BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

7 Cs OF SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION
Candidness
Clarity Completeness Conciseness Concreteness Correctness Courtesy

Meaning

Barrier

means hurdle or hindrance or obstacle in the way of transmission of message from the sender to the receiver.

Anything that prevents successful communication

from occurring Complex and multi-layered Can be technical or generated by the medium used, etc. but: Main problem is human behaviour and psychology.

Types of barriers
Wrong Choice of medium
Physical and mechanical barriers Language or semantic barriers Socio psychological barriers Organizational barriers Personal barriers

Physical barriers
Noise Distance Time Information Overload Physical barriers Use of words with different meanings Denotations and Connotations

Language or semantic barriers

Unclear message Faulty transmission Specialists language Unclarified assumptions

Socio-psychological barriers
Differences in perception

Differences in attitudes
Emotions Inattention

Closed minds
Premature evaluations Distrust Resistance to change Cultural differences

Organizational barriers
Status relationships One way flow

Structure
Rules and regulations Distance barriers

Physical barriers
Mechanical barriers

Personal barriers
Attitude of superiors Lack of confidence in subordinates Insistence of proper channel Ignoring communication Filtering of communication Lack of time

Message overload

Principles to avoid barriers

Two way channel

Mutual trust
Clarity of message Timely message

Consistency of message
Good relations Feedback

Empathetic listening
Flexibility

CRITICAL THINKING IN ACTION ..

After noticing that some workers were starting work late and

finishing early , a department head wrote this message to subordinates. It is apparent that many of you are not giving the company a full days work . Thus, the following procedures are implemented immediately : After you clock in , you will proceed to your workstations and will be ready to begin work promptly at the start of the work period . You will not take coffee break or consume coffee on the job at the beginning of the work period. You will wait until your designed break times.

 You will not participate in social gathering at any time during

the workday except during designed break periods You will terminate work activities no earlier than 10 minutes prior to the end of the work period. You will use the 10 minutes to put up equipment and police the work area You will not queue up at the exit prior to the end of the work period. The message was not well received by the workers. In fact ,it led to considerable anger, misunderstanding and confusion. Using the model of communication as a base, analyse the message and explain the probable causes of the difficulties .