Barrier to Communication

Barrier to Communication:
Objective of communication is to pass on the message as it is. If meaning and intension of the message is perfectly received by the receiver then process of communication is successful. There are many situations when communication is a failure because of various barriers which distort the meaning, intention and effectiveness.

There are several things which prevent the message from reaching the recipient or create failed impact on the recipient.

Types of Communication barriers:

1. Semantic Barriers- Different people decode specific messages differently because of different meaning, context and languages .
Example:
a) Homophones effect -Words with different meaning but same pronunciation- Heal and heel, week and weak, right and write, their and there, site and sight, complement and compliment
b) Badly expressed message- Unnecessary wordy, use of complicated difficult words, wrongly structured sentences.
c) Wrong interpretation- Words have different meaning in different languages.
d) Technical language- There are many words which have different meaning in technical language and spoken language such as mouse is a device while it’s a name of animal.

2. Organisational Barriers- The problem with physical distance between sender and receiver of the message with respect to specialization of their power, task, authority and status relationship, values held, and ownership of information brings this barrier.
Example:
a) Organisational Culture- Every organisation has a specific culture of doing things which creates impact on relationship, trust and verbal and non-verbal communication.
b) Organisational rules and policies- Rules and regulations of the organisation create impact on the way communication flows in the organisation.
c) Status/designation- Designation of people also plays role how people communicate and how they interact with each other also restrict the flow of information.
3. Interpersonal Barriers- Such barriers are developed during the communication. They are because of relationships, attitudes of participants and their value system.
a) Lack of proper channel: Lack of proper channel demotivates people to communicate and it also decreases the effectiveness of the message.
b)Lack of interest to communicate: Sometimes people don’t find any interest to communicate so message is not conveyed properly and diluted the purpose.
c) Lack of Cooperation If there is lack of cooperation between individuals then information is held on one side or is not shared properly on time which beats the very objective of communication.
d) Trust deficit Most of the time, in an organisation, family or a group trust is mandatory to share some crucial information. Lack of trust restrict the communication.
e) Negative effect of hierarchy  Fear because of structure of the organisation or relationship among people also sometimes demotivates people to communication the correct information.
4. Individual barriers- These barriers come into the picture because of different competencies to act, think and implement. They are also called psycho-sociological barriers.
a) Style- People have their unique style of communication in various emotional situations.
b) Selective perception- People create their own world because of the very judgemental nature. They pick and decode the message what suits them or their agenda best.
c) Halo effect- People have selective listening habit or they ignore the part of message because of prejudice and then message is distorted.
d) Health condition- Condition of mental and physical health is important in effectiveness of communication. Unhealthy people fail to be create impact on message they deliver.

5. Cross Cultural Barriers- Culture is a shared way of accepting and doing thing with certain value system. The barriers are also because of different time and location .
6. Physical barriers/ Media barriers- The effectiveness and impact of communication is affected by the physical barriers such as noise, distance and the medium used for the communication.
7. Technological Barriers- These barriers are there in process of communication because of advancement of technology, failure of technology or wrong use of technology.