Barriers to Communication

Noise: It is an interruption during communication which distracts communication. For example; any type
of disturbance during communication as well as incomprehensive language used in speaking and writing.
In technical communication noise does not mean cacophony in sound, but a break in the communication
process. It creates hurdles in obtaining desired effect/feedback from the receiver for any message.

Barrier: It acts like a sieve/shifter, which allows only a part of message to filter through; as a result, the
desired response is not achieved. Usually one says that, “I did not say that, but I mean this” (not that).
So, this is a situation which occurs often in human life and one clarifies the points again and again
according to the highlighted words.

1. Interpersonal Barriers: related with individual’s attitude, habit, and psychological approach.

(a). Wrong Assumption: when some assumes a meaning from particular word or symbol, he/she
always recognize that particular word or sign according to his/her assumption. As ‘Boot’ has a
particular meaning in computer science but it provides different meaning (shoes) to the common man
who is unaware of computer. This process creates a barrier against the flow of communication.

(b). Varied Perception: In this barrier, one word/symbol/sign is interpreted in different way and
according to the perception of the audience and reader. For example one elephant is perceived
variously by the six blind men.

(c). Differing Backgrounds: the difference in background, education, culture, language,

environment, and financial status also creates barrier in the flow of communication. These differences
create difficulty in communication as well as in comprehension of the signals of the source/sender/
for the station/receiver. For example the study material of postgraduate classes is not comprehensive
for lower standard students. And the Chinese local native cannot communicate effectively with local
and uneducated villager of Gaziabad.

(d). Wrong Inferences: in this barrier, it appears the something which actually exists, does not exist
in reality. So, in fact this barrier is contradiction of visual perception against factual reality.

* for example, presenting any idea in course of one’s work, one qualifies with ‘evidence suggests’ or
‘in my opinion’ to remind yourself and receiver that it is not an established fact.

(e). Blocked Category: this barrier comes in front because of the reaction against the positive and
negative information according to the attitude of the person.

* we establish categories according to our interest and vision and we try to see the things according to
our nature. As one believes that engendering is best job in the world so he/she will take other jobs as
inferior. So, here one cannot receive anything beyond their interest/attitude.

** here employee reacts or operates according to his own vision, attitude, and values. In this process,
one categorizes oneself. This creates rigidity in one’s approach. One receives the information or
communicates the information with biased approach.
(f). Categorical Thinking: in this barrier, one thinks that he is already aware with the all information
provided by the communicator. That is why he does not pay attention on the complete message by the
communicator, or he does not give space to the signals of message because of his superiority over the
subject. In this way, he does not receive the exact message/all signals of the message.

* in fact this barrier occurs because of the overconfidence (the attitude of knowing all information)
within the reader or audience.

2. Interpersonal Barriers: Interpersonal barriers occur because of the inappropriate transaction of

words between two or more people. It occurs because of
• Ineffective communication skill
• Negative aspects nurturing in the climate: the point refers to a situation when negative tendencies
nurtured by some people affect others around them. This leads to a barrier as individuals start
thinking in negative.
Interpersonal barriers creep in as a result of the limitations in the communication skills of the
encoder or the decoder or both. It may also occur because of some disturbance in the channel.

a. Limited Vocabulary: inadequate vocabulary creates a major hindrance in communication. In

fact, lack of words in expressing one’s feelings, emotions, and ideas makes the communication
ineffective, that is limited vocabulary in communication becomes a barrier.

b. Incompatibility of Verbal and Non-verbal message: in this barrier, there is contradiction in

verbal and non-verbal expressions (facial and body language) which leads to the misinterpretation
of the message. For example, most of the time generalization based on one’s physical appearance
or one’s dress also leads to communication barrier. As, many people initially formed negative
impression of Einstein because of his worn out and shabby look. In nut-shell non-verbal
message/signals contradicts the verbal message.

c. Emotional Outburst: emotions are the integral part of human life, but sometimes the extreme
emotions lead a different and worst condition during communication. It creates obstacles in front
of the audience. As extreme emotions results into anger, crying and lamentation etc.

Extreme anger can create such an emotionally changed environment that rational/logical
discussion becomes impossible. One becomes prejudiced, and stereotyped because of the extreme
emotional condition. It leads to the negative approach in someone, and also develops hostile
environment.
Message are misinterpreted, ignored or overreacted by the people because of displaying extreme
emotions. Generally, the witness of such behavior lowers the opinion regarding such people. In
such situation, the person of extreme emotions becomes irrational and subjective.

d. Communication Selectivity: because of this barrier, receiver pays attention only a part of the
message. He becomes selective for particular part because of his interest. In this way, the message
is not properly communicated to the receiver even after all the efforts of the sender.
 In fact receiver breaks the flow of communication because of his particular interest. It is partly
received by the receiver/audience. To overcome from this barrier, one must pay attention on the
complete signals of the message.

e. Cultural Variation: this is one of the predominant interpersonal barriers in communication

which leads to communication in failure. It occurs because of the deficiency in understanding the
message of the sender due to his deferent culture. To overcome this barrier, the employee should
closely observe the laws, customs, business practices, socio-cultural environment, etiquettes of
the particular country and region where he/she is working.

f. Poor Listening Skill: because of passive attitude in listening it becomes difficult to decode the
message. It creates misunderstanding and conflict in the received message. Emotional
disturbances and indifference in aggression and wandering attention develops distraction in
communication.

If an individual is engrossed in his own thoughts and worries, he will be unable to concentrate on
listening. In spite of this, superiority complex also increases the poor listening, because the victim
of this complex does not listen his sub-ordinate officials.

g. Noise in Channel: noise interferes in the transmission of message during the flow of
communication. Noise is not only audio, but also audio-visual, visual, written, physical or
psychological in forms. For example human noise occurs because of the frequent entry or exit of
the members in a meeting or conference or in any program.
Dim typescript, illegible writing, disturbance in phone lines etc are technical noise in
communication.

3. Organizational Barriers: Communication barrier are not only limited to an individual or two
people but exists in entire organization. Actually, in large organizations, where the flow is
downward, feedback is not guaranteed. There are different organizational barriers.

a. Too Many Transfer Stations: the more links in communication chain create the
miscommunication. In such situations, usually message becomes distorted because of many links
in communication. So the exact message disappears during the flow of communication because of
different transfer stations. For example, the exact message is received by the person to forward it.
But, in place of sending the message to the concerned person directly, he/she sends to another
person to forward it. In this process message changes slightly and when it is again forwarded to
the exact destination, it is changed more. And ultimately the received message becomes quite
different to the first message.

b. Fear of Superiors: in rigidly structured organizations, fear or awe of the superior prevents
subordinates from speaking frankly. Sometimes employee may not be pleased with the work
culture but because of losing goodwill of boss, he/she does not communicate his/her point.
 In such conditions sometimes employee avoid to communicate their boss directly, but they inform
their close seniors. They feel fear for their mistakes in leaving out any vital information.
As a result, in written communication, this results in bulky reports, where essential information is
included with unimportant details. Such message becomes unfocused and results in a lot of
wasted time.

c. Negative Tendencies: an organization has various work groups formed according to the
requirements of the task at hand. They differ according to the nature of job and work culture.
The groups may be formal as well as informal, and generally contains the people of similar
values, attitude, opinion, beliefs, and behavior. But, on some occasion, a communication barrier
occurs due to a conflict of ideas between the members and non-members of groups.
This conflicts negative tendencies in groups against other groups which oppose the demands and
practices of other groups. And, once the negative tendencies develop, they create noise in
interpersonal communication.

d. Use of Inappropriate Media: usually the common media used in organization are: graphs,
charts, telephones, fax machines, boards, emails, films, slides, computer based presentations,
teleconferencing, video conferencing. But sometimes, because of technical reasons or
unawareness with the instrument, these media becomes inappropriate.
During the use of these media one must focus on the time, cost taken by them and the type of
message and intended audience. For example telephone would not be proper medium for
conveying confidential information. Mix of media is more effective in communication.

e. Information Overloaded: today, a major problem faced by the organizations is the decrease in
efficiency resulting from Manual handling of huge amount of data. It is known as information
overloaded barrier. It develops fatigue, disinterest and boredom within employee.
Often basic, relevant information get mixed up with too many irrelevant details, and is therefore
ignored by the receiver. Here, the screening of information becomes important. So it must be in
mind that quality is much more important than the quantity.

Filter: The Filter here means the mental make-up of the receiver of the message, like a physical filter
allows only selective in formations to pass through and ignores the rest of it.

Different meaning according to the perception of the events, past experiences, beliefs and attitudes.

There are various filters, as there are different men in the audience, so the same thing can hold
different meaning for different individuals. For example, it is because of filter a certain artist may find
a grain of sand beautiful. It can therefore be said that beauty lies not in the eyes but in the filter of the
mind.