Barriers in Communication.

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Barriers in Communication.
Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 3
Study data………………………………………………………………………….4
Psychological barriers………………………………………………………..4
Lack of transparency………………………………………………………….4
Difference in communication styles…………………………………..5
Cultural and lingual differences…………………………………………5
Personal Barricades…………………………………………………………..6
Organizational Barriers……………………………………………………..6
Findings…………………………………………………………………………….6
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………..7
Suggestions………………………………………………………………………7
References……………………………………………………………………….8

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Introduction:
We communicate with people throughout our day through various modes of
communication. This is a delivered perception, desirable to its extent because
communication allows us to share and perceive specific perspectives needed to carry
out our lives. However, among these various modes of communication, oral
communication is the most well subjected and understood because of its flexibility,
diversity and resonance.
In this communication, various modes of verbal actions are transmitted through words
and actions. In some cases, the data to be transmitted is not perceived according to its
genuineness. This may be because of various reasons that create a gap between the
speaker and the listener or perceiver themselves. Although it may be addressed
particularly, various stages have their own cons require another level of concern for
them to be transmuted.
Since it is such an important aspect of human life, it should be crafted and adopted to a
level of perfection. But it is not. And this has over the ages, cast a huge number of losses
in various aspects to individuals, companies and large organizational bodies. Recent
surveys by Society of Human Resources Management involved over a hundred
thousand test subjects and brought out peculiar results with huge losses in possible
turnovers annually due to poor communication. This has led to concerns regarding
effectiveness of communication, that why did this happen in the first place if it was such
a well perceived aspect of human life.
Despite of the mode of communication we adopt, irrespective of verbal, non-verbal,
written, listening or visual, lack of proper communication puts the matter at stakes.
Therefore, to solve these problems, we must first be aware of the possible causes or
reasons, that trigger these problems in the first place. In the following, we discuss
various barriers to communication.

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Psychological Barriers:
There are various psychological factors that contribute to an effective
communication. However, certain people have specific psychological
conditions that prohibit them from descending to a stage where resonance
shall become possible for them with the speaker themselves. Some people
have speech disorder, stage fear and depression, which prohibits them in
either opening or allowing in new information, just because the fact that
they fear about the new information’s tendency to alter what’s already
there. All these conditions are very difficult to manage and can take time and
a lot of counselling and practice to overcome, however, in communication,
these lead to a lot of ineffectiveness. Apart from that, in communication if
words are not transmitted precisely, people fumble. Your nerves make
things worse. Some people are also anxious about how they look or feel
while talking. This puts less assertion on words and causes fumbling.
Apart from this, psychological unavailability is another factor that
contributes to ineffective communication. For example, if a person is
inattentive, they can lose all the information being transmitted just because
they didn’t even try in the first place. Secondly, premature evaluation or self-
assumption of the raw data is another issue that leads to this inaccuracy. For
example, understanding half of the fact and missing out the rest leads to a
pre-evaluated understanding which might be wrong in most of the times.
Psychological barriers to communication also include emotional barriers. A
person with more emotional attachment to the subject matter is prone to
more perceptions of the subject matter than the person with instantaneous
interest.

Lack of transparency/trust:
It is very difficult to communicate if there isn’t enough transparency
between the speaker and listener. It should be noted that resonance in
communication happens on the same ground. If there isn’t transparency
about the subject being conveyed, there will be barriers in understanding it
as well. Communication suffers as the level of trust declines. If you believe
that you can’t count on a person for keeping up with your message, you
wouldn’t disclose it in front of them in the first place. This leads to perceiving
low credibility and thus, communication doesn’t take place. For example, if
you’re a boss and the staff find out that you’re holding something back while
addressing the problem partially, they’re less likely to act upon towards the
solution.
Therefore to communicate effectively on serious responsible matters, it is
essential to communicate in a sphere of trust, compatibility and credibility.

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Most of the times communication might take place properly, but won’t
initiate cause and effectiveness, just because motive behind it disappears.
Therefore, effective communication method backed by transparency and
personal motive is essential.

Difference in Communication Styles:

When there is a difference in communication styles, communication
becomes difficult. This happens because in the world of communication,
everyone has their own style of communication. This diversity is sometimes
against adoptability and resonance. Some people are very direct while
others prefer a more indirect approach. Some use detailed data, while
others rely on generalities. Occasionally, one person is so entrenched in their
way of communicating, they find it difficult to communicate with others who
rely on a different style. Often people complain about others not wanting to
communicate properly, or not explaining the subject matter, for example,”
Ali doesn’t explain what he wants”. This happens due to diverse culture of
communication. At first, when a baby learns to speak, he or she has their
own way of communication. They mumble and talk in a way hardly
perceivable apart from the verbal communication, just like they stumble in
walking. However, babies perceive more of the real world and can transmit
their own words and ideas over time when they talk more and more with the
real world.
Basically, there are four main styles of communication, which sum up all of
styles of communication. These include aggressive, assertive, passive and
passive-aggressive. These styles not only differ from one another completely
but have their own trends and allocations in communication as well. So, this
brings us to a conclusion that difference in communication styles leads to a
more complex conversation which makes communication a thing, hard for
many to understand.

Cultural and Lingual Differences:

Where cultural similarities make communication effective in one place, their
differences can make communication harder. For example, if a British person
is communicating with an American listener, the context might sound
different because of difference of accents in the first place. For another
instance, Arabic language from KSA is different from the one spoken in
Egypt. Although both countries represent forums of themselves on
international platforms in Arabic language, it will sound different to both the

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nationalities in the same place where it will be perceived as a same
language.
Apart from accents, people residing in an area with the same cultures can
have barricades surrounding communication. For example, a person can
have another cultural view about something and when they try to
superimpose their perspective on someone else, this disunity can be a
problem.

Personal Barricades:
Personal barriers can arise both from listener and speaker. However, certain
personality traits can lead towards lack of proper communication. It leaves a
person with choices, either to adopt to the scenario, or to go against it since
personal preferences lead to results out of context of the subject. For
example, fear of the challenge of authority may lead a leader to suppress
information if he thinks that a particular information may lead his authority
in adverse effects.
Secondly, personal habits are also inclusive in this context. For example, lack
of confidence leads to an abrupt communication. This leaves the context of
communication highly tailored and suppressed, leaving it a game of guesses.
Apart from that, if the subordinates find no motivation or reason behind a
certain task, they might be unwilling to do it. Such a situation can arise from
lack of communication or suppression of context over personal benefits.
For an instance, a person might not receive the information properly just
because they weren’t interested in the first place. Therefore, to ensure the
effectiveness, it is important that one should check credibility of the listener
as well after their own interest in communication.

Organizational Barriers:
Organizational barriers initiate from the work place itself and are often
subject to employees finding it hard to compensate work ethics with absurd
rules set up by the organization. For example, effective communication may
be hampered if organizational policy does not allow free flow of
communication among the employees. In other places, a status conscious
manager may not allow his subordinates to express their feelings. This
overall leads to an improper communication within an organization and
leads to unappealing results.
Apart from that, delays in communication are another barricade which occur
within an organization. For example, if there exist multiple managerial levels,
information must be processed and weighed in different bodies with
different levels.

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Therefore, after transparency, this is the first step to be resolved for
effective organizational communication. Different bodies communicate on
different job aspects. Leaving out anyone of them behind is capable of
starting a loss or results.

Findings:
Recent surveys by Society of Human Resources Management involved a
hundred thousand test subjects to assess their communication and the
dependability of net performance of their organizations. They found out that
companies lose about 24 billion dollars annually due to improper
communication.
Another survey by Economic Intelligence Unit was held between November
2017 to January 2018 revealed the following highlights:
1- Improper communication is having a tremendous effect on the
performance of a workplace. This involves improper instructions from the
manages and lack of freedom of speech by the employees.
2- The companies suffer a loss of millions of dollars annually on corporate
levels. This is a serious threat to the advancement of a nation’s revenue
generation ratio and communication barrier is the only barrier that proves to
be an atrocity.
3- On personal and individual levels, unnecessary conflicts arise which lead
to improper relations. This can be a situation very unpleasant and might
have been avoided in the first place.
4- Improper communication leads to low morals in a society, where a word
can trigger a lot of issues such as mistrust, lack of transparency and
immobilized advantages.

Conclusion:
There are many reasons why interpersonal communications may fail. In
many cases, the message may not be delivered exactly as it is supposed to
be. This happens due to many technical and psychological barriers.
To sum it up, improper communication is the result of many barriers which
lead to such a situation of ineffectiveness. It often involves technical and
psychological factors. However, major barriers include lack of attention,
personal traits and habits, certain rules and regulations, cultural and lingual
differences and differences in communication styles. These problems arise
either from habitual reforms or diversity of communication. Regardless of
the type of communication: verbal, nonverbal, written, listening or visual, if
we don't communicate effectively, we put ourselves and others and the

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purpose of communication at risk. Therefore, it is important that certain
precautionary measures should be practiced for effective communication.

Suggestions:
Barriers to communicate can be overcome by:
1- Ascending or descending to the level of audience so that information
portrayed is perceived as it should be.
2- Attaching the context to an emotional appeal that the listeners find
appealing.
3- The organizational structure should not be complex.
4- Avoiding information overload is essential because if periodic assigning of
work is practiced, it optimizes out maximum performance for the
organization.

References:

Could, J. (1969, January 1). Barriers to effective communication -

jay R. could, 1969. SAGE Journals. Retrieved November 15, 2021,
from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002194366900600
207

Ramu, M., & Danish, M. G. (2018). A study on the barriers on

the effective ... - acadpubl.eu. Acadpubl. Retrieved November 15,
2021, from https://acadpubl.eu/hub/2018-119-17/1/6.pdf

Brady, A.-M., Byrne, G., Quirke, M. B., Lynch, A., Ennis, S., Bhangu,
J., & Prendergast, M. (2017, October 26). Barriers to effective,
safe communication and workflow between nurses and non-
consultant hospital doctors during out-of-hours. OUP Academic.
Retrieved November 15, 2021, from
https://academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/29/7/929/4565827?login
=true

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