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Communication Barriers and Methods to Overcome Them

THE MAJOR DIFFICULTIES IN COMMUNICATION

The following are the main difficulties usually experienced by communicators:

• Ensuring that the interpreted meaning affects behaviour in the desired way
• Achieving accuracy in communicating the message
• Ensuring that the message conveys the desired meaning

The purpose of two-way communication is to establish understanding and rapport between the sender (speaker) and receiver (audience). However, the communicators (sender/ receiver) generally experience the following difficulties:

• No perceived benefit to the audience: The receiver (listener) finds the message of no relevance or interest and, therefore, remains unresponsive.
• Noise, outside disturbance: To receive the message correctly, the receiver needs to remain attentive without being disturbed by any kind of physical, environmental, or psychological disturbance.
• Variations in listening skills: The ability to listen with comprehension is not equally developed in all persons. Some individuals, therefore, respond to communication by missing parts of the complete message.
• Cultural differences: The word culture refers to the entire system of an individual's beliefs, social customs, and personal values. It includes the individual's educational background and family nurturing. The problem of proper understanding arises in situations of intercultural communication because of the differences in cultures across the world.
• Complexity of subject matter/message: A difficult and involved message acts as a barrier to a smooth understanding of the message.
• Time restraints, real or perceived: Both the sender and receiver lose organized exposition and reception of the message if they are pressured by a lack of time.
• Personal biases or hostility: Prejudice and resentment towards the speaker condition the understanding of the message.
• Difficult questions: Questions regarding personal behaviour and management policies and practices may not be easy to answer. They are to be responded to with carefully considered honesty and frankness if the questioner is to be satisfied with the answer.
• Sensitive issues: A situation or subject that involves the other person's feelings and problems needs to be dealt with sensitively and carefully, because the matter may upset people. However, it may sometimes be difficult to avoid such sensitive issues entirely.

Barriers to Communication

In communication, a psycho-semantic process, the word barrier implies, mainly, something non-physical that keeps people apart or prevents activity, movement, and so on; examples are social, ethnic, and language barriers or lack of confidence. These negative forces may affect the effectiveness of communication by acting upon any or all of the basic elements of the communication process and the sender/receiver/channel. The more commonly experienced communication barriers are lack of planning, incorrect assumptions, semantic difficulties, and cultural differences. Some other barriers of communication are:

• Socio-psychological barriers
• Emotions
• Selective perception
• Information overload
• Loss by transmission
• Poor retention
• Goal conflicts
• Offensive style
• Abstracting
• Slanting
• Inferring

Broadly speaking, some of these barriers can be attributed to the sender and some to the receiver. Barriers attributable to the sender are:

• Lack of planning
• Vagueness about the purpose of communication and objectives to be achieved
• Poor choice of words, resulting in a badly encoded message
• Unshared or incorrect assumptions
• Different perceptions of reality
• Wrong choice of channel

Barriers attributable to the receiver are:

• Poor listening skills
• Inattention
• Mistrust
• Lack of interest
• Premature evaluation
• Semantic difficulties
• Bias
• Different perceptions of reality
• Lack of trust
• Attitudinal clash with the sender
• Unfit physical state

A common barrier for the sender and the receiver can be created by the absence of a common frame of reference affecting the smooth interpretation of thoughts, feelings, and attitudes from the sender to the receiver in a specific social situation.

 

Identification of a well-defined social context in which communication takes place helps both the sender and the receiver perceive the content of the communication in a similar way, with similar implications and meaning.

The physical noise and other faults in the surroundings and the instruments of transmission of the message relate mainly to the channel, but they may not necessarily distort the overall meaning of the total message.

Many of the barriers listed here are easy to understand. But, a few of them may still need further explanation.

Incorrect Assumptions

All communications from one person to another are made under some assumptions, which are not necessarily communicated to the other party. They may turn out to be incorrect and, thus, result in communication failure. For instance, we often assume that others:

• see the situation as we do.
• should feel about the situation as we do.
• think about the matter as we do.
• understand the message as we understand it.

All such assumptions may be incorrect; therefore, one should try to verify them whenever possible. That would help the communication to be more effective.

Psychosocial Barriers

There can be many types of psychosocial barriers to communication. The key barriers are discussed here.

Status

Consciousness of one's status affects the two-way flow of communication. It gives rise to personal barriers caused by the superior-subordinate relationship. A two-way vertical channel is present in most organizations, yet few subordinates choose to communicate with their superiors.

 

Similarly, superiors may be unwilling to directly listen or write to their subordinates and seldom accept hearing that they are wrong. Though organizations are culturally changing and adopting flat structures, the psychological distance between superiors and subordinates persists.

Perception and Reality

The most important aspect of human communication is the fact that it takes place in the world of reality that surrounds us. This world acts as our sensory environment. While we are engaged in the process of communicating, our sense organs remain stimulated by the different sensations of smell, taste, sound, forms, and colours around us. All these sense perceptions received by our brain through our senses recreate within each one of us the world that exists within our mind as its content. Thus, there are two aspects of the same reality—one that actually surrounds the communicator from outside and another that is its mental representation (in his or her mind) as he or she sees it.

 

The objects that excite our five sense organs/perceptions—eyes, ears, nose, tongue (taste), flesh (touch)—are called signs. Our senses respond to these signs and we receive sensations that pass into the brain through a network of sensory nerves. Our perceptions—the mental images of the external world—are stored in our brains and form our viewpoints, experiences, knowledge, feelings, and emotions. They constitute what we really are, how we think of something, or how we feel or respond to something. These stored perceptions colour and modify whatever our brain receives from any signs, data, thoughts, or messages. That is why these conditioning perceptions existing in the brain are called filters. The mind filters the message received from the signs and gives it meaning, according to individual perception.

 

It is obvious that each individuals filter would be unique. No two individuals have the same or similar experiences, emotional make-up, knowledge, or ways of thinking. Because filters differ, different individuals respond to signs with different understandings. The sign may be a word, gesture, or any other object of nature; each individual will respond to it in his or her own way and assign the total meaning to that sign according to his or her filter.

The presence of a unique filter in each sender and receiver of a communication causes a communication gap (distortion) in the message.

In face-to-face communication, this gap can be more easily removed. In most cases, the speaker does realize that he or she has not been correctly understood through the listeners facial expressions, gestures, or other forms of body language. Alternatively, the listener might say, “Sorry, I didn't get you”. Of course, much depends on how formally/informally the two are related to each other in the office, workplace, or life.

But in situations in which the audience is invisible, as in written communications—letters, memos, notices, proposals, reports, and so on—the semantic gap between the intended meaning and the interpreted meaning remains unknown to the communicator and also to the unsuspecting receiver who misses the total meaning in terms of the tone, feelings, and seriousness of purpose of the sender. The feedback does help the sender, but it may be too late.

Improving Communication

Essentially, to communicate is to share information in its widest sense with others, in an intelligible, participative form through the medium of words (spoken or written), gestures, or other signs.

Two basic things stand out here. One, the message is to be both “known” and “understood” by others. Two, communication is a symbolic act, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. These two aspects—the purpose and nature of communication—act as the two determining influences in the practice of communication in all contexts of speaking or writing.

Herein lies the crucial difference between effective and ineffective communication. If something is communicated and is not fully understood by the receiver, then communication has been ineffective, not fully serving the condition of being understood. If the message has been understood, the response of the receiver—the feedback—indicates this.

Keith Davis¹ lays down the Rule of Five to guide the receiver to be an effective element of the communication process. “In the communication process, the role of the receiver is, I believe, as important as that of the sender. There are five receiver steps in the process of communication—receive, understand, accept, use, and give feedback. Without these steps being followed by the receiver, no communication process would be complete and successful.”

Thus, communication can be considered successful when:

• the message is properly understood.
• the purpose of the sender is fulfilled.
• the sender and the receiver of the message remain linked through feedback (see Exhibit 2.1).

 

PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The Seven Cs of Communication

Francis J. Bergin² advocates that there are seven Cs to remember in verbal communication. These are also applicable to written communication. They are:

1. Candidness: In all business transactions, ones view of a matter should be honest and sincere and should reject prejudice or bias. The guiding principle should be fairness to self and to others involved in the situation. Phrases that qualify observations with the words “my honest opinion” or “frankly speaking” indicate an attempt to be candid, open-hearted, and sincere. Honesty implies consideration of the other person's (listener's) interest and his or her (the listener's) need to know objective facts. Thus, sharing of thoughts should be characterized by the “you” attitude.

   Candid talk also exhibits the speaker's self-confidence. In oral communication, confidence is a key element in creating an impact. When something is said without hesitation, it expresses a confident manner.

   In everyday life and in business, we may see persons in power doing things, such as appointing relatives to important positions, neglecting merit in assigning jobs/functions, or becoming inappropriately close to an individual or a group of individuals. Such actions are bound to emotionally alienate others from that person. Out of consideration and concern for that persons long-term image and relationships in the organization, it is important to communicate ones view of such administrative unfairness in an unbiased manner.

2. Clarity: The principle of clarity is most important in all communications, especially in face-to-face interactions. It is not always easy to verbalize ideas accurately on the spot during conversations, presentations, or other oral forms of interaction.

    

   It is not always easy to verbalize ideas accurately on the spot during conversations, presentations, or other oral forms of interaction.

   Clarity requires the use of accurate and familiar words with proper intonation, stresses, and pauses. Spoken language should consist of simple words and short sentences. Thoughts should be clear and well-organized. The speaker should know what to say and why. It is a clear mind that can talk clearly and effectively.

   However, in case of doubt or uncertainty due to lack of clarity of thought or expression, the listener can, in a one-to-one oral communication, seek immediate clarification from the speaker.

3. Completeness: Clarity is ensured also by completeness of message. In conversations or oral presentations, one can easily miss some parts of the communication. It is, therefore, essential that oral presentations, discussions, or dialogues should be, as far as possible, planned and structured. Therefore, when the speaker begins the presentation, dialogue, or address, he or she should ensure that all the necessary information that listeners need or expect has been provided.

    

   In a situation where the interviewee has no information or answer or is unwilling to discuss a particular question, they should frankly express their inability to answer.

   The principle of completeness requires that speakers communicate whatever is necessary, provide answers to all possible questions that could be raised, and add additional information, if necessary, as footnotes. For example, in an interview, if an interviewee fails to answer a question completely, it could imply that he or she is deliberately sidestepping a particular issue. It could also raise doubts in the audience that there is something to hide regarding that matter. In a situation where the interviewee has no information or answer or is unwilling to discuss a particular question, he or she should frankly express their inability to answer.

4. Conciseness: In business and professional communication, brevity is important. One should avoid being repetitive. It is a common but erroneous assumption that repeating whatever has been said in multiple ways adds emphasis to the message.

   The examples in Exhibit 2.2 are show that spoken language tends to become wordy. Fewer words should not mean less meaning. Rather, it is possible to achieve intensity and concentration without sacrificing essential meaning.

   Superfluous Statements	Concise Statements
   At this point of time …	Now…, or at present.
   As regards the fact that…	Considering …
   Because of the fact that…	As…, or because …
   Are in need of…	Need…
   In due course of time …	Soon…
   Not very far from here …	Nearby…, or close by.

    

   Exhibit 2.2 Examples of Superfluous and Concise Statements

5. Concreteness: Concreteness means being specific and definite in describing events and things. Avoid using vague words that don't mean much. In oral communication, one cannot draw figures, tables, or diagrams to illustrate one's point. But, one can choose precise words and speak with proper modulation and force to make sounds reflect the meaning. For example, in oral communication passive voice is avoided because active voice reflects force and action. It also sounds more natural and direct. For example, no one says, “you are requested by me to visit us”. A more vivid way to express the same sentiment is, “I request you to visit us”.
6. Correctness: In the spoken form of communication, grammatical errors are not uncommon. The speaker can forget the number and person of the subject of the verb if the sentence is too long. Sometimes even the sequence of tenses is incorrect. And most frequently, the use of the pronoun is incorrect, especially in indirect narration or reported speech (see Exhibit 2.3).

   Incorrect Statement	Correct Statement
   He said to me that I will surely go there.	He told me that he would surely go there.
   Kindly explain to me this poem of Keats.	Kindly explain this poem of Keats to me.
   I consider her as my sister.	I consider her my sister.
   She shut the TV and then opened the taps for her bath.	She turned off the TV and then turned on the taps for her bath.
   The stars walk as if the whole world belongs to them.	The stars walk as if the whole world belonged to them.
   Shahzad has also claimed that a Bihar-based former junior minister and prominent Mumbai politician helped him evade arrest.	Shahzad has also claimed that a Bihar-based former junior minister and a prominent Mumbai politician helped him evade arrest.
   The dealer agreed to either exchange the shirt or to refund the money.	The dealer agreed either to exchange the shirt or to refund the money.
   How long has it been since you had your last promotion?	How long is it since you had your last promotion?
   The crowd cheered him making double century.	The crowd cheered his making a double century.
   Being an experienced manager, we are sure you can resolve the conflict.	As you are an experienced manager, we are sure you can resolve the conflict.
   Sohan and her are equally brilliant.	Sohan and she are equally brilliant.
   His wife is taller than him.	His wife is taller than he (is tall).
   She is looking for who?	Whom is she looking for?

    

   Exhibit 2.3 The Necessity of Grammatical Accuracy for Effective Communication

7. Courtesy: In conversational situations, meetings, and group discussions, an effective speaker maintains the proper decorum of speaking. One should say things assertively, but without being rude.

Courtesy demands not using words that are insulting or hurtful to the listener.

 

In business discussions, it is necessary to respect the other person by listening to him or her patiently and without interruption.

The speaker's tone should reflect respect for their listener or audience. The pitch and tone should be level and measured rather than aggressive; they should not suggest that the speaker is talking at the listener.

UNIVERSAL ELEMENTS IN COMMUNICATION

There are some universal elements in all human communication:

• The communication environment: All communicators act within the sensory environment around them, from which their senses receive competing stimuli impinging upon the content of communication.
• Use of symbols: All communicators use verbal symbols and signs such as words, body movements, facial expressions, and so on, to encode (and to decode) messages.
• The mental filter: All communicators/receivers of a message have to register, organize, transmit, receive, and interpret through their uniquely structured minds that have varying “filters”, which consist of their experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

To understand communication better, we should know the following basic facts regarding its process:

• Perfect communication is impossible: Human communication is essentially imperfect. All our communication encoding and decoding acts are conditioned by the fact that a common mental filter is not possible. Meanings differ because filters differ. Therefore, no two persons involved in an interaction will perceive the exact same meaning from a message. What they tend to have is a “workable understanding”, as Vardman puts it in his definition of communication discussed earlier.

   

  The fact that the symbols used for communicating are imprecise in their associative meanings further contributes to the imperfection of communication.

  Besides the filters, the fact that the symbols used for communicating are imprecise in their associative meanings further contributes to the imperfection of communication. Choosing correct symbols to encode an idea, thought, or feeling is not an easy task. We tend to often pick up imprecise symbols for encoding. This tendency increases the chances of misinterpretation or miscommunication between the sender and the receiver (see Exhibit 2.4).

   

  Mr Balakrishnan, a heart patient, was considering two medical procedures: bypass surgery and angioplasty. His surgeon had told him that the angioplasty would cost slightly more than the by-pass surgery. The bypass cost Rs 2.5 lakh. Mr Balakrishnan did not mind spending slightly more for the angioplasty, so he opted for it. But he was shocked to later get a bill for Rs 6.5 lakh. He was left wondering what exactly his surgeon's “slightly more” meant.

   

  Exhibit 2.4 An Example of Miscommunication

  Even the same symbols put in a different order or sequence may change the overall meaning of the message (see Communication Snapshot 2.1). Therefore, both parties, the sender and the receiver, should possess the same ability to interpret the meaning of symbols (words) and their structure (the order in which they are used).

  Communication Snapshot 2.1 How Sentence Structure Affects Meaning

  Consider the following sentences:

  1. The letter has been dispatched by me.

  2. I have dispatched the letter.

  3. The police chased the crowd.

  4. The crowd was chased by the police.

  5. What are you doing here?

  6. Here, what are you doing?

  7. The dog wagging the tail.

  8. The tail wagging the dog.

  9. Only you have to be there.

  10. You have only to be there.

  11. You have to be only there.

  12. Also, Abhinav is going to Paris.

  13. Abhinav is going to Paris also.

  14. Manisha too is tired.

  15. Manisha is too tired.

  The first sentence answers the question “Has the letter been dispatched?”, whereas the second is an answer to “Who has dispatched the letter?”. There is a change in the emphasis: the first sentences emphasizes the act (of dispatching), while the second emphasizes the doer of the act (the dispatcher). To understand this subtle shift in the overall meaning of the statement, equal levels of linguistic competence are required by both the questioner and the respondent.

  Similarly, in the third sentence, we are talking about the police, whereas if we change the sequence of the symbols, as we have done in the fourth sentence, the crowd becomes the subject of communication.

  This can further be understood by considering the fifth and the sixth sentences. Though these sentences sound alike, they convey different meanings. The fifth sentence communicates the speaker's surprise about a person's presence, whereas the sixth is about the place where the person is present.

  The seventh sentence indicates that the person is quiet, docile, and easily controlled. As opposed to this, the eighth sentence says that an unimportant thing/person is wrongly controlling a situation.

  The ninth, tenth, and eleventh sentences show how meaning changes by changing the position of the word only. In the ninth sentence, the speaker talks about the person (you) who alone is required—meaning nobody else is required. In the tenth sentence, the speaker says that the person (you) would “do nothing” but simply be present; and, finally, in the eleventh sentence, the speaker wants the person (you) to be “there” only and nowhere else. The shift in significance relates to who, what, and where. (It may be noted that only modifies the word that immediately follows it.)

  Similarly, the word also modifies the word that follows it or is placed next to it. In sentence 12, also is used to indicate that in addition to some other persons going to Paris, Abhinav too will go to Paris. In sentence 13, the change in position of also changes the meaning of the sentence. Here, also is used to indicate that Abhinav is going to Paris in addition to other places. In sentence 12, it signifies “in addition to the other persons”; in sentence 13, it means “in addition to other places”.

  In sentences 14 and 15, the shift in the position of the word too changes the meaning completely. Sentence 14 implies that Manisha is tired, like other people. But, sentence 15 implies that Manisha is overtired, or that she is so tired that she cannot do any work now.

  Try to imagine real-life situations in which you would communicate a feeling of surprise or delight on unexpectedly meeting a friend when you did not expect to see them.

• Meaning is not out there: By now, it must be obvious that the meaning of a sentence or paragraph is in the mind and not in the symbols. Symbols (except onomatopoeic words) are arbitrary. They have no intrinsic meaning. They stand for things, but are not the things themselves. Their meaning is conventional, commonly shared by the people belonging to a linguistic community. But the literal meaning is something that is printed in the pages of a dictionary.

   

  An effective communicator creates new meanings of symbols (words) by structuring them in strings of images of his or her mind or mental landscape.

  Communication is a living act, performed in specific contexts, in particular situations, and with a definite goal. Thus, an effective communicator creates new meanings of symbols (words) by structuring them in strings of images of his or her mind or mental landscape.

  Understanding this fundamental aspect of communication can help all receivers look for the meaning of the words (the message) that the sender thought of when choosing them. A receiver should not be satisfied with, “I think it means…”. Instead, he or she should search for what the words must have meant to the sender.

• Personality communicates: Walt Whitman³, in his famous Song of Myself, poetically brings out the dimension of communication. Of his poetic process, which is an act of communication, he says,

   

  I celebrate myself,

  And what I assume you shall assume,

  For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

   

  In fact, communication in its final analysis can be seen as a projection of “myself”—how I think, feel, believe, perceive, and respond to reality. If communication is anything, it is indeed a mental representation of reality. The symbols of communication represent the perceptions of the communicator.

  In this regard, the complexity of communication further arises from a truth so aptly projected by O. W. Holmes⁴ in his collection of essays, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table:

  There are three Johns:

  1. The real John; known only to his Maker.
  2. John's ideal John; never the real one and often very unlike him.
  3. Thomas's ideal John; never the real John, nor John's John, but often very unlike either.

  The real problem in communication is caused by Thomas's ideal John.

  In fact, it is difficult for people to communicate effectively unless they have a correct knowledge of themselves. Understanding how we see ourselves is the first step in improving our ability to communicate; we can improve this understanding by closely examining our own self-concept.

  According to psychologists, there are three aspects of self-concept:

  1. The me that I know.
  2. The me that I wish I were.
  3. The me that I want others to see.

  Some people are so perfect in projecting images of themselves to others that the real person is never displayed.

  Some people are so perfect in projecting images of themselves to others that the real person is never displayed. This art can be advantageous to a manager and his or her personal communication skills, but if practised to the extreme can prevent effective communication and understanding.

  To be effective as the audience (receiver), one should follow Whitman's wisdom and practise “what I assume you shall assume”. This process is also known as “empathy”—the power or the state of imagining oneself to be another person and sharing his or her ideas and feelings. Empathy is needed for listening, and is also a necessary state of mind while encoding. It allows the communicator to realize the audience's (receiver's) expectations, fears, emotions, needs, level of learning/knowledge, and, above all, state of mind. It is only through reciprocal empathy that people can communicate effectively in different contexts of life and business.

REVIEW YOUR LEARNING

1. Discuss some important barriers in the communication process.
2. Explain the element of noise as one of the psychological barriers in perfect communication.
3. Do you accept that perfect communication between two human beings is impossible to achieve?
4. Discuss how barriers can be largely overcome.
5. Discuss the three conditions when communication can be considered to be successful.
6. Explain Francis J. Bergin's concept of clarity as a principle of effective communication.
7. What is conciseness? Give some examples of concise statements.
8. Discuss how a change in the order of words changes a statement's meaning.

REFLECT ON YOUR LEARNING

1. Communication is a way of changing other person's way of thinking.Discuss.
2. “Meaning of a message is not out there,” it is in the receiver's mind. Discuss.
3. Consider the role of personality in communication.
4. “The principle of completeness in communication requires that we answer all questions that may be put to us”. Discuss.
5. “Sender can improve effectiveness of communication by planning tne whole thing. Mention the things the sender should plan.