Barriers to communication can have a negative impact on how the message is transmitted and received. Discuss three barriers to communication and provide solutions on how these barriers can be overcome ?
Barriers to communication can have a negative impact on how the message is transmitted and received. Discuss three barriers to communication and provide solutions on how these barriers can be overcome ?
use the following as guidance thank you.
1. Physical barriers
Physical barriers in the workplace include:
• marked out territories, empires and fiefdoms into which strangers are
not allowed
• closed office doors, barrier screens, separate areas for people of different
status
• large working areas or working in one unit that is physically separate
from others.
Research shows that one of the most important factors in building cohesive teams is
proximity. As long as people still have a personal space that they can call their own,
nearness to others aids communication because it helps us get to know one another.
2. Perceptual barriers
The problem with communicating with others is that we all see the world differently. If we
didn’t, we would have no need to communicate: something like extrasensory perception
would take its place. It is important to guard how quickly we judge and perceive others,
to ensure that we do not put up unnecessary barriers to communication.
3. Emotional barriers
One of the chief barriers to open and free communications is the emotional barrier. It is
comprised mainly of fear, mistrust and suspicion. The roots of our emotional mistrust of
others lie in our childhood and infancy when we were taught to be careful what we said
to others.
“Mind your P’s and Q’s”; “Don’t speak until you’re spoken to”; “Children should be seen and
not heard”. As a result many people hold back from communicating their thoughts and
feelings to others.
They feel vulnerable. While some caution may be wise in certain relationships, excessive
fear of what others might think of us can stunt our development as effective communicators
and our ability to form meaningful relationships.
4. Cultural barriers
When we join a group and wish to remain in it, sooner or later we need to adopt the
behaviour patterns of the group. These are the behaviours that the group accepts as signs
of belonging. The group rewards such behaviour through acts of recognition, approval
and inclusion. In groups which are happy to accept you and where you are happy to
conform, there is a mutuality of interest and a high level of win-win contact. Where,
however, there are barriers to your membership of a group, a high level of game-playing
replaces good communication.
5. Language barriers
Language that describes what we want to say in our terms may present barriers to others
who are not familiar with our expressions, buzz-words and jargon. When we couch our
communication in such language, it is a way of excluding others. In a global market place
the greatest compliment we can pay another person is to talk in their language.
6. Gender barriers
There are distinct differences between the speech patterns in a man and those in a woman.
A woman speaks between 22,000 and 25,000 words a day whereas a man speaks between
7,000 and 10,000. In childhood, girls speak earlier than boys and at the age of three, have
a vocabulary twice that of boys.
The reason for this lies in the wiring of a man’s and a woman’s brain. When a man talks,
his speech is located in the left side of the brain but in no specific area. When a woman
talks, the speech is located in both hemispheres and in two specific locations.
This means that a man talks in a linear, logical and compartmentalized way, features of
left-brain thinking; whereas a woman talks more freely mixing logic and emotion, features
of both sides of the brain. It also explains why women talk for much longer than men each
day.
7. Interpersonal barriers
There are six levels at which people can distance themselves from one another:
• Withdrawal is an absence of interpersonal contact. It is both refusal to be
in touch and time alone.
• Rituals are meaningless, repetitive routines devoid of real contact.
• Pastimes fill up time with others in social but superficial activities.
• Working activities are those tasks which follow the rules and procedures
of contact but no more.
• Games are subtle, manipulative interactions which are about winning
and losing. They include “rackets” and “stamps”.
• Closeness is the aim of interpersonal contact where there is a high level
of honesty and acceptance of yourself and others.
• Working on improving your communications is a broad-brush activity. You have to change your thoughts, your feelings, and your physical
connections. That way, you can break down the barriers that get in your
way and start building relationships that really work.
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