Types of Barriers to Communication

1. Semantic Barriers: refers to study of meaning of words and signs Three types,

 Interpretation of words: the message may be interpreted differently by the sender

and the receiver.
Example: Spring means Season and to jump.
Check means to examine and to control.
The word “RUN” has 110 meaning in dictionary.

 Technical Terms: some terms may not be understanding to some people

Example: Bull, Bear, forward market, secondary market etc. are used in stock
market.

 Idioms & phrases: Sentences can convey different meaning on how they are spoken
Example: A red and a blue carpet.

2. Physical barriers:

 Noise: Example: traffic, human sound, machine sound.

 Time Gap: workers in different shift, fault seating arrangement can block eye
contact
 Physical distance: break down in phone, postal services, unavailability of
phone.
 Information overload: sometimes when an employee is given to much work
he may forget some work.

3. Organisational barriers:
 Long chain of command: when a lower level employee wants to
communicate information to higher level the information has to pass through
different levels in the organisation it may take a long time.
 Poor spatial arrangements: Due improper spatial arrangements eye to eye
contact is not possible between the employees.
 Unsuitable medium: sometimes unsuitable medium may be used for
communication.
 Statues and relationship: sometimes due statues some higher level
managers may not be willing to communicate to lower level employees. Due
to fear lower level employees may not communicate to higher level
managers
4. Psychological Barriers: Psyche means mind. Psychological barriers arise in the
minds
Examples: Anger, ego, self-image.

5. Cultural barriers: In the United States people love to be called by their first names

while in Britain, and to a large extent also in India, people like to be addressed by

their last name. In the North American States a sign of ‘O’ made with the forefinger

and thumb stands for ‘OK’ while in the Southern States it is construed as obscenity.

6. Gender barriers: Men and women work together every day, but their
different styles of communication can sometimes work against them. Generally
speaking, women like to ask questions before starting a project, while men tend to
“jump right in.” A male manager who’s unaware of how most women communicate
their readiness to work may misperceive a ready employee as not being prepared.

7. Language barriers: Not all people come to work from same place or same country
and they may not know other language or may be weak in the common language
because of this many misunderstanding may occur and can create many problems.