1.
Barriers
of
Communication
Chapter-3
By
Venkatesh.N
Koshys Institute of Management
Studies

2.
Barriers of Communication
No matter how good the communication system in
an organization is, unfortunately barriers can and
do often occur . These barriers are: (or)
Communication of barriers are the difficulties
involved in the process of communication which
distort the message being properly understand by
the receiver
“barriers prevent the communication from being
effective”

3.
Types of Barriers in Communication:-
1. Physical
2. Psychological
3Language/semantic
4.Organizational structure barrier
5.Cross-cultural Barriers
6.Overcoming barriers

4.
1.Physical barriers
 are often due to the nature of the environment.
Thus, for example, the natural barrier which exists,
if staff are located in different buildings or on
different sites.
 Likewise, poor or outdated equipment, particularly
the failure of management to introduce new
technology, may also cause problems.
 Ex:-Defects in media (letters,courier,fax,)
 Noise in Environment(Air vibration, people
talking, in factory bcoz of noise the oral
communication is difficult)
 Information overload(in Advertisment&sales
information is an example of overload)

5.
2.Physiological barriers

may result from individuals' personal
discomfort, caused, for example, by ill
health, poor eye sight or hearing
difficulties
One meaning of the term psychological
barriers is the self limiting beliefs a
person may have which in turn affects
their behavior - that is ....what they do or
don't do as a result of having a self
limiting belief.

6.
Example for psychological
 A person might have a belief that they can't ride
a bicycle and carry this belief with them through
their life, and as such they would never attempt
to ride a bicycle. This belief will usually have
been developed as a result of their past
experience - they may have tried to ride a
bicycle as a young child, perhaps they started to
ride but fell off - hurting themselves in the
process. If they tried to ride again shortly after
the first accident, and subsequently fell off again,
hurting themselves, they would perhaps begin to
believe that they can't ride a bicycle. And they
will hold this belief or psychological barrier until
they receive sufficiently strong evidence to
change this belief.

7.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
 The difference in background is overlooked
 Economic background
 Social background
 Upbringing

8.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
 Self-Centred attitude
 Group identification
 Self image
 Selective perception
 Defensiveness
 Filtering
 Status block
 Resistance to change
 Closed mind
 Poor communication skills
 State of health

9.
Self Centered attitude
 In this the individual persons show their
attitude or behavior of each persons.
 In self centered attitude we pay attention to
message which is useful or related to us,-if
it is not for us than we do not pay enough
attention to that message
 The person who is highly self centered he is
fails to build up good relation with
others(here we cannot learn more)

10.
Group Identification
 In organization our ideas suggestions & opinions are
influenced in some matters by the group to which
we belong.
 In family there is different groups that is an the basis
of age.
 There is a conflicts B/W husband & wife because of
their age difference as well as different culture.(both
are from different culture)
 In family father says something the children's may
nt lizn that word becoz of the age difference.

11.
Self image
 Self image is nothing but portray(showing
about your self to others Like what your
 Our own identification with in the
organization that is what exactly your.
 This barriers shows both your
+ve(knowingly the work) as well as –ve(if
you do not know that but acting like that)
thing in the organization

12.
Selective perception
 This psychological barriers sometime we
fail to get the complete message which is
sent to us.
 After getting that message we project our
expectation in to the communication as we
explain the message
 Proper media we have to select to send
message to the right person(without fail)

13.
Defensiveness
 Defensive is nothing but serving for defense.
 If we feel threatened by a message we become
defensive and respond in such ways that reduce
understanding.
 Example:- In organization the sales manager
gives threatened(decleared intention to injure)
message to his team to reach target than the team
will perform well to be safe.
 This is mainly harmful barrier in handling
complaints & grievances(painful or oppressive) in
resolving conflicts

14.
Filtering
 Filtering is the process of reducing the
details (or) unwanted things of a message
 If sender send the information that we have
to change or edit all unwanted information
than finally we have to get the actual
information to boss he wants results.

15.
Status block
 This is the main reason to break information
or because of this status barriers occurs in
the organization.
 Here the sine our manager never lizn to the
junior than the subordinate he connote
express his new ideas than the barriers starts
in the organization.

16.
Resistance in change
 This is the serious psychological barrier
 Some peoples strongly resist new ideas which
are against their established
opinion(or)treditions (or)social customs.
 They may avoid the new ideas because the feel
insecure or afraid of changes in methods or
situations
 The peoples are maintain their own emotions
attitudes, standards. They are not ready to
accept anything new changes.

17.
Close mind
 This is also main barrier of each and every
organization
 Close minded seniors are narrow minded
peoples they cannot implement new ideas.
 And they are not allowing to young
employees to perform well & to implement
to ideas for growth of organization

18.
Poor communication skills
 Lack of skill in writing & in speaking prevents
a persons from framing the message properly.
 Lack of understanding
 Because of nervousness the person cannot
communication orally with audience
 Because of excitement about on achievement
or new idea may make a person speech
incoherent.
 Lack of listening, poor reading habits.

19.
State of health
 The human health condition can affect
communication efficiency pain or fever
certainly makes a persons disinclined to
engage in communication.
 Perception is low when the state of health is
poor.

20.
Continued
 lack of concentration
 Attitude and bias
 Lack of self discipline
 Low emotional state
 Equally, if someone has personal problems like
worries about their health or marriage, then this
will probably affect them.

21.
3.Language/semantic
 Semantics, or code noise, occurs when the meaning of a
message to the sender differs from its meaning to the
recipient.
 Too often, this may be the result of “jargon,” involving
pretentious terminology or language specific to a
particular profession or group.
 Unclear message
 Faulty translation
 Specialists language
 Unclassified assumptions

22.
Message related barrier
 If your message is too lengthy,
disorganized, or contains errors, you can
expect the message to be misunderstood and
misinterpreted. Use of poor verbal and body
language can also confuse the message.

23.
4.Organizational barrier
 In organization the manager sends information
through circular,notice,letter etc….
 In organization many of the employees they
may not understand the lengthy messages if
they ask the senior persons will never answer
properly out of 100/20% of information only
they will get.
 in organizations the senior peoples will not
give much interest to the circular and all.

24.
Contd…..
 In downward communication the subordinate
may not get exact information. Because of
superior carelessness.
 In upward communication the subordinates
passes information to the superior but
that(100%) information will not moves to
superior the managers will edit the unwanted
information than finally they will send the
exact message.

25.
Organizational barriers:
Status relationship
One way flow
Organization structure
Rules and regulations
Distance barriers
Physical barriers
Mechanical barriers

26.
5. Cross-cultural barrier
 We communicate the way we do because
we are raised in particular culture and learn
its language, rules, and norms. Different
cultures (and sub cultures)may have
different rules and norms. Understanding
the other's culture facilitates cross-cultural
communication

27.
Different languages And cultures
 Different languages and cultures represent
national barrier which is particularly
important for organizations involved in
overseas (Proper usage and pronunciation)
business.
 Staff shortages are another factor which
frequently causes communication difficulties
for an organization

28.
CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN WORK PLACE
 Cultural conflicts arise because of the
differences in values and norms of behavior
of people from different cultures.
 A person acts according to the values and
norms of his or her culture; another person
holding a different worldview might
interpret his or her behavior from an
opposite standpoint.
 This situation creates misunderstanding and
can lead to conflicts

29.
Learning about other cultures.
 People can prevent cross-cultural conflicts
by learning about cultures that they come in
contact with. This knowledge can be
obtained through training programs, general
reading, talking to people from different
cultures, and learning from past experience.

30.
Discrimination
 Cultural conflicts lead to Discrimination
toward or against a person or group is the
prejudicial treatment of them based on
certain characteristics.

31.
Dealing with Discrimination in the
Workplace
 In the last few years, charges of gender
discrimination (man vs. woman) in the
workplace have increased. Racial
bias, while no longer the most common
complaint among employees, remains a
problem, as does age discrimination.

32.
Dealing With Discrimination At
Workplace
 Dealing effectively with discrimination is a
two fold process:
 Become knowledgeable with regard to anti
discrimination laws,
 Pay close attention to what's happening in
your company

33.
Types Of Discrimination
 1.Gender discrimination
 Socially, sexual differences have been used
to justify different roles for men and
women, in some cases giving rise to claims
of primary and secondary roles.

34.
Gender Stereo Typing
 The united nations had concluded that
women often experience a "glass ceiling"
and that there are no societies in which
women enjoy the same opportunities as
men. The term "glass ceiling" is used to
describe a perceived barrier to advancement
in employment based on
discrimination, especially sex
discrimination

35.
Language discrimination
 Diversity of language is protected and
respected by most nations who value cultural
diversity. However, people are sometimes
subjected to different treatment because their
preferred language is associated with a
particular group, class or category.
Discrimination exists if there is prejudicial
treatment against a person or a group of people
who speak a particular language or dialect.

36.
Disability Discrimination
 People with disabilities face discrimination
in all levels of society. The attitude that
disabled individuals are inferior to non-
disabled individuals is called ableism

37.
6.Overcoming barriers
 Constant organizational efforts is need to
overcome the barriers which are unconsciously
built up by different people in the organization.
 Health Centers:- many organizations provide
medical aid, gymnasium and recreation for the
staff in an effort to keep down stress level.
 Regulation like compulsory vacation after a
certain number of months/years are also meant
to ensure that employees avoid stress and
fatigue.

38.
Contd……
 Semantic and language barriers can be
overcome only by being careful with the use
of language & by using words which have
clear meaning, by using short and simple
sentence, and also by using visual aid
whenever possible.

39.
7.Personal barriers:
 Attitude of superiors
 Lack of confidence in subordinates
 Insistence of proper channel
 Ignoring comm.
 Filtering of information
 Message overload

40.
8.Barriers related to the
communicator
 Unwillingness to say things differently
 Unwillingness to relate to others differently
 Unwillingness to learn new approaches
 Lack of self -confidence
 Lack of enthusiasm
 Voice quality

41.
Continued
 Prejudice
 Badly expressed message
 Loss in transmission
 Semantic problem
 Over/under communication
 attitude

42.
Basic Components

43.
The End
Thank you all the
best my dear friends