INFORMAL AND FORMAL

BARRIERS TO
COMMUNICATION

PREPARED BY :BARAN ROY

Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another person. It is a way of reaching others by transmitting ideas, facts, thoughts, feelings and values. John W. Newstrom & Keith Davis

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

Any difficulty , hurdle , obstacle or problem which partially or fully hinders the free movement of communication is called a barrier.

Informal barriers to communication

Emotional or
Different perceptions psychological

barriers
Personal barriers

Physical barriers

Semantic barriers

Informal barriers cont..

Different perceptions- Different people who different background often perceive the same phenomenon from different perspectives. People react to a communication according to ones family background , education , social , environmental & personal experiences . This barrier is perhaps the single most important in all communication
This may also arise due to non-clarity in message encoding by the sender which may give rise to a muddled message.

Informal barriers cont..

Emotional or Psychological Barriers- Emotional reactions love , anger, hate, jealousy, fear, embarrassment, defensiveness influence how we understand others message. This includes Premature evaluation-In such cases the whole message is not heard carefully but is interpreted in a hurry & sometimes even before the message is completed . This often creates barriers to communication .

Informal barriers cont..

Stereotyping - Stereotyping causes us to typify a person, a group, an event or a thing on oversimplified conceptions, beliefs or opinions. Stereotyping can substitute for thinking, analysis and open-mindedness to a new situation. It causes people to act as if they already know what message is coming from the sender or worse, as if no message is necessary because everybody already knows.

Informal barriers cont..

Physical Barriers Noise , loud music , ringing of the telephone , noise of the machines lead to break in the conversation & can lead to wastage of time. Time acts as a barrier when 2 communicators cannot adjust their time of communication due to different schedules of work . It also high temperature , poor seating arrangements , bad light / ventilation , humidity etc )

Distance could be a barrier when the receiver is very far from the sender.

Informal barriers cont..

Semantic barriersSemantics is the science of meaning. semantic barriers arises from limitations in symbols. Language can become a barrier . The reasons could be ignorance of the language , limited understanding of the language & other mental barriers like confused thinking .

Informal barriers cont..

The most common semantic barriers are
Symbols with different meanings.
The 5OO most common English words have an average 28 definitions. For example, the English word round has 11O different meanings.

As noun-42 As adverb-16 As verb- 16

As preposition-13 As adjective- 23

Informal barriers cont..

Badly expressed message- lack of clarity and precision in a message makes it a badly expressed message. Poorly chosen words and phrases , careless omission, bad organization of ideas, awkward sentence structure are some common faults.

specialists language- It is often found that technical personnel and special groups tends to develop a special, peculiar and technical language of their own. This increases their isolation from others and builds a communication barrier.

Informal barriers cont..

Barriers in superiors
Lack of confidence in subordinates. Insistence on proper channel

Barriers in subordinates
Unwillingness to communicate Lack of proper incentive

Informal barriers cont..

Lack of confidence in subordinate- Superiors generally perceive that their subordinates are less competent and capable, so they does not provide them all information.

Informal barriers cont..

Barriers in superiors
Insistence on proper channel- Superiors wish to remain in formal communication links as they do not like bypassing in communication. Communication through bypassing may sometimes, be necessary but superiors this as thwarting of their authority and block the flow of communication.

Informal barriers cont..

Barriers in subordinates

Unwillingness to communicate subordinates do not

communicate upward certain information because they are not willing to do so. Thus, if a subordinate feels that he is likely to be adversely effected by a particular piece of information to his superior he would not be willing to supply it. Lack of proper incentive- Lack of motivation to communicate also refrain subordinate to communicate upward. The reward and punishment system of the organization is more responsible for it.

Formal and informal barrier to communication to effective communication Formal barriers to communication are the barriers which are related to the formal structure of the organization these barriers are also called organizational barriers. It includes Organizational policy Organizational rules and regulation Status relationship complexity in organizational structure Organizational facilities.

Formal barriers cont

Organizational rules and regulations organizational rules and regulation affect the flow of communication by prescribing the subject matters to be communicated and also the channel through these are to be communicated .The rules may restrict the flow of certain messages and may leave many important one.

DID YOU KNOW..? GRAPEVINE

Grapevine is an informal channel of business communication. It is called so because it stretches throughout the organization in all directions irrespective of the authority levels. It exists more at lower levels of organization. Grapevine generally develops due to various reasons. One of them is that when an organization is facing recession, the employees sense uncertainty. Also, at times employees do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions. Sometimes the managers show preferential treatment and favour some employees giving a segregated feeling to other employees. Thus, when employees sense a need to exchange their views, they go for grapevine network as they cannot use the formal channel of communication in that case. Generally during breaks in cafeteria, the subordinates talk about their superiors attitude and behaviour and exchange views with their peers. They discuss rumours about promotion and transfer of other employees. Thus, grapevine spreads like fire and it is not easy to trace the cause of such communication at times.

Formal barriers cont

Status relationships- The placing of people in superior/subordinate capacity in the formal organization structure also blocks the flow of communication and more particularly in upward direction . Greater the difference between hierarchical positions in terms of their status , greater will be the possibility of communication break down.

Formal barriers cont

Complexity in organization structure - In an organization where there are number of managerial level, communication get delayed, chances of communication getting distorted are more.

Formal barriers cont

organizational facilities- organizational facilities provided for smooth , clear and timely flow of communication may take a number of forms. Some of these are in the form of communication media such meetings, conferences, complaint box, suggestion box etc. If these are not properly emphasized, generally people fail to make effective communication

DID YOU KNOW..?

LISTEN AND SILENT ARE SPELT WITH THE SAME LETTERS.

REFRENCES
MANEGEMENT (sixth edition) JAMES A.F. STOONER R. EDWARD FREEMAN DANIEL R. GILBERTH, Jr. Principles and practices of management (seventh edition ) by L M Prasad Articles by keith Davis & Newstrom. INTERNET

THANK YOU FOR PATIENT LISTENING an essential element of Communication skills