Barriers To Effective Communication

Barriers to Effective Communication

 

A barrier is something that blocks you from getting to something or somewhere. In terms speaking to an audience, there can be many communication barriers. For example general communication barriers, interpersonal communication barriers or written barriers. These may stop the audience from learning from the speaker. If you are not careful and aware of the diversity of your audience you may offend someone with something you say.

 

General communication:

 

Language can be a big barrier in communication as the two people communicating may not speak the same language, for example if you were to speak English to someone who only speaks mandarin, their would be a big barrier in trying to communicate with that person and the conversation would have a lot of difficulty. Language could also be a problem if you were speaking to someone who used a lot of jargon and you couldn’t understand much of what they were trying to say.

The use of technology could be a barrier in general communication as the audience you are speaking to may not be familiar with technology and they may not be confident using computers. Cultural differences may also be a communication barrier to effect communication as if you are talking to someone from a different racial background they may have some misconceptions of things you are saying. For example you could say something that someone else may perceive as being racist. The tone of voice used by a speaker could also be a barrier.      

If someone is speaking in a monotone voice and being very droll then there is less chance of the audience listening and taking in any information from them. If you are speaking to an audience you need to be aware of the diversity of that audience. You may be speaking to a range of differently skilled people or people from a wide range of cultural and racial backgrounds. You need to be aware of the diversity of the audience incase you say something that may offend someone who’s listening. For example, you couldn’t give a speech on how all Muslims are terrorists to an audience that had Muslims in it. The age of the audience could also be a barrier as the audience may be too young to understand what you’re talking about, or in the reverse situation, the audience may be too old to understand the jargon or language that you use.

For example if you were talking about advanced computing to an audience of elderly people who didn’t use computers, they may have difficulty in understanding some of the things you say. Distractions could be a big barrier in a classroom situation. You may be trying to listen and learn from a teacher but there could be a lot of noise and talking in the background. This would distract you from what the teacher is talking about. Lack of concentration also causes a barrier in general communication as if you are sitting staring out the window whilst the teacher is talking then you won’t really be taking in anything that the teacher is saying. This could affect your learning and reduce your chance of passing that class.

Asking too many questions will also put a barrier between the audience and the speaker, it is good to ask questions but sometimes asking too many questions will give the speaker less time to get through their actual presentation. It is a good idea to wait until the end before letting the audience question you so they can hear everything you have to say. This may also reduce the amount of questions asked as you might be about to cover the questions they have to ask over the next few minutes of your presentation.

The amount of time allotted to you may also be a barrier in communication as you might not have enough time to cover all the points you want to cover or you might not have enough time left at the end to answer questions from the audience.

Another barrier would be disabilities. For example, if some members of the audience are deaf then they wont be able to hear what you’re saying so you need to make sure you have a highly visible PowerPoint for them to read so they can keep track of the presentation and what you are saying. If an audience member is blind then you need to speak out loud and clearly so they can understand the point of what you are saying.

           

Interpersonal Communication:

 

Body language could be a barrier in interpersonal communication. For example if you are trying to talk to someone and they are slouched over and have their head down then it would be very hard to talk to that personal. In a job interview situation your body language is very important as it will give the employer an automatic opinion on what you are like as a person or how you would act in a work place environment.

            Background noise could be a barrier in interpersonal communication as you may be working in an office with a lot of other people. For example if you were working for the rainbow light charity and you were on the phone to a client but you couldn’t hear them because you are in a very busy working environment then the background noise of the working environment is acting as a barrier in interpersonal communication. Background noise can include noise from outside, noise from other students, loud voices in the next room, construction work in the building, the phone, noise from equipment r noise from air conditioning. There are ways to reduce this such as using instant messaging instead of talking; this would mean you don’t have to hear the other person talking to you to understand them. Rules and punishments could be used to stop people talking within the classroom. You could close windows and blinds to block the noise coming in from outside. Close the office or classroom doors if there is noise coming from nearby rooms or classrooms.

            Negative emotions are a barrier in communication as you could be trying to talk to someone but they may be in a bad mood and they wouldn’t want to listen. For example if while working at the rainbow light charity, you need to ask one of your co-workers to do something, they may not be listening to you or may not want to do what they are asked because of their mood and emotions. Negative emotions could be created by a hostile environment in the work place were the colleagues aren’t getting on well and cannot work well together.

            This could also result in a lack of commitment which is also a barrier to interpersonal communication.

 

Written Communication:

 

When using written communication there can be barriers in communicating. Formatting could be a big one. For example if a letter is badly laid out and there is different information all over the place then you may not be able to make sense of what the letter is actually about. A document should be structured in a neat order to allow the reader to make sense of it easily. It also helps to format your text by using bold, underlining, italics etc. It is important to keep the layout consistent and use paragraphs and clear headings. Bad grammar can also be a barrier. If the grammar of a text or an email or a letter is too bad then you might not be able to make any sense of it. Spelling and grammar errors make you or your companies seem a lot less professional. Having bad spelling and grammar will have a big negative impact on your ability to communicate via e-mails, letters or text messages.

            Language may also be a barrier. For example someone may send you a letter than is written using Chinese symbols that you can’t understand. Or in a reverse situation you might send a non English speaking person a letter written in English that they can’t understand. This can block communication between you two as you are unable to find a common language that you can both understand that you can converse though.

            There are many ways to avoid poor structure or poor grammar. You could take more time to proof read documents and correct your mistakes using the spelling and grammar checker on your computer. It may also help to let someone else read your work and let them point out any layout or grammar errors. Having someone else’s point of view will really help you to improve your documents or letters. You could use clear headings and subheadings or you could bullet point the key points of your message. You should lay all your documents out in a neat logical order so people can easily locate and read key information. You could search the internet and find some templates to help you properly structure your documents.