Communication Barriers - Research Paper Example

?Communication Barriers Communication barriers are one of the most fundamental problems of the contemporary organizations all over the world. Communication barriers increase workers’ tendency to engage in dysfunctional conflicts with one another and sap their productivity, thus yielding unfavorable results for the whole organization. One factor that has caused the communication barriers to magnify in the present age is the growing cultural diversity of the workforce. Communication barriers are of different kinds and originate in a variety of sources. The first and the foremost requirement of removing the communication barriers is identification of the barriers. Management plays an important role in the removal of communication barriers. Removing barriers to communication boosts workers’ productivity and generates favorable results for the whole organization. Communication Barriers Introduction Communication is a very important skill since it plays a decisive role in determining people’s tendency to be productive in the workplace, neighborhoods, classrooms, and all kinds of settings. The communication skills of an individual affects his/her own as well as the organization’s effectiveness as a whole (Brun, 2010; Summers, 2010). Although many people can communicate enough to convey their meaning and perceive others’, not many people are able to communicate effectively. Lack of effective communication is one of the most fundamental factors that inhibit the effectiveness of an organization (Lutgen-Sandvik, 2010). The process of communication involves encoding and sending of the messages by the senders and decoding of the messages by the receivers (Lunenburg, 2010, p. 2; Ergen, 2010, p. 2). Interferences in the process of communication reduces the effectiveness of communication and may even distort the process altogether. Communication barriers disrupt communication in all organizations belonging to all sorts of industries ranging from engineering to healthcare. According to Astrom, Duggan and Bates (2007, p. 279), poor communication caused by the communication barriers causes disruptions in care continuity in the healthcare center, duplication of interventions, and delayed diagnoses. In order to retain and boost the effectiveness of communication, it is imperative that senders and receivers develop the skills to handle the different kinds of barriers that distort the process of communication (Lehman and DuFrene, 2008). Barriers experienced in the process of communication are of different types that include but are not limited to verbal, nonverbal, external, and internal. Types of communication barriers Verbal barriers Verbal barriers in communication are caused because of inadequate vocabulary or lack of knowledge of the other person’s language (Ergen, 2010). Verbal barriers in communication are typically experienced in culturally diverse workplaces where workers belonging to different cultures and having proficiency in different languages have to interact with one another in a standard language according to the policy of the organization. Even if the vocabulary is enough to carry out the conversation, the differences of dialects and speed of speech pose difficulties in achieving effectiveness in communication. For example, Indians’ way of speaking English is significantly different from that of African Americans’. Even within the native population of America, a range of regional dialects of English prevail. Differences in perception are also characterized as verbal barriers in communication. Differences in perception are influenced by socioeconomic background, educational background, age, experiences, and culture. People from different age groups have different levels of maturity that cause them to voice different opinions that can often be conflicting with one another’s. Differences of socioeconomic status and educational status pave way for the development of inferiority or superiority complexes among the interacting partners that reduce the effectiveness of communication. Inappropriate use of expressions like slang, euphemisms, and jargon, differences in language, and ambiguity and abstraction are other examples of verbal barriers in communication. Nonverbal barriers Nonverbal barriers in communication include inappropriate signals and conflicts (Jain and Choudhary, 2011). Examples of inappropriate signals include gestures, attire, and facial expressions. To a large extent, nonverbal barriers in communication originate in cultural differences. These cultural differences are controlled by a host of factors that include but are not limited to history, religion, and socially acceptable behaviors. Different nations having different cultures have different sets of norms and values. For example, in the Western culture, a hand-shake between a man and a woman who are not related to each other is considered as a gesture of politeness and a requirement of ethics (Clayton, 2006) whereas in more conservative cultures like in Saudi culture or more particularly, in the Islamic culture, a hand-shake between a man and a woman is considered as transgression of physical limits imposed by the religion. When people coming from different backgrounds are united at one platform to work as a team, they can experience different kinds of problems of team interaction including miscommunication, disorganization, inadequate participation in problem solving, and misunderstanding (Cooley, 1994). This can lead to serious confusions and misperceptions between the interacting partners thus playing the role of a communication barrier. Nonverbal barriers in communication also include inappropriate emotions like prejudice, boredom, excessive emotional involvement, and stereotyping. External barriers External barriers to communication are those barriers that are related to the environment. Examples of external barriers to communication include disrupted phone line, lack of connectivity of Internet, problems of sound in recording or hearing of messages, and excessive noise in the background (Dabaj, 2011). Many of the external barriers to communication are related to dysfunction of technology. External barriers to communication are generally easier to control because the secondary things causing disruption in communication can be fixed. Internal barriers Internal barriers to communication are more difficult to eradicate as compared to the external barriers. Internal barriers exist in the perceptions and personalities of people and can only be removed when the personal will, determination, and consent of each of the interacting parties is involved. Many of the internal barriers to communication are not even linked to knowledge of language. For example, a person who is reserved by nature, tends to avoid getting I lengthy arguments. It is fundamentally the personality trait of conservatism that serves as the barrier to communication in this case. Other internal barriers to communication include hesitation, lack of motivation, fear and anxiety, and dislike or even hatred toward the other person. Fundamentals of effective communication Effective communicators know the process of communication and the barriers that come in the way of successful exchange of messages. There are four fundamental steps that comprise the process of effective communication that are discussed as follows: Awareness of the barriers to communication There is a range of barriers to communication because of a variety of reasons ranging from culture differences to differences of age and gender. To have effective communication, it is important for people to know what the potential sources of barriers to communication are. “Managers with the desire and the skill to conduct business in new international markets and to manage a diverse workforce effectively will confront problems created by cultural differences” (Lehman and Dufrene, 2008, p. 25). Barriers to intercultural communication include but are not limited to stereotyping, ethnocentrism, body language, personal space requirements, lack of training in language, translation limitations, and interpretation of time. Culture affects morale, behavior, and workers’ productivity. It comprises patterns and values that influence the actions and attitudes of the company (Liu and Lee, 2008). Prediction of the chances of occurrence of the barriers in a certain situation of communication There are different ways in which people can gauge the chances of occurrence of barriers in a certain situation of communication. The more the differences among the interacting parties, the chances of occurrence of the barriers are the greater. For example, “Cultural differences can create the potential to make intercultural communication very difficult, and sometimes impossible” (Chitakornkijsil, 2010, p. 7). Likewise, when two workers with a great age difference communicate, chances of conflict are greater as compared to the case in which the communicating partners belong to the same age group. The senior worker might feel insecure from the younger worker because of the greater technological skills and competence of the latter while the younger worker might feel insecure because of greater experience and knowledge of the senior worker. Identification of the occurrence of barriers According to Brown (1976), awareness of the barriers to communication must be completed on the priority before the implementation of any objective measures to improve the communication. The process of identification of the occurrence of barriers varies from one individual to another because as Tafoya (1976) noted, people belonging to different age groups, races, and genders perceive the barriers to communication differently. Likewise, the barriers to communication can vary from one setting to another which makes the process of judgment of barriers even more subjective. Development of strategies to overcome them The ever-increasing effect of the global marketplace is causing the organizations to take initiatives to transit from a multinational to a global strategy. To achieve this, it is imperative that the organizations develop a plan to perceive and improve the intercultural communications globally (Harvey and Griffith, 2002). The research literature proposes a variety of strategies to improve the intercultural communication by removing the communication barriers. From academia to industry, such efforts are made every level. For example, Goby (2007) says that they “devise as many ways as possible to introduce authentic multicultural components into our courses so that students can experience navigating the passages of international communication” (Goby, 2007, p. 435). Some of the strategies commonly implemented in schools and other educational institutions to improve intercultural communication include communicating with the students through e-mail, creating better communication cross-campus through interaction in a culturally diverse students’ group, and implementing the programs of study-abroad (Bennett and Salonen, 2007). Communication barriers’ implications for organizational management Effective communication plays a very important role in making the teamwork experiences successful. Team communication is affected by the very barriers that affect communication in the daily activities. Culturally diverse groups have a high vulnerability toward experiences interaction problems since the group members vary in their perceptions of communication norms, motives, behavioral intentions, environment, ethnocentrism, stereotyping, prejudices, and values (Matveen and Nelson, 2004, p. 255). Aritz and Walker (2009) carried out research to investigate the differences in the level of participation and the contribution patterns of the native English speaking and the native East Asian team members in the business communication and business writing courses of the undergraduate level. Their research led them to discovering that participation indicators decreased and contribution diminished as the speakers of the East Asian languages formed the group’s minority (Aritz and Walker, 2009, p. 110). A lot of research has been conducted to date to determine the negative and positive aspects of the diverse teams, and effective communication has been found to be a very important element for positive experiences in such settings. “Diversity is only an asset when team members develop skills to manage the assets and challenges of diversity . . . and becoming more conscious of diversity . . . will improve those skills that are essential for true teamwork; these include communication, conflict management, empathy, self-evaluation, and leadership” (Bucher, 2000, p. 169). According to Erdem and Polat (2010, p. 406), although cultural diversity in the group settings enhances the tendency of the members to be creative because of the existence of a variety of perspectives, lesser group thinking, and a range of ideas, yet heterogeneous groups exhibit higher process losses than the homogenous groups as a result of experiencing more communication barriers. Strategies to overcome communication barriers Improved awareness of implications of diversity Improving the awareness of the effects of diversity improves the effectiveness of communication across the group members. Learning of the differences of cultures builds a strong foundation for communication on a global scale (Rentz, Flatley, and Lentz, 2011, pp. 497-498). Awareness of cultural diversity helps improve the diversity skills including communication. The research carried out by Matveev and Nelson (2004, p. 266) led to the discovery of empirical support for the hypothesis of the communication competence-team performance as the researchers found that managers trained in operating in a culturally diverse environment reported a strong relationship between the multicultural team performance and the extent of competence on cross-cultural communication. Establishment of code of ethics Communication barriers that happen particularly because of nonverbal reasons like inappropriate signs and gestures sending negative messages at the workplace can be significantly reduced by establishing a code of ethics. People face ethical dilemmas at the workplace that they do not commonly experience otherwise in their everyday life (Boatright, 2007). Therefore, every organization must prepare, maintain, and modify as needed, its own code of ethics considering its own particular needs and context. Small business owners, CEOs of large corporations, and sales representatives should decide what behaviors are and are not appropriate while interacting with the coworkers and peers at the workplace. These behaviors must be clearly communicated to the workforce and those who violate the policy should be made to compensate through the application of financial liabilities. In addition to that, management should guide and train the workforce regarding what are business ethics and how they can be complied with. According to Waples et al (2008, p. 133), the education of professionals in the area of business ethics is a goal of immense importance in the agenda of corporations and business schools. Conclusion Barriers to communication is a problem that is commonly faced by organizations all over the world in the present age. Barriers to communication are equally prominent in all the industries and yield the same negative results for all sorts of organizations. The main types of barriers to communication are verbal barriers, nonverbal barriers, external barriers and internal barriers. The fundamentals of effective communication include awareness of the barriers to communication, prediction of the chances of occurrence of the barriers in a certain situation of communication, identification of the occurrence of barriers, and development of strategies to overcome the barriers. Communication barriers serve as a big challenge for the management of an organization. As administrators of human resources and the owners of decision making authority, management in an organization assumes the fundamental responsibility of eradicating as many barriers to communication from the workplace as possible. To achieve this, they have to work on two levels; on technological resources and on human resources. Technological barriers to communication can be removed by maintaining an error-free system that is regularly checked for quality and performance. Humanistic barriers to communication can be removed by establishing a code of ethics and motivating the workers to behave in certain ways and avoid behaving in other ways that are inappropriate. Strategies to overcome the barriers to communication include but are not limited to improved awareness of implications of diversity and creation of a code of ethics that clearly mentions all sorts of acceptable and unacceptable behaviors along with the liabilities for non-compliance. Since communication barriers vary from one organization to another depending upon the size of an organization, the nature of work, the environment, and the culture of the organization, it is recommendable for each organization to develop its own separate code of ethics that pertains to the type of work and setting that is particular to that organization. References: Aritz, J., and Walker, R. C. (2009). Group composition and communication styles: An analysis of multicultural teams in decision-making meetings. 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