Communication Skills

BM002-4-0

Diploma - Foundation (Level 0)

 Topics & Structure of Lesson

• Communication
– What is culture?
– What is intercultural communication?
– Low context and high context culture

– What is communication barrier?

– What are the types of barrier?
– How do we overcome them?

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills Slide 2 (of 36)

 Learning Outcomes

• At the end of this chapter, you should:

– Know what is culture
– Know why it is important to know other culture
– Know the different types of barriers
– Know how to overcome barriers in communication

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills Slide 3 (of 36)

 Barriers to Communication:

Communication process is never perfect. When one person

communicates with another there will always be some loss of
meaning or distortion because everybody lives in their own unique
world of thought and feeling.

Barriers to communication can occur at any stage of the process,

even when people are trying their best to be open and honest.

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 Barriers to Communication:
(contd.)
When people are being deceitful or dishonest it can be very
difficult, or even impossible to communicate effectively.

Under such circumstances the primary aim of communication may

be manipulating the receiver’s response rather than achieving
mutual understanding.

Barriers exist despite good skills in organization, delivery and

grammar.

“Communication is extremely complex”

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 Types of Barriers:

1. Physical Barrier – can make the entire process of

communication convoluted and lead to
misunderstanding or ineffective communication.
E.g. closed door, poor lighting, separation across great
distance, body odor, smelly places and etc.

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 Types of Barriers (contd.):

2. Psychological Barrier – Emotional

E.g. Fear, mistrust, suspicion, feelings of vulnerability and etc.

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 Types of Barriers (contd.):

3. Cultural Barrier

- Communication can be complicated by

cultural differences between individual’s
engaged in conversation.

- Different beliefs and values systems can

cause confusion and misunderstanding.

(According to Martin Hahn, cultural differences are not just based on

race, nationality and ethnicity, but also age, gender, social status,
economic position and political beliefs.)
Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills
 Types of Barriers (contd.):

Different types of barriers under cultural barrier

i. Stereotype
- over simplified ideas about groups of people

ii. Prejudice
- refers to beliefs, thoughts, feelings that someone holds
about a group (not based on experience, it is a prejudgment
originating outside of actual experience)

iii. Discrimination
- action against a group of people

iv. Ethnocentrism
- This is a tendency to see the world from the point of view of
only one culture
Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills
 Types of Barriers (contd.):

4. Language barrier – choice of words,

different meanings

E.g. (1) here & hear, sheet & shit, tree & three

E.g. (2) Chick (pretty girl), she is a mad cow (angry person),
he is gay (happy person)

i. Dialect – verities of language in a culture

ii. Accent – different ways of pronouncing same language

iii. Slang - vocabulary which is informal

iv. Jargon - technical vocabulary used among specific

groups(professionals)
Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills
 When barriers occur?

Most communications are only partly successful because

some meaning is lost while the message is being

– developed
– transmitted
– Received
– interpreted

between sender and receiver.

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 When barriers occur?
(contd.)

Problems Developing Messages

 Indecision about message content
 Unfamiliarity with the situation or receiver
 Emotional conflicts
 Difficulty expressing ideas

Problem Transmitting Messages

 Physical – bad connections, poor acoustics, illegible copy, etc.
 Conflicting messages and meanings – verbal vs. nonverbal, etc.
 Too many links – message transferred from person to person.
Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills
 When barriers occur?
(contd.)
Problem Receiving Messages
 Physical – distracting signals and sounds, bad lighting, etc.

 Lack of attention by Receiver.

Problems Interpreting Messages

 Different Backgrounds – age, education, gender, social status,
culture, temperament, health, religion,
popularity, economic position, political beliefs, etc.

 Different Emotional Reactions – different reactions to the

same words on different
occasions depending on the
emotional relationship between
Receiver and Sender.

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills

 Ways to improve
communications:
 Create the message carefully
 think about your purpose and audience.

 use precise and specific language.

 stick to the point..

 Minimise Noise
 Try to eliminate potential sources of interference.

 Choose the medium that will most likely attract the Receiver’s attention and
maintain his/her concentration.

 Facilitate feedback

 Encourage feedback
 Be receptive to responses received.
Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills
 The End

Questions?

Communication Skills BM002-4-0 Communication Skills Slide 35 (of 36)