Cover

The Perils of Miscommunication

Prepared by:
Dr. Bini B.S., Assistant Professor in English, Institute of Law
Nirma University
Cover
Understanding Miscommunication

ha

Failure to communicate ideas or intentions successfully

 Cover
Miscommunication

01 What is miscommunication?

02 Reasons for miscommunication

03 The dangers of miscommunication

04 Avoiding miscommunication
 Miscommunication
Misconception
Erroneous information or
understanding. Prejudices and
preconceived ideas influencing
the message Misinterpreted communication
The message is interpreted in a
Unclear communication wrong manner because of
linguistic and cultural reasons .
The intention and content of the
message is not clear.

Inadequate communication Confusing communication

The message is not complete or The message can be complex or
does not contain required packed with contradictory/ illogical
information. information which leads to
confusion.

Mislead, misdirect, misunderstand, misread, misjudge, misevaluate, misconceive,

mistake, misguide, misconstrue, misinterpret, miscomprehend, mismanage, etc.
Why Miscommunication?
The Sender The message
• Vague, insufficient or baffling encoding • Complex
• Attitudinal issues • Incomplete
• Wrong
• incomprehensible

The medium The Language

• Unsuitable medium Unknown and ambiguous
• Technological issues

The Receiver Knowledge, gender, generation or culture gap

• Wrong and partial decoding Difference in knowledge, competency and culture
• Attitudinal issues
Examples of Miscommunication
Workplace Miscommunication
Professional
Workplace miscommunication is misinterpretation or misconstrued messages
that can potentially lead to internal conflict and/or employee dissatisfaction

Personal In Interpersonal Communication

Gap between encoding and decoding
Emotional issues

Intercultural Language Gap: Translated Messages getting misinterpreted

Linguistic incompetence or cultural incompatibility
Perils of Miscommunication
Instances from History

A plane crash in the Canary Islands (1977) that killed 583

people happened because of miscommunication between the
pilot and the air traffic control.

Two Boeing 747 planes crashed on the runway killing 583 people,
all because of a simple miscommunication between the pilots. The
fog was so thick that day. The aircrafts could not be seen. A
misunderstanding between the captain of the KLM Royal Dutch
Airways plane and the air traffic control tower led the KLM captain to
believe he had clearance to take off. The KLM plane crashed into
the Pan American flight that was still sitting on the runway.
 Moses returned from God with a radiance/ horn
The Hebrew word for “horn,” “keren,” happens to be also the
Hebrew word for a “ray of light” or glow

Exodus 34:29
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets
of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face
was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.

Michelangelo’s Moses (1513-15) housed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set
off the WW I. On June 28th, 1914, and the Archduke
and his wife were on a motorcade in Bosnia. The
Black Hand, a secret Serbian terrorist society,
attempted to assassinate Franz by throwing a grenade
at the motorcade but accidentally missed and hit the
wrong car. The Archduke decided to visit one of the
victims at a local hospital, but the driver being
unfamiliar with the roads made a wrong turn. What
seemed like help came in the form of a young man
sitting by the road. The young man was actually one
of the conspirators involved in the assassination
attempt and shot the Archduke and his wife. This
misunderstanding of directions on the driver’s part
not only led to the death of the Archduke and his wife,
but also the start of World War 1, which claimed
nearly 10 million lives.
The United States of America dropped “Little Boy” and
“Fat Man,” two powerful and destructive atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The misunderstanding that led to
this incident was a wrong translation. When asked if
Japan would surrender during World War II, the Japanese
ruler used the word “mokusatsu” in response. Now what
the Japanese word meant was “we withhold comment –
pending discussion”, but when the response was sent to
Washington the word was mistranslated to mean “We are
treating your message with contempt”. This was picked up
by the media and spread like a wildfire around the world.
President Truman decided that the atomic bombs were a
perfect weapon to use to teach the Japanese a lesson. A
simple mistake led to 150,000-250,000 people being either
killed, injured, or exposed to radiation.
Miscommunication costs Norwegian his life
(Newspaper Report by Mar Hauksson on May 21, 2009)

Tragedy struck a young Norwegian university student who was staying in

Copenhagen when he was severely injured in a bar fight and was
misunderstood at a local hospital. The resulting communication error ended
up costing the 25 year-old man his life.
The Norwegian was smashed over the head with a glass at a bar in
Copenhagen. After making his way to the city’s Rigshospitalet, the student
tried to explain to hospital staff that he was a haemophiliac,* according to the
JP news agency. Unfortunately, the staff thought he said he was a
homosexual, and sent him home without the specialist treatment he
desperately needed.
The Danish word for haemophilia is ‘haemofili’, while the word for
homosexual is the very similar ‘homofil’. Copenhagen police found the man
dead from a brain hemorrhage at his apartment in Sydhavn less than 24
hours after being discharged from the hospital.

* “Jeg er hæmofil” opposed to “Jeg er homofil” (“I’m a haemophiliac” opposed

to “I’m a homosexual”)
 Spare him, not hang him
Spare him not, hang him

•Pardon Impossible, to be sent to Siberia.

•Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia
Czar Alexander the third had once sentenced a man to
death by writing on the warrant: Pardon impossible, to be
sent to Siberia. His wife, Czarina Maria, saved life of this
man, by changing position of comma as shown above.
The man was set free.
Avoiding Miscommunication

Clarity in Choose the

Empathy
01 Encoding
Try to encode the
message clearly
02 Try to understand the
linguistic and cultural
03 right medium
Choose a medium that
suits the message
backgrounds of the one
who decodes the
Don’t hesitate message
Choose the right
to clarify while Facilitate
tone and
in doubt ongoing
04 Practice Active 05 nonverbal
means
06 feedback
listening
If there is a confusion ask for
clarification
 “I Only Came to Use the Phone” (1978; Part of the Collection, Strange Pilgrims)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1917-2014, Colombian Novelist and Nobel Laureate [1982])

Maria de la Luz Cervantes (27) was driving to Barcelona from Zaragoza when her rented car breaks down in the
Monegros Desert. Finding herself in the middle of nowhere, She decided to hitch a ride on a bus as she had to make
an urgent phone call to her husband, Saturno the magician. He needed her as an assistant in his magic shows.
Maria was disheveled and distraught after the mishap. She did not know that the bus was full of women travelling
to a mental health facility. One of these patients gave Maria a black blanket to keep her warm. On reaching the
destination, Maria was mistaken for a patient although her name was not in the register.
Maria’s husband, Saturno the magician assumed that she must have left him for another man. Such was the
trouble-ridden history of their marriage. So when she finally manages to reach out to him on the phone, he utters a
cussword and hangs up.
At the mental hospital, Maria’s frequent and obsessive requests for the permission to use the phone were
interpreted as a symptom of her mental illness. Maria had to extend sexual favours to a female guard for reaching out
to her husband. On finding out the details of Maria’s plight, Saturno visits. He ends up believing the account of the
doctor and leaves Maria at the hospital. Maria creates a scene during Saturno’s departure which further convinces him
that she needs treatment. Maria was so hurt that she stops responding to Saturno’s calls and visits. She stays at the
mental hospital.
Till Saturno leaves Barcelona, he takes cigarettes to Maria though the latter refuses to meet him. A former girlfriend
of Saturno was entrusted with their the house cat and the responsibility of taking cigarettes to Maria after he departs.
On one of her visits, the hospital was found demolished like a bad memory.

What happens to Maria is left unsaid.

Maria
Strange attire
Dishevelled
Incoherent
Frequently mentions about making the
phone call

Inability to Inability to
observe communicate
The stop
The passengers
The building
01 02
Inability to
Inability to
infer
convince
03 04
Saturno

Assumption
Misinterpretation
based on
of situations
experience
01 02
Reluctance to
Misdirected
probe further
03 04
 The Authorities
(The Hospital Staff, The Police)

Assumption Prejudices

01 02
Laxity Misdirected

03 04
 “I only Came to use the Phone” illustrates how miscommunication
happens. Do you think the plight of Maria could have been averted or
Miscommunication reversed?

1.Erroneous Assumptions and Communication

2.Unclear Communication
3.Inadequate Communication
4.Misinterpreted Communication
5.Misjudgment of situations
6.Reluctance or inability to explain and convince
7.Passive Acceptance of the situation
8.Prejudices about mental health
9.Impulsiveness
Cover

Thank You
Insert the Sub Title
of Your Presentation