BARRIER

• Any parameter that limits the purpose or channel of

communication between the transmitter and the
receiver is a barrier to communication.
• A communication barrier may limit or reduce the ease
at which we communicate and hence the name barrier.
• Communication means sharing meaning. With no sharing, there is no
communication.
• To communicate successfully in a team or with others, at work or in
the community, we have to understand the communication
environment and the barriers which prevent messages being sent and
received successfully.
• A communication barrier is anything that prevents us from receiving
and understanding the messages others use to convey their
information, ideas and thoughts
Environmental and Physical Barriers
•:
• a) Time – This is the barrier which is concerned with
developing quicker and speedy channels of communication.
• For example, when communicating with somebody, if the
process is time consuming such as mailing letters then
it is a barrier, any kind of communication whether, it is
done in a formal or an informal manner, if it is highly time
consuming then it proves to be a barrier and for efficient
working, individuals need to develop a faster means of
communication such as electronic mail instead of sending
letters by pos
• Space – It is vital to eliminate the unwanted
distance within the communication system, if the
condition requires it, for example, it can occur in
telephonic communication.
• If two persons need to discuss an important matter and
one of them is in India, whereas other one is in the
United States of America, then telephonic conversation
may not prove to be very effective, then they can send
each other details through the system of email.
• Place – The area, the environment where the
communication is taking place should be clear and not
over-crowded.
• Noise pollution can be a barrier to effective
communication, this is obvious, where there is noise,
there a person cannot efficiently communicate,
therefore places and areas with lesser people, proper
ventilation is required for effective communication.
• Medium – The medium via which the process of
communication is taking place should be effective and
appropriate
• . Communication takes place in various forms;

• it is oral, written, audio, video, formal, informal, the

medium used for the purpose of communicating should
be accurate, precise and understandable
Cultural Barriers
• Communication also takes place between people belonging
to different nationalities, religions, castes, creeds, races,
ethnicities etc. in other words, when two persons are
communicating with each other, there may be differences in
their cultural backgrounds.
• It is vital to overcome all the barriers that might occur within
the course of communication.
• It is crucial to make people aware of ones own culture with
whom they are communicating.
• In the form of communication, it is vital to form an
understanding and acceptance of another person’s cultur
Semantic Barriers
• When communicating with the other persons, no matter
what kind of communication means is utilized, whether it is
formal or informal, it is vital to make use of appropriate
words, vocabulary and language; all kinds of communication
should reflect decency.
• Language and vocabulary that is used in communication
should be understandable to the persons; if a person speaks
only English and a word is used in Spanish then he may or
may not understand the word, for instance, if a person
speaks only English, then it could be a possibility that he
might have studied other languages such as Spanish or
French.
Semantic barrier
• When the sender converts ideas and thoughts in the form that will be
understood by receiver through the use of words, signs, figures etc,
there is a possibility that the same words and symbols have different
meanings and different people interpret them differently.
• These words, signs, and figures used in the communication are
interpreted by the receiver as per his knowledge and understanding
which creates doubtful situations.
• There is always a possibility of misinterpretation of the intention of the
sender of the message or understanding its wrong meaning.
• This happens because the information is not sent in simple and clear
language.
BadlyExpressed Message
• .Badly Expressed Message:
• In communication, there is always a possibility of wrong
interpretation of messages due to wrong choice of words, the
omission of needed words, frequent repetitions of words and wrong
construction of the sentence.
• If the sender uses a wrong word or arranges the words in a sentence
in the wrong sequence, then meaning of the whole message will
change completely.
• This can be called linguistic problem which is the most important
barrier in communication.
• Generally language related communicational barriers arise due to
1. Lack of common language including words, symbols and signs.
2. Poor vocabulary
3. Poor grammar
4. Improper use of punctuations
Symbols or, Words with
Different Meanings
In English dictionaries, a word can have same pronunciation but
different spellings and meanings such as Price, Prize, Principle,
Principal, Write, right, etc.
In many cases a word can have the same spelling but can have different
meanings in different sentences such as right, value, etc.
There is always a chance that the receiver may perceive the meaning
of the word not intended by the sender. If the receiver interpret the
meaning as not intended, the communication will become meaningless.
example
• In English, the word ‘right’ can have different meanings in the
following sentences-
• (a) One should fight for one’s right. ( Here Right means what is due to
a person, or what is a genuine or lawful demand) .

• (b) A manager will be successful only when he takes the right decision
at the right time. ( Here right means what is correct.)
Some words have the same
pronunciation but have different
meaning-
• Some words have the same pronunciation but have different
meaning-
• (a) As per the Principal this is not the correct way of doing it.
• ( Here Principal is the head of the institution.)
• (b) As per the principle this is not the correct way of doing it.
• ( Here Principle means a fundamental truth or a rule which has to be
or is usually followed).
Faulty Translation
• : In an organization, a lot of information has to be transmitted from
one point to another.
• Transmission is done as per the knowledge and understanding of the
people involved who act as receiver at one point and sender at
another.
• Many times the information has to be translated from one language
to another for easy understanding of the receivers.
• For example office orders received from top management to be
communicated to shop floor employees.
• In this process of translation and modification of the message, asper
the understanding capabilities of the receivers, the meaning of the
message too may be modified and wrong message may be transferred
to the receiver.
• So, faulty translation can prove a barrier in effective communication.
Un-Clarified Assumptions

• : In an organization, when a sender sends a message he may assume

that the receiver knows the back ground information relevant to the
message and it is enough to inform the receiver about the main
subject matter.
• In reality the receiver may not be knowing the background
information and so will not be able to interpret the message as
intended.
• Consequently the implementation of the message will not be as
desired by the sender of the message.
• . For example – Manager may send a memo to the subordinate, “You
may proceed with further action as decided in the last meeting of the
committee.”
• Here the manager assumes that the receiver, that is his subordinate
knows all about the decision taken in the last meeting which might be a
week back.
• In reality the subordinate may be knowing the decision taken in the
meeting held twenty days back as for him that might be the last
meeting because he was on leave during the last week. In such a
scenario the interpretation and action on the part of the receiver will be
faulty.
Technical jargon
• Over-complicated, unfamiliar and/or technical terms.

• Mostly, it has been observed that employees working in an

organization are affiliated with some specialized groups such as
biologists,industrial engineers, production development executives,
quality controllers, information technology professionals,managers
etc.
• Such specialized groups use their technical jargon which if used in
communication with the people not belonging to that group may not
be understood by them.
• . Hence there will be communication gap and the message will not
result in the desired action.
• So,technical jargon can be a barrier in communication.
• Therefore whenever a message has to be sent, the sender should
ensure whether the receiver will be able to understand the technical
jargon or not.
• If not then the language should be suitably modified to fall within the
understanding level of the receiver
Body language and gesture
coding
• When some information is transmitted through body language and
gestures, there is always a possibility of misinterpretation of the
information by the receiver.
• If the gesture of the sender does not match with the verbal message,
then the receiver may get confused and misinterpret the message.
For example- If someone answer to a question by moving his neck it
does not indicate clearly whether its meaning is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
• If a manager is scolding an employee for negligence but there is a
smile on his face then the worker will get confused and will not be
able to grasp the severity of the situation.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
• There are a variety of mental and psychological issues that can
obstruct effective communication, such as stage fright, speech
disorders, phobias, depression, and so on.
• Anger, fear, jealousy, insecurity, shyness, and close-mindedness are all
psychological barriers that can obstruct communication.
• All of these conditions are difficult to manage at times and will
obstruct communication.
• However, it is possible that some people have a propensity of initiating
an argument when someone disagrees with them, which can have a
negative impact on both personal and professional relationships
Psychological barriers

• Psychological barriers can be described as the cause of distorted

communication because of human psychology problems.
• In order to make communication effective, it is essential to study about
the psychological conditions of both sender and receiver as well.
• A person’s attitude, perception, beliefs and value systems plays an
important role in encoding and decoding of messages .
• This applies to messages within the organization or messages encoded
for or decoded by external stakeholders like suppliers, financiers,
customers etc.
Psychological Barrier
• In the process of communication, it is vital to understand
each other’s mindset and mental capacity; this applies in
every case whether it is a professor giving a lecture or a
conversation between the employer and an employee.
• If someone is communicating with the other individual or a group
of individuals with an attitude of disinterest or unwillingness then
the process of communication will not be effective.
• In this case, it would have believed to be that attitude of the
communicators is inappropriate for the purpose of making the
process of communication effectual.
• It is therefore considered crucial to overcome the psychological
barriers
• Also if any of the party whether it is sender or receiver is emotionally
or psychologically imbalanced, it can considerably affect the smooth
process of communication.
• The various emotions in an individual like anger, scorn, obsession,
grief etc can also hamper the smooth flow of communication and
distort the encoding or decoding of the messages.
• The various kinds of psychological barriers in the communication
process can be stated as follows-
The various kinds of psychological barriers in the
communication process can be stated as follows-

• 1 Premature Evaluation:
• During communication in the organization, sometimes the receiver
interprets the meaning of message before listening to the complete
message.
• Such kind of interpretation can lead to faulty understanding and can
create hindrance in the process of effective communication.
• On the other hand, sometimes personal opinion of receiver about
sender creates obstacles in the communication process. Receiver
concludes things without any logical thinking.
• So, this creates a barrier of effective communication.

• For Example : A senior manager in a company may cut short the

suggestion of a young executive in a meeting just because the
managers prematurely evaluates the executive to be have less
knowledge, so not worth listening to as the executive is very young
and casually dressed.
Lack of Attention:

• Lack of Attention:
• Sometimes the receiver is busy with some other task or his mind is
pre occupiedwith some other thought due to which he does not listen
to the message with complete attention.
• Consequently the message is not received as intended by the sender.
Hence, this may be a psychological barrier in effective
communication.
• Some extreme emotions of human beings such as anger, hatred or
elation also distract the attention of the receivers creating a barrier in
effective flow of communication.
example
• For example- When a worker is giving a suggestion regarding method
of increasing productivity, the manager is preoccupied by his thoughts
relating to the unpleasant conversation he had with his boss regarding
below average performance of his unit.
• So he does not pay attention to what the worker is saying and asks
him to leave. In such a situation the worker will feel that the manager
is not open to ideas from juniors so may not share any suggestion
with the manager in future.
Loss Poor Retention
• Loss by Transmission and Poor Retention:
• The quality of the message s decreased when it passes through many
people.
• The actual form of the message is changed with each transmission
from one person to another person.
• This is due to the filtration and loss of information.
• It happens, especially in case of oral communication due to
carelessness of human beings and lack of their ability to retain the
complete information for a long time.
Distrust
• The communication process will be successful only when both the
sender and receiver have trust in each other.
• If there is no mutual trust, the communication process will not be
effective because the receiver will not decode and interpret the
message as it was intended by the receiver.
• If they don’t have mutual understanding, then they will not
understand each other’s point of view which could be a barrier in
communication process.
• For Example: This barrier may be very prominent in case of individuals
having different world views, or belonging to different cultural
backgrounds or when two different groups of employees have to
work together in the situation of a merger or acquisition of
companies.
Content barriers
• Content barriers are stated to be the factors that
cause hindrances, distractions, disturbances or
obstacles during the course of the
communicationprocess; barriers that occur during the
course of the communication process tend to distort,
block, alter or misrepresent the information that is
being exchanged between the sender and the receiver.
• No matter what place or area it is, whether it is a
workplace, home, recreation park, shopping complex
etc. barriers tend to take place within the course of
communication everywhere. What is important is the
• The Organizational Barriers refers to the hindrances in the
flow of information among the employees that might result
in a commercial failure of an organization.
Organizational Rules and Policies
• Organizational Rules and Policies:
• Often, organizations have the rule with respect to what
message, medium, and mode of communication should be
selected.

• And due to the stringent rules, the employees escape themselves

from sending any message.
• Similarly, the organizational policy defines the relationship
between the employees and the way they shall communicate
with each other maintaining their levels of position in the
organization.
• Such as, if the company policy is that all the communication
should be done in writing, then even for a small message the
medium used should be written.
• This leads to delay in the transmission of the message and
hence the decision making gets delayed.
• Status or Hierarchical Positions in the Organization: In
every organization, the employees are divided into several
categories on the basis of their levels of the organization.
The people occupying the upper echelons of the hierarchy
are superior to the ones occupying the lower levels, and
thus, the communication among them would be formal. This
formal communication may often act as a barrier to the
effective communication. Such as the lower level employee
might be reluctant in sending a message to his superior
because of a fear in his mind of sending the faulty or wrong
message.
• Organizational Facilities: The organizational facilities mean
the telephone, stationery, translator, etc., which is being
provided to employees to facilitate the communication.
When these facilities are adequately offered to the
employees, then the communication is said to be timely,
accurate and according to the need. Whereas, in the absence
of such facilities, the communication may get adversely
affected.
1.Complex Organizational Structure: The communication
gets affected if there are a greater number of management
levels in the organization. With more levels, the
communication gets delayed and might change before
reaching the intended receiver.
• Thus, communication is the key factor in the success of any
firm, and the communication is said to be effective when the
employees interact with each other in such a way that it
results in the overall improvement of the self as well as the
organization.