Barriers to Communication - Article Example

Running Head: BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 2.INTRODUCTION 4 3.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4 3.1 Language barrier 5 3.2 Cultural barrier 5 3.3 Perception barrier 6 3.4 Emotional barrier 6 3.5 Physical barrier 7 4. CONCLUSION 8 5. REFERENCES 9 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The study of communication is vital, because every business administrative function and activity involves some form of direct or indirect communication. Whether planning and organizing or leading and monitoring, business organizations communicate with and through other people. This suggests that every person’s communication skills affect both personal and organizational efficiency. It gives the impression to conclude that one of the most constraining forces to organizational effectiveness is absence of an effective communication. Furthermore, good communication skills are very important to ones success as a business institution .A recent study indicated that recruiters rated communication skills as the most important characteristic of an ideal job candidate (Yate, 2009). In this article, I will help you to better understand how business and institutions can improve their communication skills. To begin, I define what is meant by communication and then discuss the process by which it occurs. 2. INTRODUCTION Communication can be well-defined as a method of passing information and common understating from one person to another. Unless a mutual understanding results from exchange of information, communication will not take place. The most important necessities in every communication are the sender and recipient. The sender will start the communication. The recipient is the individual to whom the message is directed to. The message is the product, which may take a form of verbal, nonverbal or written language. The different perceptions of the message, language barriers, interruptions, emotions and attitude are examples of Noise. Feedback occurs when the receiver responds to the senders message. It is the feedback that allows the sender to determine whether the message has been received and understood. The purpose of this paper is to examine the core barriers to communication and methods to better improve communication effectiveness. The common types of barriers that I will address are: language barrier- It is our greatest mediator that allows humans relate and understand each other; Physical barriers- refer to interferences to effective communication taking place in the environment where the communication is taking place Noise barrier- noise in the communication process may occur either internally or externally. I will also go ahead and provide alternatives of how to effectively improve the communication. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY My research was majorly done through research of reliable source in communication. I entirely relied on reliable sources that had all the details regarding the author and did away with sources with little information. The major problem encountered was finding a good source that had deep information on my topic. I found only two reliable sources in the Library. The internet was also handy where i also managed to get more information that helped a lot in my report The author, George Bernard Shaw wrote. The greatest problem with communication is the impression that it has been accomplished. The common types of barriers that affect most business institutions are language barrier, emotional barrier, physical barrier and noise barrier. 3.1 Language barrier Language is important to an individual self-identity. It enables one to express emotion, share their feelings, tell stories and convey messages and knowledge. It is our greatest mediator that allows humans relate and understand each other. It is defined as a as a system of conceptual symbols that allow us to communicate. The growth in globalization has now forced a growing number of businesses to interact across linguistic boundaries (Lauring, 2008). There needs to be a focus on language barrier, since it affects a major part of everyday life. The issue of language barrier is important during intercultural encounters for customers that use English as a second language. Customers may struggle to communicate what they need regarding products or services rendered. The language barriers causes negative emotional and cognitive responses and prevent customers that use English as a second language from asking certain actions such as seeking needful information or complaining about service failures (Lauring, 2008). 3.2 Cultural barrier Communicating effectively with people of different cultures is challenging. Cultures provide people with different ways of thinking and interpretation. Thus same words may mean a different thing to people who come from different cultures even though they speak the same language It is common to face challenges to effective cross-cultural communication. The global marketplace has created many opportunities in business development, but ineffective cross cultural communication can harm employees, customers and other stakeholders. It therefore is important to better understand the barriers and how to better overcome them. Behavior constraint is an example of cultural barrier. Each culture has its own rules on proper behavior that can affect both verbal and non-verbal communication. For instance if one looks the other person in the eye or not, how close people stand to each other when talking-all of these are rules which differ within different cultures ( Matilla, 2008). 3.3 Perception barrier Perception is the active of assessing information. It involves becoming aware of the environment in a way that is unique and strongly influenced by communication. What we perceive on the other hand can be different from objective reality. Perception is important simply because the behavior of people is based on their perception of what is real. Many organizations have begun empowering non-managerial employees with decision-making authority commonly reserved for managers. Individual decision making is thus an important part of organizational behavior. However, the way individuals make decision and quality of their decisions is influenced by their perceptions. Each decision requires interpretation and evaluation (Brownell, 2009). 3.4 Emotional barrier An emotional individual may not be able to communicate well. If someone is angry or fearful, the person may be too engrossed with emotions to correctly receive the accurate message. If you simply don’t like someone you may have a problem hearing them. Some of the barriers include. Premature evaluation: it involves misunderstanding as a result of jumping into conclusions instead of taking ample time to assess the communicated message. Distrust of communicator: Lack of leadership skill in some communicators, leads to ineffective communication with subordinates, thus they may choose not to comply with the instructions issued by the leader. Inattention: The mind should always be in focus. Proper communication can only be done if the listener is attentive to receive the instructions being ordered. Undue reliance on written words: Some employees depend too much on written communications and not verbal communication, causing needless confusion. It is best to supplement verbal communication with written instructions (Henderson, 2005). 3.5 Physical barrier Physical barriers refer to interferences to effective communication taking place in the environment where the communication is taking place. A very loud sound produced by a passing airplane will temporally drown out the voice of a guest who delivering a speech. Such distortion will not allow full understanding of the meaning of the entire message. Physical barriers include: distance between people, walls a noisy sound system and the like. A business institution with a classy office may inhibit a person from meeting the occupant of the office face to face. Another physical barrier to communication is poor timing. For instance, it will be complex for a person who has just lost a loved one to immediately accede to a personal request from a fellow employee (Antos, 2011). 3.6Noise barrier Noise in the communication process may occur either internally or externally. Internal noise occurs when there are other thoughts clouding your mind, whereas external noise originates from the speaker or setting where the communication takes place. The concept of internal Noise is best illustrated in a situation whereby one is worried about a sick family member while in a staff meeting. An example of external noise includes distracting environment, such as open windows, and outside noise, like side conversations and construction (Antos, 2011). Non-literal noise in organizational communication refers to other communication barriers, such as holding a bias or becoming overemotional. Ways of preventing this include taking cultural sensitivity classes and avoiding decision making while emotional 4. CONCLUSION Communication is the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another. The elements of the communication process are the sender, encoding the message, transmitting the message through a medium, receiving the message, decoding the message, feedback, and noise. Quite a number of barriers hinder effective communication. These can be divided into four categories: process barriers, physical barriers, semantic barriers, and psychosocial barriers. To improve the effectiveness of communications, businesses and institutions must develop an awareness of the importance of senders and receivers responsibilities and adhere to active listening skills. 5. REFERENCES 1. Antos, G. (2011). Handbook of interpersonal communication. The Hague, The Netherlands: Mouton De Gruyter. 2. Brownell, J. (2009). Listening: Attitudes, principles, and skills. Boston, MA: Pearson 3. Henderson, J.K. (2005) ‘Language Diversity in International Management Teams.’ International Studies of Management and Organization 4. Lauring, J. (2008). Rethinking Social Identity Theory in International Encounters: Language use as a Negotiated Object for Identity Making. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 5. Mattila, A. S. (1999). The Role of Culture and Purchase Motivation in Service Encounter Evaluations. 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