Barriers of Communication ‘STUDENT OBJECTIVES FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS + Understanding the communication cycle | 1. Why does a person misunderstand what | have ‘4 Recognizing the limitations of the sender said? and receiver in formulating and understanding a message. + Removing the Barriers of Communication. ‘¢ Recognizing nonverbal codes of nmunication. Why does a gap in communication occur? Why is it necessary to give a feedback? How can | remove the barriers of communication? How can I be a better communicator? PRON ACTIVITY 1, The teacher can explain the cycle of communication with the help of role play wherein a student becomes a sender while another the receiver. The sender then transmits a message through oral, written or nonverbal mode of communication. The sender can also use a medium like pen and paper toconvey the message. The receiver then sends a feedback. 2. Students can play a game of Chinese whisper to realize how a message gets distorted when it passes from one person to the other. 3. Students can also play dumb charade to recognize the value of nonverbal communication. 4, Students can share their own problems in communicating like stammering, poor retention, absent mindedness or selective listening. REAL LIFE , REAL PEOPLE ‘Shashi Tharoor is a member of the Indian Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala. A prolific author, columnist, journalist and human rights advocate, he has previously served as UN Undersecretary General for | Communications and Public Information and as the Indian Minister of state for I External Affairs. q As head of Department of Public Information he was responsible for the | communication strategy, enhancing the image and effectiveness of the UN. He | undertook a number of initiatives ranging from organizing and conducting the first ever UN seminar on Islamophobia and launched an annual list of “Ten — Under Reported stories the world oughtto know about.” pa Scanned with CamScannerIN 18d 1Geas wort} Shashi Tharoors on tndia's soft power-AReview hipllconor a speech can he ie This is one of the best speech on India scaling new helghts ane © hear i $01 f site mentioned. Some excerpts from the speech * abou tas of OU COUN Deon Asan Indian | become rather concerned about the . ig all ab leader and even the next super power...... ! don't think that’s what India ee ‘ vee OF Shouly what worries me is you know the entire notion of world leadership is terribly atcha, ‘ ‘a world leader? If & takes population alone to top the charts we is it military strength? We have the fourth largest army.....,, 's itny sc recognizeditin one of the agreements adh dog about... After all, what constitutes overtake China in 2034.. it 7 i have even capacity —we know we have that: the Americans r i i arity terms... Isiteconomy—we have the fifth largest economy in purchasing power P ity We cont to grow at 6.7%, but somehow none of that adds up to me, as what | think, India can Feally ainy In today's world, it's not the size ofthe army that wins, it's the County contribute to the world... tells a better story. .. Soft power is a concept invented by a Howard Academic... attract others because ofits culture, its political values, its foreign policies.......... The Beijing Olympcg was an exercise in Chinese soft power.. in fact probably Hollywood, M.T. V. and Mcdonalds, hag done something more for America's soft power than any specific government activities... -SOft Dowel emerges partly because of governmentand partly despite of governments. Inthe information era in which we live today I'd say that countries are increasingly being judged by global public that is being fed on televised images, internet news, video images, cell phones, emg gossips..........all sorts of communication devices are telling people stories......... India has all news T.V channels than any country in the world.......... It's not just that .......... India has become astonishingly connected country. We have been selling 15 million cell phones a month.......there are about 509 million cell phonesi Indian hands and that makes us larger than the U.S in telephone market..... Some of you = very simply it's the ability of a coun realized how far India has reached...... | grew up at a time when telephones were a rarity. ‘wrong number’ was more popular than the word hello’ ...... When we had to pay 8 times the going for a lightning call and lightening those days struck late: after half an hour or so ..... in a develop Country communication by telephone was a luxury and not a right....ast forward it today and whal see is 15 million cell phones a month but what is more important is who is carrying those phones...... (examples of istriwallah, fishermen, farmers, tender coconut water sellers and @ toddy maker who had a hatchetin one hand and a cell phone in the other; right up on the tall palmtr were examples cited by Shashi Tharoor). The empowerment of the underclass is the real result of being connected and that transformation is part of where Indias heading today, the only thing about india that's spreading but of course that's Bollywood is now taking certain aspect of Indians and Indian culture around the globe and not the Indian Diaspora in the U.S and the U. K but to the screens of the Arabs and Africans... (S! Tharoor here goes on togive the example of a man in Senegal whose mother took a bus once ammo Scanned with CamScannerfowatch a Bollywood movio, who could not understand the dialoguos and boing iliterate couldn't read the subtitles in French, butnever the less went away with stars In hor eyes. Do you know what is India's biggest asset in Afghanistan? You cannot call up an Afghan at 8:30 in the evening because that is the time when a soap opera 'Kyon Ki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ Is being telecast. Tharoor cites the example of a Reuters dispatch which stated that after the robbers stripped car ofallits moving parts, wrote on the windscreen 'Tulsi Zindabad'! Tharoor went on to say how in the Silicon Valley people speak of IITs with the same reverence they used to give to MITS... and a European saying “You're Indian... You're Indian’, can you fix my laptop?”..... We have gone from the image of India's land of fakirs and snake charmers and the Indian rope trick to the India of mathematical geniuses and computer wizards and software gurus But that too is transforming. ‘ India has been an open society since millennia. The richness and diversity of India's story rests on fundamental platform of political pluralism. India gave refuge to the jews......... only diaspora of jewish origin that has not encountered a single incident of anti semantism........... Islam came peacefully to the South.. .. all of these religions have founda place and a welcome home in India. We just celebrated in India our general elections — the biggest exercise of democratic franchise in human history......the last elections five years ago gave the world an extraordinary phenomenon of an election being won by a political leader of Italian origin and Roman catholic faith, Sonia Gandhi who then made way for a Sikh, Manmohan Singh to be sworn in as Prime Minister by a Muslim President , Prof. Abdul Kalam in a country with 81% Hindus.... and this is all the more striking because it was 4 years later that we all applauded the U.S, oldest democracy in the modern world-with 220 years of fair democracy...... Which took till last year to elect a President or Vice President who was not a male, a white and a Christian! This is not a propaganda but essentially India being itself and ultimately it seems to me, itis better than propaganda. People in society see what itis .... In today's information era and in today's Ted age India is no longer only the land of ethnicity or language or religion .........we have 23 official languages....... We don't even have geography uniting us because the natural geography of the sea and the mountains was hacked by the partition in 1947. In fact you can't even take the name of a country for granted because the name India comes from the river Indus which flows in Pakistan but the whole idea is ....... An idea of anever ever land emerging from an ancient civilization, united by a shared history but sustained above .. thatis a 21st century story as wellas an ancientone. .... allby a pluralist democracy... Shashi Tharoor ended his speech by admitting that India has a long way to go when it comes to economic development and acknowledget’ «at unless India's vast human capital is developed and as long as India is super poor it cannot call itself a super power. He said that the great success story of India is that it managed to survive without consensus .... You don't have to agree, just agree where to disagree... Solong as you agree on the ground rules. .... Super power and super poor...... we can't be both... developments are needed and itis all taking place in an open society — in one that is determined to take those challenges... To liberate and fulfill the creative energies of its people. Scanned with CamScannerINTRODUCTION We are often faced with situations where we are unable {0 convoy to oF communicate with Properly and effectively, This occurs due to what Is commonly termed as Communication Gap i ‘esulls in misunderstanding, faulty decisions and misjudgement. Some of the great wars have tad Place due to misunderstanding among world leaders and many products have failed in the marke, cil Imisinterpretation or incorrect transmission of market feedback. We all hear sentences like ~"Have Understood?” "I did not mean this" "Please do not misunderstand me." Why should some misunderstand us? Why should we not be able to express ourselves clearly? Why can't we sin communicate effectively what we feel or think? Itis because there are certain obstacles or bartiers val Path of the communication cycle, These are known as Barriers of Communication. 1. Meaning of Barriers of Communication: Hindrances that block the Proper flow of communication are termed as barriers of communica They are the difficulties or problems of effective communication. They result in poor communicate error judgements and misunderstandings. 2. Communication Gap : Each person is unique and different and possesses his own level of comprehension, leva happens that the receiver understands completely what the sender of a message is trying to con The gap in understanding the message as conveyed by the sender and as interpreted by the Teceival is known as communication gap. 3. ChannelLoss: As the communication cycle is often a long process and the message passes through a chain modes and channels the message may partially get lost (or distorted) in the process of transmission) 'tis estimated that there is a loss of 20-30 percent at each point of transmission In the popular children's game called “Chinese whisper’, the entire message is seldom conveyed the last link on the chain. This is due to filtering of communication at each link or communicati barriers. This loss at each level of retention by the receiver of the message is known as channelloss | 4. Causes of communication gap and channelloss: The barriers of communication causes communication gap and channel loss. These bartiers a caused by limitations on the part of the sender and / or the receiver: these may also occur duet various environmental factors. However before we study the barriers of communication let us fis understand the cycle of communication. Cycle of Communication i Let us take a classroom example. The teacher entered the class. She wanted to explain the ‘water purification process’ to the students. She organized her ideas and established eye contact with the students. Then in a | language understandable to them, she explained the | topic. She also took the help of chalk and board to | i explain the various steps of water purification. The | Cam students grasped the topic according to individual levels ~——__ i Scanned with CamScanner= ~.?: prehension and attentiveness. Tha teacher compioted tho lactura by posing a few due tion of unification the teacher could understand that tho studanta had understood the concept of water p jer the teacher was the ‘SENDER’, Her organizing tho idaas and oxpras understandable to the students was ENCODING’ the mossago, the 'MESSAGE' wa process’. The MODE’ of communication were vorbal (both oral and written) and nonvorb: siience, eye contact etc, ) The ‘MEDIA’ used was chalk and board. The students were the RE heir understanding the topic was ‘DECODING’ the message and finally {hoir reply was ‘FEEDBACK’. Of course, the students had to first decode the question, encode an answer, which was again decoded by the teacher. sing thom In a language ‘water purification al (posture, CEIVER. tho TRANSMITS. MESSAGE Says 36, So 33 ENCODES oe NQ REPLY SENDS FEEDBACK Feedback is the most important and the final link in the communication cycle. It [rip 23 | shows that the process of communication is complete. It also enables the sender If you get only to find out the defects of his communication and take necessary steps to modify | positive feedback, it | the same. Negative feedback acts as a corrective. Feedback can be positive or | may well not be the negative, verbal or nonverbal, immediate or delayed. Not receiving a feedback whole truth. canitself be a form of feedback. Various barriers of communication Based on environmental factors and limitations of a sender in formulating a message and a receiver in understanding a message some of the barriers of communication have been identified. understand you. ‘Status Barriers 4. Physical Barriers 2. Mechanical Barriers HTIP 24 3. Language Barriers Waste no time on 4, Semantic Barriers epble who refuse 5. 6. Psychological Barriers en Scanned with CamScanner4. Physical Barrlors of Communtcatlon Physical Barrlers tre tim =O Noise igloud music, Noise made duo), ther communication IS going gq jon when there ynol barrier to communicali a) Noise: Noise acts as a noise caused by instruments and devices hearing distance. Case Example :As the train was passing ove" “Whats the time?” Mrs. Srivastava got angry # say, The berths mine”, Here the noise of the rain ac medium and channel by 5, Haripurkar asked Mrs, siya because she heard Mrs, Haj metalic bridge Mr started shouting ted asa barrier. ne sender may delay the Message, Dif es often actsas abarrier fo communication, the U.S.A rang up Mr. Amit Chatterjee rex ‘annoyed because he was awakened, middle of the night. This was because the sender and the receiver were ee q bi time zon, But whats more interesting to notes that people often use time 10 convey sage ty notwishtodo something we delay our actiontiltisunavoideble! Similarly, when we wish to cone Jong time before meeting him. We hayey dislike or annoyance with a person we make him wait for @ ; experienced how difficult itis to meet a friend who has borrowed a book or FED some money from us! On the other hand we may rush out of the bathroom Keep 2 clock on to greet.a long lost friend or a relative. Observe a person using & phone. | table to monitor f ‘The longest calls are made to one's clients or a very intimate friend and the | time you spend on th shortestones are perhaps to one's mother! b) Time : Search for proper the time between two countriesin ifferenttime 20"! Case Example : When Mr. Higgins who stays in Kolkata at 11,30 am by his watch, Mr. Chalterjee was VorY phone calls. ¢) Distance : Distance can act as a barrier in both written and oral communication. Of course the use of microphones, telephone, internet, | e-mail and face book has brought the world closer. Case Example : People sitting on the last benches found a programme of Enrique boring since they could nothearhim singing. 4 ‘Again, itis interesting to note how distance is used to convey messages." «4% we are close toa person in thoughts we keep very litle distance from them. if two persons sit or stand far apart it shows that there is no closeness in their relationship; within about 18 inches of the front of the body is the intimate zone; reserved partners, children and close family members. Most conversations among friends or acquaintancesta place within the personal zone, which is between four and nine feet away, If we feel that someoel coming uncomfortably close and intruding into our personal space, we tend to compensate by ed backward, In @ crowded train or elevator, where itis impossible to move away, people cope wi unwanted intimacy by avoiding eye contact and treating the intruders as ifthe aan exist, Soitis ws take note from time to time of the responses of people around you. ( Scanned with CamScannerends often stand at an angle to each other, like two ides of triangle. The open triangle orientation takes prossure off heir ‘conversation and encourages friendly social chat. It also leaves room forather people tojoin them. If another friend wants to join them, the two canaccept the new comer by turning some parts of their bodies towards the neweomer or can freeze out the newcomer by simply turning thelr heads when the newcomer speaks. The excluded individual would then pe forced to move away after a short while, People often manipulate their private space to define status and perhaps that is why the boss aways sits on the other side of the table! 2, Mechanical Barriers of Communication Mechanical Barriers —_+——— Lack of Faulty Physicat proper channels instruments impairment ‘Absence of proper channels of communications and faulty instruments like a defective telephone, computer breakdown, power failure etc. are mechanical barriers of communication. Physical defects like * stammering, impaired hearing, bad handwriting and poor printing are factors which lead to mechanical barriers of communication. : Case Example: There were only two personsin the compartment—an old lady and a young boy who was chewing a gum. After a while the old lady who was a bithard of hearing told the young boy, “Itis very polite of you to speak to me but | cannot hear you since | am hard of hearing". Here, although the boy did not communicate, the old lady thought he was doing so and in turn communicated incorrectly. 3. Language as barrier to communication Language itself can act as a barrier to communication. eS Difference in Language Use of vague words jyour message with Technical jargon greatcare. Match your medium to Language Barriers —| aegse Cultural differences a) Difference In Language : When two people who wish to communicate with each other, do not have sufficient knowledge of each other's language, they cannot communicate effectively. Case Example: A Gujarati speaking person wanted to communicate with a Tamil speaking person but could not do so since he did not know to speak in Tamil, So they had to communicate through sign language which was not effective. Here insufficient knowledge of language was an obstacle to communication. Scanned with CamScanneros 8 nat have a g00d comm, ») Use of Vague Words. When the sender of the message Hee ence, it becomes gin language and uses vague ang empty words, without any logical gh "eceiver tounderstand the message properiy mh °) Use of Technical Ja 1: Use of tor words in everyday language act a, rds i day 7 too many technical ce at Sargon : Use of ‘ommunication ag Albay my iver. ‘hese are notalvays clearly understood bythe rece that hi sssage that he wag « Case Example: When a Computer operator told the sender of a messag} a Getting the mess Pe age. the sender wrongly assumed that the computer ene very happy iy ' Provided him with; which was a totally incorrectinterp . it, SO the, 4) Cultural barriers : The language used is based on cultural environment meaning ofthe word wil vary, accordingly information he h; Ted tobe wise bird in English buta very foolish bird erred to Dr. Baljal as an “ow!” he was surprised to ultand not as @ compliment, Hence, the meaning of "aldifferences between the sender and the receiver Not that Dr. Baijal tookitas an ins SWord gets distorted due to cultu 4. Semantic Barriers Semanticmeansa Study of the meanings of words as distinct from their derivations, Fe @. Emotionally charged words [~ _b. Paronyms Semantic Barriers | ©. Homonyms L 4. Synonyms ii e Familiar Allusions “2086 Very often words carry more than one meaning 3) Emotional Words : Words are loaded with emotions and have different meaning for difere Persons. For example, ‘happiness may mean tiches"to the Materialistic, “power to the ambitousay “contentment”: tothe spiritual Person. ®) Paronyms : Paronyms are word are likely to be confus, un and altar, loose and lose, ki different meaning 4) Synonyms : In every language th however mean the same. The sen, such words. For instance, althou, they donot mean the same and h; ed not only ‘ithe same, Such words are Because they are similarin meaning or notly and naughty and wrest called Homonyms, For example words like al and rest may sound the same but have widél FE ae synonyms whi erin meaning Thay er and the receiver ofthe Message must be clear about he usa oh the words boldness, Pravery, courage, Valour and daring aresi aveditferentusages, hare Words simi a Scanned with CamScannerAllusions : Altus Ea Non ae " “a indirect references which may confuse that receiver unloss ha is seh aaaeat ‘Ample, John Bullis the national nickname for an Englishman and Unele Sam is qanatonat nickname for and American or the government of tha U. S.A. ig Status: Barriers NV caUSE a bartier i rs status cal ie 9 barrier in upward of downward communication. Such barriers also result in Ss ee in the ial ‘or downward flow of information as communication passes through a termedia eachi number of intermediaries before reaching the receiver, getting filtered at each lovel. a. Insecurity Fear of losing status Symbols of status Status consciousness Lack of confidence Causes of Status Barrier —— eaos a) Insecurity : Status can actas a barrier to upward communication due to insecurity. Employees do not lke to discuss their problems or even speak the truth to their seniors because they feel that their superiors would have no faith in their abilities and they may even lose their jobs. Similarly, students too do not like to discuss their problems with their teachers. b) Fear of losing stat tudents often screen all the information and present only half truths to their teachers out of fear of losing their own status. This creates a lot of misunderstandings and confusion. ©) Symbols of status : Symbols of status like air conditioned chambers, carpels, wooden furnishing ete. make the worker's conscious of their own status and as a result of their complex they hesitate to approach their seniors with new ideas. Due to the same reason many students hesitate to approach the principal of their school. ¢) Status Consciousness : Downward communication gets restricted because the persons occupying serior positions consider it below their dignity to communicate directly with persons working at a lower level. Thisis probably the reason why teachers try to avoid the birthday parties of their students. @) Lack of confidence : Due to lack of confidence in himself the employer ‘may feel that if he carries his problems to his subordinates or asks them for Prey suggestions he may lose their faith and confidence. Similarly some teachers hesitate to admit, ‘I don't know’ when posed with difficult questions. The $reatest harm is done when they give incorrect Information to students rather than admit their mistake or lack of knowledge. Scanned with CamScanner8. Psychological Barriers Rosistance to change Wrong choice of medium Different opinions Closed minds Prejudice Inattentiveness Emotions Impatience Selection Day dreaming Poor Retention Psychological Barriers | wrsser9ea9C8 E a) Resistance to Change : It is normal for most persons to reject and resist any change or ay idea. One gets so used to a particular concept that he does not like to make any changes or newidea. b) Wrong Choice of Medium : Communication can be in various forms — written, oral, visual etc. One has to exercise great caution while choosing the medium because a wrong choice of medium always acts as a barrier. use visual a Some things are better said than written while sometimes written communicate, communicationis very important. ¢) Different Opinions : We base our opinions or judgements on our own experiences. Since our experiences vary our views also differ. Hence one Lue should not force ones opinions on others. We should remember that there Be non judgem are two sides of a coin and judge things objectively. Our experiences should bene notiinfluence our judgements. 4) Closed mind : There are some people who have a high opinion of themselves and think they know everything. They have closed minds and are not open to new suggestions, facts or knowledge. Such mental blockades are great barriers to communication, e) Prejudice : Sometimes we like certain people. We trust them completely and believe everything they say. We listen to them attentively. When we don't ke;some people we distrust them and pay litle heed to their words, This predetermined notion acts as a great barrier to communication. This is the reason why students take more interest in subjects which a re taught by their favorite teachers. ght by Scanned with CamScannerattentiveness : Itis perhaps the barrior we come across most froquontly, nis difficult to communicate when the listener is inattentive. People tend to bo inattentive when they are uncomfortable or the ‘subject discussed does not interest them or when they have some problems and are mentally and pnystalltired ) Emotions : Simple emotions like joy, sorrow, fear, excitement, tension and anxiety act aS barriers to communication. When a person suffers from any kindof emotions he is not receptive tonew ideas or knowledge. h) Impatience : Very often the listener / reader is impatient and does not jisten or read properly and gets only partial knowledge or incomplete information. ed 1) Selecting : The listener or reader gets into the habit of focusing his attention to certain topics, thereby omitting others. It is good ifit enables the person to choose the grain from the chaff but generally thappens that people pay more attention to less important details and omit the more important points. j) Day Dreaming : When a person becomes inattentive or something grips hisimaginations, his mind shifts from the contentof the message and he starts daydreaming. k) Poor Retention : A substantial portion of a communicated message get rostdue to poor retention by the receiver. Studies reveal that a person usually retains about 50 percent of any communication received by him. This often results in improper communication by the receiver, or on missing out on the important aspects of the communicated message. This s the barrier faced by most students. CONCLUSION Itis necessary for both the sender and the receiver of the message to take equal active interest in making communication effective, The barriers of communication need to be removed for messages to be conveyed effectively. The channels of communication must be kept as short as possible, The psychological barriers are perhaps the greatest threat 10 effective communication. Scanned with CamScanner; Images, graphg Jo | use colour, and, Do 1 listen intently to inspire confidence? Y pocuments when possible? hag Y po | inlerupt constantly and pu og ¥ Dot hear only what | want to hear? wo find it dificult (0 Got across yg Mh Y Do | forget to obtain feedback to check on an events’ success? Y Do | feel safer to stick to the truth the facts are sure to be uncovered eventually? HIGH ORDER THINKING QUESTIONS 1. Whichis the most difficult barrierto remove and why? 2. Whyis skilled, confident communication soimportant? = 3. _ Isthe receiver of a message responsible for ensuring thatthe communication is effective? Ha, 4. What care should the sender ofa message take to make his communication more effective | | For Your Information http:/\www.hodu.com/barriers.shtm! http:/www.agecon.ag.ohiostate.edu http:/ww.community4me. comibarriers.html http:/wwwcest.edu/resources/voicelinstructorslessonplans Ted Talks OPEN a Scanned with CamScanner