Barriers to
Communication -
Notes
UGC NET Paper 1
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BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION
Barriers to communication are those factors that produce obstacles in the way of reaching a
message to the receiver.
Personal barriers or individual barriers: Human beings are different from each other since
they belong to different cultural, geographical, social, educational, or occupational
backgrounds. Some characteristics are inherited by them due to their birth, family
backgrounds, upbringing, or social events that are unique to them.
Personal barriers can also be due to differences in speed of talking and listening and a lack of
willingness to change.
Psychological/ or individual barriers: The psychological condition of the communicator and
the receiver influences how the message is sent or received. Anger can adversely affect
communication at either end. People with low esteem may feel uncomfortable expressing
their feelings and often read unintended negative texts in the messages they hear.
Psychological barriers also include emotional attitude and selective listening.
Physiological barriers: The barrier to effective communication may come from the receiver's
physical state. This is known as the "physiological barrier." For example, a person with reduced
hearing may not fully understand conversation, especially if there’s background noise.
Attitudinal barriers: These are perceptions or behaviors that prevent people from
communicating effectively. This can be because of lack of motivation, personality conflicts, or
resistance to change.
Language barriers: Linguistic barriers are caused by:
Difference in language
No clear speech
Regional accent
Variety of meaning
Word choice.
Even the same language can act as a barrier if it has a lot of jargon and abbreviations.
Physical barriers: Geographical distance between the sender and receiver is known as a
"physical barrier." Communication is easier and more effective when the sender and receiver
are at shorter distances. Noise, place, time, climate, and space constitute the physical barriers
to communication.
Semantic barriers: semantics is the science of meanings. A word can have many meanings.
Semantic barriers arise due to the difference in meaning people attach to words. This can be
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subdivided into:
1. Word interpretation
2. Gestures
3. Language translation
4. Signs and symbols
5. Cue meanings.
Organizational barriers: This can be of two types :
1. Organizational Structural Barrier: When the structure of the organization is not properly
defined, communication is likely to be ineffective. This involves a lot of conflicts and
manipulations.
2. Organizational climatic barriers: These barriers are created due to problems in the
culture of the organization and also due to a lack of direction from the top management.
E.g., poor supervision, fear of getting misinterpreted, and other such fears.
Technical or mechanical barriers: These are barriers that arise due to technological
advancements in the field of communication. The technology generates a lot of information,
which is often beyond the capacity of the recipient.
Such barriers that arise due to-
Mechanical failures or disturbances
Technological malfunctioning (bad telephone line, poor internet connection, unclear
printout)
Improper time of communication
Illegible handwriting
Besides, there are barriers like cultural barriers due to the specific language, unclarified
assumptions, and varying behavior and beliefs.
MEASURES TO OVERCOME BARRIERS IN COMMUNICATION
Following are some of the additional measures to overcome the barriers to communication:
1) Fostering good relationships: Strong relationships must be fostered between the employer
and the employee to avoid misunderstandings and accept each other’s viewpoints to remove
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the barriers and facilitate proper communication in the organization.
2) Purposeful and well-focused communication: Communication should be purposeful and
directed to an individual. At the end of the communication, the receiver should not be left to
feel that the communication was meaningless or useless.
3) Coordination between superiors and subordinates: If the superior thinks on one line that is
different from the subordinate's and vice versa, it will affect the effectiveness of
communication. Therefore, there should be good and proper coordination and cooperation
between the superior and subordinate for effective communication.
4) Avoid technical language: specialized language should be avoided. There should be all
efforts to use the language commonly understood by the receiver and the sender of the
message. There should be the least use of technical jargon in the communication process.
5) Feedback: The selective perception of the receiver should be minimized through proper
feedback. The drawback of selective perception should be explained to minimize the barriers.
6) Accuracy: There should be accuracy in the message to be transmitted between parties to
the communication to improve its effectiveness.
7) The clarity of the message: The message to be transferred should be clear, practical,
accurate, and without any ambiguity.
8) Communication of organizational philosophy: Efforts have to be made in a planned way to
sensitize people to organizational philosophy. It should be properly communicated to its
employees so that they give proper attention to their day to day communication.
9) Flat organizational structure: The organization should have a clear cut and simple
organizational structure. The tall hierarchical structure should be removed, and it should be
changed to a flat structure to avoid excessive control of information. Wrong information being
transferred to anyone in the organization will prove detrimental. A proper redesign of the
organizational structure will reduce the status gap. The status effect can occur when one
person is considerably higher in the hierarchy than another.
10) Division of labor: There should be proper division of labor between the people to reduce
information overload and prevent delays in information transfer.
11) Organization policies: The organization should formulate its policies in such a way that
they will give full advantage to all members of the organization. It should be flexible and easy
to implement. While the organization’s goal must be clear, everyone must know about his
position, his rights in organizational communication. The network has to be fully developed so
that no such barriers exist. Moreover, there should be consistency when a message is passed
from sender to receiver. One should not introduce his view in the message. It must be clear
and easily understood by everyone. The timeline in the message should be there. If it is not
passed in time, such a message will be of no use.
12) Minimize the semantic problem: people use either the same word in different ways or
different words in the same way. One will be surprised to know that there are 15 different
meanings of the word ‘charge’ in the English language. They also occur when people use
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jargon or professional shorthand that they expect others to understand, or language that is
outside the other person’s vocabulary.
13) Proper communication channels: If one wants immediate action from the receiver, there is
no need to send a lengthy discussion report. One would probably pick up the telephone or go
to his office to tell him what to do. Remember also that one picture is worth a thousand words,
and in this age of computer graphics, the information can be produced more quickly in this
way too.
14) Right feedback: Although one-way communication is quicker, two-way communication is
more accurate. In complex situations, it helps both the sender and receiver measure their
understanding and improves their joint commitment to the task. It enables both parties to
identify and correct misunderstandings, leading to a higher quality of reception and
acceptance.
To communicate effectively, we need to overcome all the barriers and develop our own skills to
improve our existing communication abilities.
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