Barrier To Communication

 

Communication Barriers

Communication barriers can be defined as obstacles that one may face when attempting to effectively communicate with another person. These barriers can be anything that can misrepresent and/or avert someone during the communication process. This process involves a sender, receiver, and message.

The Barriers to Communication

Communication barriers can be broken into the following five categories:

• Physical barriers - These barriers are environmental challenges people face during communication due to their surroundings.
• Emotional barriers - This barrier can stem from a person's existing feelings toward a subject or person(s) involved in the communication process.
• Cultural barriers - These barriers derive from differences in a variety of categories, such as religion, language, traditions, and power distance.
• Cognitive barriers - Cognitive barriers are a combination of emotional and cultural barriers, such as word connotation affecting the message during the communication process.
• Systematic barriers - These barriers stem from a lack of structure in an environment, often seen in workplaces where roles are not clearly assigned or vocalized.

Physical Barriers to Communication

Physical barriers to communication can most often pertain to the geographic distance between the sender and receiver. When face-to-face communication is limited, the communicators must rely solely on verbal communication. 

Nonverbal communication makes up a large amount of our everyday communication. Without the ability to nonverbally communicate due to geographical location, a physical barrier is created in the communication process.

Other common, everyday physical barriers are often referred to as noise in the communication process. Noise could be traffic whizzing or other conversations happening during the time that the communication is taking place. Something as simple as a cell phone dying mid-call is considered a physical barrier because the communication has been interrupted by an outside source.

Emotional/ Psychological Barriers to Communication

Emotional barriers to communication, or psychological barriers, could be seen in both the sender and receiver. These barriers are created from a multitude of things, including:

A person's ego

Prejudice

Existing feelings toward a person

Self-image

Open/closed-minded mentality

Status (often seen in workplace conflict) and

Interest

These barriers could arise from anticipatory feelings or problems that stem from a previous experience with the person, which could be a result of different communication styles, miscommunication, a person's inability to listen, or their ability to effectively communicate a message.

In order for effective communication to take place, both the sender and receiver must be open to the message. Emotional barriers often get in the way of the channel of communication. Emotional distress can lead to misunderstandings or a person's inability to actively listen. These barriers often arise in stressful situations and are often seen in the workplace.

Cultural Barriers to Communication

Culture can be defined as a person's way of life or a code by which they live. Cultural barriers to communication can stem from a number of cultural differences, such as language, status differences, gender roles, and body language. Various aspects of cultural barriers can be described as follows:

• Language is the most obvious cultural barrier. Not only do language barriers encompass totally different languages, but they also include the lingo which one uses in specific workplace environments.
• Gender barriers can best be defined as the differences between women and men in terms of communication style. For example, women prefer to meet face-to-face because they value nonverbal cues more than men. A physical separation during communication could pose a conflict for women during the communication process.
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• Body language is a broad term, and large aspects of it are similar across cultures. However, some aspects, such as eye contact, vary from culture to culture. For instance, in China, they view eye contact with an elder to be disrespectful. In America, however, eye contact is a sign of respect and trustworthiness.
• Status is the way in which the people of a culture value one another. For example, high power distance cultures believe that respect is automatically given based on age, sex, and rank in the workplace; while a low power distance culture believes that respect must be earned and is not given solely based on status.
• The Use of Jargon: It is the use of over-complicated, unfamiliar, or technical terms which are unknown to the receiver.
• Taboos: Some senders or receivers of information may find it difficult to send or receive information on some topics. These topics may be related to religious, cultural, or gender significance.
• The difference in Perception and Viewpoint: The difference in perception and viewpoint is another cultural barrier. Both persons may be right but differences in perception may become a barrier.

Cognitive Barriers to Communication

Cognitive barriers to communication can be defined as the differences in which a person perceives information during the communication process. This could include the following:

v  Selective perception

v  Information overload

v  Filtering, and

v  Denotation vs. Connotation.

Selective perception is when a person sifts through the information and selects what they want to see or hear.

Filtering is cautiously withholding information in anticipation of how a person will respond.

Information overload refers to an abundance of information trying to be processed and interpreted at once.

Denotation refers to the dictionary definition of a word, while

Connotation refers to how a culture uses a specific word.

Systematic Barriers to Communication

Systematic or structural barriers to communication can be defined as a barrier that one encounters during the communication process when there is a lack of credibility or familiarity with the source or information.

Sarcasm and irony are both examples of systematic barriers disrupting the communication process.

A common example of this is when someone tells a joke and the other person doesn't understand it.

Lack of familiarity with the sender and/or their humor can lead to misunderstanding.

Another example of a systematic barrier is gossip. Gathering information through the "grapevine" is not always the most reliable source. That is why it is best to hear things "straight from the horse's mouth" in order to avoid systematic barriers in communication.