Noor Shahira Bt.

Sharizal

247244

10 Barriers in Communication between Students

Cultural Diversity
Now that the world has openly embraced globalization, you find yourself working in different
countries, with different races of people and sometimes very different cultural and moral
backgrounds. In some countries, religion is considered the ultimate guiding force in the
workplace while in others its personal goals. Hence, diversified culture makes it very hard to
maintain a proper working environment. For example in UUM,there are
Malay,Chinese,Indian and even other races as well.
Language Barriers
Just like diversified culture, you end up working with people speaking different languages.In
UUM,the lecturers might speak English and maybe for some they dont quite understand
English as English is not the native tongue of their language so the information or the
teaching presented by the lecturer may not be well delivered to them.
Emotional Distractions
Emotions play a big role in effective communication. People can be shy, confident or just
plain blunt and may not allow full or honest feedback to the receiver. Sometimes people are
good listeners but because of the emotion in the tone of someone else or the lecturer,he or she
might not have the confidence to reply back.
Distractions
Imagine yourself in a meeting, you are discussing important strategies for the presentation
and there are people making loud noises, or maybe there is a game on and people are all
gathered together. Such noise and distractions create distortions in effectively conveying
messages to your groupmate or friends while you are distracted.
Personal Behavior
People have their own attitudes, quirks and perceptions of things. Some people just dont
bother spending too much time in conveying messages and expect people to just understand.
Such behavior can be a serious barrier in communication.This can also be seen in some
students in UUM.
The Medium
The medium of communication must be as short as possible. Like in the previous example of
the CEO, if the medium of communication is too long and takes too much time, then the
message is likely to be late and loose significance. Use direct e-mails, memos or direct
contact instead like Whatsapp and Telegram.

Noor Shahira Bt.Sharizal

247244

Barriers Due to Inadequate Attention

Inadequate attention to the message makes communication less effective and the message is
likely to be misunderstood. Inattention may arise because of over business of the
communicate or because of the message being contrary to his expectations and beliefs. The
simple failure to read notices, minutes and reports is also a common feature.For example
during a group discussion about a project,one of the teammates may not be paying attention
or maybe he or she is daydreaming and they may have missed the important information
delivered by the leader or other teammates.
Premature Evaluation

Some people have the tendency to form a judgment before listening to the entire message.
This is known as premature evaluation.half-listening is like racing your engine with the
gears in neutral. You use gasoline but you get nowhere. Premature evaluation distorts
understanding and acts as a barrier to effective communication.For example,you tend to give
your opinion before your teammate could have finished his or her talk and this may lead to
dissatisfaction.
Resistance to Change

It is a general tendency of human beings to stick to old and customary patterns of life. They
may resist change to maintain status quo. Thus, when new ideas are being communicated to
introduce a change, it is likely to be overlooked or even opposed. This resistance to change
creates an important obstacle to effective communication.For example,during the discussion
of an assignment or project and theres one person whom is stubborn and stick to his or her
opinion only.
Barriers Due to Lack of Mutual Trust

Communication means sharing of ideas in common. When we communicate, we are trying

to establish a commonness. Thus, one will freely transfer information and understanding
with another only when there is mutual trust between the two. When there is a lack of mutual
trust between the communicator and the communicate, the message is not followed.
Credibility gaps, i.e., inconsistency in saying and doing, also causes lack of mutual trust
which acts as a basic obstacle to effective communication.For example,the trust between your
roommate,your coursemates and groupmates.

Noor Shahira Bt.Sharizal

247244