking her family and pet dog.

Apply in person. Jack and Kill childcare 1905 NW Smith. NO PHONE CALLS.

Naturally no phone calls since they are busy killing. Jokes apart.

Grammar, spelling and word choice are vital in sending the correct message. You must ensure that
there is no ambiguity. Your words and sentences are clear and coherent to avoid misinterpretation of
words.

Difference in language is another barrier. Imagine how difficult it is to communicate to a person

who does not know the same language as you. The accents and dialect (use of words) of people
belonging to different places differs even if their language is same. Though the languages are
technically the same in people using different dialects and accents, the meanings, implications and
interpretations of words are different, which may lead to various kinds of conflicts.
Let us take the eg of Hindi. The way a Nepalese would speak it would be different from the way a
Bihari would speak the same language. This also causes difficulties in communication as both do
not understand the way the other speaks the same language.

Now every profession has technical terms related to it. But let us say if you are having a
conversation with a computer programmer and he begins to ask what is the bandwith provided by
your internet service provider or have you been a victim of phishing? These terms bandwith and
phishing is jargon. They don’t let the other person outside the profession understand what is being
spoken about. Another example, in the computer jargon, 'to burn a CD' means 'to copy the data on a
CD'. To a layman, the word 'burn' may have a very different meaning.
Similarly the use of slang also makes communication ineffective.
So all these factors:

Misinterpretation of words, grammar, spelling, word choice (meanings and use)

Jargon and slang

Difference in language (unfamiliar language / accent / dialect)

are language or semantic barriers. Semantic by the way refers to meaning.

Conclusion
Teacher recaps and says in next class will look at psychological and cross-cultural barriers

Blackboard work

Barriers in communication

1. Physical/ environmental: ambience (noise and environment), time and distance,

technical/mechanical, selection of wrong medium, physiological defects

2. Language /semantic: grammar, spelling, word choice (meanings and use), difference in language
(unfamiliar language, accent / dialect), jargon and slang

3. Psychological
4. Cross-cultural