BARRIERS

1. Differences in Perception
2. Differences in Knowledge levels
3. Lack of common language / Semantics
4. Adoption of Stereotypes
5. Strong Emotions
6. Self centeredness
7. Laziness
8. Noise
9. Lack of Planning
10. Wrong or Un-clarified assumptions
11. Cultural barriers
12. Socio-psychological barriers
a. Attitude
b. Status
c. Family background
d. Opinions
e. Hierarchy
f. Place in society
13. Filtering
14. Information overload
15. Loss by transmission
16. Poor retention
17. Poor listening
18. Insufficient period for adjustment
19. Goal conflicts
20. Offensive style of communication

GATEWAYS
1. Get to know the people we communicate with.
2. Learn to look at things from others perspective.
3. Seek and offer feedback.
4. Choose the right medium.
5. Choose the right channel.
6. Mind your tone / politeness.
7. Plan your communications carefully. Especially the difficult ones.
8. Clarity of purpose.
9. Common set of symbols.
10. Shared activity.
11. Control emotions.
12. Eliminate noise.
13. Clarify assumptions.
14. Avoid connotations & ambiguities.
15. Thoroughness of subject.
16. Active participation in communication.
17. Courteousness.
18. Understanding opponent / partners’ goal.
Physical • Noise
Noise pollution in the workplace, such as the sound of heavy machinery
operating, can be addressed by management; for example, conferences can be
held in soundproof rooms.

• Interruptions
Interruption of clerks and personal assistants, telephone calls, and calls of
unscheduled visitors cause communication to loose its continuity and
consistency.

• Uncomfortable settings
Unfavorable presence of people and arrangement of furniture and other
interiors hinder clear communication.

• Physical Distance
Along with social distance can make communication difficult or infrequent.
For instance, corporate headquarters may be far removed from the work site of
most employees, or managers and employees may eat in different cafeterias.
Under such circumstances, information sharing is greatly reduced.

Physical barriers, such as an assistant blocking access to a manager or lack of

access to files, tapes, and so forth, also limit the exchange of information.
General • Goal Conflicts.
Communication suffers from clarity when individuals in the relationship have
different goals.

• Bottlenecks caused by over work.

People tend to get exhausted and impatient with the slightest increase in work,
which leads to overlooking of communicative tasks (aspects) causing
bottlenecks in operations.

• Unwilling to send incomplete message people fill-in their personal opinions,

feelings etc.
Employees at times feel lazy to seek and arrange correct information that
needs to be reported. Hesitant to forward an incomplete report they fill in their
personal opinions, feelings and assumptions which create insufficient or
incorrect communication.

• Adoption of stereotypes.

• Wrong or un-clarified assumptions.

Reluctance to refer and accumulate correct information communicators often
make the mistake of passing / forwarding messages left uncorrected and un-
clarified.

• Lack of Planning.
Communications made in haste and negligence fail by their purpose.
Physiological • Distracting appearance
Ugly, unkempt or ill maintained personality and awkward facial expressions
and gestures distract both the speaker and listener in happening and
maintenance of proper communication.

• Hearing impairment
 Difficulties in hearing or an improper hearing aid hinders effective
communication

• Poor listening habit

Lack of proper training in listening from the right age cannot enable
effective communication.

• Low interest level

Lacking interest in listening to the speaker and the message is a barrier by
itself.

• Vocal impairment
Inability to speak clearly causes difficulty in deciphering messages.
Listeners need to take special care in listening to such speakers.

• Articulation
- Pronunciation & Enunciation
Insufficient knowledge of phonetics, stress and intonation makes it
difficult to generate proper message.

- Failing in Expressions
Lack of conceptual clarity and inability in wording the thoughts
makes difficult for the receiver in getting the right message.

• Stress (Physical and mental)

When in stressed situation the sender may omit or overlook details and fail
to communicate effectively. A receiver in stressed condition may not pay
attention to the communication, causing unexpected shortcomings and
mishaps.

• Mannerisms
Ignorance of code of conduct and ill-mannered nature of either sender or
receiver can cause disinterest to the other.

• Laziness
Lethargy of sender or receiver will result in omission of information.

Psychological • Unclear, nonspecific message

Haste, laziness and carelessness in transmitting accurate and specific
message will cause hindrances in task and cost the sender more for
repeating the communication process to make the corrections.

• Lack of trust
Lack of trust and faith in the receiver may cause the sender to withhold
information, and leave the communication incomplete.

• Lack of Sympathy
Senders may have no concern and sympathy for recipients and make
worthless efforts in communicating.

• Suspect motive
When senders become suspicious of recipients moves in taking the
information may cause them to withhold the information making
communication incomplete.
 • Intimidation Fear caused by position / status
Recipients position and power may inhibit the senders desire to
communicate freely.

• Withholding information
Senders may withhold information to feel the fact of being powerful,
authoritative and superior.

• Self-centered
Selfish motives of people may cause them to retain information until their
ego gets satisfied, when they are begged to part with the information. They
weigh their benefits above others and act.

• Unwilling to concentrate
Disinterest, ego, and self-pride cause a recipient to avoid listening to his
speaker or reading the message of the correspondent.

• Lack of empathy
Disinterest, disregard and unmindful approach to partners’ communication
can never make an empathetic-receiver of messages.

• Negative feelings about the speaker

Ill-impressions about the sender may cause disinterest in the receiver and
questions the credibility and authenticity of the sender.

• Strong emotions
Low Emotional Quotient makes both sender and receiver incompetent
communicators.

Socio- • Age
psychological Differences in age, more appropriately referred to as generation gap leads to
failure in communication efforts and tasks.

• Background
Ignorance of socio-economic, educational and cultural differences can result
in undesirable misconceptions and negative relationships.

• Culture, Characteristics
Lack of knowledge regarding the communicators’ culture and
characteristics will generate unfavorable situation and may even cause
embarrassment.

• Dialect differences
Difference in language brings communication to a standstill. At times
differences in accent of a common language will also dilute the
communication spirit and purpose.

• Education, Experience
Differences in education and experience of communicators slows down the
communication.

• Functional (Role / Status)

People from varied functional streams find it difficult to create a congenial
 communication atmosphere due to role and goal conflicts.

• Gender
Discomfort felt by the communicators due to unmatched perceptions,
preference and performance levels result in gender-biased attitude and
communications.

• Hierarchical level
Inequalities of hierarchical positions influence communication attempts with
feelings of ego and power-politics.

• In-groups or Cliques
The reservations of certain informal groups and their conservative thinking
and actions can be a barrier by itself.

Mental • Thinking what to speak next

Inabilities & The fear of forgetting what to speak / write next, causes a person to be
Distractions overcautious of his communication and this stressed situation will make the
person loose the train of thought.

• Ignorance of subject
Failure to recognize a subject or information will lead to no participation
and therefore, disinterest in communication.

• Lack of knowledge
Shortfall of sufficient knowledge will result in poor communication and
often remains incomplete.

• Developing a response rather than listening.

Eagerness to respond with a statement or a question will make the receiver
inattentive to the senders’ communication.

• Unreceptive to new and different ideas

Disinterest in learning makes communicators averse to new ideas and
information.

• Information overload
At times over load of information will bring saturation point to the receivers
ability and the receiver withdraws himself from participating in the
communication process. Thus a break in communication arises.

• Various interpretations of verbal and nonverbal messages

Perceptions are unique to individuals and they tend to create their meaning
of all communication that reaches them. Failure in senders’ rhetoric sense
and receivers’ empathy may create new and unintended interpretation to
communication.

• Differences in sending and receiving messages

Wrong medium and encoding or decoding are all barriers in communication.

• Preoccupation with other matters

Preoccupied mind leaves less or no space for the new information to be
processed. Communication partners not caring for the present
correspondence and living in the past will suffer from both worthless and
 valueless communication.

• Inappropriate timing
Asynchronous exchange of information will nullify the effort of
communication attempts and necessitate repetition, wasting time and money
too.

Technical • Failures in electronic instruments used for communication.

Electronic gadgets may not function to their fullest capacity at all times and
interrupt the communication process.

• Power failure
Interruption of power supply will halt the communication and may also
cause malfunctioning of equipment with fluctuations of voltage.

• Clarity of Message (written)

Illegible script or print makes communication weak.

• Loss by transmission
Delays, failures, and slipping from transmission path will cause bad or no
communication to happen.

• Slow transmitting stations

Flow of information should keep pace with the communicators ability to
decipher and respond. Slowing down the communication process may lead
to disinterest or detachment, and leaving all communication attempts futile.