Business Communication assignment

By: Didhiti Girdhar BBA 1-A

Meaning of barriers to communication: A "communication barrier" or "a barrier to communication" is anything that interferes with the transfer of intended information from a sender to a receiver. This can include anything from static on a radio, preventing the listener from hearing the program, to a third party interfering in a conversation between two people. Types of Barriers 1) Physical/Mechanical 2) Socio-psychological 3) Language 4) Personal 5) Organizational

1) Physical / mechanical barrier : Physical barriers arise due to distance, noise and defects in the mechanical devises used in communication: Noise: Noise refers to the distracting element which breaks the communication of the sender or the receiver and prevents him from paying attention to the contents of the message. Noise can either be physical or psychological. Physical noise implies physical distraction and psychological noise means mental disturbance. Nose can lead to miscommunication. Distance and Time: physical distance between the sender and receiver serves as barriers of communication. Time is also a barrier of communication. Delayed message created confusion.

Information Overload: Excess communication is called as information overload. The receiver cannot comprehend and absorb beyond his mental capacity. His mind will be closed for a part of communication. Therefore we should be precise and brief in sending messages. Interpretation of words:- Most of the communication is carried through words, whether spoken or written. But words are capable of communicating a variety of meanings. It is quite possible that the receiver does not assign the same meaning to a word as the transmitter has intended. This may lead to miscommunication. For example: run has 71 meanings 35 as noun and 4 more as an adjective

2) Socio-psychological barriers: Difference in attitude: Personal, attitude and opinion often act as barriers to effective communication. If an information agrees with our opinions and attitudes, we tend to receive it comfortably. It fits comfortably in the filter of our mind. But if an information disagrees with our views or tends to run contrary to our accepted beliefs; we do not react favorably. If a change in the policy of an organization proves advantageous to an employee/ he welcome it as good; if it affects him adversely, he rejects it as the whim of the Director. Emotions: Emotional states of mind play an important role in the act of communication. If the sender is perplexed, worried, excited, afraid, nervous, his thinking will be blurred and he will not be able to organize his message properly. The state of his mind is sure to be reflected in his message. It is a matter of common observation that people caught in a moment of fury succeed only in violent gesticulation. If they try to speak, they falter and keep on repeating the same words. In the same way, the emotions of the receiver also affect the communication process. If he is angry, he will not take the message in proper light.

Closed minds : A person with a closed mind is very difficult to communicate with. He is a man with deeply ingrained prejudices. And he is not prepared to reconsider his opinions. He is the kind of man who will 'say, Look, my mind is made up. I know what I know. And I do not want to know anything else. So just don/t bother me. You approach such a man with a new proposal to improve his business and he will immediately retort, Look here gentleman, do you presume that you know my business better than I know? I have been in this line for the last twenty years. What can you teach me? Such a person is not open to conviction and persuasion. And in all likelihood, he has not learnt anything in the twenty years he has been in business. Inattentiveness. People often become inattentive while receiving a message in particular, if the message contains a new-idea. The human mind usually resists change , for change makes things uncertain. It also threatens security and stability. So the moment a new idea is presented to them, they unconsciously become inattentive. 3) Language barrier: Language differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents. Unclear message Faculty translation Specialist language Un-clarified assumptions

All communications are made under some assumptions, which are never communicated They may turn out wrong & cause communication failure E.g. we often assume that others See the situation as we do Should feel about the situation as we do Think about the matter as we do Understand the message as we understand it All such assumptions may be incorrect. Hence one should try to verify whenever possible, It helps communication be effective

4) Personal barriers : Attitude of supervisors Lack of confidence in subordinates Insistence on proper channel Filtering of information Lack of time Message overload

Personal communication barriers are based on the beliefs and outlook of a person. If a person has a negative worldview, for instance, then all communication that occurs will be filtered according to that. If a boss communicates to an employee that he must take care to spell check before handing in a memo, the employee with a negative personal view may receive the construction as negative and become angry or fearful for his job. Bias is another type of personal barrier. For example, if a person is biased against all doctors, she will not receive feedback from a doctor positively and may ignore the doctor's advice. Social class, education and gender are additional types of personal barriers.

5) Organizational barriers: Status relationship One way flow Organizational structure Rules and regulations Distance barriers Physical barriers Mechanical barriers Longer the passage through which a message is to travel, more are the chances of its distortion. It can also result in delays or even total failure of the message to reach its destination. If the distance through which a message has to travel is great, there is every possibility that it may be changed, modified, shortened, amended or interpreted during transit in such a manner that even the original sender may not be able to recognize the contents of the communication. Thus can additional level in the organizational hierarchy may not be added just to please somebody. It should be need based.