Angielo Tejero Y.

BSE-ENGLISH | YEAR II Purposive Communication

WEEK 10: Barriers to Effective Organizational Communication

ACTIVITY 1:
1. Explain each of the barriers of communication.
Frames of Reference - Depending on their education, culture, and experiences, various people
will interpret the same communication in different ways. A common frame of reference between
the sender and the recipient increases the likelihood of successful communication. On the other
hand, communication is likely to get skewed if the communicators have distinct frames of
reference. While neither of the communicators is right or wrong, they each have different life
experiences and roles to play, which frequently leads to accidental communication distortions.
When we filter experiences to give them meaning, we do so use a complicated set of
presumptions and attitudes called a frame of reference. The frame may consist of ideas, schemas,
preferences, values, culture, and other factors that skew our perceptions.
Filtering - Filtering is when information is distorted or withheld in order to control a person's
reactions. Filtering can be seen, for instance, in a manager who hides the vice president, her boss,
the bad news about her division's sales numbers out of concern that it will enrage him. "Don't
shoot the messenger!" is an adage. " Exemplifies how Receivers (in this case, the vice president)
often lash out at the Sender in response to unwanted Messages. A gatekeeper who doesn't
transmit a complete message, like the vice president's assistant, is also filtering. The vice
president has the option of stopping the message before it is delivered by deleting the email
announcing the quarter's sales results before viewing it.
As you can see, filtering keeps people inside an organization from receiving a full picture of how
things really are. Delivering a Message in various methods and seeking information from many
sources can both increase your chances of delivering and receiving effective messages. This will
lessen the impact of any single person filtering the message.
It is also important to keep in mind that those below you in an organization could be reluctant to
provide bad news because people tend to filter bad news more during upward communication.
Rewarding employees who clearly communicate information upward, regardless of whether the
news is good or bad, is one method to counteract the inclination to filter.
Structure - The quality of communication may be impacted by the organizational structure inside
it. The number of levels that information must traverse before reaching its intended recipient
causes a reduction in communication efficiency. The explanation is very straightforward: the
more layers of positions a communication must pass through, the more likely it is that it will be
altered, edited, shortened, amended, misread, or completely fail to reach its recipient.
Information Overload - Every day, messages come to us in a variety of ways. Information
overload is defined as "occurring when the information processing demands on an individual's
time to perform interactions and internal calculations exceed the supply or capacity of time
Angielo Tejero Y. BSE-ENGLISH | YEAR II Purposive Communication

available for such processing" (Schick et al., 1990). Some of them are societal—they are
commercials that we might see or hear during the course of the day. Others are business-related,
including memoranda, voicemails, discussions, and emails from our coworkers. Others are
private—messages and phone calls from our friends and family.
Semantics - The study of meaning in communication is known as semantics. Words may have
diverse meanings to different individuals, or they may have no meaning at all. For instance,
businesses frequently develop their own acronyms and buzzwords (referred to as business
jargon) that are understandable to them but difficult for outsiders to understand.
Status differences - Status impedes effective communication between staff members at various
levels of the organization. Vertical communication is hampered by the condition of
superordinate-subordinate links (Upward and downward). The less likely a person is to have
effective communications with staff members a few levels below him, the higher their position.
2. Why does “filtering” happen in downward and upward communication?
When communications move through an intermediary in the communication channel, filtering
happens. Filtering frequently can change the original message, reduce its impact, or make it
impossible to understand. This could happen as a result of misinterpreting the message's subject
matter or sender's intention. Employees who pass a message meant for upper-level management
through a direct supervisor are said to be engaging in upward communication filtering. The
material in the communication may be altered by the employee's direct supervisor to reflect the
supervisor's viewpoint or comprehension of the circumstance. On the other side, downward
filtering also takes place when the message's recipient permits it to go via several people before
it reaches its intended recipient.
3. In what ways does the structure of an organization greatly affect organizational
communication?
An organization's work is done inside its organizational structure, which is a system of task,
reporting, and authority relationships. Structure hence establishes the nature and purpose of an
organization's operations. Structure, as seen in an organization chart, also specifies how the
components of an organization fit together.
The goal of organizational structure is to organize and coordinate employee behaviors in order
to accomplish organizational objectives. The foundation of organized effort is the idea that
groups of individuals may do more than they can alone by cooperating. However, the labor needs
to be organized if the benefits of group effort are to be achieved.
Increased understanding and more fulfilling relationships result from effective communication
both inside and between individuals and groups of people (Tseng & Lee, 2011). According to
Davelas (2002), "the level of interaction among members of an organization is determined by the
structure of communication channels and is a crucial determining factor in the organization's
performance communicating avenues.
Angielo Tejero Y. BSE-ENGLISH | YEAR II Purposive Communication

4. Why does status differences play important role in communication?

Social standing is one of the most difficult organizational and individual elements to manage
among those that can affect the effectiveness of business communication. The term "social
status" describes a person's standing or position in relation to others. These impressions of
prestige are influenced by a person's position in the organizational hierarchy, as well as by their
background, education, reputation, and authority.
When attempting to enlighten or convince others, people frequently find it challenging to
navigate status inequalities. Many people use social standing as a gauge of authority and validity,
which has an impact on how seriously other people take what they say. Title, reputation, and the
degree to which audience members can relate to the communicator's motivations and goals are
important factors in the evaluation of an audience. A bias against those with the perceived lower
status can result from status differences. Even if his information and presenting abilities are
strong, a junior or lower-level employee who is required to make a presentation to a group of
upper-level managers may first struggle to hold their attention. Being an outsider might make
communication difficult. Salespeople, vendors, and even potential employees frequently
encounter this. In such situations, those with perceived lower status need to build good will by
demonstrating competence and reliability and identifying with common interests.