BARRIERS TO

COMMUNICATION
Here, we turn our attention to some of the variables which interfere with
effective communication

Ineffective use of power may be a barrier to effective communication

Language as a problem for effective communication

Certain types of communication (evaluative, dogmatic and manipulative)

create problems of defensiveness and lack of self confidence

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 1

 Power Differences as a Barrier
to Communication

BARRIERS TO Language as a Barrier to

COMMUNICATION Communication

Communication which
provokes Defensiveness

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 2

POWER DIFFERENCES AS A
BARRIER
Power (influence, control) is used in the
decision-making process

D-M is a part of the managerial process and

affects who does what, when, where and how

The way that decisions are made, and power

exercised affects interpersonal relations

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 3

 POWER TACTICS
 Managers use their power to encourage or restrict the participation
of the less powerful in the d-m process
 Power Tactics essentially revolve around controlling the
communication process in order to maintain their personal power
 They tend to use the following tactics:
1. Taking Counsel
2. Maneuverability
3. Complete Communication
4. Compromise
5. Negative Timing

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 4

 Managers should seek advice
only when they think it is
necessary

1. TAKING
COUNSEL
If they allow subordinates to
give advice freely, they are
likely to find themselves under
pressure to act in accordance
with the advice

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 5

 Wise managers should never fully
commit themselves to any position or
program

2.
MANEUVERABILITY

They must be careful to leave

themselves a number of options so that
they do not have to retract previously
made commitments since such
retractions are harmful to their
credibility and diminish their power

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 6

 It is not a good strategy to communicate
everything one knows

Completely open communication deprives

3. COMPLETE the manager of determining who gets to
COMMUNICATION know what, when.

Future may not materialize, but if they have

been openly communicated it may be
difficult to extricate oneself from the
commitment to action

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 7

 Managers who wish to maintain
their power may openly
compromise but should
continue to work toward their
own goals

4.
COMPROMISE

That is, any concession made

should be a way of delaying the
opposition rather than as an act
of cooperation

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 8

 • Sometimes pressure from powerful
colleagues may “force” managers to
move in directions in which they do not
agree.
• The appropriate tactic here is to take
action but proceed so slowly that little
harm is done

5.
• Thus, the inadvisable program dies “in
committee” or “under consideration”

NEGATIVE
• Managers are taking action but by using
negative timing, they make sure that

TIMING
nothing comes of the proposals.

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 9

 Language as a barrier arises from
differences in the use of language
associated with different groups of
people

LANGUAGE Organizations are large, complex

and hierarchical – resulting in

AS A numerous groups of people,

separated by the basis of specialty,

BARRIER
status, and physical location within
the organizations.

These differences in the use of

language act as a barrier to
communication

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 10

 • The style of communication used by the
manager may itself act as a barrier to
communication
• That is, when a manager sends a message
in a way that provokes defensiveness, he
is contributing poor i.p. relationship
• Four types of communication styles
which provoke defensiveness are:
1. Evaluative
2. Manipulative
3. Dogmatic, and
COMMUNICATION
WHICH PROVOKES 4. Communication which implies
superiority
DEFENSIVENESS
Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 11
 • The use of “labeling”, particularly as it
implies to negative comparison – for
example: lazy, incompetent
• Labeling or attributing characteristics to
people is essentially a stereotyping
procedure. Once the person is labeled, it
is difficult to see the whole person –
instead one tends to see the label.

EVALUATIVE
COMMUNICATION
Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 12
 • A person’s resistance to feedback and his
tendency to see the situation in black-
and-white terms are aspects of dogmatic
communication
• Dogmatism is very difficult to overcome
• Dogmatic or closed-minded people are
resistant to new ideas and are unable to
see other people’s point of view
• Their approach to communication starts
from the premise that they are correct and
other people are incorrect
• Dogmatic people rarely listen to what
DOGMATIC other people say as they are already busy
COMMUNICATION preparing their own arguments

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 13

 People who believe that their possession of
superior knowledge, expertise, experience
necessarily makes their contributions more
important often provoke defensiveness in others

COMMUNICATION If a manager is constantly implying his

WHICH IMPLIES superiority, this in turn implies that the other
SUPERIORITY people are inferior!

If the manager is clearly superior, the superiority

of his viewpoints will probably be recognized
and appreciated by others

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 14

MANIPULATIVE
COMMUNICATION
• When people perceive that someone with
some ulterior motive is trying to influence
them, they tend to react negatively.
• That is, manipulative communication
excites the control issue, and the reaction
is based on not wanting to be controlled
rather than on the content of the
communication

Ashok Karri, Gitam Institute of Management 15